Patch Aure

The fasting of the body should be about the nourishment of the spirit

(Errata: I used the March 5 gospel for my reflections yesterday. I will use the March 4 gospel for my reflections today).

The fasting of the body should be about the nourishment of the spirit

Matthew 9:14-15. Can the wedding guests mourn?

If we approach fasting only as a ritual or as an appearance of being devoted to religion, are we really nourishing our spirit?

If we only appear to do hard work to impress our bosses, are we really letting our work become a form of vocation that nourishes our spirit?

If we choose to punish ourselves because of a misguided notion that “Hey God, I’m deliberately punishing myself now, better reward me later!” — are we really nourishing our spirit?

If to grow in spirit means to grow in love and goodness, then perhaps the call to fast is a call to deprive one’s self of earthly pleasures; then, the pleasure we deprive for ourselves could be given to those who need more than us. Fasting is a reminder of our privilege; of what we can live with and what we can live without.

We can live with one less meal a day… so what if the meal we deprive ourselves of can be given to those who have no meal to eat?

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 64: MARCH 5, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Including the marginalized

Including the marginalized

Luke 5:27-32. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners

In the classroom, it’s definitely easier to favor the already intelligent and the dilligent; those who actively recite, submit high-quality learning outputs, and seek high-impact consultation sessions. Maybe my own bias can be expressed this way: why let my concern for non-performing students steal opportunities from those who seem to have more potential?

There’s something very gratifying in coaching motivated high-potential students, and maybe this was the feeling of Steve Kerr when he first coached the then-blooming Warriors in 2015. #StrengthInNumbers.

Yet, the Warriors system (inspired by the Spurs’ beautiful basketball that beat the Heatles in 2014) moved away from merely focusing on Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The system espoused ball movement, and Draymond Green said his initial puzzlement in a podcast hosted by JJ Redick: why move the ball around and reduce touches for the team stars?

Moving the ball around meant that even the non-stars got the opportunity to embrace their roles and earn their spots. It sparked energy to do good and embrace a sense of purpose beyond individual glory. With Curry being one of the most unselfish stars in basketball, the #StrengthInNumbers system allowed the Warriors to be a dynasty.

Why let my concern for non-performing students steal opportunities from those who seem to have more potential? Maybe this is precisely the vocation of a professor: to include the marginalized. To provide opportunities and light a fire in the unmotivated.

Perhaps in my frustrations, limitations, and immaturity, I fell to the trap of the “tyranny of the or”, preferring a certain segment over the other.

The message of lent is repentance, and God provides opportunities for lost sheep to seek Him. If I want to become like Christ as my Lourdesian education taught me, maybe I should embrace this mindset more. Provide opportunities, but do not spoonfeed.

In doing so, I pray that I can be more authentic in being a Lasallian educator: accompanying the least, the lost, and the last.


[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 63: MARCH 4, 2022]

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Patch Aure

We must learn to pay our dues before we can be the best version of ourselves

We must learn to pay our dues before we can be the best version of ourselves

Luke 9:22-25. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

“… he must deny himself and take up his cross daily…”

The season of lent is a reminder that suffering and sacrifice are mainstays in life. If God Himself underwent suffering and death, why should we humans be exempt or pray otherwise?

Instead of praying that we avoid suffering, isn’t it better to pray for grace to withstand suffering? We all have crosses to bear, and maybe it is better to pray for strength or to ask for our own Simon of Cyrene in helping us bear our crosses.

This season is also a reminder that we are not meant to live our lives based on instinct or the desires of the flesh alone. We have to honor our gifts of insight and discernment. We have to master ourselves instead of being slaves to our hunger and thirst.

It seems simple, but actually, it feels deeply profound to undertake a virtuous journey, a journey of authenticity, a quest to be the best version of ourselves. Our talents and tendencies differ, and therefore, we have different crosses to bear.

We must learn to pay our dues before we can be the best version of ourselves.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 62: MARCH 3, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Perception is real and the truth is not…?

Perception is real and the truth is not…?

