By Sir Kt Bro Albert Salia,
AN ASSISTANT Supreme Chaplain, W/Bro James Buor-Mensah, has challenged Christians, particularly Marshallans, to learn to manage their expectations
“Our happiness or unhappiness is largely due to our own expectations. We receive what is due us each day and yet because we look at the other, we become unsatisfied because of what we expected to receive,” he said.
W/Bro Buor-Mensah, who is also the Chaplain at the St Hubert’s Minor Seminary in Kumasi, made the call in his reflections during the Thanksgiving Mass at the just-ended Grand Court meeting at the Christian Village, Santasi on Sunday, September 24, 2017.
His reflection was on the theme, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6).
According to him, sometimes Marshallans grumble over nothing.
“We become envy of the other’s gift received from God when you have yours already. It’s all due to the fact that we see ourselves better than the other.
“I deserve to hold this position and not this one” “your brother or sister is happy and you are envious of that” instead of participating in the happiness or otherwise sorrows of each other, it does not happen like that,” W/Bro Buor-Mensah stated..
He, therefore, stressed the need for Marshallans to always be conscious of their expectations. “They can blind our eyes from the very gifts we have received and continue to receive from the Lord. Our expectations should lead us to acknowledge and appreciate the presence of the Lord and His gifts in our lives,” he admonished Marshallans.
Please read below his entire reflections
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6).
We are gathered here to seek the Lord, to call upon Him. In the liturgical celebration He can certainly be found. He is near.
In the Gospel we have the parable of the vineyard labourers. The situation the parable describes is not purely imaginary. It describes the kind of thing that frequently happened at certain times in Palestine.
In Palestine, the grape harvest, ripen towards the end of the ninth month and then close before the rains come. If the harvest is not gathered, before the rains come, it is ruined and so one has to hurry up to work.
During the emergency, any worker is welcome, even if he can give only one hour’s work.
The work starts at 6:00 in the morning and ends at 6:00 in the evening. Some workers are hired in the first hour, others at the third hour, still others at the sixth, ninth and eleventh hours.
In the Gospel we hear people waiting for work. Some got work at the first hour, others at the third and ninth hours respectively, while others got work at the last hour. The vineyard owner will enter into a contract with the labourers such as the case of the Gospel.
The agreement was for the vineyard owner to pay them one denarius each which was agreed for those he hired in the first hour of the day.
But those he hired at the last hour, he did not enter into any agreement with them. He just invited them to his vineyard to work for only an hour.
The time came for each of the workers to receive their wages. All of them received one denarius regardless of the time one started to work.
Obviously, the expectation of those who work from the first hour to the last would be to have more wages than the rest. The contrary happened. It left them with a huge unhappiness and grumbling.
Our happiness or unhappiness is largely due to our own expectations.
We receive what is due us each day and yet because we look at the other, we become unsatisfied because of what we expected to receive.
We sometimes grumble over nothing. We become envy of the other’s gift received from God when you have yours already. It’s all due to the fact that we see ourselves better than the other.
“I deserve to hold this position and not this one” “your brother or sister is happy and you are envious of that” instead of participating in the happiness or otherwise sorrows of each other, it does not happen like that.
So the parable says, why are you envious because am generous? Didn’t I pay you what was agreed on? Take it and go.
So we need to always be conscious of our expectations. They can blind our eyes from the very gifts we have received and continue to receive from the Lord.
Our expectations should lead us to acknowledge and appreciate the presence of the Lord and His gifts in our lives.
Amen