Taking orders

The story is told about a restaurant that wasn’t doing well, until the owner put up this sign outside: “All our waiters are married. They know how to take orders.”

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In today’s Gospel (Jn. 6, 60-69), there was a falling out between Jesus and some of His followers because they could not accept His teachings, and would not follow anymore His orders. It is sad to read that “many of His disciples returned to their former way of life, and no longer accompanied Him.” A good question for all of us today is: “Am I willing to accompany Jesus every step along the way, and all the way?”

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Do we know how to take orders from the Lord? There are people who have no Lord, and take orders from no one because they think there is no one greater than themselves. Those who do not believe in God, or who do not acknowledge any God, make themselves God, and end up deifying their own bright ideas, visions, plans, insights, and what have you. To them we say: There is a God, and you’re not Him/Her. Period!

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The late Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo was one person who knew how to take orders, not from politicians, not from the powers that be, not even from the President, but from his boss, the people. His whole life was one big beautiful service to the Filipino people, especially the poor, the needy, and the marginalized. Public service? While many others are just mouthing it, Secretary Jesse Robredo was just doing it simply, sincerely, and truly.

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What is the difference between Sec Robredo and many of his contemporaries in government? Sec Robredo had a strong sense of mission, while the others have a strong sense of “commission.” Sec Robredo had a sense of nation, while the others have a sense for the next elections. Sec Robredo was filled with compassion, while the others have only ambition. Sec Robredo was focused on public service, while the others are focused on self-service!

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A lot has been said and will be said by many people about Sec Robredo. I really don’t care much about what the politicians and so-called public servants are saying in paying lip service to him now. I care more to listen to what the ordinary people say about him. I am especially attentive to and so edified by what his wife Leni and his daughter Aika say about him, or, given the chance, what his other daughters Patricia and Jillian say about him. I think all the politicians and so-called public servants should just shut up and listen, really listen, to Sec Robredo’s message in his life, and in his death.

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Only a person who takes orders from God can truly live a beautiful and meaningful life. Sec Robredo was a deeply spiritual person, who drew strength, vision, and mission from his God. His devotion to the Blessed Mother, especially to “Ina,” Our Lady of Peñafrancia, is known to many. What many do not know is that he went to confession regularly and would spend visits or the Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, as testified to by our SVD confreres in the Sacred Heart Parish in Kamuning where his modest condominium is located. In fact, one confrere told us that Sec Robredo went to confession to him on the Friday night before his trip to Cebu the next day.

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The search for Sec Robredo goes on. It should not end. He has made the nation realize that there are good public servants in our midst, and that we as a people are good. Let’s continue to search for a “Jesse Robredo” in our midst. Is there one in your locality who you can be proud of? Is there one in your province, in your town, in your barangay? Politicians we have plenty. Statesmen/stateswomen we don’t have too many, and we must continue to search for them, support them, and give them the chance to serve our country.

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Gone too soon. There are people who leave this world early, and who make us wish deep inside that they lived much longer. And there are some people who are still here! Oh, well, it is not for us but for God to say who goes and who stays.

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“Perhaps all of life is no more than a long preparation for the leaving of it” (J. Banville). We all will go, sooner or later. Beyond what people will say when we’re gone, what matters most is what God will say when we finally face Him in the great beyond.

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Last week, we said goodbye to Bro. Antonio Flores, SVD, who used his talent as an architect for the Lord and for his people. We thank the Flores family of Dumaguete City who generously gave him, the eldest of six siblings, for the missions upon the Lord’s order.

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Yesterday, Fr. Eddie Boy Guarin, SVD, left for his mission in South Africa. In 1983, the then 27-year-old Father Ed left for Paraguay for his first mission assignment. Thirty years later, he takes another foreign mission assignment. Why? Father Ed knows how to take orders from His Lord. One with you, Father Ed!

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Borrowing the line of a song, we say: “But we could have told you, Jesse, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you!”

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A moment with the Lord:

Lord, help me to take orders from You, and follow them my whole life through. Amen.