God’s Instruments of His Love

BSN IV-4
Subject: Classic and Greek Philosophers

Philosophy according to the dictionary may be defined as the system of motivating values, concepts or principles of an individual, group or culture. Many philosophies have been formulated. Some may be influenced by another’s philosophy. Some may have their own unique philosophy. But wouldn’t it be great if we would get our philosophy from the Holy Bible, where our loving Creator speaks to us? For He alone can truly guide us in the right path. Hence, if I were to choose a philosophy which I can relate to my present course which is nursing, I would choose what Jesus had said about loving one another.
On the night when Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples, He told His disciples a new commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you. This is all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (cf. John 13:34-35). Jesus had also narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan when a scholar of the law asked Him who should be considered as a neighbor. The parable is about a man who fell victim to robbers. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. The priest and the Levite saw the man but they just passed him by. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Then Jesus asked who was neighbor to the robbers’ victim. The scholar then replied that it was the one who treated him with mercy which may imply that everyone is our neighbor even if they are strangers. Jesus then said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (cf. Luke 10:29-37). Jesus also discussed about the judgment of the nations. He told about separating the sheep from the goats, wherein He said to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me, and to the goats, “Depart from me, you accursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison and you did not care for me.” Both ask when they did all those things. He said that, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” and “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” (cf. Matthew 25:31-46)
According to Virginia Henderson, one of the known nursing theorists, the unique function of the nurse is to assist clients, sick or well, in performing those activities contributing to health, its recovery, or peaceful death—activities that clients would perform unaided if they had the necessary strength, will or knowledge. Also, in according to Martha Rogers who is another nursing theorist, nursing is a humanistic science dedicated to compassionate concern with maintaining and promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for and rehabilitation the sick and disabled. There is also a theory of Jean Watson about the science of caring. She believes that the practice of caring is central to nursing. Madeleine Leininger, another nursing theorist, further stated that caring behaviors include comfort, compassion, concern, coping behavior, empathy, enabling, facilitating, interest, involvement, health consultative acts, health maintenance acts, helping behaviors, love, nurturance, presence, protective behaviors, restorative behaviors, stress alleviation, succor, support, surveillance, tenderness, touching and trust.
Hence, nursing may be considered as obedience to the command of our loving Creator, which is to love one another as He had loved us. Nurses may sometimes encounter noncompliant, irritable, short tempered patients and it may be difficult for them to love. But the grace of God is always sufficient. He can give us His love to love those who are difficult to love. We can love because of His love for us. We can love because every human being who we encounter is created in the image and likeness of God and is created by God. Nursing is a great opportunity to say yes to God by being His instrument of His love. Nurses may be like the Samaritan traveler who helped the robbers’ victim, treated him with compassion and cared for him as his neighbor. It may again be obedience to Jesus’ words, “Go and do likewise” when nurses treat their patient with mercy and compassion. Nurses may not know their patients yet they care for them and I hope that this is out of love for God and neighbor. Nurses also have opportunity to give food to the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to welcome a stranger, to clothe the naked, to care for the ill and to visit those who are in prison. Jesus had even said that ‘whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me’. Jesus is present in the poor, sick, suffering and the least persons in any way. Hence, if we could all see that Jesus is in the patients or in the least of our brothers and sisters, it would not be a burdensome duty to be a nurse or to serve other people but rather it would be a very delightful service for it is taking care of Jesus and obedience to His commandment.
There is an anecdote from Mother Teresa which I would like to share: “The lepers, the dying, the hungry, the ones sick with aids: they are all in Jesus. During the Mass notice how tenderly and lovingly the priest touches the Body of Christ. Do not forget that it is the same Christ you touch in the poor. Two sisters left for Kalighat, and three hours later they returned. One of them, the novice knocked on my door. She told me, full of joy, ‘Mother, I touched the Body of Christ for the last three hours. ‘Her face reflected her deep joy. ‘What did you do?’ I asked her. ‘They brought us a man covered with wounds. He had been picked up from the rubble. I had to help take care of his wounds. It took three hours. Therefore I touched the body of Christ for three hours. I was sure it was Him.’ The young novice understood that Jesus cannot deceive us when he assures us, “I was sick and you took care of me.”
