On The Questions That Matter: Church

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

On Giving

by Eo Villegas

29 November 2012
Discussed Text: Levinas, "There Is," Ethics and Infinity

The discussion in class last Thursday made me remember Mang Roland, for those who don’t know his story here it is: http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-better-samaritan-joes-encounter-with.html

He was a man who satisfied first his needs, in which the 5 pesos worth of rice was sufficient, and then gave everything else to others in need. His story is very touching also because no matter how much shit life threw at him he still strives to be a person for others. Who would’ve thought that after his family all died from various sicknesses, after he had to sell his house to try to treat his wife who died anyway, he still had the heart to help others. He helps in what little ways he can. This just goes to show you don’t have to be the rich Atenean who can help the kids in Africa, rather we all can help in our own little ways.

Lastly I would also like to use the poor widow’s gospel as an example. She gave the smallest donation to the Church, but at the same time it was the biggest donation. It does not matter how much you give or help, because it is all relative to the capacities of the people who are helping.

About The Professor

Leovino Ma. Garcia, Ph. D. is a professor of the Department of Philosophy of Ateneo de Manila University. He finished his degree in humanities under the guidance and tutelage of Fr. Roque Ferriols, S.J., and eventually attained his doctorate degree in Philosophy in the Catholic University of Louvain. He was the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences from 1988 to 1994 as its first lay dean, and then became the dean once again, this time of the School of Humanities from 2001 to 2007. He is the second recipient of the Natividad Galang-Fajardo Lifetime Chair for the Humanities in 2011 and currently the President of the World Conference of Catholic Philosophers (COMIUCAP).

But most of all, he is a thinker, a life teacher, a lover of the arts, and, as he always claims to be, "the poor boy who knows the fields and rivers of the Cagayan valley," truly human in his own way.

These lectures delivered for the school year 2012-2013 are transcribed and summarized by Earl Allyson Valdez (AB Philosophy, Pre-Divinity Track 2010), once his student and now his teaching assistant.