Reflections for the Working Soul: Breakfasts

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Breakfasts

+ RWS 542 April 14, 2013

3^rd Sunday of Easter

Gospel: John 21:1-14

12 Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast."

Tenderness

By Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas, SDB, DD

The scene where the Risen Jesus prepared breakfast for His tired Apostles who worked the whole night fishing shows a touching picture of tenderness. This sweet and satisfying aspect of human relationship seems to be a rare sight in the world today where there is much hatred, selfishness, conflict and war and where the lifestyle of “rugged individualism” would seem to annihilate any trace of loving tenderness among humans. At home and at work, tenderness needs to be cultivated and demonstrated by everyone.

Workers in the service industries like in the hotel and restaurant business, tourism, hospitals and others could have the chance to show great tenderness in their attitude and behavior towards the people they serve. Some indeed are so sweet in serving their clients and customers that a great sense of satisfaction is felt by everyone. However, this kind of goodness and kindness in serving others could be motivated by financial or material gains. Workers in these businesses would be trained to be courteous and appealing to customers at all times even when they are not disposed inwardly to be tender, perhaps due to some emotional disturbances beyond their control. So, there are times when a seemingly forced act of tenderness would be artificially shown, and customers could sense its lack of genuine character.

A good training in human relationships for workers would be a great help to develop and promote their sense of goodness and tenderness. Rewards and incentives for workers excelling in acts of tenderness towards customers could reinforce this good trait. But, I think, a deeper and a more spiritual experience is necessary for a worker to become an authentic tender and kind person. He needs to encounter and experience the Risen Jesus who wills to transform anyone who believes in Him into the loving and tender Person that He is. The worker then should try to see the Lord first of all in himself and also in every person he serves and works for. How would you feel when you work as if you are having breakfast with the Risen Lord?

Breakfast before breakfast

By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

In the rush to get to work on time, so many people skip breakfast, not realizing that it is the most important meal of the day. Doctors have been presenting evidence proving that a good and hearty breakfast is what the body needs for one to be alert and productive the whole day, and yet there are those who would rather just gulp down a cup of instant cereal or instant chocolate drink as breakfast, believing the vitamins claimed to be in those products give enough energy to start off the day. Worse, there are those who swear that a cup of coffee is all they need to jumpstart their working day—“Just something hot for the tummy and to wake up my sleepy nerves.” And there are also those who give up breakfast altogether in the misguided notion that doing so would save their time or keep their weight down.

If they only knew (or believed) that skipping breakfast could actually lead to obesity, diabetes or even heart attack, they’d surely rise earlier to enjoy a huge slice of papaya followed by home made tapsilog, or the healthier plate of boiled rice, sinapaw na talbos ng kamote (steamed sweet potato tops) and daing at kamatis (dried fish and tomatoes). The only problem is: are we motivated enough to want to have a healthy body through a healthy breakfast?

This is where we need The Breakfast before the breakfast—it can be taken right upon waking up, in response to Jesus’ invitation to “Come, have breakfast”. While still savoring a moment in bed, try mentally joining the disciples on the beach, about to eat bread and fish that the Lord Himself has freshly broiled. Yummy!!! Listening to the Master while sharing His meal? Wow! That sets the perfect tone for the next 24 hours. Faithfully done, it can clarify our mind, enabling us to listen to our body and treat it with the respect it deserves. If ours is a healthy mind in a healthy body, what employer wouldn’t want us on board?

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What they say about 'Reflections for the Working Soul', the book

Day in and out, the Inquirer brims with news. That's the Inquirer's strength: A frenzy of in-your-face news daily. Almost always the bad news. Then Reflections for the Working Soul happened every Sunday. Suddenly, we had (and have) an oasis of Good News. For reflection. For serenity. Not up there in the clouds. But right here in the dailiness of living and working with real people some of whom can really get on one’s nerves.

Thanks to Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas and Teresa R. Tunay. In three paragraphs or less, they offer a way and an attitude in the workplace not just for Sundays but for my day-to-day lifestyle to keep in touch with what works in relationships, including people one can barely stand working with. They sort out for me what’s important and really counts in life and living in the workplace as a microcosm of the real world.

So, I look forward eagerly to reading the Good News bylined by the bishop and Tunay. Because they speak to me personally about how to be most effective and productive at work while at the same time staying connected to the Good News, and thus staying in a state of serenity and grace. Providentially, their names—Precioso and Tunay (precious and true)—sum up their contributions to the development of the Inquirer as an instrument and institution of the Good News of the Lord.

—Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc
Editor-in-Chief, Philippine Daily Inquirer

From Bishop Rolly Tria Tirona:

Giving flesh and bones to our Christian faith has always been the challenge for every Christian. Translating belief in Christ into Christ-like action is extremely demanded in market and work places. Christian work ethics is the fruit of inspiration and not of pure legislation.

