I had a chicken bone stuck down my throat a couple of nights
ago for I was talking and eating and not really paying attention to what I was
swallowing. By morning its presence was not so palpable but off I went to the
doctors to get a scope and X-ray done. In the midst of all this, I was praying and
I asked for the intercession of Saint Blaise, who was known for helping people
with objects stuck in their throats. As I shuttled from seeing the doctor to
X-ray and back, I could feel that there was no longer an obstruction, all that
was left was an abrasion caused by the bone being lodged there temporarily. When
I woke up this morning, even that had healed.
Lately, my most common source of sin has been caused by my
tongue. I use it too freely to criticize, scold, yell and speak harsh words. Of
course I am highly irritable and grouchy due to my inability to rest well at
night, and body parts that have been screaming in pain, but that doesn’t give
me license to let self-righteous anger take over every time. This form of anger
has become a habit, for it is a family sin, one I have learned only too well
from my paternal grandmother and my father. We love to play the blame game. But
I refuse to let it inhabit my psyche any longer so I have been seeking to
eradicate it although it has become that proverbial thorn in my side that may
not completely go away, but I will do whatever I can to minimize the harm it
can do.
P shared that he was a real terror in his younger days, but
when he learned that anger did not really solve problems, he stopped giving it
free reign. Looking at him today, no one would know he is hot-tempered for he
is placid and amiable in disposition. I must say, I am in equal parts
impressed, irritated and inspired. He makes it look so easy, but he has had
years of discipline.
So I take a leaf (or more) out of P’s book and it is about
accepting people for who they are, the good and the bad, the strengths and the
weaknesses – I need to love the whole package of any individual I encounter,
whether family member, friend or stranger. And I need to do this consistently,
day in, day out.
It is also about being proficient and flexible in each
encounter so as to be able to attenuate the poor responses that come from the
other’s (or others’) weaknesses and to encourage them to grow in their strengths.
When we attempt to make each encounter a good one, it will be life-giving for
both parties. We will both walk away from the encounter enriched. This calls
for divine wisdom, a wisdom that comes only if I walk closely with God all the
time.
It is so easy to fall away, this race we run of being
missionary disciples and it requires us to exercise a single-minded and indefatigable
faith. Just as the Father pursues us relentlessly in love, so must we pursue
Him relentlessly in response.
We cannot rest on our laurels, get complacent and fat, and
stop trying to be a work in progress. I need to constantly review how I did
every day and see where I have failed, and to try and do things better the next
day. Thus the practice of reflection with a spirit of self-improvement is key
to insight and clarity so as to enable us to come back onto the right path when
we all too often veer off-track.
I thank God for the way the chicken bone went down without
any need for intervention, and I am grateful for the intercession of Saint
Blaise who was a healer of both the body and the soul. He was someone people
sought not just for the physical or spiritual healing, but many were attracted
to him because he was virtuous and holy, and he inspired others just by being
who he was – a man of God, a man for God alone. May I grow each day to be more
like him.
