Sunday, March 30, 2008 Luab: A pearl of great price By Evelyn R. Luab light sunday
UP at the Holy Family Retreat House, two questions were presented to us by Father Noel Gartlan, which helped us change the direction of our lives:
1. What do I need conversion from?
2. What do I need conversion to?
I’m very sure that the answers to these questions would vary. However, I think common to many of us are my answers.
I believe I need conversion from too much immersion in the material world. I seem to be doing so many things at the same time. Aren’t most of us? We even catch ourselves in the midst of repainting an old house, or going after termites with a vengeance, or solving the plumbing system while running an office and taking care of the household. How’s that for being superwomen?
Taking care of our health sometimes is not even an option. A headache is nothing to be alarmed at. Malaise or fatigue is madala ra og masahe (can be alleviated by a massage). An executive panel? Unya ra (later).
Sounds familiar? What do we need conversion for? My answers to this was: complete trust in God, bowing to His will while doing the best we can, minus the eternal struggle to be perfect in the eyes of man. It is easy to say the words: “I trust in you because I believe in your great love for me.” And surprisingly we convince ourselves with: “Oh yes, I do trust in God.” Yet most of the time, we want to be in control of things.
For example, days before a scheduled departure for abroad, we prepare so many things. We pack almost everything and prepare even the coins in the currency of whatever country we are visiting. We even tie ribbons on our luggage to make sure we can easily pick it off the carousel. We double-check our hotel reservations, transport schedules, itineraries etc. So? In the midst of all these flurries, do we stop to think of an ever-loving Father who watches over us? To quote my four-year-old grandson: “I don’t think so!”
It is good always to go into a silence of introspection to discover how we can be a pearl of great price.
It had to take the loss of someone I loved very much before I discovered, and am still rediscovering, that there exists a person in all of us who can in all humility plead, “I am not perfect and I do not wish to be!”
I am nothing and it is through God’s love and grace that I exist. I am fully aware of the joy and beauty of life. It moves me just to see a Philippine dove (tukmo) waddling on the pavement at the back of the retreat house. It is with all exuberance and enthusiasm that I respond to a grand daughter saying, “Look Lola, a beautiful rainbow.” Seeing a beautiful cattleya in someone’s living room tells me that there is beauty in almost everything we see.
Responding with compassion and understanding while looking into the eyes of a desperate neighbor who needs something we can provide do make us gems. Even just saying okay to the small Japanese Spitz, whose soulful eyes beg to go out to the garden, does make us pearls.
Recognizing our worth is the first step in being aware of the price we set on ourselves.
We are men and women of God. It is good to belong to a community that believes in “love of neighbor.”
Loving oneself and being able to grasp little moments and simple joys go a long way in the making of this pearl.
Seeing the good in your employees, putting yourself in their shoes before exploding at a fiasco and forgiving the mess that sometimes falls into our laps are part of the making of this pearl.
While it is true that pearls are hard to find, the other part of the truth is that pearls do exist and they still keep on coming.
So, are you the pearl a trader who would sell everything that he owns just to be able to have you?