Reflections for the Working Soul, a weekly column of Ms Teresa Tunay and Bishop Precioso Cantillas in a newspaper section catering primarily to people at work, provides that inspiration for the many working people desirous to integrate their belief with their work.

These joint reflections make the Gospel teachings so reachable to busy people. Their insights help working people understand that they do matter in the transformation of our society and of our country. In their reflections, they show that work can lead to contemplation, while contemplation sanctifies and elevates their work to the heart of God.

I salute and congratulate Ms. Teresa Tunay and Bishop Precioso Cantillas for being the instruments of the Holy Spirit to warm and lift up the spirit of our working people.

Most Rev. Rolando J. Tria Tirona, OCD
Bishop Prelate of Infanta
15 April 2007, Divine Mercy Sunday

Carmelite priest Junjun Agruda says:

In the mountains, geologists and miners use the elegant term "angle of repose" to describe the precise angle at which a boulder will rest on the side of a hill, rather than tumble downward. I think of that image as the point at which prayer and action meet. Every so often one of those boulders breaks loose, releasing potential energy in a crashing rockslide that permanently alters the landscape.

The creative ways in which Prayer and earthiness are wedded in these Relfections for the Working Soul forge a spirituality that makes room for piety as well as for activism. Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay have grasped the nature of Prayer as partnership with God’s activity on earth. These reflections bring us to that "angle of repose", the place where contemplation and prayerful action meet. Thus in the process, the act of Prayer emboldens us to join the work of transforming the world into a place where the Father’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

—Fr. Mariano Agruda III, OCD
Provincial Superior,
Order of Discalced Carmelites, Philippines

Bishop Stude comments:

Two beautiful minds, talented persons very much respected, committed and sefless in their respective works, have gifted us with an inspiring and interesting book, Reflections for the Working Soul. The skillful authors—Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay—make the Sunday Gospels more applicable, much alive in the work world. The inspiring book enhances spirituality in the workplace and imparts refreshing reflections which encourage and challenge one to make the workplace a ‘good soil’ (Mark 4,8) and to ‘bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty,and some one hundred’ (Mark 4,20).

Reading Reflections for the Working Soul is to know that the words of its gifted authors are their works, and their works are their witnessing for Jesus and His Gospels. With our works and in our places, Bishop Precioso Cantillas and Ms. Teresa Tunay take and turn us to ‘see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5,16).

—Monsignor Ruperto Cruz Santos
Bishop of Balanga

From Monsignor Hernando Coronel:

The teamwork between Bishop Cantillas and Teresa Tunay is the application of the Second Vatican Council teaching regarding the transformation of society. A cleric and a layperson combined their personal insights to give light on the values needed in the workplace. Indeed, they have witnessed against a rat race world, a dog-eat-dog milieau, a corporate atmosphere of power and control. Their spirituality of the workplace heralds the values of the Gospel in the business setting, that it is important to pray before deciding, to seek God’s will before acting in the commercial sphere. Theirs is an advocating of building a faith community in the workplace where Christian principles reign and are lived out.

—Monsignor Hernando Coronel
Archdiocese of Manila

Fr. Mario Baclig, SDB, says:

If once we had worker-priests, now we have a genuine worker-bishop. And this book is proof of this. Bishop Cantillas is himself a worker; he grew up in Don Bosco Cebu getting his hands soiled and greasy in the machine shop. When he was nominated bishop, he had all set and ready a pastor’s staff that he had been fabricating for someone else. And now, a published compilation of his thoughts for workers. This is a precious gift for today’s workers, from a worker-bishop!

Teresa Tunay is his partner in this endeavor. She comes with her unique journalistic talent and creativity. But more than that, she brings in a rare sensitivity to the simple and often unnoticed lives of ordinary workers. Her love and concern for young workers has kept the Blue Collar magazine going despite all odds. I cannot wait to get hold of this book. How I wish that workers worldwide would have a similar privilege!

—Fr. Mario Baclig, SDB
Salesiana Publishers

From the late Fr. James Reuter, SJ:

The secret of doing anything well is to love what you are doing —to enjoy your job. If, when you wake each morning, you are eager to meet the challenge of this day; if your mind is filled with it, joyfully, when you are brushing your teeth, when you are in the shower, when you are drinking your coffee. . . . . .your work will be a smash! What these 'Reflections' do is to remind you that your work is an apostolate. . . you are serving the children of God. You might not have silver and gold, but what you have you give—yourself! And that is the most beautiful gift of all. This little book makes you realize that you are serving God. . . every day, every hour, every moment. . . . in the market place. It is worth reading—one set of reflections every day. It will fill your life with love. You will go to work smiling.

—Fr. James Reuter, SJ
Director, National Office on Mass Media for the Catholic Church in the Philippines