True greatness

Wednesday,
February 27, 2019
Gospel: Mark 9:34-40

Teacher,” john said, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one of us. “Do not stop them” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against us is for us.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Here is Sa-eh Poh’s joke of the day: AMO: Inday, sino yong lalaking nakapasok sa bahay? MAID: Aba’y ewan ko po Sir. Hindi po ako nagpapapasok sa bahay ng mga hindi nyo ka-anu-ano! AMO: niyakap mo pa nga yong tao eh…. MAID: Kung nakita nyo ngang kayakap ko, Sir, wala kayong dapat ipangamba. ‘Ika nga “whoever is not against us is for us”.

Today’s Gospel reading is a lesson on synergy. The little good deeds of people of good will add up to create a strong foundation for God’s kingdom on earth. Steven Covey devotes so many pages about synergy in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. In a nutshell synergy according to him is “one plus one equals three”. When people work together for a common goal there is a special added force that will animate each one thus bringing forth more than the sum of their individual fruits if they were to work individually. This is what a Protestant author came up. Jesus already hinted to this idea when he said, “Where two or more come together in my name I am there with them”. Jesus is that added force when we work in synergy.

Pride spoils synergy. Jesus does not want to have anything to do with pride. When proud people work even as a team Jesus will leave them as they are. That is why there is more chance for the devil to come in and throw the proverbial monkey wrench at the job or activity or project of proud people. Pride has only one space for letter “I” at its center. With many proud people seeking central positions in a project, such project is doomed from the start.

Pride could have crept in among the disciples of Jesus when they began harping at others not belonging to their group who were also performing similar good deeds. Our premise about pride has Biblical basis. Weren’t they caught by Jesus arguing about who among them was the greatest? Didn’t James and John ask Jesus for reserved seats in heaven? Propelled perhaps by the same inordinate drive they wanted to stop other people who were doing good. But Jesus was categorical in his pronouncement. He said, He who is not against us is with us”.

Pride begets envy. Envy ravages synergy. Incidentally all letters comprising the word “envy” are contained in the word “synergy” except the letter “v”. If this letter stands for vanity then we are closest to the concept of selflessness as pre-requisite to a successful synergy. There is no place for vanity in synergy but only selflessness. The work of salvation is fruit of synergy between Father and Son. The resulting added force is the Holy Spirit which also has no beginning and no end. There is no vanity in them but only love. That is why the defining identity of God is Love..

When the maid in our introductory story allowed his boyfriend into the house it was not because of love as understood in the context of divine synergy. There are four levels of love. The love used to describe God is love’s most pristine form. It follows then that the purer the love the stronger the synergy. This is probably the reason why the marching order for all Christians is to love one another with the highest form of love. This creates a very strong synergy potent enough to build God’s kingdom on earth. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.