Here and Now

               While reading the book “Rediscover Catholicism” by Matthew Kelly, I pondered for quite a time on what he wrote which reads as follows:

            “It is for you now to find your place in the history of humanity.  Nobody can do it for you.  It is a work that will be left undone unless you do it yourself.  The world doesn’t need another Mother Teresa.  The Church doesn’t need another Francis of Assisi.  The world needs you.  Mother Teresa had a role to play in God’s plan and she played it.  Francis had a mission to fulfill in God’s plan and he fulfilled it.   Now it falls to you to find your role, your place.  Who will be next? You.  You will be next if you make yourself available to God. Find your place in salvation history.  Be a saint.  Be yourself.  Perfectly yourself.”

            One conviction that I have been sharing with others is that “everyone is unique.  In every person God has endowed on him something unique which makes him different from any other person.”

            It follows that if every person is unique then there must be something which he and he alone could do.  Reflecting on what Mr. Kelly has written, it dawns on me that this uniqueness of every person finds its fulfillment at the time and place of his existence in this world – in the HERE and NOW of his life.  Where a person is at this particular time in his life no one else can take his place.  He and he alone can respond to the particular situation where he is and at that moment in time.

            I recall the story of a little boy who saw a little hole from which water was flowing out from a dam into the city.  To stop the leakage he decided to cover the hole with his hand.  Night time came and no else was in sight to inform the authorities about this leakage.  So, he stayed put throughout the whole night with his hand covering the hole.  No one then was there to save the city from the flood waters coming from the dam.  He and he alone could have done it.

            This story makes me realize that, indeed, for everyone in this world, there is a time and place for him to respond to a particular challenge at a particular situation he is in.  His response could be from a motive of selfish interest or from an unselfish love for others.

            I do believe that God has created everyone out of love and that He expects everyone to manifest the goodness that was bestowed on him also out of love.  To love means to give of what we have for the sake of others.  It is other-oriented and not self-oriented.

            Hence, everyone’s uniqueness is tested in the HERE and NOW, at the time and place of one’s life in this world where there is no one else but “YOU” to respond to a particular challenge.

By: Buddy Cagurangan

September 16, 2012