Simple Priorities

After a week of being pulled in a multitude of directions with a thousand and one "obligations," I thank God for a little respite today. Yesterday I almost killed myself trying to do so many things for so many people in 24 hours - cooking lunch for the warehouse ladies; driving my Mom to Tagaytay to take in some nature, buy flowers, pick up my Dad, eat bulalo and tawilis with the parents; barely making it to the last Mass of the day; and finally meeting up with Pedro III and Amado later in the evening for some long overdue catching-up. And even though the long goodbye stretched on as usual into the early morning hours, I still had writing and editing deadlines to tackle, and found myself working until almost 5 a.m. But God is good; I managed to get everything I "needed" to do done, even though I spent my entire Sunday doing what I actually needed to do, if you get my drift.

To be sure, I would not have traded the time I consider well-spent ("wasted" perhaps in the eyes of this world with warped priorities) making Rochelle's favorite palabok or leisurely walking through Sonya's Garden with my Mom or listening to my Dad laugh about his fellow Rotarians' antics. I would have preferred to forgo sleep altogether or even risk missing a work deadline if only to "waste" time with the Lord in morning prayer and at Mass, or discourse once more (after a long interregnum brought about by temporary relocation far away from Manila, law school exams, and other interruptions) with my favorite vampires, Bogart (Pedro III) and AG (Amado *bleep*), about anything and everything and anyone and everyone over a few beers. Perhaps it was because I chose the "better" alternatives the entire day and night of Sunday, that the Lord sustained me with enough strength and creative energy to write and edit articles for my high school's reunion programme, as well as edit CYA's newsletter, just in time for their Monday deadlines. Even though I ended up listening to AG's Babuyan adventures until past 2:30 a.m.!

Speaking of which, two "conversations" in the last 24 hours have gently reminded me of my readjusted priorities in the light of my new direction towards a more simple lifestyle. AG talked about the simple life of the sea; I told him about the simple life in the mountains he'll soon be calling home. Both places are far-removed from the complications of modern metropolitan life, which threaten, with increasingly tightening tentacles, to squeeze the spirit out of you. As I've already told some people, God's theme over the last Holy Week in a simple mountain town among simple folk was simplicity, and the joy of ridding ourselves from the complications of this world. I finished up typing the second part of Peter Kreeft's (man, one day I hope to shake this guy's hand!) chapter on simplicity today - yes, the Lord even gave me enough time to do that - and was struck once again by the power of the words that leapt out from the pages the first time I read them:

"All that stuff in the Sermon on the Mountain about living like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field did not come from some starry-eyed, mystic dreamer, but from the most realistic man who ever lived. Perhaps it would be a good idea to reread Matthew 6:24-34 with the challenging thought in mind: Do I really believe this? Or do I patronize Christ and 'reinterpret' his plain words as harmless exaggerations? Which is the more foolish dare, daring to live the way the designer of our lives told us to live, however radical it may seem to the world, or daring to live the opposite way in the hope that he may be wrong and we may be right? Is that a hope at all?

"I do not mean we should feel guilty about wealth, or that a rich Christian is a contradiction in terms. Jesus did not say 'blessed are the poor in pocket' but 'blessed are the poor in spirit,' i.e., in attitude. Blessed are the detached, the trusters, the nonworriers.

"They are the true realists, these simple people. For there really is only 'one thing needful' (unless Christ is a fool); therefore the realist is the one who seeks that one thing really needful, not the one who dissipates his loves and fears on millions of unneeded extras." (Peter Kreeft, Making Choices, 1990)

The second "conversation" was through a beautiful e-mail I received today from the equally beautiful Binx of Baguio (beautiful inside and out, I must say), my dear prayer partner. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd told her about my growing need for solitude and silence in my spiritual life...and found out today that I was talking to the right person (as usual! Soul sistah indeed :-) ). I'm sure she will not mind my sharing her stirring words of encouragement, which I know will touch more people just as they touched me, here:

"I never thought that you were anti-social in Kabayan. I truly understood how much you enjoyed being in solitude and just to bask in God's presence. I think it was Thomas Merton who said that we go and seek solitude not to run away from men but to find out how to serve them better. True solitude is the refuge of an individual who sincerely wants to commune with God. And false solitude is just that- a running away from something which is kinda self-serving. I have long understood that silence and solitude increases our compassion for others. It is only when we stop long enough and pray long enough to really 'see' the pain and hurt of others.

"As I was meditating on JPII's life- that was what struck me most- His prayer life was so rich that he could almost touch God and His prayer life truly enriched His Ministry. And his purity and wisdom is beyond compare. And that is why it is important for you to be disciplined in prayer because it is the best preparation for any ministry or apostolic task. Remember how Jesus always went away in prayer before His Ministry started, so is Paul. I think that it is true prayer that purifies our own motivations to serve, how God directs us in prayer to show us the best way to serve Him.

"It is funny how people tend to drown the poverty of their soul and spirit by too much noise. Or becoming a slave to work, to travel, to anything external to compensate for the poverty of their Spirit. And when dissatisfaction and restlessness comes in, they take it as a sign to externalize their activities more, instead of taking that as a signal that God is trying to get their attention. I have long experienced that there is a clamour for my soul to be quiet most especially when there is too much noise around me. And I always take that as a sign to go lock my door and converse with God in prayer."

Beautiful words from a beautiful soul. And she's my sistah ;-) I have more wise words on silence from Kreeft's simplicity chapter - which is probably going to be one of my semi-bibles from now on - but this entry is getting overly long and I think I need to chop it up and end right here. :-)