MANILA, Philippines--LAST WEEKEND, I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE to check if my latest book “Just a Moment” was already available in that area. I asked the saleslady:
“Do you already have the latest book of Father Orbos?”
“What is its title? Just a moment, sir,” the saleslady replied as she gestured me to wait while she checked.
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In today’s Gospel (Mt. 4, 12-17), we are told that Jesus, after leaving Nazareth His hometown, began preaching in Capernaum by the sea. His fame began to spread, and people began to see in Him a great light. All this did not happen in just a moment. It was a result of His diligence, determination and clarity of purpose in doing the Father’s will. Unless life is seen as a mission, it could end up to be just an empty pursuit of self-satisfaction and self-gratification.
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“Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” This message is a very urgent and a very timely reminder for all of us individuals and as a nation. Hoping and praying that our government officials will really listen and heed God’s call for true conversion. It’s sad that many of our leaders have become vague and untrue. Money and power have made them insincere.
As we go through life, what message are we proclaiming? And when we are gone what message will we leave behind? What statement are you making to this world with your words and with your very life?
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If you had the choice, what words would you like to be written on your grave to best describe you? Will it be: “Here lies … who loved much? ... who worked much? … who accumulated much? ... who shouted much? ... who spent much? ... etc. How the world will remember us by is our individual choice.
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Don Alfredo Gothong, patriarch and chairman of the board of the Gothong Group of Companies, was buried in Cebu last Jan. 15. In his last will and testament he wrote: “I have lived in this world a long time. Yet life is brief and fleeting. To all my loved ones, I want you to instill in your hearts that the best, the most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart.” That is quite a statement coming from a man who left a fortune to his family through honest and hard work. Indeed, “If through one person, a little more love and goodness have come to this world, then that person’s life has had meaning.”
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We are happy with our brother-priest Fr. Fernando Suarez and his grace-filled healing ministry. What makes us doubly happy is his clarity of vision and mission, pointing not to himself but to God whom he serves as the source of his unusual “gift.” As long as a person knows who he/she is before God, then there will be no problems about self-aggrandizement and pride.
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When we congratulated our classmate Gov. “Among” Ed Panlilio for having been named as “Filipino of the Year” by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, his reply to our text message was clear and simple: “Thank you. To God be the glory. We are just doing our mission.” So humble, unlike some you-know-who who take and make every opportunity to boast about their so-called achievements (if these are theirs at all).
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Here’s a wonderful and timely reminder for us pilgrims and travelers in this world: “As you go through life, yield not a traffic on Temptation Avenue. Avoid Sin Street because it’s a dead end. Pass up Hypocrisy Street, Gossiping Land, Backbiting Boulevard. You have to pass through Trials Avenue but that’s all right because Victory Road is straight up ahead. Enjoy your journey.”
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On Jan. 31, 2008, at 7 p.m., we will be at the Sacred Heart Church in Cebu for a Healing Mass with 14-year-old blind girl Fatima Soriano. And on Feb. 1, we will be in Divine Word College of Calapan for a school fund-raising concert.
* * *
A moment with the Lord:
Lord, as I grow up, instill in me clarity of vision and mission. Amen.
More Inquirer columns
Previous columns:
Seeing and remembering – 01/19/08
Pleasing the Father – 01/12/08
Turn around – 01/06/08
Listen and obey – 12/29/07
'Excuse me' – 12/23/07
