Finding meaning on Maundy

Passing the Bar is not the be-all and end-all of the legal journey. Quite the opposite, it is a prequalification to it. The big screen of Padre Faura, after all, did not roll the credits. It projected the roll of attorneys-to-be. The show has just begun!

As 8,241 new lawyers are welcomed into the profession, let us reflect on what it means to be a lawyer in the Philippines.

One word often associated with the practice of law is “power.” Having specialized knowledge to navigate legal structures is indeed a beautifully empowering thing. However, power can also be ugly and may at times come in the form of the obnoxious and the unsavory. Cringe-inducing “don’t you know who I am?” moments of attorneys with holier-than-thou attitudes come to mind—as if the license to practice law makes us a cut above the rest. Let us not mince words: It doesn’t.

The legal club may be exclusive, though that’s not to say it is elite. While Bar membership is reserved only for we who qualify, it does not make us any better than those who haven’t. Passing the Bar, in so many words, means one thing and one thing only: That we get to become lawyers. Congrats.

But joining the legal profession can mean so much more than just gaining a title or earning a flex. It is not merely a golden ticket to introduce yourself as “Attorney such-and-such” at every turn — though to some, I’m sure, that would be the apogean point. Being a lawyer means we have been entrusted with the chance to not only see the world through law’s lens but to change it with law’s tools. And like any tool, the law is only ever as useful as they who wield it. What matters, therefore, is less about joining the Bar and more about raising it.

To borrow from Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Through public office or private practice, academia or advocacy, we are given the opportunity to be more than legal mercenaries-for-hire, and instead become architects of change.

Finding meaning on Maundy is about recognizing this societal role.

The Thursday of Holy Week commemorates the moment Jesus washed the feet of the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. That Christian rite of foot washing is also known as the practice of “maundy”—a ceremony of humility, selflessness, and, in so many words, love.

Yet, what gives Maundy Thursday relevance to our analysis is not simply symbolism but etymology. The word “maundy” is itself rooted in the Latin word “mandatum,” that is, “mandate” or “law.”

Maundy Thursday, therefore, is a day where love and law meet. No, not because Philippine Congress literally mandated that Maundy Thursday “shall be observed in the country” as a regular holiday through Republic Act No. 9492. Rather, it is because today of all days, we remember Jesus’ mandatum novum — the new law: Diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ut et vos diligatis invicem. (“Love one another, just as I have loved you.”)

May that new law be taken to heart, by new lawyers and old. Regardless of our faiths or convictions, I hark back to my Paref studies and extend to the 8,241 new lawyers my congratulations and, to us all, a prayer: That as the “disciples of law,” we find the “courage to change what we can, the serenity to accept the things we cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

On our respective paths to become great lawyers, may we never forget to first be good people.

Wishing everyone a blessed Holy Week!

[email protected]