Just the Way We Are

24^th Sunday in the Ordinary Time

September 15, 2013

Luke 15: 1-32

“It was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found (Luk 15:32).”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus brought into light the truth that often escapes our eyes: God is madly in love with each one of us. Among all His creations, He takes delight in us because He perceives His own reflection, the image and likeness of Himself. Like Himself, we are so lovable and adorable. One of my favorite songs is ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars, not only because it soothes my ears, but also bears a deep theological richness (I bet Bruno Mars would not even aware of this). In simple way, the song captures expression of God’s madness on us. Every time God sees us, He would probably say, “When I see your face there's not a thing that I would change 'cause you're amazing just the way you are.” God created us so amazing and precious, and it is just the way we are.

Regrettably, often we ourselves fail to discover this immense beauty and goodness. To make the story worse, some even relegate their fellowmen to mere things. In fact, the objectification of persons and trivialization of life are one of the worst sicknesses of humanity. People count as far as they offer something beneficial to the society. ‘Unproductive’ humans are burdensome and shall be disposed properly, just like other old and useless gadgets. Therefore, statistic s and numbers turn to be powerful tool to segregate and control living individuals. If the number of people is so huge and thus, no longer sustainable as well as creating headache for the some people, then reduce the numbers!

In his novel, “Night”, Elie Wiesel narrated his experience at Nazi German concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland, where allegedly one million people have been mercilessly murdered. After escaping the infamous gas chamber, he entered the labor camp. There, the camp officers would tattoo his left hand and place permanent number just where everybody could notice. He then wrote, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.” People become nameless number and just like other numbers, they can be easily subtracted from the computation. Bruno Mars would continue in theological discourse, “And it's so, it's so sad to think that she don't see what I see.” God is indeed saddened that we no longer able to see this most beautiful aspect of our humanity.

Yet, our story is not only series of tragic failures, but also story of struggle to defend the primacy of life and fight every form of injustice that distort our vision on life. Last third week of August 2013, the tropical storm ‘Maring’ hit hard Metro Manila and some other provinces in Luzon Island. The torrential rain would not stop for days and the rivers overflowed. People living at low-lying areas could not but take refuge. On morning of August 20, evacuees stood before our Sto. Domingo Church, where I stayed, and cried for help. We then opened the house of the Lord and transformed it into a temporary evacuation center. I was assigned to jot down the names of evacuees and make a crude statistics. We hosted more than 1,500 persons or around 350 families. These were a staggering number of people to take care of, and we simply did not have enough resources. Yet, the brothers and fellow volunteers refused to treat them as mere numbers, but we vowed to serve them as human being with dignity, even though they were little children, the infirmed and the elderly, and perhaps among them were drug addicts and fugitives. It was tiring and trying, but we believe everyone is precious and worth fighting for.

The good news is that we were not alone in this humble effort to help our neighbors and thus, show the world that indeed, life is priceless. God rejoices in each one of us. He never lost hope in the searching the lost sheep or in looking forward on the coming of his prodigal son, because every one of us is precious and amazing just the way we are.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP