We need to pause if only to figure out how we can meet our need for continuing education and formation under and for the new normal. Things are quite different now, and there are bases to think that these differences are quite drastic and will last longer than we expect or like, or can even remain permanently. We need to prepare ourselves for this big challenge.

First of all, we should never neglect our life of piety, because this at bottom is what truly matters and what would sustain, protect and guide us as we face and cruise these uncertain times. With this vibrant life of piety, we can manage to feel confident and optimistic despite the many surprises and trials that surely will come our way.

It’s important that we have a healthy and positive attitude toward this new challenge that should be based on our strong faith in God and in his ever-wise providence. With him, we would feel assured that only something dramatically good can come out of these extraordinary times.

We should just be game and sport about the whole thing, open-minded, flexible, adaptive and versatile toward the new things we will be discovering and be made to tackle. We have to develop these qualities even as we should be clear about our goals, from the immediate all the way to the ultimate one. In other words, we have to be quite focused without being rigid. The new developments would never change what are truly essential to us and what are simply incidental and optional.

It’s important that we know how to orchestrate the different elements involved. Yes, we have to learn when to move fast and when to move slow, when to be active and when to be contemplative, how to distinguish between the essential and the incidental. We have to sharpen our sense of order and priority, especially because very often we would be faced with competing priorities.

Given how things are now, we should be ready to learn new things like the new technologies, distance learning and online classes, the use of modules, etc. In this regard, since many of us would be quite ignorant about these new things, we should not hesitate to consult those who know. We just have to humble ourselves so that even if we are already of a certain age, we can still flow with the times together with the young ones.

To be sure, there will be new aspects that we have to learn about the virtues and skills that we already have. It’s kind of polishing or refining them, or raising them to the next level. So you see, this new normal would be a good opportunity for further personal growth and development. We should therefore be welcoming of it rather than be anxious and scared of it.

The important thing is that we don’t lose sight of what is truly essential about the whole thing. And that is that we should go through this new stage of our life with God always, and never just by our own selves, relying simply on our own powers.

That would be the most important part of the education and formation that we should be undergoing under and for this new normal. Remember that with God, everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8, 28)/WDJ