The Day God Awakened My Conscience!

Over the years, an old friend has taught me about living closer to Christ. A quote from sacred scripture best explains the lessons I learned from him:

One of the scribes…asked him; ’Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  (Mark 12:28-31).

The first lesson I learned is related to the commandment’ “To love your neighbor.” I learned the meaning of this commandment the day I met my friend.

About thirty years ago, my wife and I were working together in Real Estate and Loans. I had just received my Real Estate license, signed on with a broker, and was eager to explore the world of making money by helping others. We were planning to canvass, that is going door to door, with our sales pitch: “Live better by using your equity for extra cash, or sell your home and purchase a bigger or newer one.”

The demographics of the neighborhood we had chosen seemed like fertile ground for easy sales; 98% of the community were Hispanic; most of the homeowners were middle-aged, and most of the homes were paid for. Before going “door to door” we decided to hit some of the local business owners. If we could sell our product to a few of the local business leaders, we would open the doors to the larger community because the local business owners were known and trusted members of this community.

A furniture store was the first that we selected, and that’s how I met my friend. We approached him with professional courtesy; he responded in the same way. He was patient as he listened to all we had to say and I thought that we had “gotten one foot in the door,” and that he would lead us to many other customers. How wrong I was. After he spoke to us, we left that neighborhood, never to return again with selfish intentions. This is what he told us:

Leave the people alone. Most of them have worked hard all their lives and have their homes paid for. Don’t disturb them with your ideas of improvement and a ‘better life.’ They have a good and secure life now. What you offer them is not the promise of a better future, but a disastrous future of higher interest rates and more debt, or relocation away from family and friends. They could lose their homes through refinance if they listen to you! And they would listen to you because you are good people, speak Spanish, and for the most part you mean well. But your new ideas will destroy their way of life. If they sell and relocate to a “better” neighborhood, then they are leaving the community-the only life they know. And it is a good life with homes paid for and family and friends nearby. Don’t place them in newer or bigger homes with a heavy mortgage and high interest rate and say that you are helping them to have a better life!

How did he know that we offered an easy qualify variable interest rate that almost doubled six months later to a permanent fixed rate? I don’t know how he knew, but he knew. After listening to him I realized more clearly that some of these loans and refi-packages could ruin a family if they were unable to pay the higher monthly payment a few months later—especially for people not used to making monthly payments at all! After listening to him, I knew that he was right and so did my wife. I don’t think that we thanked him as we left the store, but we heeded his advice. He had spoken to our conscience with success. Perhaps the Holy Spirit blessed him and helped him to instruct us in the way of the Lord—especially to love our neighbor, respect their way of life, and not lead them astray.

The second lesson he taught came ten years later. I was in the hospital recovering from minor surgery (angioplasty and stenting) due to a moderate heart attack. I had been in the hospital for about a week. And though I was grateful to have survived a heart attack and to be in recovery, I felt spiritually weak, almost void of life. I wanted to attend mass, but of course, I couldn’t. I requested through the nurse to see a priest or to receive Holy Communion. She called the local church and within a couple of days a Eucharist Minister showed up, and I saw my friend again. We prayed; we shared the gospel and most importantly I experienced the healing graces of our Lord through the reception of Holy Communion. By combining my body and blood with our Lord’s, the void within me was filled with peace, and I was able to understand –not on an intellectual but on a spiritual level—what it was like to truly “love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, strength and will.”

Now that I’m older and these events are far behind me, the lessons learned are with me every day of my life. We, my wife and I are still in touch with our friend. We see him often at Mass. He’s in his middle 90s now, yet he remembers us and is always glad to see us, as we are to see him. His presence in our lives is a constant reminder that we who have faith need to watch out for each other. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer for the Christian is always a strong and emphatic yes! A culture such as ours which supports hedonism, extreme relativism and atheism does not praise fraternal correction in any form; our culture actually suppresses it. Yet, our friend had the courage and wisdom to say what had to be said, not compromising the truth. This is the third lesson he has taught us.