ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Be creatively selective

Be creatively selective

Published Dec 12, 2021 12:12 am
THROUGH UNTRUE Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P. Yesterday, a friend who looked haggard and harassed came to me and said: "I wonder what's wrong with me. My schedule is a mess. The pressure of work is driving me crazy. I have become extremely busy, disorganized, and disoriented." Many of us can relate with him. We are always busy, especially during the Christmas season. We are pressured to socialize, send Christmas greetings and gifts, attend family functions, and engage in other exasperating activities. Secretly we wish to escape to a place where we can experience what the poet Petrarch wrote about:

 "Not to be crowded, pushed, pressed, and stepped on;

  Not to be dragged to banquets when you are not hungry;

  Not to be forced to talk when you’d rather say nothing;

  Not to be greeted at awkward moments;

  Not to be clutched or bumped at street corners;

  Not to spend the day, according to fashion’s foolish decrees,

  How beautiful life must be, if we are free 

From such hassles."

Almost always, though, it is the desire to escape from our present situation that aggravates our unhappiness. As Petrarch himself realized after taking refuge in a distant monastery, peace is found not by escaping from people and work, but by being creatively selective.  To be creatively selective, we have to accept the fact that we have very limited time in our hand. We also do not have infinite energy to do what we want to do. We must learn how to choose what is worth doing.   Come to think of it. Many of us burden ourselves with tasks we don’t need to do. We hang on to dead routines to convince ourselves that we are alive and productive. Worse, we hang on to friends long after we realized they were not worth having. Many of us keep busy because we are afraid of what people will think about us. If we only know how seldom people think about us!  To be creatively selective is to let go of what’s not important and what we cannot control. It is useless to be constantly distracted by worries about what happened earlier or what might happen next. We must set our priorities right and devote the necessary time to each of these. Unless we are sure of what we really want in life, we will forever drift in a maze of unsatisfying and unrewarding activities.   The message of Christmas is PEACE. St. Augustine defines peace as "the tranquility of order." Peace is a byproduct of an orderly life. How to put our life in order? The Gospel reading for today gives us a good advice on how to do it.To have peace, it is not enough that we focus our attention on what we want. We must also consider integrating basic ethical concerns that point to what is necessary and important to others. John the Baptist says: "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. If you're a tax collector, don’t collect any more than you are required. If you are soldiers, don't extort money and don’t accuse people falsely, and be content with your pay” (Luke 3: 11-14). We experience real peace not by hoarding wealth that is grotesquely out of proportion to our needs. Neither can we have peace by trying to keep pace with those who live frantic, hectic, and strained lives. Peace comes to those who step to a different drummer. Or those who choose to listen to the voice that says: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). 

Related Tags

THROUGH UNTRUE Fr Rolando dela Rosa Be creatively selective
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.