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18. Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them

“Pictures or it didn’t happen.”

“Perception is real and the truth is not.”

Businesses spend millions on advertising and public relations, documenting their corporate philanthropy activities for the world to adore. Politicians spend millions (hopefully, private money and not public money) to campaign and produce highlight reels (hopefully, highlight “reals”).

In a sense, we live in a world where documentation and perception are very important. But the tragedy is when we reduce reality to mere perceptions, or hyperfocus on appearances without accounting for what may be unseen but remain true. It is easier to live in a world of appearances, perhaps because it’s easier to control and manufacture.

But is this the way we should live our lives? Chasing rewards?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi had an insight about flow or being in the zone. This is when the activity is the reward in itself, akin to a performer losing one’s ego — becoming one with the act itself. How wonderful would it be if we could enter a state of “good flow”, as in, doing and being good for goodness’s sake?

… Could this be how we can approximate God as the True Good?

For Catholics, today is Ash Wednesday, and we show to the world a sign of our faith through the ashes on our foreheads. May we do this not for appearance’s sake, but for goodness’s sake.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 61: MARCH 2, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Should we do good to be rewarded?

Should we do good to be rewarded?

Mark 10:28-31. Many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.

Should we do good to be rewarded?

The preaching is charity and unconditional love. My reservations about doing good because we want to be saved is that this reasoning is ultimately consequentialist; with regards to an anticipated reward. Isn’t this conditional?

Perhaps the message is simple yet profound: we should do good to be good. Doing good is to be authentic to who we are, embracing our natural curiosity and predisposition towards flourishing.

The story of the philosopher’s stone seems like a paradox: the one who lusts for the stone is most undeserving, yet the one who seeks but is reluctant and humble is the most deserving.

If we do things because we expect salvation and the eternal life after our worldly death, then this may distract us from the point of the commandment of love: love by default. Loving for loving’s sake.

I have a somewhat “uncomfortable” insight on faith: what it means to have faith is not to expect reward from the other who we have faith on. Expectation and entitlement dilutes gratitude.

Faith is about doing and being good without regards to consequences. The miracle is that if every person embraces this principle, then the world will be like the Kingdom of God. But humans inevitably have flaws; so the challenge:

Can we keep the faith, keep on loving, and keep on being good despite the flaws and suffering we will inevitably encounter? Are we willing to get uncomfortable?

If yes, then maybe we are truly one step closer towards salvation. Or at least, we honor who truly are: good.



[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 60: MARCH 1, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Material goods are instruments, not goals

Material goods are instruments, not goals

Mark 10:17-27. How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!

Wealth is not the goal; but it could be an instrument to love our neighbors and truly enter the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus said to sell our possessions and to leave our families, how could we practically understand this better? I find solace in sustainability goals, social entrepreneurship, and integral human development goals in business. It may not necessarily be a very literal renouncement of our ties with our families and possessions, but rather, it is about renouncing overattachment – a bastardized version of “love”.

When politicians and businesspeople engage in nepotism, as in providing favors solely because of relationships and not because of merit, how is this “love”?

When a father merely provides financial sustenance to his wife and child without any attempts to build relationships, how is this “love”?

When a “philanthropist” donates a million dollars but continues to delay wages of his employees, how is this “love”?

When a businessman avoids taxes legally and delays payments to his suppliers, he may have complied with the law. But how is this “love”?

Entering the Kingdom means being authentically in love with our neighbor. The social entrepreneur seizes business opportunities to have just enough for himself and his partner communities. The salaryman donates a significant portion of his wages for a friend in need, no questions asked. The foundation director invests time and effort to teach business skills to the marginalized, not just donating nor posing for pictures for PR BS.

How beautiful would it be if businesspersons can become benevolent alchemists – capitalizing on business to convert goods into gold, then gold into Goods.


[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 59: FEBRUARY 28, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Insight is inner sight

Insight is inner sight

Luke 6:39-45. Be wary of hypocrisy and judgement of others

A unique trait humans have is the ability to self-identify and refer unto one’s self. This is also how we learn; we are able to identify our behavioral patterns and design an environment to correct it or exercise personal agency to correct ourselves.

