(written in 2003)
What a happy thing it is to be available for others all the time. Being helpful and useful to others makes us feel good, cheerful, and joyful. The more we give ourselves to be available for the needs of people around us, the more we can create a better community with solidarity.
I was happy to meet a humorous, devoted, and honest Singapore professor, Dr. Maurice G. T. Teo, who reminded me of the importance of being available for others always if possible. It was the second time that we invited him to give a lecture and discern our apostolate situation in general. He is at present chairman of the International Institute of Management and managing director of Trinity Associates Ltd. in Hong Kong. He is now also helping many bishops and nuns across the world at his own expense.
This time, Dr. Teo came to Korea to give a special lecture on creative thinking. In his lecture for religious people, he suggested six steps to create different ways of thinking; information gathering, recognizing emotions and feelings, realizing dangers and difficulties as well as caution, being objective in terms of judgment and discernment, making efforts and actions, and managing thinking modes.
Traditionally, some of us, not all, were adversarial, confrontational, critical, and abrasive in some way. As time goes by, we feel that we have to change this negative way of thinking into being friendly, accommodating, empathetic, and charitable. This creative and positive way of thinking is possible through a parallel, simultaneous, and separate or independent way of thinking.
Of course, in order to realize this kind of thinking mode, it's necessary to change our mindset first--be charitable, discard ego, think of others' point of view, look for compromise, make others feel good, make ambiance comfortable for discussion and never be personal. During his talks, he emphasized being humble, remaining in peace above all, and then living in charity. Witnessing the Good News as a humble servant, we can surely be more available to others. His lecture was not very business-like this time but rather spiritual enough to encourage and stimulate our religious life.
Just a beginner in interpretation, I accompanied him for about a week. Attending his lectures, learning from other interpreters, having meals at the same table, and visiting martyrs' pilgrim sites, I experienced something very special. At this moment, I just want to introduce him to you. In a short, he is a person who made his fortune through his own efforts; he worked very hard during the day and studied at night. At the age of 22, he made success in cultivating prawns in the Philippines where he stayed for about 5 years. However, all of a sudden, his supervisor was killed because somebody was jealous of his success. His wife saw this as a bad sign and they decided to come back to his country only with $200 left.
Only then did he realize he was too proud of himself. He thought he could succeed by himself only, not by the grace of God. From then on, he began to look at his life from a different point of view. It happened that he joined the pious group in devotion to St. Joseph, who was always available for God's will. St. Joseph listened to God's voice and followed in silence without any resistance. He took Mary our mother as his wife even though she was already pregnant and he moved into another place after reading the sign in his dream. He just read and followed God's will. That's why we call him a saint of availability. Paying homage to St. Joseph, Dr. Teo is trying his best to be available for others' needs around the world. Probably because of the help of St. Joseph, Dr. Teo could get his first Ph.D. and then D.Sc.
Dr. Teo has been a special adviser to the Little Sisters of the Poor and our congregation as well. He is also the only layperson to be a tutor helping the Asian Bishops Conference; he has taught over 400 bishops so far. In helping others, he has a strong faith and conviction that God gives more if we share more. In fact, the more we have, the more we have to share one another because everything is God's free gift for us. This sense of sharing surely stimulates us to give the self out more. If we are willing to be available at any time and at any place, we will not be tired so much. When we feel stressed and busy, it's not easy for us to be available to others. Only when we are peaceful and have room in our hearts, we can give ourselves out as freely and willingly as possible.
The way he conducted his class was a lot of fun. Like a comedian, he tried to get rid of tension to make the message easier to accept. Like a grandfather, he was generous and charitable towards others. Like a pious and devoted person, he enjoyed praying hard and encouraged us to do so. More than his lectures, his life was an example of witnessing the biblical values of sharing with joy and humility, smiling, and being pious and grateful. He even confessed that he became more gentle and understanding towards his wife as he grew old. He used to say that he is the king of his family and his wife the crown of the king. The way they love and respect each other was very clear and lovely.
All in all, it was a very good experience to be with him. Listening to him, I could refresh myself and have a better perspective on religious life and apostolate. How good it is to meet such a warm-hearted collaborator with vision and inspiration. I thought my life was a miracle; there is another man who says his life is a miracle. That's him. Miracles really happen in our lives.
The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ June 9, 2003
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