The gospel and the jackfruit

To every creature” we are commanded to proclaim the gospel. “All creatures” then means all of creation? Including the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees, pet dogs and cats and hamsters as well? Yes, in my opinion. We should “proclaim the gospel” to every created being or thing, because proclaiming the gospel is nothing more and nothing less than putting LOVE to work. It’s not only quoting from the bible, but making our lives instruments of God’s love for all. Loving calls for respect, and even an inanimate object like a rock deserves respect because it bears the fingerprints of the Creator. If we can love and respect the whole of creation, we will be rewarded with peace—peace with God, peace with ourselves, peace with nature, peace with our fellowmen no matter our differences in religious outlook.

Allow me to relate to you a simple experience. One day we harvested jackfruit (langka) from the prolific tree in our garden. After giving some to my immediate neighbors, I gave two pieces to a sidewalk vendor from whom I occasionally buy “lutong bahay” for lunch. I don’t even know her name, but last March she revealed to me that she used “dilis” instead of pork to flavor the “ginisang munggo” because she was abstaining from meat for 40 days of Lent, as dictated by her religion, an obscure Christian sect I’d not heard of before. She was speechless with surprise and gratitude as she received the jackfruit. A week later I dropped by for lunch-to-go and she said smling, “I waited for you the next day to give you cooked langka, but you didn’t come!” Then she refused the payment for my order. It’s like we were real neighbors exchanging ülam” over the fence. Isn’t that “proclaiming the gospel”, too, between strangers?