Posted by The WORD in other words by Frater Darwin Jaime SVD — Holy Spirit Novitiate Calapan City
Tuesday 3rd Week of Lent
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Life is a beautiful war. We experience victories and defeats one after another. God has placed us here to cultivate and prepare ourselves to win battles. We are born naked and weak, prone to mistakes, but despite these, we are helped up to rise again through the mercy of God and to continue to win the battles of life. Indeed, we are dust on the ground yet potential stars in heaven.
Let’s look at the context of today’s Gospel passage. During Jesus’ time, the rabbis would recommend that forgiveness for a repeated offense be extended not more than three times. But, Jesus’ recommendation goes beyond limits. Even if the offense has been repeatedly done, that person deserves to be forgiven.
In 2002, I was given the opportunity to be the Dean of Nueva Ecija Campus, where I honed my leadership and management skills. Then in 2005, I was promoted to be the Dean and HR Manager of my alma mater.
But some senior faculty members and heads were not happy with my promotion. I used to be their student, but I became their superior. Backbiting, gossiping, and crab mentality to destroy a person are some of the realities in the workplace. I suffered a lot because of the challenges in front of me, not because I could not fight or I did not know my job, but because the people whom I admired the most when I was their student were the ones who had been doing evil to me. They did everything to push me away and to make my life miserable.
I left my job and transferred to Baguio Campus as Academic Dean and stayed there for ten years. In 2014, because of mismanagement, my alma mater was shut down. At its final moments, I was invited to speak on their last Commencement Exercises as Guest of Honor and was conferred the Outstanding Alumnus Award. Despite all the hardships and challenges I had experienced, I have forgiven those who hurt me, and I have moved on with my life. I lifted everything to the Lord.
To end, I would like to share with you a quote, “Soft–hearted people are not naïve. They know what people have done to them, but they forgive and forgive because they have beautiful hearts.”
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