“You are God’s gift to the world. ACT like it.” The best lesson in humility I ever learned came from my former school principal, Brother Michael Churchill Samuel. Every week he would haul us off to the chapel for an hour to talk. Those talks were never tedious, never condescending; Bro. Michael knew the difference between “teaching” and “lecturing.” One day he concluded by uttering the sentence above. In my naiveté, I presumed he was referring to ego. With the same calm smile that never left his face in the seven years I attended Presentation College, he proceeded to enlighten me. It was never about hubris or self-gratification. It was about being the best that I could be and leaving this world a little bit better than I found it. It was about finding the strength to do what was right, even though it would seldom be easy. It was about having the courage and conviction to say something was wrong even though a hundred other people may say otherwise. You might get beaten down for saying it, but you will learn to pick yourself up and carry on after the bruises heal. If God put you here on this green Earth, the only real expectation He has of you is to do right by yourself AND others. I saw Brother Michael exemplify these and many, MANY other good qualities every single day of his life. He was a true Christian in every sense of the word, in ways that would put all the bible-thumping, scripture-spouting hypocrites I have come to resent to utter and abject shame. He taught me that prayer is always good, but it is useless without effort. Don’t waste time quoting the holy scripture of whatever faith you profess to believe in if you’re not putting it into practice. And don’t seek glory for your good deeds either, because then it’s just an exercise in ego-stroking. Even though it was a Catholic school, Brother Michael opened its doors to all faiths. We were always invited to assemble in the auditorium and encouraged to learn about other religions, whether we agreed with their tenets or not. I get the impression that he always thought Man’s greatest enemies were ignorance and bigotry. If so, I think he was right. At one of those gatherings, I was given a small collection of psalms and proverbs. I was barely 12 years old when I got that book, and I have kept it to this day. It is from this book I have reproduced the excerpts below. Goodbye Mikey. You were one of the best human beings I ever had the good fortune of knowing and I am a better man for your presence. If there is a Heaven, then I know you are there. And I will not wish that you “Rest in Peace.” Rather, I hope you continue to make a joyful noise up there, just like you did for the seven years when you helped shepherd me and hundreds of other young men through some of the most trying times of our lives. The Epistle of Paul, the Apostle to the Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself. 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 2:15 That ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 13:45:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015