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Home arrow Parokya Sa Web arrow Angelus notes...Angelus tones arrow Intensity, passion, exuberance
Intensity, passion, exuberance Print E-mail
Written by Fr. Robert Reyes   
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
love_life.jpgI know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! You are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold so I will spit out of my mouth. You think you are rich and have piled up so much that you need nothing, but you do not realize that you are wretched and to be pitied, poor, blind and naked.

Revelations 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Tuesday November 18 2008
Intensity, passion, and exuberance have marked my entire life. I never really questioned it until people began asking me why I seem to be always so intense and driven. I began reflecting and asking a few questions. Could it be my Filipino roots, born in a warm, tropical, volcanic and typhoon-ravaged land? Could it be my people's story of unfinished revolutions and involvement in orchestrated wars? Could it be my interpretation and understanding of my Christian and priestly vocation? Could it be my genes, courtesy of my parents Carlos and Natividad? I really could not tell. Having studied social science, there too is the perspective of nurture vs. nature. Have I, in a way, through my choices and involvements evolved into what I am? So, therefore, what I am is a matter of choice and not of genes. Or, is it really all of the above?

Through the years, I experienced and lived through the entire gamut of intense and challenging experiences, from natural to socio-political calamities or disasters. Through all these, I have rarely been a spectator. It seemed natural for me to be involved, to participate deeply in the burning issues of the day. Like sports, I prefer to be a player rather than eat popcorn in the bleachers. Most of the sports I have chosen are not exactly spectator sports like basketball in the Philippines or soccer in Europe. I have always enjoyed endurance outdoor sports like running, cycling and swimming. Intensity and total commitment are of the nature of these sports.

Although life is not exactly a sport, there is much to learn from athletes, specially endurance athletes whose approach to life has been profoundly altered by the intensity and commitment demanded by their particular sport. I was recently in San Francisco, where Dean Karnazes lives. Dean is an ultra-marathoner. On the last page of his book, "Ultra-marathon man, Confessions of an all-night runner," we read, "In 2004, Karnazes won the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley,California---"The World's Toughest Footrace, covering 135 miles in 120-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, in 27 hours and 22 minutes of nonstop running..."

In his book, Dean traces his transformation from high school cross-country runner to the corporate world, working in the marketing department of a major health-care company. Gradually, he became absorbed into corporate culture and lifestyle. His running past gradually faded away. Something slowly died. His intensity, passion and exuberance were replaced by the uniformity and routine of the corporate world. One day after having a few drinks with his friends and just before he got too familiar with a young woman, he felt a terrible emptiness, came to his senses and went home.. When he got home, he found his wife fast asleep. He shed his working clothes and slipped into his running gear and dug out a US$ 20 bill from his pants and started running. He ran continuously the entire night until he was totally hungry and thirsty. He spent his twenty dollars on food and a beverage and continued running. Later, totally exhausted he called home. His wife fetched him and noticed a different Dean. That night something happened. That which was dead came back to life. From then on, Dean went back to running and evolved into one of the strongest and toughest endurance athletes in the world. Today, he continues to work and run.

Something in today's workaday world saps our energies and passions. We are transformed into the uniformity and conformity of ordinary employers and members of corporations, institutions, organizations and sectors. We become comfortable and compliant even when the situation becomes unhealthy and destructive of both self and others. We fall into a rut, enter a gloomy cave and stay there. We become lukewarm, neither hot or cold, totally passive and indifferent, without any impact on people and the world around us. God warns, "I will spit you out."

God of life, you who breathe life and energy into us, wake us up from our lethargy and passivity. Alert us to the perils of our comfort zones which may destroy our sensitivity to who we really are and to people around us. Amen.

Photo "My love life in colors" by bent_karma on flickr; licensed under Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND-2.0.

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2008-11-25 21:30:07

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neddie says...

As we prepare for the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, we try to keep the fire of our devotion to our Lady burning. We lift up your intentions to her and pray that she may guide you alweays. We miss you.
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