Thursday, April 5, 2012

Maundatum

By the way, it's Maundy Thursday here. The day is named from the Latin word "maundatum" meaning "command" and refers to Jesus' command in John 13 to his disciples to "love one another."

It's worth noting that the Filipinos have done an amazing job of demonstrating this kind of love for us hapless Americans while we've been here. Two examples from the last few days -- when we arrived at the ferry for Boracay on Sunday, in our ignorance we didn't by the "pumpboat" tickets -- the ferries that crowd everyone and everything, including motorcycles, bundles of bananas, chickens, and children all together in the bottom of the small boat. Instead, we bought the slightly more expensive, luxurious, "fastcraft" tickets. So we waited while at least two dozen pumpboats loaded up, went to the Boracay side of the channel, and returned. Finally we were allowed to board the fastcraft and after a long wait, taken across the channel in our upholstered seats. Because we were so delayed, Marc, who was planning to meet us at the pier, ended up coming across on the pumpboat at his own expense (when we offered to repay him later he refused) to look for us and see if we needed some help. Just one tiny example.

Another is that today, my cell phone didn't work until we were almost back to Iloilo. So rather than wait for my call, Ronald just showed up at the earliest time he thought we might make it back and waited for us in the heat of the bus station. Tiny gestures of the great love (that is, hospitality) that these people have shown to us. I could go on and on about other examples, but you get the idea.

So the question is, how on this day can you show love to someone?

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