How do the ideals of St. Ignatius shape my life

in the Ateneo?

Ms. Suzanne U. AlvarezCampus Minister for 2nd Year

If you happen to see 1,000 pesos on the sidewalk, what would you do?  

A) Will you pick it up and put it in your pocket right away? As they say, “Finders, Keepers”.

B)Will you ignore it and pretend that you did not see it?

C) Will you look for the owner and return it?

When this happened to me several months ago in the busy shopping streets of Greenhills, I did C. I picked it up and ran after the person whom I thought dropped the money.

However, when he said that it was not his, my hands holding the 2 folded 500 peso bills started to shake.

I started to perspire and a million thoughts flashed through my head (okay, maybe just a hundred) on how I would spend the money.

Ilang pamasahe rin yon sa taxi. Pwede rin akong manlibre sa office. O kaya mag-shopping ng bagong damit o shoes sa Greenhills, and the list of all the possible ways that I could spend it goes on.

There were also other fearful thoughts that occurred to me—was this a practical joke? Was there someone trying to frame me?

It was as if time froze and I had to listen to the many voices inside my head that were telling me how to spend the money.

But before I could entertain all these thoughts, I listened to my conscience and it told me to pause and do the right thing.

This is what happens when you have worked at the Ateneo for almost 8 years. Without knowing or realizing it, you imbibe some of the Ignatian ideals.

One of which is having a well-formed conscience by being Christ-centered.

You start choosing the road less travelled.

You start choosing what is difficult.

You start choosing the way of Christ.

In Fr. James Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (almost) Everything, St. Ignatius said the voice of conscience sometimes feels like the “drop of water falling onto a stone,” a sharp feeling that awakens you to reality.

In my experience, it opened my eyes and my heart to do God’s will because I allowed God to work through me.

With the 2 folded 500 peso bills still clenched in my left hand, I immediately ran to the Chapel of the Holy Family in the middle of Greenhills Shopping Center.

Once inside the air-conditioned chapel, I looked for a donation box where I could put the money.

Finding a Pondo ng Pinoy statue of a little boy begging for money, I quickly slipped the bills into the small slot intended for coins. It was only then that I could breathe properly again.

Little did I know that after a few weeks, this incident would repeat itself in the form of a folded yellow 500 peso bill along Edsa walk near the Infirmary here at the Ateneo de Manila High School.

If you happen to see 500 pesos on the sidewalk, what would you do?

A) Will you pick it up and put it in your pocket right away? As they say, “Finders, Keepers”.

B) Will you ignore it and pretend that you did not see it?

C) Will you look for the owner and return it?

For me, it was easier the second time around as I chose to drop it in the collection basket during the early morning Mass.

Let us end this reflection with St. Ignatius’ Prayer for Generosity: Dearest Lord,Teach me to be generous.Teach me to serve you as you deserve.To give and not to count the cost.To fight and not to heed the wounds.To toil and not to seek for rest.To labor and ask not for any reward.Save that of knowing that I do Your most holy will. Amen.