Almost two weeks ago I was invited to speak in a weekly club meeting. The topic I was assigned was Servant Leadership.
In preparing my outline, the process of reflection led me to focus on the servant leader as a compassionate leader.
One associates “compassion” with to “suffer with.” The connotation I like a lot is “to enter the chaos of the other.”
This second definition communicates more powerfully the challenge—or even the demand—of compassion, i.e., to get out of our comfort zone.
This is the “sin” of the rich man or rich fool in this Sunday’s Gospel. Not only did he not get out of his comfort zone, but worse, he reinforced his self-centered world. In the parable, when the rich fool speaks, it is all about I-me-myself.
In the version I used, in five sentences he refers to himself—I, my, myself—10 times. Talking about self-centered-ness, this tops it all!
Self-centered world
His sin is not that he was rich. He was rich because he was hardworking. Surely, to be hardworking is a virtue. He did not defraud anyone. He was not corrupt. But he got trapped in a very narrow and self-centered world.
When one gets into this mind-set and narrow world view, one becomes totally incapable of compassion. We become a prisoner of our own success.
When I worked with seminarians, I would invite them to my office at Christmastime. There were gifts I didn’t need, so I would let the seminarians choose among these the three gifts they wanted.
This was before the Asian economic crisis. The seminarians were in awe of the quality of the gifts.
I would laugh and tell them, “Remember, when you get into positions or offices of influence, never forget this reality: It’s not you. It’s the office!”
Most dangerous trap
We often get trapped in—a rather appropriate term—the trappings of power and, sad to say, even “service.” Clearly, the parable reminds us that blessings, especially material blessings, have a way of distorting our view of reality.
But more than material things, I contend that it is the ego, the I-me-myself, that is the most dangerous of all “traps.”
Wealth and power are meant to be used properly. The proper use is always in genuine sharing with and service of others. Unless one overcomes the temptations and pitfalls of the ego, there can be no genuine sharing and service.
I remember a conversation I had years ago with one of the most generous philanthropists I have met. She told me to pray for her so that God would give her more resources—so that she could give more money to more people.
This is the same person who taught me that giving is not best measured by generosity, i.e. the amount of money we give, but by the thoughtfulness behind the giving.
This philanthropist is thoughtful in her giving, whether it involves millions of pesos or a few fruits or pastries. She goes out of her way to think of what a person needs or likes.
This is the starting point of compassion: “to suffer with the other” is to think first of the other and not oneself. It’s about getting out of our comfort zone to help another person.
Other-centeredness
In the same talk on Servant Leadership, I referred to the ancient hymn in the Letter of Paul to the Philippians on the kenosis of Christ (Philippians 2: 5-7): “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
This is the deepest form of other-centeredness: to empty oneself completely that we may “enter the chaos of the other.” This was what Christ did in the mystery of his Incarnation. He entered the human situation in all things, but sin.
The rich fool was the exact opposite. He was so full of himself. Psychology has a term for this personality disorder—the narcissistic personality, from the Greek Narcissus who was preoccupied with looking at the reflection of his handsome face in the water. As the first reading for this Sunday puts it, “Vanity of vanities… All things are vanity!”
Ignatius of Loyola had a parallel prescription for entering the world of the other. He advised that if we are to influence and guide others, we must “enter their door,” enter their world, and from their perspective, help them make sense of their lives and discover their mission, leading them to a life of service and love, all for the greater glory of God, ad majorem Dei gloriam!
Antidote
Ignatius also prescribes an antidote to the narcissistic personality—gratitude for God’s love and graces and offering back everything we have. In his beautiful prayer Ignatius says, “All things I have and all that I am you have given all to me, to you I return them that you may dispose of me wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace, these make me rich, I ask for nothing more.”
This is the love that gave us Christ on the Cross and this is the grace that gave us the Resurrection. This is the love and grace that make us rich. This is the love and grace that make us love in return—God, above all, and others for whom Christ emptied Himself and offered Himself on the Cross.
