Moments in Philippine Daily Inquirer by Fr Jerry Orbos SVD
In the Gospel according to Luke 9, 11b-17, the disciples of Jesus tell Him to dismiss the crowd since they cannot possibly provide the people who have assembled with food and lodging in a deserted place. But Jesus tells them: “Give them some food yourselves.” This order of Jesus is the overriding attitude we should nurture toward one another—that of care, concern, reaching out, and helping one another. How often have we “dismissed the crowd” because they threatened and disturbed our comfort zones?
I remember a story about a 10-wheel truck that got stuck in an underpass because the driver ignored the vertical clearance limit. Many technical steps were aired on how to solve the problem, until a child made a simple suggestion: Deflate the tires! And the problem was solved, and the truck was able to move on.
Deflate your pride! This is one solution whenever we encounter gridlock situations. As one body, we must learn to give in, to let go of our pride, and to let God. Otherwise, we will arrive at a stalemate and eventually come to a dead end. Humility is the key to any relationship problem. The problem, of course, is: Who will give in?! The rule of thumb: For the sake of the common good, we must be ready and willing to sacrifice.
Deflate your greed! This goes well with deflating our pride. It is greed that makes us set up walls instead of bridges. It is greed that makes us stand on separate shores. Greed says: “Have it all!” But Humility says: “You can’t have it all.”
“Nobody is indispensable.” People come and go, but institutions remain. We are all just passing through. Let’s all do our very best, but let us remember that we do it best when we do it together, when we give our due respect to one another as well as to the institutions that have been there before, and which will still be there long after we are gone from this world.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/94962/we-belong#ixzz5j5oZL2Ju
Éditions Verbum Bible 