Medicine & Bandages, Plasters & Stitches

Once upon a time, teaching was a vocation; a special call to nurture, to impart, to build. Some might argue that it still is. And truly, it still is. In the real sense of what being a teacher ought to be, it is. When people choose this path as a response to an inner desire to form and mould. Not because of a lack of a better alternative income-source, bringing not with them a list of personal agendas to fulfil. I am blessed to know a good number who are truly concerned about their students. They hold true to the responsibility of their call.

Once upon a time, being a doctor was a vocation; a special call to heal, to nurse, to save. And again, it still is. Only when a doctor's heart has his patients at its core. Far more than monetary gains or recognition. When his heart seeks out the ways he may use his God-given talents to be God's healing touch to the sick and suffering. And I am extremely blessed to have a couple of genuine doctors caring for me. 

Once upon a time, a child would aspire to be a lawyer because he wants to be a voice for the voiceless, upholding justice and standing for righteousness. Not because he wants to make a statement about himself in his entrance into law school or the number of cases fought and won. Not because he wants to use this as a platform for self-glorification but to disarm the powerful and raise the lowly and oppressed. I have not met lawyers in their jobs but I know there must be many good ones out there. 

As we watch our world shift, values and motives seem to be turned inside out. 
Selflessness gives way to self-centredness.
Truth gives way to lies.
Sincerity gives way to hypocrisy.
Right is made wrong, and wrong is proclaimed as right. 
Love is termed stupidity, and self-preservation practical.
"No man is an island" gives way to individualism. 

Are we happier? More at peace? 
Are we building or are we destroying? 
Do we feel strengthened or do we feel eaten into? 
Do we feel nourished or do we feel taken advantage of?
Do we feel whole or broken? 

Do you, like me after a day's work, feel so full of angst and highly strung?  

I sat there before Mass began today, feeling the gratitude of being able to return after each day. To have someone I can return to. And not just anyone but a someone who will always welcome me with open arms regardless how his day went and how I have been that day. I have never quite saw him from this angle before. But for the fact that the day has been far more imperfect than I would have liked it to be, I felt anew that I have come, precisely, to seek his embrace not because I am victorious and virtuous but because I am in pieces, battered and bleeding, sinful and fallen. I have come because I am so desperate for healing. What he said is so true, that he has not come for the healthy but the sick. It isn't holy people who need God but those who are lacking and have desires to be filled.

And as I recounted the day, I deliberately focused on the moments I felt loved. I found many such moments. Much to my surprise. And so, as I was running after the healing embrace of God, little did I realise that throughout the day, I was already in that embrace. He had me surrounded by His love but I was too distracted to notice. Too caught up in my own emotions and busyness. 

What will I do without Him?
What will I be without Him who neutralises my emotions and returns to me my balance everyday?
How will I face the many people who seem to require much more love and patience than I have the capacity to give?

How about you?
How do you cope?
Who do you return to everyday?

‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’ (Jn 6:68-69)