Human being, not human doing

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 10 March 2025

When the devil
first tempted Jesus
"If you are 
the Son of God,
command this stone
to become bread"
the devil tempts us too
to forget our being
beloved children of God
by doing everything
and anything
for us to be reduced to
human doing
forgetting we are 
human being.

And so, Jesus told
the devil, "One does not live
by bread alone",
he tells us too today
even if we cannot do anything
because we are weak and sick,
even if we fail to do something
because we have forgotten or 
was so afraid,
we are still loved
for God is greater than
our hearts who cannot be seen
yet so true and so real,
fulfilling not just satisfying
than any bread.

When the devil tempted 
Jesus the third time,
"If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down 
from here",
the devil tempts us too
to totally forget God
because, after all,
whatever we do,
God still loves us;
of course, 
that is true: we are humans 
loved and cared 
in our being
not in our doing.

And so, Jesus told
the devil "You should not
put the Lord, your God
to the test",
he tells us too today
for us to stop pushing
the limits of morality
and decency,
and simply let 
the mysteries of God
and of life wrap us because 
they are greater than us,
not problems to be 
solved nor principles
to be understood. 

Life is a daily Lent,
a journey towards Easter,
a return to our first love,
 - God
in Jesus Christ his Son
in whom we have been baptized
and adopted
as his beloved children
as our being and identity:
so let us simply be
our true selves -
his beloved
since the beginning -
loving him totally
in our loving service to others.

This Lent
let us journey in Jesus
in prayer to be one in him;
in fasting to create space for him within;
in alms-giving to be one with
fellow human beings
for we are not
human doings
who cannot do everything
who cannot know 
and explain everything
except to wonder more,
to love more,
to appreciate more,
to believe and trust God more.

*Collage are photos of our students last February 09, 2025 spending a Sunday afternoon of love with children with cerebral palsy and family.

**Special thanks to our sister in faith, Nicola who gave us the idea for this poem, the beautiful terms "human being, human doing" from her blog https://eaglesight.blog/2025/03/02/rest-and-replenish/.