Lenten Reflection: Ease in the Uneasy
12 Apr 2025 | Office for Mission and Identity (OMI)
No person would ever consciously choose discomfort. If we had our way, we would want relaxation, security and tranquility. But what makes us feel uncomfortable often tells us something about ourself. And what disturbs us offers an insight on what is important for us and what we hold dear. There may be ease in what’s uneasy for it reveals where our heart lies, what we treasure and who we are.
What makes you uneasy? What discomforts are you willing and unwilling to endure? What disturbs you? Allowing ourself these questions invites a different kind of self-awareness. The invitation may not be to avoid the answers for there is gift in allowing ourself to be moved every now and then. In fact, we should be bothered if we are not bothered by anything, or by certain things that ought to go against our better sense as persons.
Holy Week and the passion of Jesus present a disturbance. On a practical view, these days take us away from our routine when work and regular activities are suspended. On a deeper note, it shakes, or it should shake, us out of the belief that things must remain just as they are because Christ has shown us that there can be more. We are persons meant to go towards salvation and light. We are enlightened so that we can find discomfort in the darkness of drawing away from what’s good, what’s true and what’s God’s. We are God’s such that we must be uneasy with anything that’s less than or not of love.
Walang taong naghahangad ng paghihirap. Kung pamimiliin tayo, nanaisin natin ang pagiging maalwan, tiwasay at payapa. Subalit iyong nakapagpapaligalig sa atin ay kadalasang may tinutukoy tungkol sa ating sarili. At nagdudulot ng saloobin sa kung ano ang mahalaga at malapit sa atin iyong bumabagabag sa ating kalooban. May ginhawa sa kawalan ng ginhawa sapagkat nabubunyag nito nasaan ang ating puso, ano ang iniingatan natin at sino tayo.
Ano ang hindi nakagpapalagay sa iyo? Anong mga pagpapasakit ang kaya o hindi mo kayang tiisin? Ano ang bumabagabag sa puso mo? Nag-aanyaya ng kakaibang uri ng pagkilala sa sarili itong mga tanong. At ang paanyaya ay hindi upang iwasan ang mga sagot sapagkat may biyaya ang hayaan ang sariling mapukaw paminsan-minsan. Katunayan, nararapat tayong mag-alala kung hindi tayo nag-aalala sa kahit ano, o sa mga bagay na lumalabag sa ating mas mabuting diwa bilang tao.
Naghahain ng pagkabagabag itong Mahal na Araw at ang pagdurusa ni Hesus. Sa praktikal na pananaw, iniiba nito ang ating nakasanayan dahil sa walang trabaho at karaniwang mga gawain. Sa mas malalim na pagtingin, inaalog, o dapat maalog, nito ang ating paniniwala na wala ng paglago ang mga bagay-bagay sapagkat ipinamalas ni Kristo na mayroon pang higit. Tayo ay mga nilalang na nakalaang tumungo sa kaligtasan at liwanag. Naliwanagan tayo upang mabagabag sa karimlan na naglalayo sa atin sa kung anong mabuti, kung anong tunay at kung ano ang panig ng Diyos. Nasa panig tayo ng Diyos kung kaya dapat hindi tayo mapanatag sa anumang nagkukulang o hindi mula sa pag-ibig.
#ateneoishome #aihlentenreflections
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