We have reached the fag end of the academic year and I know very well that quite a few of the Brothers have a lot of grudge against me for being 'cruel' and 'strict' with them. However, none can accuse me of being partial or having favoured some above the rest. So in that sense, most of them feel I have been quite hard on them. And indeed I have been!
This evening as I spent the adoration thanking the Lord for all that He has done for me, I asked him how did He manage the vast majority of people whom He encountered during his life time here on earth? Especially those who detested the very sight of him? I 'know' that He loved them too. But surely He did not expect to change everyone with his 'love' knowing too well that He would not be around for eternity, waiting for love to change the hearts of people. He just had three years of public life ... and yet He loved!
Perhaps His primary force was love but expressed in different forms: a stern look at Peter in Gethsamene, a smile to a mob victim, silent presence with a sinner, the crack of a whip in the 'market' temple, an extended hand to a paralytic, a gentle touch to the leper... So I ask myself, have I really loved the Brothers or have I only been a task master, exacting from them their best just for the sake of it, duty for duty sake?
No comments:
Post a Comment