We Are What He Is

When Bro. J Yogawin gave the second talk of Feast Alabang’s Follow Francis, Follow Jesus series, he said that spiritual maturity is not equivalent to religious maturity. To put it bluntly, religious people are not necessarily good people.

The statement brought me back to a scene that took place some years ago.

I was in the office and it was the first hour of work. My boss had just arrived and as soon as she was settled in her room, she asked her personal assistant to play the CD that she had brought with her.

A few moments later, I was listening to a recording of the Holy Rosary. It was beautiful. The leader’s voice was gentle, and the prayer was set against soft and soothing music. I assumed that my boss was listening to it in the car (and probably praying along), on her way to work.

However, instead of being inspired to pray, I felt very awkward and uneasy. Soon, I began to feel annoyed.

The reason was that it was common knowledge in the office that my boss was in an adulterous relationship. The man she had been claiming as her own had a wife and children. Not only that, their relationship had been going on for more than four decades.

As the audio rosary went on, I felt so disgusted at such outright mockery of prayer that I wanted to just leave and take the rest of the day off.

In my head, the 80s satirical song by Yano was playing:

Banal na aso,

Santong kabayo,

Natatawa ako…

Today, they are no longer together. The man fell sick. It was a turning point for him and he decided to return to his family.

You Are Love

Bro J’s main message to everyone was, “You are love.” He explained that because God is love, and we are His sons and daughters, then we are what He is―love.

At the end of his talk, he gave this assignment: find the least of your brethren and love them the way Jesus loves them. He then instructed everyone to go around in the room and hug as many people as they could, but only for 10 seconds. After the exercise, he asked us, “How many people were you able to hug in that short amount of time―30? 20? 10? 5?”

We are all given just a lifetime to love.

I believe the man’s family understood these things fully. During his most difficult, most vulnerable moments, when his sickness had progressed severely, and he was carrying so much guilt for all the years of heartache he caused, they saw him as the least of their brethren.

His wife and his children did not judge him. For them, the past did not matter anymore because it was enough that he finally came home. Instead, they loved him as best as they could by caring for him, until the Lord finally called him home.