Are you a person of authority — at work, in your family, in your ministry? How do you exercise your authority? - Daily Reflections January 13,2015

A NEW TEACHING WITH AUTHORITY

 

“Authority” is an interesting English word. Its root has nothing to do with the stature of the one who holds it, but with the stature of those who benefit from dealings with those who have it. The word “author” also comes from the same root — auctor — and it means one who fosters growth, progress, development and fullness.

       The Lord taught with authority. Last thing I heard, carpenters have no natural authority. Neither do fishermen, whose only expertise has to do with mending nets, counting catch, and calculating cash receipts.

       I was fortunate to have known for a short while a holy priest back in my days as a greenhorn in Don Bosco-Mandaluyong. Fr. Maurilio Candusso knew very little English, and knew next to nothing of Tagalog. But he had a big heart and an even bigger love for everyone, particularly the poor ones. He was a machinist and a priest, not necessarily in that order. He said nothing extraordinary but he taught with authority, for he taught with the end in view of making young people grow — in all senses of the term.

       I feel blessed, too, to have taken a few courses under a revered Redemptorist Moral Theology professor at the Accademia Alfonsiana in

Rome, Italy. His enrollees simply overflowed every time. Soft-spoken and gentle, he had a big heart, and an even bigger love for the Church. Speaking only in Italian, he nevertheless taught with authority, for he made us feel we were peers on the way to becoming experts like he was.

       Here comes a carpenter with His band of brothers who are as ordinary as He is! He enters a synagogue and begins teaching. His aim is to impart wisdom, not to impress. His goal is to liberate people, not to perorate over their heads. His vision was to lead men and women to fulfillment, not just to fill them with spiritual or material goodies. And He does not just preach and teach. He comes with the gift of His person as healer and enabler as Good Shepherd. And He does all these with authority. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you a person of authority — at work, in your family, in your ministry? How do you exercise your authority?

 

Teach me to be humble and to serve through the authority that You have given me, Lord.