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The
highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over
popularity.
Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
-
Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
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<< Go
to "Servant Leadership" Menu...
ON SERVANT
LEADERSHIP
(Part 26)
THE ENEMY WITHIN
October
18, 2011
Today’s reading: 2 Timothy 4:9-17
When you serve the Lord, you can expect to be attacked by the
enemy. But what most do not expect is that they would also be
attacked by those who profess to serve Christ, and even more
unlikely, by those who are in the same group or community (who
then become the enemy within).
This is the case with dissident theologians and clerics who openly
challenge established Church teaching and the Magisterium, with
feminist nuns who have kicked the habit (pun intended) and become
liberal and secular, with Catholic politicians who claim to be
devout Catholics while supporting reproduction health, divorce and
same-sex marriage.
Paul had his share of such supposed-to-be co-workers.
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Demas,
who deserted him, after being enamored by the present world (2
Tim 4:9).
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Alexander
the coppersmith, who did him a great deal of harm (2 Tim
4:14a).
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Others,
including Phygelus and Hermogenes (2 Tim 1:15), who deserted
him at his first defense (2 Tim 1:16) as a prisoner in Rome.
So
one lesson for servant leaders is that they can expect to be
betrayed, deserted and harmed, even by those whom they consider to
be brethren.
It also happened to us in CFC.
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We,
CFC and the cause of Christ were betrayed by those top leaders
who veered away, disobeyed the bishops, and continue to
deceive their members about the true circumstances of the 2007
crisis and split.
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These
top leaders even now cause harm to our work, by continuing to
spread lies, maligning us with Church authorities, and filing
unbibilical and scandalous court cases.
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They
have effectively abandoned Christian principles and actions in
favor of legalistic, corporate and secular acts, showing
one’s being enamored with the ways of the present world.
What
should be our response? Well, we do not respond in kind. We
forgive. We take the unjust blows, rejoicing in the privilege of
suffering for the cause of Christ. We endure. We leave it up to
the Lord to repay them according to their deeds (2 Tim 4:16b). We
continue on with our work.
But then, we also need to be on guard against them, especially as
they reject the hand of friendship we extend, oppose our work, and
resist our preaching of what constitutes authentic Christian
values (2 Tim 4:15). We protect our work, while proactively
seeking dialogue and reconciliation with them. Further, we hope
for their transformation of heart, so that we can all look to
working together once again, as Mark got back into the good graces
of Paul (2 Tim 4:11b).
Finally, we look to God for His strength. We know that God will
stand by us as we do what is right and just and true, and will, as
He promises through our theme for 2011, give us the fullness of
His strength (2 Tim 4:17a). We know that God protects us and His
work through us, and will rescue us from the lion’s mouth (2 Tim
4:17c).
We simply go on with what God has given us to do, “so that
through (us) the proclamation (of the gospel) might be completed
and all the (world) might hear it.” (2 Tim 4:17b).
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