Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Pick it up By Rene Lizada Papa's Table
"Whenever you fall, pick something up." -- Oswald Avery
SAINT Ignatius was a soldier. One day, he got hurt by a cannonball, I think. And he had to rest and recuperate. Now if you have a war wound caused by a cannonball, I guess it must be a really nasty wound and it would take sometime to heal.
So there he was, Saint Ignatius, in bed, restless and hurting. With nothing else to do he asked for reading material. If I am not mistaken he asked for books about chivalry. Instead he got books on the lives of Christ and the saints.
He began to read the books and slowly a transformation happened. From the hellish condition of a cannonball wound he wound up with a life-changing event.
Saint Francis of Assisi was the son of rich merchant. He became the disappointment of his parents because he refused to have anything to do with the business. In fact in one incident he sold all his clothes, gave all his money to charity and ran naked.
His friends chided him and his father was furious. But he was not to be denied. So he ran away from his home and joined the army. But a vision made him go back to Assisi. He tried to find enlightenment and he worked with the lepers. One day while coming home from Rome he had a vision and from there his transformation began.
All of us have our cannonballs. All of us have our rejections. All of us have fallen on our knees with nothing but the reality of our lives crashing down by the weight of circumstances and events that seem unjust, unfair and undeserved.
And it is easy, so easy to be bitter and angry and mad about what has happened. And when we are down and out we have two choices, to stay down or to stand up.
And if we decide to stand up we again have two choices. What do we pick up when we stand. What do we choose to pick up when we stand.
I can sometimes Saint Francis in my head. (He is my favorite saint!) I mean here he is with the world in his palm, he could have had anything and yet he chose a life of poverty and humility. Instead of having a life of luxury he chooses to be a beggar. And then a crisis hits him and his faith is tested. And from out of the swirling and confused darkness how does he emerge?
With a conviction so strong that he changed not only himself but also the lives of millions of people. No one chooses to fall deliberately but one chooses to stand with a choice. And Francis chose to follow his heart. Because of his fall, he rose. Because he decided to pick up the right things.
Now what about us? We have fallen so many times. I have. But there are slips and there are falls. Slips are minor things but falls can be major events. I am sure most of us have fallen. I know that most of us have been wounded by cannonballs of different sorts.
Cannonballs of injustice, betrayal, deceit, hypocrisy, lies and other undeserved things. But how have we risen from them? How have we acted upon these things? And what have picked up? Are they shards? Shrapnels?
There are so many ways in which we can react to a failed marriage, a bankrupt business, an unjust accusation, a deliberate putdown, a sickness, a failure, a broken home and a shattered dream.
Life is not the way we want it sometimes. In fact life is unfair, painful and hard. It is how we accept those things and how we pick up the pieces.
Last week I had a conversation with someone who was the recipient of a bum deal. She told me how pained and betrayed she was. How inhuman and unfair was her treatment. She was close to tears when she was relating her experience. I was listening to her quietly and then she said something. "Pero alam mo Rene, the Lord of Justice is on my side and He will never abandon me."
She picked up the right piece. She fell and when she stood, she was stronger than ever.
We all have the power of choice. We are all products of the choices we make. Life may be a challenge and it is how we face the challenges that will make or break us as persons.
Saint Ignatius could have wallowed in pity. Saint Francis could have taken the easier path.
But they knew in their hearts that they only way that their hearts would come to full being was to acknowledge the truth about themselves.
It is not a question of falling. It is a matter of rising from the dust that makes a person.
