ALAMINOS Bishop Napoleon Sipalay Jr., O.P. urged Thomasians to put community and service first before pride, even in times of tension, in his homily during the Misa de Apertura on Friday at the Santisimo Rosario Parish Church.
Presiding over the opening Mass for the first time as bishop, Sipalay said only freedom found in God could empower a person to genuinely render service to others.
“Freedom is always to do good, to always expect the good of the other,” he said in his homily during the Mass of the Holy Spirit. “The kind of freedom the spirit asks us [is] not to be self-centered, and not to hurt the community. But our freedom is to build the community, and our freedom is to serve one another.”
Sipalay warned against exercising unbridled freedom, which he said could lead to “living in the flesh” or engaging in sexual depravity, idolatry, dissension, and self-indulgence.
The bishop also encouraged Thomasians to set high standards for people in authority.
“This attitude of living in the flesh is hurting the community. That’s why the antidote for this is to live in the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit [are] something that will help us counter living life in the flesh,” he said.
“If people of authority are [held to] high spiritual standards, the one below will follow,” he added. “If we don’t leave a high standard of spiritual maturity, we don’t have the authority to say and correct others below us.”
Whenever conflict arises, Thomasians must be open to “crucifying” their own pride, which could lead back to humility and service to others, he said.
“Our task is a task of service to one another…I know it is difficult–in a big university or small community, there will always be dissension,” he said. “My hope and prayer is that even when there is dissension, we work not to sacrifice the mission of service we are called to.”
“Sometimes there’s a call for us to crucify our own pride and indulgence in order to serve the community,” he added.
In January, Sipalay became the first Filipino Dominican chosen by the Pope to lead a diocese in nearly three decades, after he was tasked to take the helm of the Diocese of Alaminos in Pangasinan.
He obtained his bachelor’s in philosophy from the Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies in 1992 and his bachelor’s in theology from the University in 1995. He was ordained priest in 1997.
Sipalay concelebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which is the customary Eucharistic celebration in UST to mark the start of a new academic year, with Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P., Vice Chancellor and Dominican Prior Provincial Fr. Filemon dela Cruz, O.P., and other Dominican fathers.
Fr. Johnny Luntungan O.P., resident deacon of the Santisimo Rosario Parish, assisted in the high Mass.
In UST General Santos, the Misa de Apertura was presided over by Fr. Roberto Luanzon, O.P., UST Manila’s vice rector for finance and UST GenSan’s officer in charge of the Office of the Associate Vice Rector for Finance.
The Mass was followed by the Discurso de Apertura, or the inaugural lecture, which was delivered by Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan. Marco Luis D. Beech with reports from Amador Denzel M. Teston and Sydney Venice V. Berba
