WALANG WALA

Once when I was a boy, I was asked by my mother to cook rice. She asked me if I knew how to do it. Eager to impress her, I answered in affirmative. After all, I had been watching her do it many times. Although at the back of my mind, I did not know how much water should I place in the pot together with the rice grains. And so I washed the grains and estimated the amount of water that I should place with it. I placed the pot on the stove and begun to boil the rice. After a couple of minutes of boiling, the rice was cooked. However, there seemed to be excess water. I kept boiling the rice, praying that the excess water would evaporate soon. The rice seemed to be burnt but still, there was water in it. Smelling the burning rice, my mother went to the kitchen and checked the pot. She put off the fire and told me I had placed too much water. We ended up sipping rice broth (Arroz Caldo) that lunch. "Ang yabang kasi," one of my siblings retorted. Such an incident could have been averted if only I admitted my ignorance in cooking rice; if only I was humble. In life, it takes humility to do great things, even just boiling rice. 

In the gospel (Lk 18:9-14), a Pharisee and a tax collector prayed before the Lord. They presented themselves before the Lord. One was humble, and the other was proud (of himself). But what should be our attitude in God’s presence? It should be humility and never pride. And if anyone should boast of himself, let him boast of the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31), and would find himself humbled by God's grandeur.

Before the Lord, we are nobody compared to His majesty. Humility is being honest and truthful on who we are in reference to God's greatness. That truthfulness leads us to thankfulness. For in our emptiness, God finds a space to fill in whatever is lacking; God supplies our deficiency. Truthfulness about our inability to do anything good without God's assistance; apart from His grace; makes us realize the necessity of dependence on the mightiness of God. Humility is a dependency on God, initiated by our truthfulness about ourselves, sustained by our gratitude towards God's generosity. Humble persons are grateful persons, as gratitude requires the admission of one's dependence on others. As we admit our poverty (pagiging walang-wala) before the Lord, He listens to us (cf. Sir 35:12-14). The Lord hears the cry of the poor. As we present our nothingness to the Lord, He is made present in our life. He enables us to do wondrous things that are rather impossible for us to do by our strength. Pinupuno tayo ng Diyos. Empty hands can be filled with lots of blessings. 

Like the Pharisee in the gospel (cf. Lk 18:9-14), not everyone can be humble before the Lord. Others are too proud of themselves (mayabang). Proud people (in a negative sense) are called mahangin in Filipino. When they are around, like air and wind you cannot miss their presence. They make sure their presence is felt. They are airy and puffy persons. When one thinks of them as great because of their lofty depictions of themselves, one would realize that what they were projecting are simply lies and empty air. Their inflated egos are too absorbed by the grandiosity of their deeds; “ang galing galing ko,” they tell themselves. They would even brag about themselves even to the extent of maligning others: "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity, greedy, dishonest, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income." Their own doing deceives them, as they were too convinced of their righteousness.

Compared to God, we are nothing. All that we have comes from the Lord. Proud persons face an unfortunate fate. In as much as God wants to bless everyone, He could not do so to a proud person for no space is given for the grace of God in his life; wala nang lugar para sa Diyos at sa kanyang grasya. A proud person is simply bloated with his make-beliefs and fantasies; puro hangin lang. 

St. Paul, in his second letter to Timothy (2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18), narrates his life's journey. “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” He had gone to several missions and built communities even among Gentiles. He had increased the faith of the early Christians through his letters. All these he was able to do not because of his abilities. He admits: "The Lord stood by me and gave me strength... And I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom." Such dependence on God enabled St. Paul to do wondrous things that are truly worthy of the crown of righteousness from the Lord. With St. Paul's humility before the Lord, the Lord exalts him. 

Walang masama sa pag-amin ng ating kakulangan sa harap ng Diyos at ng mga tao. Ito ang kababaang loob na simula ng pag-asa sa Diyos, at ng pagpapasalamat natin sa Kanyang kabutihan sa atin; kabutihang pupuno sa ating kakulangan.

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!

FAITHFULNESS IN A VOCATION

Last Tuesday, I attended a meeting wherein we discussed a fundraising project. There were plenty of ideas presented on how to strategize and increase the profit of the said project. While things are being deliberated and argued, a question popped in my mind; Are we not religious, called by the Lord to follow Him, in a radical way? After the meeting, I continued meditating on this question and realized how much our community seem to be engaged with various activities; so called apostolates. Other activities seem to deviate from the way Dominic chose for our forefathers. One may say time changed. New situations demands for new solutions. The way of the old cannot be the ways of today. True. However, in the midst of changing facets of religious life, there remains to be unchanged - Ante omnia, fratres carissimi, diligatur Deus, deinde et proximus, quia ista sunt praecepta principaliter nobis data.

In the gospel, the Lord is criticized by the Pharisees for breaking the law of the Sabbath. He allowed his disciples to work during the Sabbath. However the Lord presents himself as one knowledgeable about the law (and a precedent case). He knows what the law means; the reason behind the law. Epikeia! He did not break the spirit of the law, though he seemingly did otherwise to the letter of the law. He did not break the law for he knew what the law means. 

In the midst of progress, it is tempting for us to confuse our vocation (of being religious) to those professions we embrace under the pretense of apostolate; of being a successful academician, administrators, managers, fund raisers etc. But how much have we strive to be faithful to the call of the Lord (Follow me!) towards the path of charity, which is the soul of holiness? How much have we love? 

Mother Theresa once said “We are not called to be successful, but faithful.” May all that we do in the community make us faithful to our religious vocation, more than being successful professionals. This we ought to keep in our minds or else we might break not just the letter but more so the spirit of our vocation to love.