Friday, March 16, 2012

Love Your Neighbor

The Gospel today talks about loving your neighbor as yourself. I suddenly had a different view point about it.

This commandment can be thought of as a commandment to be austere and modest in one's life. If I truly must love my neighbor as my self, I should be as generous to my neighbor as I am to myself. In its most simplistic interpretation, my neighbor deserves an iPad, an iPhone, gifts I give to myself. How on earth will I even be able to apply that, even to my family?

Solution: live austerely. Live, conscious of purchasing only those you would buy for others as well. You think you could give your neighbor a cellphone with all the bells and whistles? Chances are you could probably settle for a basic model for texting, calls, etc. as a giveaway, right? Then perhaps that is what you should buy, if you want to be "faithful" to His word.

I know this is such a wild and crazy idea. But I can imagine how much I can save with a mindset like that. LOL


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. CC, I must say na medyo kakaiba itong post mong ito (and as to why I'm commenting this now, sisihin mo na lang ang bakasyon at weekend).

The second commandment was conventionally explained, be it sa religion class o sa Sunday school (hint na ito sa background ko), as respecting the last 6 commandments in the OT (summary of the law, sabi ng mga madre at ibang prof). Ngayon ko lang na-encounter hetong application ng austerity sa second commandment. Then again, may image tayo ni Jesus na hindi siya well-off at kinakalaban ang upper-classes nung panahon niya, mala-Social Justice ang pinaglalaban.

Siguro may iba ring dimensions ang mga interpretation ng commandment na ito, and yours is one of them. I-pitch mo na lang ito sa mga kakilala mo na inclined sa theo philo....