What I am going to
write is based on my own experience. I was involved in the Parish
council for many years, five years as Education Committee chairman
and two years as Parish Council President. Added to this are my
experience at work of managing people under me and at the same time
being managed by people above me. I have experienced being a follower
and a leader.
As a follower, I
noticed and learned a lot of things that a leader should not do. And
as a leader, I wished a lot of things that should have been done by
followers. In any case, I would say that my experience in the parish
has given me a clearer view of Christian leadership and discipleship.
Let us talk about
Christian discipleship.
There is nothing
more frustrating than dealing with someone who thinks he knows
everything, or thinks he is God's gift to the community. Conflicts
always arise (sadly) in Christian communities if one person thinks he
has all the answers to the problems and forces his will on to others.
What makes it worse is if this is done in the name of God. It is
embarrassing to narrate this but I want to share this personal
experience as a lesson on Christian discipleship.
I was once that
kind of person. I thought I knew every answer to the problems in our
community such that I got into a very ugly argument with our parish
priest, and it was in front of the Parish Council. (I was not the
president of the council yet). I left the meeting that night very
angry and vowed that I will never ever attend any mass celebrated by
our parish priest.
The next day, as I
was going to work, I passed by our church and saw our priest
presiding over the mass. I did not go in. Instead, I went to another
church I frequently go to. I attended the mass there and during my
reflections, I had a conversation with the Lord.
The Lord asked me,
“Why are you not in your parish church?” I answered,
“Because I cannot accept the fact that the man presiding is a
priest.” I then felt the Lord tell me, “How can you
serve me if you are not humble enough to accept my priest? Do you not
know that he is ordained and tasked to do my work. If you cannot
accept him, how can you then accept me?”
To put a happy
ending to the story, I struggled with the Lord and finally went back
to our church. I did not know how to approach our parish priest,
maybe out of shame. I also knew he was mad at me. So when I arrived
and I saw him, I said, “Father, I want to confess my sins.”
If he would not accept me without anger then he had to accept me
because he was my minister. We were able to reconcile our differences
after that.
My point in
telling this story is to show how important it is to have a humble
attitude towards our pastors. Yes, they may be wrong or our ideas may
be better but they are still our pastors and as their sheep, we have
to bend and obey in trust that the Lord does his will through them.
Never mind if the idea is dumb as long as it is moral and legal, it
is worth doing. I am not saying that you should just keep quiet and
accept everything given you. You have to argue your point. But once
the decision is made, do not be like a child who pouts and goes on a
tantrum just because what he wanted was not followed. If that is your
attitude, I have one advice, “GROW UP”.
I think for us
laymen, Christian discipleship is very difficult, more difficult than
those in religious life. For them, they have taken vows of obedience
to their supervisors. For us, we are free to obey or not and pride
very often comes into play given that freedom. Pride has no place in
a community. And neither does it have a place in a Christian's life.
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