Housekeeping
Before we can go out and fulfill our mission in a way that influences more people beyond our immediate sphere, we must first make sure that our own house or community is in order.
As a new father, this realization is something made more intimate to me.
Matthew 10:1-7. “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-193: JULY 12, 2023]
Manifesting empathy into action
How do we translate empathy into action? To sustainably do so, we must discover our skills. But instead of always thinking about how to “monetize” our skills, we should reflect how we could “missionize” our skills.
I find that my love for writing has allowed me to find both a way to make a living out of this skill and position it as a means to live my mission and vocation especially in the academe. I wouldn’t dare say that I’m the best writer in the world, but what I would dare say is that what I write about and the insights I accumulate (and articulate for and with others) allow me to be a better version of me everyday.
Matthew 9:32-38. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-192: JULY 11, 2023]
Another reflection on faith and courage
We are born in a context where the world is always moving. It is the greatest mystery how the world started moving and how life came to be. Attempting to make sense of these all could be attempted, but alas, our minds and capacity for insights are always limited.
We cannot help but rely on faith. But in doing so, our reliance on faith should not be out of laziness or convenience; it should be because we have exhausted all of our faculties, and we trust that there is good in this world.
And we learn how to have faith, courage can prosper. Because we are able to exhaust whatever is within our means and trust that everything can fall into its proper place.
Matthew 9:18-26. “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-191: JULY 10, 2023]
To be truly wise is to cultivate our inner child
Reading the reflections of my students about their college journey (and in effect, their coming-of-age stories), I realize how challenging it is to discover one’s authentic self especially when during our teenage years, we are prone to seek external validation and emulate role models.
It takes time and courage to really reflect and explain who we are and who we are predisposed to be. And since we are always in progress, we cannot afford to revel on a static or snapshot understanding of ourselves.
So, maybe, the challenge of understanding our identity is about cultivating the inner child within us – to be honest about what pleases us, what makes us hungry, and to live more in the moment (rather than in the past or future). And to do so, we need a group – a family or community – that will enable us to do so.
We all need that support system that will reprimand our childishness while enabling our inner child to grow.
Matthew 11:25-30. “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-190: JULY 9, 2023]
Sacrifice and timing
We cannot sacrifice all the time; or else, we will burn out. Knowing when to rest, sacrifice, and enjoy is essential for a balanced and integral life.
Matthew 9:14-17. Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-189: JULY 8, 2023]
Dirty but dignified work
When we think about our careers, we often think about the glamour and the rewards. Seldom do we think about vocation and meaning.
But when all we think are rewards, we are always calculating – would my work make me feel and look good?
When our work is more driven by vocation and mission, we don’t mind doing the hard and dirty work (not unethical work, but the “unglamorous” kind of work). And in doing so, we not only dignify ourselves but others too.
Matthew 9:9-13. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-188: JULY 7, 2023]
An authentic faith drives courage
The serenity prayer includes: “… the courage to change the things we can.”
When we find serenity and faith in what we cannot control, we can go full throttle in the things we can control.
Matthew 9:1-8. And there, people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-187: JULY 6, 2023]
On provocations and timing
Our greatest performance or intervention is when we align the provocations of our external context with the appropriate timing. It takes discernment, patience, and intuition to do so.
Matthew 8:28-34. And he said to them, “Go then!”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-186: JULY 5, 2023]
Faith influences how we pay attention
I have heard a skeptical version of today’s gospel (I cannot recall the source though), wherein in this version, the disciples are characterized as foolish and cowardly, and that the storm is not really that strong nor the waters deep. In this version, it is not a miracle that Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea. The situation is simply non-threatening, with the cowardice of the disciples exaggerating the danger.
Regardless of the version, whether skeptical or supernatural, my insight is this: our faith influences the way we pay attention.
In the skeptical version, if the disciples have faith in their leader and can compose themselves, they would be able to read the situation and realize that there is no danger to be afraid of.
In the supernatural version, if the disciples indeed have acquired a full belief in God, then there is no reason to fret.
On another but related note, this week, we are conducting our MBA students’ action research defenses. As a panelist and a former MBA student myself, I cannot help but apply the thinking tools we teach in my own context. And it feels fulfilling to apply thinking tools in the way I examine myself and my own journey in acquiring a reasonable kind of faith.
Faith and hope indeed go together. Whether it is faith in the Divine or not, hope implies that we can flourish, be better than ourselves, and belong with something greater than ourselves.
Matthew 8:23-27. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-185: JULY 4, 2023]
Ushering towards authentic belief
To fully believe in something is not an easy task. The journey to authentic belief requires iterative insighting, that is, we acquire initial insights and (in)validate them, again and again.
Authentic belief cannot be directed. Beliefs imposed by another stand on shaky foundations.
Thus, the vocation of a leader, manager, or teacher includes becoming ushers of students towards acquiring intelligent, reasonable, and responsible beliefs. If it is a sin for learners to doubt (and I think it is not so, for doubts encourage curiosity and eventually insighting), then a greater sin would be for teachers not to accompany the students in realizing what they could learn, do, and who they could be.
John 20:24-29. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-184: JULY 3, 2023]