Mighty Mite

In today’s Gospel teaching (Mk. 12: 38-44), Jesus juxtaposes the two contrasting lifestyles: the lifestyle of the worldly rich, and that of the spiritually rich. The former is the way of Satan, while the latter is the way of Christ. You and I are called to commit ourselves unconditionally to the lifestyle of Christ before it is too late. We just commemorated All Saints Day and All Souls Day, reminding us of our own coming death, sooner or later.

As St. Ignatius warns us, Satan sends his numerous, ever-zealous cohorts “to trap men and women, first with the love of money (nearly always the first step) and tying them down with it. After that, they can be rather easily led to ambitioning, in the spirit of the new paganism, some form of control in positions of power, prestige, influence, command, or prolonged tenure of the same, and so on into the final depths of arrogant and disdainful self-centeredness.” Money and power in themselves are not evil, but are part of God’s creation. It is an inordinate, self-centered attachment to them that deviates one from the ways of Christ. This applies to all levels of society: the rich, the middle-class, and the poor.

On the other hand, Jesus calls each one of us, His disciples, to a life of spiritual detachment, whatever level of society I may belong to — rich, middle-class, or poor. Christ’s call affirms my radical poverty before God, my creaturehood and absolute belongingness to Him, leading me to inner freedom and disponibility before the Lord. What makes me surrender myself totally to Him is my awareness that He loves me totally. Yes, each one of us is the Beloved of God, and as a response, each one of us can decide to love Him in return, with all our mind, heart, and soul and love our neighbor (anyone and everyone) as we love ourselves (Mt. 22: 37-39; Mk. 12: 28-34; Lk. 10: 25-28).

Thus, I may be gifted by God in my education, profession, business, social status, or political position. These are to be used for love of God and neighbor. Such is the life of the Beloved. Am I willing to be loved and to love in this way?

The spiritual guru, Henri Nouwen, described the process of becoming the Beloved of God in the following, Eucharist-inspired way: to commit myself as chosen, blessed, broken, and given. To be chosen as the Beloved of God does not mean the exclusion of others. Each one of us is unique, and so each one is chosen in his/her uniqueness. No competition, but mutual compassion. Every person is the Beloved of God in his/her uniqueness. This leads us to the blessedness of each one. To speak well of the other is to affirm his/her original, unique goodness. Thus, to give a blessing is to call forth the other’s Belovedness. To bless and be blessed. Mutual blessedness.

But you and I, although chosen and blessed, are also broken, human as we are. These are our sufferings and pains, be they physical, psycho-emotional, spiritual, or all of them combined. And each one’s brokenness is just as unique as his/her chosenness and blessedness. The human way is to befriend our brokenness. In Nouwen’s own words:

“The deep truth is that human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it. The great secret of the spiritual life of the Beloved Sons and Daughters of God, is that everything we live, be it gladness or sadness, joy or pain, health or sickness, can be part of our journey toward the full realization of our humanity.”

The fullness of our humanity lies in the giving of ourselves to others. Remember the inspiring life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta? She was the icon of apostolic dedication and success in her long years of sacrificial work for the poor. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was hailed as the “Saint of the Gutters.” But in her private, personal life, she habitually suffered inner emptiness and spiritual desolation. In one of her letters to her spiritual confidant, she wrote: “Jesus has a very special love for you….But as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear the tongue moves in prayer but does not speak…I want you to pray for me that I let Him have a free hand.”

We know in faith that indeed, Mother Teresa was the Beloved of God, just as the human Christ, Son of Man, was. And so it is with you, and me, and every human person created by the ever-loving and compassionate God. Chosen, blessed, broken, given.

For our coming 2010 elections, let us keep imploring the Lord to lead us in choosing leaders who will surrender themselves to be the Beloveds of God, so that in turn, they would love God’s people in selfless service. Amen.