MattAndJojang's Blog

Photo: David Shield/Flickr

Riven means broken, it means shattered or wounded or unhealed, and I think that notion is very important to me and my notion of God and of religion: that we are broken creatures, very broken creatures. And I don’t think of God as necessarily healing that brokenness as much as participating in it.

~ Christian Wiman

Photo: selvin/flickr

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I had folks coming to me, of course, who wanted to be helpful, and sadly, many of them weren’t. These were the people who would say, ‘Gosh, Parker, why are you sitting in here being depressed? It’s a beautiful day outside. Go, you know, feel the sunshine and smell the flowers.’ And that, of course, leaves a depressed person even more depressed, because while you know intellectually that it’s sunny out and that the flowers are lovely and fragrant, you can’t really feel any of that in your body, which is dead in a sensory way.

There was this one friend who came to me, after asking permission to do so, every afternoon about four o’clock, sat me down in a chair in the living room, took off my shoes and socks and massaged my feet. He hardly ever said anything. He was a Quaker elder. Somehow, he found the one place in my body, namely the soles of my feet, where I could experience some sort of connection to another human being. And the act of massaging just, you know, in a way that I really don’t have words for, kept me connected with the human race.

And it became for me a metaphor of the kind of community we need to extend to people who are suffering in this way, neither invasive of the mystery nor evasive of the suffering but is willing to hold people in a space, a sacred space of relationship, where somehow this person who is on the dark side of the moon can get a little confidence that they can come around to the other side.

- Parker Palmer

This TEDtalk by branding guru Stacey Kramer is three minutes long and inspirational in its brevity and its punch. Nobody wishes for adversity but sometimes it’s a profound teacher.

Photo: Hugo Infante/Government of Chile

Like millions, perhaps billions, my eyes were glued to the screen as the rescue capsule brought the first Chilean miner to the surface to see his wife and children for the first time in 69 days.

In spite of all the media attention and the emotionally charged atmosphere, what really struck me was something I did not expect to see. When the first rescue worker descended the shaft and emerged from the capsule to greet the 33 trapped men, I was floored by how disciplined, organized, strong, and in good spirits the miners appeared to be. Every single one of them.

And no, they weren’t just putting on a show for the cameras. After 69 days trapped in that hell-hole, I seriously doubt that was even possible.

Don’t forget, not only were these men trapped under a half mile of rock in 90+ degree heat for more than two months, but for the first 17 days after the mine collapsed, they subsisted on just two days of food and water without a hint that anyone even suspected they had survived the cave-in.

But they organized, supported each other, and in my mind, demonstrated the very best of what the human race is capable of doing under extremely challenging conditions. Here are 4 leadership lessons we can all learn from these 33 extraordinary men:

1. Humans really are at their best under extreme adversity. We need look no further than the poise and control of all those miners when they greeted the first person they’d set eyes on in 69 days to know that humans have a surprising ability to pull together and do amazing things under extraordinarily challenging conditions. Even in business, challenges bring out the best in us.
2. Leadership, management, and organization are not just business concepts. They’re human concepts, terms that attempt to capture how men and women uniquely organize in groups or teams to take on extraordinary challenges, even the chaos of the physical world. We attempt to replicate these concepts in the business world, but they occurred first in nature.
3. Embracing emotion aids survival. All the hugging, kissing, and crying by almost everyone present throughout the ordeal, including Chile’s president and the rescue workers, wasn’t unique to this extraordinary event. I’ve spent time in South America, including Chile, and the people are very open, comfortable, and in touch with their emotions. I think that contributed to the miner’s survival. Feelings are our warning and guidance systems. I wonder if corporate America’s outwardly stoic nature, especially with respect to emotion, is success-limiting behavior.
4. Democratic organizations or “social collectives” where everyone has a voice are inherently problematic. Not to mention they would fall completely apart in times of crisis, which all companies face. Had it been every man for himself instead of shift leader Luis Urzua (pictured with Chile President Sebastian Pinera) taking control, the miners would never have survived. As Jena McGregor explains in her Washington Post column:

“Immediately after the miners became trapped, Urzua reportedly got all of them to share in the sacrifice by rationing their two-day supply of food to last 17 days–when they were finally discovered–and to eat their food together at the same time. He crafted a disciplined structure to their subterranean lives, setting up orderly work shifts and creating a map of the miners’ topography to help rescuers. And he appealed to his compatriots’ emotional needs, encouraging miners to talk on camera to their families, serving as a “calming” presence …”

Bottom line: While not a “leadership lesson” per se, I’d be remiss if I didn’t call attention to the flawless execution of every stage of the rescue operation. It was truly impressive. And you know what? Not only did I find this entire experience inspiring, but knowing that there are unheralded leaders like Urzua scattered around the globe fills me with hope and optimism for all of us.