It is easier and more convenient to keep up appearances, rather than to wrestle with our thoughts that no other people can know. But this is contrary to our natural desire to know and our destiny to flourish.

I wonder: what would happen if all people or students would be required to experience being an athlete, artist, or performer once in their lives? The discipline and self-critique required to improve one’s craft are evidently honed in these kinds of activities.

Acquiring an insight to ourselves is not about vanity, but about an inner sight grounded on authenticity. It is not about competing with others, but rather, mastering one’s self. There is beauty in this struggle – understanding the limits of our own agency; accounting for the structures, culture, and external context that affect how we think and act; and crafting, with faith and reason, strategies that reconcile our entanglement with God and our neighbors.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 58: FEBRUARY 27, 2022]

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Patch Aure

When have we stopped being children?

When have we stopped being children?

Mark 10:13-16. Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it

How is it possible that a child already has a natural and pure desire to know the truth?

How is it possible that my nephews and nieces can call me out when I try to trick them in a silly and goofy manner? “You’re lying Ninong Patch! You’re so silly!”

How is it possible that a child relentlessly asks why, and acts and verifies a claim with his own (mis)adventures?

When did we decide to stop being children, becoming drunk with our own conspiracy theories, convenient narratives, and BS?

In a loving environment (e.g., family and friends), the child naturally seeks the good and the opportunity to flourish. But what have we done to our society? We suppressed the children in us, opting for a bastardized version of an ethics of care, reciprocity, and quid pro quo.

It is the irony of ironies: children are wiser and more authentic than us adults.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 57: FEBRUARY 26, 2022]

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Patch Aure

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Mark 10:1-12. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate

The common themes in love songs are the honeymoon phase and the breakup phase, illustrating the intensity of highs and lows in a romantic relationship. During the courtship and premarital relationship stages, both parties get to know more about each other and assess how good a fit one is with the other.

Marriage is supposed to be an oath with a Higher Power as the key witness. This is a testament where love and oneness emerges not from excitable hearts and hormones, but from the discernment of the mind, heart, and spirit. Marriage should be an opportunity for two authentic lovers to pay attention to the new entity (couple) that emerges; to gain insight about oneself, the other, and the couple; and to commit together. A marriage allows us to appreciate what “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” mean from a human perspective. There is a miraculous beauty, an exponential surplus of meaning, in marriage.

But if marriage is treated as just another “title” between couples, if we make marriage akin to try-and-refund schemes of consumer products, then we risk destroying the beauty of what marriage should really mean. If marriage enables a new whole to emerge that is greater than the sum of its parts, attempting to break up a marriage could lead to the painful opposite:

When the whole is broken apart, the individual parts could be lesser than what they were individually before; suffering, losing meaning.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 56: FEBRUARY 25, 2022]

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Patch Aure

Gardens and jungles

Gardens and jungles

Mark 9:41-50. Avoid causing the little ones to sin

In terms of avoiding sin and choosing virtue, half the battle is the context: are you in a garden of paradise or a jungle of survival and temptations?

I’ve come to realize that the best way to avoid sin is to avoid putting oneself in situations filled with temptations. Since we are naturally imperfect, we all have our weaknesses. And sometimes, discernment cannot necessarily cure our flaws, but at least it can help us recognize our weaknesses so we can avoid situations where we are prone to sin.

Thus, if managers should embrace the vocation of a business leader, one of their mandates should be to design a working environment that facilitates good work and avoids temptations. Our behaviors are both a product of our agency and the structures that surround us.

If we are blessed with the power to cultivate gardens and avoid jungles of survival of the fittest, then we should be compelled to choose the former. If a marginalized person sins primarily because of an environment he is not able to escape from, I surmise that God will show mercy. But if a person who was blessed with power still chooses to sin regardless of their environment, then I surmise God will exact justice.

To whom much is given, much is expected. If you can, avoid jungles and be in gardens.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 55: FEBRUARY 24, 2022]

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