Dear reader, with this
reflection, I would like to present to you a religious vision of values. First
of all, I was surprised because when I searched for the meaning of value in the
Italian dictionary I found 17 different meanings. Of course, I chose the one
that is most in tune with the proposed reflection, that is: value as virtue,
nobility of spirit. Values have a lot to do with the emotions we experience.
They “are like fingerprints: they’re different for each of us and we leave them
wherever we go.” Let us think of our loved ones who preceded us in eternal
life: the values they lived and left us testify that their passage among us was
not in vain. What about us: the values we are living in, are these really which
we want to leave to future generations?
Our world is
experiencing a serious crisis of values. These have been reversed from their
true place, i.e. the difference between what is important and what is secondary
is no longer understood. Each person needs a scale of values on which to base,
sediment his/her life and invest efforts to give a correct direction to own
existence. Most of us do not know the basic values of own life because we are
easily influenced by the environment in which we live: family, school, friends,
society, etc. Of course these are the initial motivation that each of us needs.
But we must ask ourselves: which values are most in tune with my life? What is
really essential? In this way, we begin to compose our scale of values.
Having a scale of
values is so important that we can even tell someone, “Show me your scale of
values and I’ll tell you who you are!” A “scale of values must be constant
throughout the life and not conditioned by the world, but the result of a
careful search, because the quality of our life and the choices we will make will
depend on the scale of values”. Those who live the Christian faith consider
that it is Christ who indicates the true scale of values. What He did and
taught, that is, the values of the Gospel become the point of reference for the
experience of anyone in the world, even for those who do not believe.
When I think of St
John Calabria, for example, I see him as a man of great faith, who organized
his scale of values from a program, namely: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its
righteousness, and all these things will be given in addition.” This is an
expression of the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 6:33). Everything that St. John
Calabria thought for his life and for his Work (the Calabrian Family) finds in
this program its support, its consistency. From this program emerge values such
as the fatherhood of God, care, trust, faith, courage, discernment, decision,
etc.
When we think of the
value of the person himself, we cannot start from a social criterion, otherwise
we would be conditioned to always consider him/her from his/her ability to
emerge, to be better than the others, to compete. In the gospel, competition
for the first places, for privilege and fame, provokes Jesus to say, “Among you
it will not be like this.” From Him we understand how the relationships between
people should be and what are the essential things to be sought to give a true
meaning to their lives. The logic of Jesus is the logic of opposites, contrasting
the vain human mentality: To be the last in order to be the first; being a
servant of all in order to be great; to lose the life in order to win it; to die
in order to live. Everything is a matter of choice.
A certain author
states that “the path to happiness and personal fulfilment necessarily passes
through the choices we make.” We do not want to live as ‘eternal complaining’
for what did not work, but discern well before making any decision because each
decision brings with it losses and gains. Happy is the one who learned to
cultivate true values; will not be disappointed at the fundamental moment of
his/her existence. I want to conclude by indicating to you, the reader, other
values that the Sacred Scripture offers us and that can help us greatly in the
composition of our scale of values that will put order in our lives, for
example:
- CONFIDENCE: Proverbs
3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Trusting is to have sure that God
protects us and that he guides our lives.
- GENEROSITY: Proverbs
of 11:17: “Those who are generous always obtain the benefits.”
- SINCERITY: Proverbs
11:20: “The LORD detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in
those whose ways are blameless.” God doesn't like untruth, he wants us to be
honest, spontaneous, and sincere.
- COHERENCE: Matthew
7:12: “Whatever you want others to do unto you, do it to them too.”
- FAITH: Matthew 9:29:
“Then he touched his eyes and said, ‘As you believed, so be it unto you!’”
- AVAILABILITY: Luke
1:38: “Behold the servant of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.”
- SIMPLICITY: Acts 2:46:
“They broke bread in their homes and ate with joy and simplicity of heart.”
- SOLIDARITY: Acts 4:32:
“Those who possessed something did not regard it as their own, but everything
they had was put in common.”
- LOVE: Acts 9:36: “She
practiced many good works and gave great alms.”
- RECIPROCAL SERVICE:
1Petro 4:10: “Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful
gifts to be used in the service of others.”
Fr Ndega
English Review: Mary Kung'u
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