- Source: bnet.com

MIAMI — Martine Jeudi held photos of her aunt and other relatives in her hand at a Miami church Jan. 13 as she prayed for victims of the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12 and devastated areas of Port-au-Prince, the capital.

“My aunt was killed,” said Jeudi, 36, who came from Hollywood to attend a memorial prayer service at Notre Dame D’Haiti Church. “My other relatives are missing. The building (where they lived) was destroyed.”

She was one of hundreds of Haitian-Americans whose relatives were killed or missing in Haiti.

Fr. Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor, called the earthquake the darkest moment in that country’s history.

“Nobody foresaw this,” he said in impassioned remarks at the service. “God and nature surprised us. God reminded us that something must be done. Haiti needs more than food and water. We need substantial change in Haiti.”

Jean-Mary told the congregation to make a commitment to what is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

“I don’t want you to come to church and cry,” he said. “I want you to make a commitment so that Haiti can stand on its feet. Today, many of you are wondering where your loved ones are in Haiti. But, how many times did you contact them? You know how hard life is in Haiti.”

Jean-Mary said that the death of their fellow brothers and sisters was not a defeat.

“The light of God will continue to shine on Haiti,” he said. “We are here to show our solidarity and our commitment to Haiti. We are here to be a light in the darkness.”

The emotional aftershocks of the quake were being felt by south Florida’s large community of Haitian immigrants, who anxiously waited to hear about the fate of loved ones.

Marie Claire Kernizan was talking to her husband in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit.

“He told me, ‘Oh, oh, oh, oh,’ and after that, no communication,” said the secretary at St. Mary Cathedral School in Miami.

Seven hours later, she managed to speak with him for about three minutes on his cell phone, before communications were cut off again.

“It’s a miracle,” said Kernizan, who unlike many others in south Florida, knew her husband was all right even though their house was “a little bit damaged.”

But “I haven’t heard from my mother and my brother who live in Petionville,” Kernizan added. Petionville is a suburb built on the hills above the Haitian capital.

At St. Mary Cathedral School, most of the 380 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade are of Haitian descent. They gathered for Mass Jan. 13 to pray for strength, to pray for their loved ones, and to pray for those who will be helping with rescue and relief efforts.

“Almost every child has relatives over there,” said Sister Jane Stoecker, a Sister of St. Joseph and the school’s principal. “It’s been very sad. They can’t reach them.”

“People are very scared. That’s very natural,” said Msgr. Terence Hogan, rector of the cathedral.

Using language they could understand, he told the schoolchildren that “nature sometimes brings earthquakes” and if the earthquake is really big “the walls cannot stand up” and people are hurt or killed.

“Many of your relatives, many of your friends are going to suffer greatly,” Hogan said. But he reminded the children that no matter what happens here on earth, “Jesus is right here in our midst. He is our hope and he is our salvation.”

He urged them to do two things: Pray for the victims and their rescuers, and “be very generous” when donations are called for. “Whatever it is you have to give, whether it’s a little bit of money or a jacket, be ready to do that.”

Speaking after Mass, Hogan told the Florida Catholic, Miami’s archdiocesan newspaper, that he had no doubt Miami’s Haitian community would come together to help the earthquake victims.

“They’re very willing to help one another. That’s one of the beautiful things about the Haitian community,” he said.

He added that he could see, in the faces of the older children, “that they were concerned. They’re wondering about their relatives. They don’t know what’s happening.”

- Source: ncronline.org

Note:

Let us keep the victims of the earthquake in Haiti in our thoughts and prayers. Also, let us do what we can to help them.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

- Rumi

Among the species in our planet only human beings have the ability to ask questions.

We question when we suffer.

We question when we lose our jobs. We question when our businesses go bankrupt. We question when our relationships are broken. We question when we become critically ill. We question when we mourn the death of a loved one.

We question and ask God: “Lord, why do we suffer?” And there seems no forthcoming answer. God seems to be distant. God seems to be silent.

But the truth of the matter is: God answers us. His answer- Jesus hanging on the cross.

When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush he asked God: “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘ The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, ‘ and they ask me,’ What is his name? ‘ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses: “Ehye Asher Ehye” – later translated as Yahweh – which means: “I am who I am.”

