Sep 30 – Memorial for St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor
St. Jerome (347-419) led a misspent youth. He later converted in theory, being baptised in 365, and then had a true conversion when he studied theology. He was a monk, and revised the Latin text of the Bible. The result of his 30 years of work was the Vulgate translation, which is still in use. He is a Doctor of the Church and Father of the Church. Since his own time, he has been associated in the popular mind with scrolls, writing, cataloguing, translating, etc. This led to those who work in such fields taking him as their patron – a man who knew their lives and problems.
- Patron Saint Index
Job 9:1-13,14-16
Lk 9:57-62
“Follow me…”
We would have encountered many leaders in our lives, but how many of them will we follow without question? Would it be someone that you respected, or was it someone that you had to, by virtue of circumstance? For myself, the leader that I will follow is the one that has earned my respect. For I am very certain, that leader would put more emphasis on the interests of others than on his own.
I have had the opportunity to lead people — from the time I was in the Scouts as a teenager, to being a Platoon Commander in National Service (NS), to leading a team of executives in my corporate life. I thank God for these experiences as I have learnt much from the leaders that I respected and, most importantly, from the people that I was leading. And the most important leadership lessons I experienced was during my stint in NS.
During that time, I was sent to an active combat unit and was assigned to a platoon of men whose highest education level was Secondary 2 (junior high school). These men were also from a segment of society that I was not familiar with nor belonged to. When I received the appointment, I was shocked and filled with dread and fear. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined being assigned to a combat unit. But God really has the strangest sense of humour. Sending a young person, who can’t really converse in Mandarin or dialect, to lead a group of men who spoke Mandarin and dialect most of the time. How was I going to communicate with them, much less earn their respect?
So what did I do? I simply tried my best to communicate with them with my atrocious Mandarin, learnt some Hokkien along the way, and used simple language. But the most important thing was that I treated all of them as my equal, never looking down on them just because I was more educated or spoke better English. I trained with them in the heat of the day, laughed with them, and did not set myself apart from them. However, I drew the line whenever situations seemed to become too familiar, as at the end of the day, I was responsible for their safety and lives. We could enjoy each other’s company but once I gave orders, those orders were to be followed and discipline had to be ensured.
The Lord had given me an opportunity to lead and I grabbed it with both hands. I really enjoyed my stint in NS, especially with my platoon. My men knew that I had their welfare at heart and was not just putting on a show. I also made it a point that my actions matched my words, and that is something that I always strive for. If I am not prepared to do something, then it should not be something that I want my guys to do as well. Perhaps in a way, it was emulating Jesus when He was with His disciples.
I put all these into practice when I started working, and this formed a good foundation in the way that I established teams — that the entire team had to walk the talk and if we committed to something, then that something would have to done. Over the years, I now realize that being part of a corporate machine has hardened me and made me insensitive to how others feel. I ascribe it to efficiency and not caring about how other parties may perceive how I communicate, or how I treat them. My end goal became meeting objectives timely and not caring how I got there.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a course called ‘Lead Like Jesus’. It is a leadership course designed to bring us more into a Christ-like mindset, in particular, four areas — why we lead, what we think, what we do and how we can stay on track.
It was one of the more interesting leadership courses that I have attended, but I did come away with more questions than answers; which I will unpack as I reflect more. The course encourages us to intentionally place Jesus as my leadership model and, in particular, servant leadership — as He told us too. In the course of my career, I have heard this from more than one leader. But invariably, their actions do not match with what they say. And suffice to say, these so-called leaders never earned my respect.
But I know that Jesus is not like that. I believe that He is the true servant leader. When He asked his disciples to “Follow me”, it was not just lip service. It was not just following His teachings but to also follow His lifestyle, behaviours and how He treated others. Did it work?
The Church is still standing today, more than 2,000 years after Jesus’ resurrection. Does this mean that we should follow Jesus without question? My answer is “YES”!
What about you, my brothers and sisters?
(Today’s OXYGEN by Calvin Wee)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are always with us and always gives us the grace to undertake any challenge. Let us always be open to y the promptings of the Holy Spirit as He guides us out of every difficult situation that we may encounter. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of acknowledging Jesus as our Saviour. He is always showing us how to be emulate Him as the true servant leader and that we should always follow His ways as we lead and guide others in this earthly life. Amen.
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