Joe arrives at the boundary of a
province on his motorized vehicle with a huge bag over his shoulder. A police
officer stops him and asks: “What is in the bag?” “Sir, it is only sand,” he
replies. “Sand? We will just see about that –get off the vehicle!” The police
takes the bag, rips it open, empties it out and finds nothing in it except
sand. Detaining Joe overnight, the sand is analysed only to find that it is
simply sand. Joe is released, the sand is put into a new bag and placed on Joe’s
shoulders, and he proceeds to his destination riding his motorized vehicle. For
almost every day, same thing happens until one day, the police confronts him to
tell the truth about smuggling. “I swear that I shall do you no harm, just tell
me what you have been smuggling?” the officer asks. Joe smiles and replies: “A
motorized vehicle…”
My dear friends in Christ, the officer
in the story has messed up because he has missed what he is really trying to
search out. It is necessary therefore to recognize what is coming and identify
what one expects to find or else he or she will be unable to welcome it. Such
happened to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was mistreated if not maltreated
because many did not recognize him as Elijah, as a prophet sent to prepare the
way of the Lord. In our Gospel, (Matthew 17: 9-13) Jesus said, “I tell you that
Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever
they pleased.” From these words of Jesus, we are made aware how our knowledge
of the person affects our behavior or attitude towards him or her. If only we
recognize that every person we meet is sent by God to prepare the way of the
Lord for us, then we can treat him or her the way God wants us to treat him or
her. If we know the person we meet could bring us closer to God, we cannot
ignore him or her. He or she deserves our warm welcome.
To end, I remember in one famous
restaurant in Kalibo, Aklan, I was falling in line waiting for my turn to be
called by a McDonald’s crew member. It so happened that one of its managers asked
the crew to step aside and made himself the one to receive my order. So I ordered
a value meal and then I asked him something about their other food menu. I do
not know if he had a bad day but twice did he show me an ill-mannered gesture
with his pouting face. I was not yet finished with my order but he interrupted by
telling me how much should I pay him for the value meal. So I just paid him and
grabbed a table where I ate my meal. To be honest, I was angry while eating my
value meal. I felt I do not deserve to be treated in an impolite manner by a
manager of one of my most favourite fast food restaurant chains. So I called up
my friend from Makati who was also a manager in one of the McDonald’s outlets
in Metro Manila and told her about the incident. She told me she could help me
report it to the restaurant manager because such a bad attitude of a manager could
taint McDonald’s goodwill. But I decided not to report the incident and forget
everything about it. I did not want the manager to lose his job just because of
me. I also realized that I often did the same thing to others. Some people who tried
looking for a priest and found me, they saw me as snobbish and arrogant. I acted
as if I had a bad day while showing them my pouting face. I failed to think
that my actuations could taint the gift of priesthood in me. I caused others to
fail to welcome Jesus because of my bad attitude which affects my priestly
ministry. If only I have always the knowledge to acknowledge that people who
approach a priest like me are sent by God, I can be patient in dealing with
them. So today, I pray for the grace of God to be conscious and aware that every
person I meet can bring me closer to Jesus and vice-versa. I also ask all of
you to remind each one of us here to be careful on how we treat people starting today. Amen.
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