A feeling of gratefulness to God came over me while we were on the way. I can finally able to serve the poor once more.
We arrived at a poor chapel filled with mothers and children in the slum area. Due to the rains and storms lately, many of them were sick. There were only the 3 of us giving the medicine to more than a hundred people. I was assigned to fill up the bottles the people brought. I filled them up with medicines for fever, cough, vitamins and asthma.
As I was filling the bottles and talking to the mothers, I was observing myself. I felt alive and free. I was amazed to what I was experiencing. After more than two hours we were finished.
On the way home I started to remember those people who said “The poor gave me more than I gave them.” After 3 years of serving them I finally understood it myself. The poor made me feel alive by giving purpose and meaning to my life.
But the most profound realization I had this morning is about freedom. The poor freed me from myself. When I was serving them I was not thinking of myself. I was giving all my attention to the person I am serving in front of me. For more than two hours, all my personal problems and issues were set aside. It felt like a burden was lifted up from my being. And that was when I had my “Aha” moment. I realized, the greatest freedom I can experience is freedom from myself. When I stop thinking of myself, my selfish whims and what I felt I lacked in life, and focus more on giving myself to others, that is the time I am truly free!
So I am more ever grateful to God and to His Poor for once again enriching and freeing me. The time, money and energy I gave to the poor cannot equate to what they have given me today.
I heard a priest once said, “True freedom is the freedom to Love everyone.”
No comments:
Post a Comment