Lord, We Have Left Everything.
Peter says "Lord, we have left everything and followed you". And Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."
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| Religious Profession is my commitment to God! - Art. |
I would like to give a personal reflection of my blessings as a priest. I speak only for myself. People always say to me "I will pray that you will persevere in your vocation because religious life is a life of sacrifice". Then I tell them "what sacrifice? I have so much joy being a religious".
Why do they think that way? I guess they think about the difficulties of the three vows that the religious takes, poverty, obedience and especially the vow for celibacy. Let's go over it...When they talk of sacrifice, maybe they think of the vow of poverty or simplicity. But that is no problem with me because personally my needs are simple. I don't need a mansion or lands or lots of money - I am provided for all of my needs and live better than most people. I don't even wish for a car (transportation is so easy). I had one when I lived in the US but a car there is necessity. I don't wish for branded clothes (look how simple I dress) or expensive electronic gadgets. My old laptop was 15 years old, until my choir members in the US saw it and wanted to give me a new one. Even then I told them not to give the high end latest or most expensive - just a modest one where I can do my documents, email, social communication. But people still give me gifts, tons of clothes, shoes, stuff and money and I just give them away. I have more than enough. So poverty is not a life of sacrifice for me. Well of course if your needs are a lot and expensive, then maybe the vow of poverty will be a sacrifice.
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There are different reasons why man can't marry some, because they were born that way others, because men made them that way others because of the Kingdom of Heaven Let him who can accept this teaching do so. Mt 19,12. |
But maybe people think of the tasks associated with being a priest in the ministry: waking up in the middle of the night to give a sacrament of the sick, waking up early for the first mass of the day, walking to the barrios to say mass, working with lots of people, many meetings, etc. I have no problem with that either. When I got ordained and committed myself as a priest, I promised to serve God's people. Yes the tasks may be tiring and sometimes challenging but it is a joy.
Well, obedience will be a sacrifice to you if you are choosy with the place and the people you want to work with. It will be a sacrifice if you are lazy and want only the easy life. A sacrifice if you don't know how to deal with people or be a leader. Or a sacrifice if you have authority issues.
Thirdly, maybe the sacrifice the people refer to is the vow of consecrated celibacy - not giving your heart to just one person, not having your own family. Again, I have no problem with that. When I took my vows as an MSC, I told God, I am yours. My heart is yours. And instead of the vow for celibacy becoming a sacrifice, it resulted in a hundredfold joy. How?
As my favourite poem goes "Being an MSC, ordained as a priest, to be a member of each family, yet belonging to none"
I may have no family but everybody is my family. Everyone is my mother, father, brother, sister. You brothers, know that in your own experience in your immersion or exposure. You got many adopted fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters. I may have no children but every child is my child, I may not have a home but every home is my home and I'm welcome everywhere. I am a part of their joy (baptism, marriage), a part of their grief (sick, dead).
Since I don't belong to anybody, I belong to everybody. My heart may not belong to one person but I am in everybody's heart. I have lots of friends. Wherever I go, in places I had worked both in the Philippines and US, I am hardly home. There is invitation of friends for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night Starbucks, practically every day. I get picked up in the airport, picked up in the rectory and driven back to the airport. In Riverside, the refrigerator is always filled with food, even in Chevalier Home - given by people. It is an inclusive family to all.
I enjoy living in community for my social needs, I enjoy close friends for my emotional needs. So where is the sacrifice? None but only joy and blessings of the love of the people, families, brothers and sisters.
Looking at it in the different perspective, I think that the blessings that the Lord promised to those who gave up everything for him is the gift of FREEDOM. The vow of poverty gave me the freedom of simplicity and freedom from materialism. The vow of obedience gave me the freedom from my PRIDE, freedom from wanting only to do my will. The vow of consecrated celibacy gave me the freedom of an UNDIVIDED heart, a heart totally for God and his people.
I can talk endlessly about the blessings that God has blessed those who have given up everything, especially me. There is nothing more I could wish for. I am above 50 years a religious, 45 years a priest but still get excited to say mass, to give homily, to serve at a funeral, a baptism, a wedding. I hope you have the same joy now or when you are about to reach the last breath, you can still say the same.
"The Lord has done great things for me...I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you..."
Yes...I have left everything to follow you, yet God has given all of his for me. Amen.
Lord, Here I am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmNOwgOt8lg
Religious profession reflection, It's a joy and never be a sacrifice!
Art Mateo, MSC.
(Edited by: Joseph Vương, MSC)
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