For worship to be full, it must be done in the presence of others who also are worshiping. Photo: A.Yango | MPIM
Where the fair blows the wind, there you go. Before becoming a diocesan seminarian, deacon and priest I was molded in the religious order (Order of St. Camillus-OSC). Nowadays it is called Ministry of the Infirm (M.I.) Practically, the whole formation of my seminary life was in the religious. In the Novitiate year, we studied the charism, the spirituality of the Founder, and also the Canonical vows. In the case of Camillians, there are four vows: chastity, poverty, obedience, and service to the sick even in danger to your life. That’s why in this time of pandemic Covid-19, many of them are frontliners because of the nature of their apostolate. Some of them are hypenated priest like priest-doctor, priest-nurse, priest-social worker. Others are hospital chaplains, hospital administrators and the like.
Now, if you ask me which is the most difficult among the vows, I would say obedience. Why? Because we have our own mind. We have different outlook of things. We have our own perspective. It is difficult to submit ourselves especially if we have the so-called intellectual pride. Not only because of intellectual pride but some unvoidable circumtances which could affect us physically, psychologically, socially, and otherwise. Look at what had happened during the quarantine. There are people who are incorrigible (READ: Pasaway). Of course, we cannot judge them right away. We should consider the entirety of their life’s situation.
As we go to the gospel reading, we may ask about the correlation between obedience, commandments, and love. In John 14:21 Jesus said, ” Whoever has my commands and obey them, he is the one who loves me.” Obedience is not the cold impersonality of the legalism. The difficulty lies from the extreme implementation of the commandments or the laws by the powers that be. Obedience is beyond the letters and spirit of the commandments (laws). And commandments by the way are there because these are boundaries for our protection. Obedience is no other than relationship with Jesus. There is grace in obedience. And obedience is relationship also with each other. He said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” – John 15:12.
Relationship is very important because we are social beings and as such we establish connection. We would be surprised sometimes being remembered by somebody even though the established relationship took place around 15 to 25 years ago. The other day I was so amazed when an old friend and former parishioner in one of my previous parishes called me up and inquire if I have a personal account. He told me that he wanted to share his blessing. It is not a matter of how much the amount but a matter of remembering me and cared for me despite all the years. I was so thankful to him and his family and the Lord God for the marvelous occurence. It happened while I was ruminating of what will befall to the Church and how to maintain it because of the overhead and also the personnel’s welfare. No public mass, no collection; no baptism; no wedding — means no income. This is really a challenging time.
If there’s already the established relationship, then the next question is what kind of love we are talking about? Here is a comparison of two kinds of love, using the Greek words:
EROS (HUMAN) AGAPE (DIVINE)
EROS (HUMAN)
1) What can you do for me?
2) Self-centered
3) Based in and expressed through feelings
4) Hold on to your life and lose it
5) Conditional
6) Immature
7) Self-satisfying
8 Unstable foundation for relationships
9) Limited
AGAPE (DIVINE)
1) What can I do for you?
2) Other centered
3) Based in and expressed through will
4) Lose your life for my sake and gain it
5) Unconditional
6) Mature
7) Self-giving
8 Stable foundation for relationship
9) Unlimited
That is exactly we need to ponder. Where are we now in our timeline? Do we have realization in life? Do we learn something during the quarantine period. Have we improved with our relationship with the Lord God and our fellowmen? Is there a change in us? Amedioration is the term but not only socially, economically but most of all spiritually.