This philosophy of loving one another as Jesus love us may also be applied in our daily lives. What is love? St. Paul, through the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wonderfully wrote about this in his letter to the Corinthians. He wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8a). To think that God has already given the meaning of love, we should keep these words in our hearts so that we may learn to love God through loving our neighbor. In reality, it is easier said than done for we are too weak on our own. It is like a daily struggle to follow this new commandment which Jesus had given us. Sometimes when we are filled with many problems and we don’t know what to do, we may become short-tempered to someone who will approach us during those times and end up missing an opportunity to love one another. Sometimes we forget our love for persons, such as our parents and friends, that we sometimes treat them without gentleness and hurt them verbally. Sometimes, we fail to love those poor people who beg food or money from us when we encounter them inside a jeepney, at the streets or anywhere where we see them. Sometimes we find it difficult to love those who rebuke us. Sometimes we only love those who are good to us but fail to love those who may seem to be not in good terms with us without realizing that they need our love and that they are ones who may help to grow spiritually when we love them, following Jesus’ command to love our enemies. Sometimes, we judge others when we should show love for them instead. Sometimes we fail to see the image and likeness of God in our neighbor that our love for them vanishes or passes away. It is difficult on our own for we are nothing without God. To love our neighbor as Jesus has loved us, I think, is a grace which comes from God and we cannot love our neighbor without God. St John in his first letter wrote through the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” which may imply that those who know God is with love. According to Mother Teresa, “When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love”. We cannot fully understand the love of God for us for His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (cf. Isaiah 55:8). His infinite love cannot be fully understood by our finite minds. Yet at times we realize God’s love for us through our daily experiences. God loves each one of us unconditionally. Realizing the love of God for us may inspire us to share this love in the people around us. We all experience moments when we need the love of other people like for example, when we have done something wrong, we need the love of the offended person to forgive us for the wrong that we had done and when we have many problems, we need the love of other people to empathize with us or to help in us in any way. In return there are also moments other people are in need of our love. I also realize that we cannot truly love our neighbor if we do not love them out of love for God for sometimes we love other people conditionally such as loving them when they bring benefit to us but when they no longer do, we do not love them anymore. Hence, our love should not be conditional and I think the ways to love our neighbor unconditionally are through continual prayer asking the Lord to help us be meek and humble of heart, to grant us the grace to imitate His love, to have an open heart to be His instrument of His love and through deep and close union with God.
Even though I had written this and chose this philosophy, I haven’t fully and truly follow it because there are still moments when I feel like I fail to love my neighbor. It seems hard especially to people who may seem difficult to love. But we should not despair nor give up. What the Lord said to St. Paul gives me hope, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (cf. 2 Cor 12:9). The grace of God is always sufficient no matter what we’re going through. He gives us the grace to obey His commandments if only we will open our hearts to Him and surrender our lives to Him. May God preserve us from all evil, temptations, flesh, worldly things and sin. May He fill us with His love to be His loving instruments and may He help us in our daily struggle to be His good and faithful servants hoping that someday He will call us and live eternally with Him.

Bibliography
[1] The American Heritage Dictionary. (1994). United States of America. Houghton Mifflin Company: Dell Publishing.
[2] Saint Joseph Personal Size Edition of New American Bible. (2004). Philippines: ST PAULS.
[3] New American Bible. Retrieved at http://www.usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/index.cfm.
[3] Kozier, Barbara, et. al. (2002). Fundamentals of Nursing: Concepts, Process and Practice. Philippines: Pearson Education Asia Pte. Ltd.
[4] Paul, M.K. SSP.(2010), Blessed Teresa of Kolkata: Quotes and Anecdotes. Bandra, Mumbai: ST PAULS.
“We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God.”
--Saint Vincent de Paul