THE WILL OF THE ONE WHO SENT ME

 

Many years ago, as a young priest working in the seminary, part of my daily duties was to work with the boys in the farm. That meant planting, weeding, watering and harvesting, depending on the time of year. We had a good, old reliable tractor and a not so reliable carabao, who preferred to wallow more in the mud than obey the orders of his caretaker. He had a favorite shady spot on campus and, to temper his self-willed and recalcitrant ways, he had to be tethered by the nose.

But he would have none of it. He thrashed about and protested and pulled with his might away from the leash that limited his forays in the 15-hectare campus. This, the carabao did, until the inevitable happened. His nose got frayed with all his pulling and protesting. He freed himself eventually, at the cost of a deformed and bloody nose.

For us seminary formators, he instantly became the icon and perfect example of disobedience to the superiors’ will.

Today, we have the perfect icon and example of its opposite — obedience to the will of the Father. St. Paul puts it nicely thus: “usque ad mortem.” He was obedient all the way up to death. Yesterday, we reflected on the gift and mystery of the Eucharist. Christ is the “bread come down from heaven.” I have it on Paul’s authority that “he shed off everything that is divine and took on the nature of a slave.” This is what coming down from heaven boils down to: humility and utter obedience to God’s will.

It is hard to obey. Take it from that hapless carabao who did not want to be tethered. But we don’t need the lesson of a non-rational animal to teach us this. We know from experience that it is difficult to be doing the will of someone other than ourselves. It is always better to do what suits us, what pleases us, what seems rewarding for us.

But the lesson of the “bread come down from heaven” is unmistakably clear. He came not to do His own will but “the will of the One who sent Him.”Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Do I find it easy or difficult to obey someone’s will other than my own, especially when it does not suit or please me?

 

Give me a heart that is obedient to Your will, Lord.

 

St. Walbert, pray for us.