FAITHFULNESS

On my way to my examination for lectorate, along the corridors of the church, two men asked for some food from me. They were begging for food to eat for they had not eaten anything for the day. I was poised to shrug them away as I was in haste to go San Pio Building. They looked to be the usual magagantsos (urban brigands) we entertained in our lobby. They seemed to be strong and able enough to look for a job and earn wages for their sustenance. Between a few seconds of conversation with them, I realized that I was in my religious habit. I was reminded of my religious state. I am a religious.

Jesus preached against hypocrisy. He preached for consistency of our words with our deeds, of our way of life with our vocation, our identity with our action. Confucius taught the same thing in his doctrine of rectification of names – to know and use the proper designations of things, persons, etc. Only through the consistency of our words and deeds, consistent with the Word and Deeds of Jesus for us, we can be truly Christians, in name and in way of life.

After asking the kitchen staff to give some food to the two hungry men, I proceeded to San Pio Building for my examination. As the elevator of the building opened I saw myself in a radiant white religious habit bringing books, reviewers, and all sorts of religious meme in me. I thought I had been busying myself with many things forgetting the essentials in my vocation: forgetting to believe, forgetting to love, substituting them with things of less value, ending up as a half-baked religious.

The call of Jesus, thousand years ago, to a consistent life, in words, deeds, and vocation, reverberates to this day. Heeding his call will lead us towards an authentic existence, authentic Christians, authentic religious.