A PAST WORTH LOOKING INTO; A FUTURE WORTH AIMING FOR!
26th Sunday Year A
September 28, 2014
A PAST WORTH LOOKING INTO; A FUTURE WORTH AIMING FOR
They say every saint had a past and every sinner has a
future. Agree! St. Lorenzo Ruiz, for his glorious martyrdom in Japan,
originally did not go there to seek for that cruel death. He had other motives.
He had other plans. Not that were bad of themselves, but they definitely were
not what eventually he suffered and died for.
We all were children once upon a time. We all felt picked on
by our parents, who always seemed to have a ready command or a quick errand for
us children to do then. Who among us did not have a ready answer for either of
them, or both? “Why me?” “Not again!” “I am busy!” “I got tons of homework to
prepare for school!” What child did not answer thus, at least on a few
occasions: “Yes, Dad. Count on me. I will do it later,” and then went his/her
merry way playing games with neighborhood kids until he or she felt hungry?
What child here with us never ever had at least the urge to say: “No, I am not doing
that!”
Yes, we all experienced that one way or another. But let me
qualify that a bit. We also experienced having a change of heart, a change of
mind, a change of ways. In our worst moments, we answered “yes” to the command,
but never really complied … or complied begrudgingly … or ranted in a way
faintly similar to the Jews who complained: “The Lord’s way is not fair!”
Yes, after all these years as a priest, after so many years
as an educator, I have complained countless times to the Lord: “Why do evil
men’s ways prosper while all I do always in disappointment end?”
This is what I see on hindsight. But hindsight – that
capacity to look at the past – also leads to both insight and foresight! What
insight do I have today, now that I find common cause (and common complaint!)
with that anonymous guy that Ezekiel refers to in the first reading? After the
plaint came the realization born of the grace of insight: “If one turns from
the wickedness he has committed and does what is right and just, he shall
preserve his life.”
This is what I now see as precious insight … the exact same
insight that came to St. Paul, who, on hindsight, was really a cruel persecutor
in the past, but who found it in his heart to change his mind and change his
ways! This same Paul the former persecutor, now talks convincingly of things
that didn’t even cross his mind: love, compassion, mercy, joy, humility, and
self-depreciation for God’s sake.
I come from a big family. God knows how much help my parents
needed when we were all growing up. Each one of us felt picked on everyday as
there were countless errands to do, piles of clothes to wash, and mounds of
plates and trash to clean after. For not just a few times, I behaved like the
elder son, who said, “No,” but eventually did as told. For countless times, I
behaved like the younger one, who answered “yes,” but never got around to doing
what was asked of him.
The older one had hindsight and insight. He thought better
and thought well. And the thinking, reflecting process led him to foresight –
what we postmoderns now prefer to call as being “proactive.” He changed his
mind. And he changed his ways.
That, my dear friend, is what metanoia or conversion is all
about. It starts with insight – a change of mind born of a reflection of things
past. That change of mind leads to change of heart. And the rest, as they say,
is history!
I am no saint. Not yet. Not in my wildest dreams. But I am
called to be one somehow. But I need to do first things first: Look at the
past. Get into the business of serious hindsight. Find insight. Ever saint had
a past and every sinner has a future.
But in the meantime, the present calls for insight, and
today’s readings precisely give us precious tips on this regard. For those who
have both insight and foresight, it is well worth remembering this: “he shall
surely live; he shall not die.!
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