Transmitters of tradition

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THE story of Anna, already advanced in years and a widow, and who “departed not from temple, by fasting and prayers serving night and day,” (cfr. Lk 2,36-40) somehow reminds of those good old women who spend a lot of time in churches doing all sorts of devout practices and even offering to carry out tasks, often gratis, in parishes.

The younger generation may have some cheeky attitude toward them, but we cannot deny that they, like Anna, actually do a lot of good to all of us. In their own way, they keep and transmit time-honored pious traditions that would truly help alive our spiritual life.

Especially these days when we are often swept away by modern things that tend to detach us from the sources of our religious faith, their example deserves to be given due attention and imitation. Obviously, these pious traditions also evolve in some ways. But they just cannot be ignored.

Traditions are important in our life. They are like structures that help us cope with the different necessities of life. They have been built up from the common experiences of a person and of a society and are passed on from generation to generation.

That’s what tradition means. It’s a matter of handing down certain shared attitudes, practices, lifestyles from one generation to the next. It’s a continuing process that parallels and supports life itself.

Traditions can be personal, family, social, political, historical, cultural, and of course, religious that are in fact the most important. In other words, they correspond to our human needs taken either individually or collectively, spiritually or materially. In short, they cover all aspects of our life.

Traditions help keep life going, facilitating the performance of certain duties and the attainment of certain goals and ideals. They give some consistency to our life, and a reassuring sense of direction and fulfillment.

Since our identity as a person and as a people is often qualified by the traditions we practice, we need to make sure that we have good and healthy traditions, refining and polishing them along the way, or otherwise starting new ones as circumstances warrant.

New traditions somehow are born spontaneously. A certain spirit or ethos must be behind its making after a number of factors and relevant elements come together. There are also those that are quite deliberately engineered. But no new tradition comes about unless it has at least the tacit approval of the majority of the people.

Traditions also form some kind of basis or ground on which a person and a society grows and develops. They can be part of the raw material used for growth. Practically no one and no society can live without some tradition in place in their system. No one starts to develop from absolute zero. He has to begin somewhere.

We should try, however, to adapt traditions to changing circumstances while preserving their essence and spirit, striking a healthy balance between preserving tradition and embracing progress, innovation and positive change.

We should also be respectful of the diverse traditions we can have around, ever mindful of the cultural sensitivities of different communities and avoiding appropriating or misrepresenting traditions that are not our own.

We should also engage in open and respectful dialogue with people from different backgrounds to promote mutual understanding and appreciation. Ultimately, a balanced approach that combines respect, critical evaluation, and cultural sensitivity can help us navigate the complexities of tradition and its role in shaping our lives and communities.