BE THE BEST WITHOUT BECOMING THE BEAST

During a mass I attended, as the consecration part proceeded, I noticed a collectora continued to collect offerings from the faithful who were already kneeling. As the priest elevated the host, she continued to collect, and I too continued to stare at her praying she would stop whatever she was doing and adore Christ raised by the priest. As the priest continued to consecrate the wine, to my great relief, she ended up walking around for offerings and kneeled down. As I adored Christ in the consecrated wine, I realized how much I was distracted by the collectora. In my desire for orderliness, I missed the great mystery unfolding before me.

In our desire to be the best, we forget to be good and we become the beast. In our desire to see the best, we miss the simple and good things before us. The standard of this world demands only for excellence and never settles for good. In the process, even the best others give may always fall short of our expectations, and may still be at fault. So indeed, blessed are the faultfinders, for they will never be frustrated. We will always find a reason for annoyance and distress for others' failure to achieve what we expect from them. That is how this world sees man. That is how Pharisees saw the actions of the apostles, who in their hunger pulled off the heads of grain and ate them on a Sabbath (Mt 12:1-8). That is how we become pharisaical sometime when we choose to see the worse in others more than the good they intend. That is how we become the beast!

Christ desires mercy more than sacrifice. He wants the realization of the spirit of the Law, more than the outward and strict observance of the laws. And what is the realization of the sense of the Law if not the return of man to God through God and of man's mercy toward his fellow man. When we begin to see others actions through the eyes of mercy, the way God sees our very own efforts, we begin to look at the goodness embedded in them. When we begin to be merciful as our Father, we begin to see the goodness in everything, in everyone, though how little that goodness maybe. We begin to be tolerant and charitable towards the mistakes of others and of ourselves. And we cease these shortcomings as opportunities to fill-in whatever is lacking.    

Let not our desire to see the best; to be the best, blinds us from seeing the good, though how little it may be, in every action of our fellow men. Let not our desire to see the best make the beast out of us. Can we see each other, the way Jesus sees us; the way God sees us through His eyes filled with mercy?!?

Aspire to be the Best without becoming the Beast!