THE Marianas Variety observed the 340th anniversary of the martyrdom of Diego Luis de San Vitores by publishing (April 11, 2012) an op-ed column that purports to set the historical record straight. The author lumps together a number of different issues, but the most fundamental one is the observation that, when Father San Vitores first stopped in Guam on his way to the Philippines in 1662, he “saw Chamorros living in blissful ignorance of God.” The underlying presupposition of this comment – the one on which the cogency of all that follows rests – seems to be that it is possible to live “in blissful ignorance of God.”

Is such a thing possible? Think for a moment what such ignorance entails. The 17th century inhabitants of Guam had to face the same questions that we, their successors, have to face in the 21st century. For what am I living? Why do I suffer? How can I secure my life in the face of life’s precariousness? Who will love me? Who can doubt that not having an answer to these questions would make your life unbearable? After all, the original Chamorros were no different than we are today in this regard. There is nothing blissful in having to live without knowing the meaning of your life.

When we do not have an answer to these fundamental questions about life, we are very vulnerable to being forced to live in fear and superstition. We try to fill the emptiness of our lives with pleasures of all sorts, only to discover that we become slaves to the vices that oppress us by forcing us to use others to gratify ourselves. Without knowing that there is a God who loves us, we cannot have a culture that liberates us from the fear of death. That is why everyone, whether he knows it or not, is waiting for someone who can give an answer to the questions that life poses to us.

Father San Vitores had the answer. He left everything in Spain, not to get anything for himself, but to share the answer, the Good News about Jesus Christ, with anyone who had not yet heard it. Jesus entered death in obedience to his Father’s will. In response, God the Father raised his Son from the dead so that we might receive his Spirit and no longer have to live in fear. The Easter joy is that death has been overcome. As a consequence, forgiveness appears automatically.

Father San Vitores witnessed to the truth of what he announced by accepting death and forgiving the ones who in their ignorance thought he was their enemy. He forgave his killers. What has transformed Chamorro culture, and will continue to transform it, is the ability to do the same.

Francis Michael Walsh,
Blessed Diego Luis de
San Vitores Catholic
Theological Institute for Oceania
Yoña, Guam