The parable of the prodigal son

yan ang first reading sa mass last Sunday.

the past few blogs I wrote are either of frustrations at work, dissatisfaction, angst, and mostly of negative comments. Now Im'ma try to work out something good for goodness sake.

I heard mass this Sunday, and the priest repeatedly mentioned to do good only for goodness' sake. He said it like this:

"We should always expect something good from God whenever we do good things. But we should never do good things with the reward in mind, instead we do them for goodness' sake."


Well, what do we really have to expect then? It's hard to work on something without any assurance that any good will come out of it.

Like a farmer for instance. He plows his field in order to make good soil for seeds, for seeds to grow good fruits, ergo good harvest. Would he plow the soil only because it will do the soil good? Our actions are dictated by our goals in life. It's difficult to do something for nothing.

Helping in typhoon missions bring me that sense of fulfillment in life. Either way, we get something out of the things we do, material or emotion. Mother Theresa could have helped those poor people because it completes her, she gets emotional food out of it.

So maybe this is what the priest meant when he said "for goodness' sake." I hope so. If not, he would have made no sense at all, in my opinion.

I'm not a materialistic person, and I never saw material things as reward. This might be the reason why I never celebrate my birthday. I don't like receiving gifts. Hey, gifts are good, but a good company over coffee would have been a better gift. I'm that simple.

I think it's time to give that backpacking thing another shot.

I used to have this plan of leaving for Bangkok, meeting new people, surviving with a very little amount in my pocket, and invest in my social skills for a week long living. I love people, I really do. I love talking sense, and I love making stories out of them. I never liked big groups, I am more comfortable in two's, three's.

Way back high school, most of my "cool" friends would ask me, why hang out with a loser like that guy? I'd coldly reply, "he tells stories all the time, he doesn't stop, I find it interesting. Interesting enough to last an entire afternoon. This friendship lasted for two good years. Until the end, some of my friends still find him weird and deviant. That's why I don't hang out with these "cool" people anymore.

Wait, does that make me a loser?