Yes, he is the Great “I am” who promised us: “I am with you always.” Yet he is not only the God who promised us to accompany us through the twists and turns of the journey of life; but he is also the God who took upon himself our pains and sorrows – to teach us that faith does not mean mean believing “because of” but faith means believing “inspite of.”

Faith does not mean believing because things turn out well in our life. Faith means believing inspite of the fact that things do not turn out well in our lives. Faith means believing inspite of the fact that we experience pain, sorrows, and even tragedy in life.

“It is finished.” As God completes his work of redemption through the sufferings and death of Jesus, we contemplate  the limp, lifeless, and bruised body of Jesus remembering that he suffered to give meaning to our sufferings.

As the prophet Isaiah says: “With his stripes we are healed.”

- Matt

Today is the death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino. To honor him, we posted an excerpt of his letter written to Sen. Soc Rodrigo from his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio last June 19, 1973.

The mysteries started me on my meditation. It was the life of Christ from birth to ascension. Suddenly, Jesus became a live human being. His life was to become my inspiration. Here was a God-Man who preached nothing but love and was rewarded with death. Here was a God-Man who had power over all creation but took the mockery of a crown of thorns with humility and patience. And for all his noble intentions, he was shamed, vilified, slandered and betrayed.

Then it dawned on me how puny were my sufferings compared to Him whose only purpose was to save mankind from eternal damnation.

Then as if I heard a voice tell me: Why do you cry? I have gifted you with consolations, honors and glory which have been denied to the millions of your countrymen. I made you the youngest war correspondent, presidential assistant, mayor, vice-governor, governor, and Senator of the Republic, and I recall you never thanked me for all these gifts. I have given you a full life, a great wife and beautiful lovable children. Now that I visit you with a slight desolation, you cry and whimper like a spoiled brat!

With this realization, I went down on my knees and begged His forgiveness. I know I was merely undergoing a test, maybe in preparation for another mission. I know everything that happens in this world is with His knowledge and consent. I knew He would not burden me with a load I could not carry. I therefore resigned myself to His will.

To think, I have been praying the Lord’s Prayer for three and a half decades without really understanding fully the words I mumbled. I repeated the prayer so mechanically that I never really knew what I was saying: Thy Will be done, on earth!

Thy Will Be Done! These words snatched me from the jaws of death. In Laur, I gave up my life and offered it to Him… picked up my cross and followed Him.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Ninoy Aquino was a former Filipino politician who strongly opposed the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Marcos declared Martial Law he was imprisoned for many years. He was later permitted to leave for the US for medical reasons. On August 21, 1983, upon his return to the Philippines from the US, he was gunned down in cold blood at the Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport). His death triggered massive protests which led to the People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos regime. He is considered by many as a hero, and remembered for his famous quote: “The Filipino is worth dying for.”

Lord, why do people suffer?

Mind you, the question popped up from my mind not because I wanted to satisfy a deep philosophical yearning. Rather, I feel that I am going through it. And I see it happening around me.

Why do we suffer, Lord?

I knew it was a rhetorical question. But the last thing I expected was to get an answer from the most mundane task that I do everyday.

You see, this year is such a trying year for Matthew and I. Three times I rushed him to the emergency in the hospital. Twice he had to be confined. Not only was it draining for us financially. But getting hospitalized is always a distressing experience. I did too, when I underwent a hysterectomy operation. That was likewise, an unnerving and draining (financially and emotionally) experience.

Why do we suffer, Lord?

Rising prices, sickness, famine, conflicts, bickering, gossip, slander. Countries at war. Families fighting each another. Will it ever stop?

I really don’t know. Probably, it will. Probably, it won’t. But one time, I felt God speak to me while cleaning up. I was sweeping the balcony at our little unit when lo and behold, I saw that this little green plant sprouted out of the crack of our concrete wall.

“Strange”, I said to myself. “How can a plant grow from a cracked concrete wall?”

I looked further, and saw an array of green plants growing out of the bigger cracks at our wall.

Can life be found in the midst of a hardened edifice? Who planted it? I know, i didn’t!

That’s when I heard a still small voice in my heart.

Bloom where you are planted.

Suffering is not the issue. Rather, what does suffering make of me? Probably, the Lord needs to break the hardened edifice of my heart so that he can make the most unlikely beautiful piece of art bloom. And give beauty not for anybody else but for Him and Him alone.

I felt such a deep peace in my heart after that.

Everyone suffers. No one is exempt from it. But what does it make of you? Will it harden you like the concrete wall that we see around us? Or can life be found within the cracked walls that suffering has wrought upon us. The answer lies not with Him but with us, and us alone.

- Jojang