Pillars of Seminary Life

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Obedient Heroism

A Reflection about the Book of Esther

Esther, a courageous Jewish woman. She was the one who replaced Vashti from her throne. By her grace and beauty, she captivated the king. Her story made me think about my life as a seminarian and as a Christian.

As I became a Claretian seminarian, I learned and knew the dos and don’ts. Queen Vashti was dethroned because of her disobedience and ignorance. In seminary, obedience is a very important virtue that each seminarian should possess. We obey because there is a commandment and that commandment came from an authority. The formators are the authorities in the seminary. I am trying not to be like Vashti, rather follow Esther who knows how to follow rules. I am not a perfect follower. I admit that I became Vashti sometimes. It’s not my intention to break the rules. I just became tired of following rules and I, too have some break, a rest. I admit that I became late, sometimes I didn’t submit my work on time, and I became noisy and insensitive. I always do my best to abide the rules, but sometimes it made me ask – What is the need for this kind of rules? Sometimes I want to ignore it, reject it and not follow it. I came to realize if I’ll ignore it, reject it and won’t follow it what would happen to my life. For certain it would make me worse. For sure it won’t help me to become a good person. I forgot that the rules are not there just to obey. Rules are there as an expression of love, expressed concern. Rules help people to be good. To follow rules is to understand also the essence, of why the rule is made. I have known these and why I became ignorant? The time I became ignorant was also the time I forgot the essence of rules. I forgot that they are expressions of love and concern for me. It’s like I had slapped on my left-and-right cheek when I became ignorant. I felt ashamed and because of it, I may be dethroned as well. There is no perfect follower, but I’m striving hard to be obedient as I need time for practice and mastery.

To be a great follower requires practice and mastery, but being a Christian is no need. Living as Christian is the one that requires practice and mastery. To live as Christian is to be brave. When her cousin Mordecai told Esther that the Jews, her race was in danger of termination, she made a move to save them. The first thing she did was to pray to Yahweh. Then after that, she dressed well and met the king. Meeting the king without an appointment was very dangerous that once violated, the violator’s life is at risk. Even Esther knew this danger and she was ready to sacrifice herself to save the Jews. Just like being Christian. To live as Christian, we entailed ourselves to be brave, to be courageous. When we have problems, we often than not we pray. After praying is the time to face the challenge. To face the challenge is to dress well like Esther. We should be prepared. Challenges we encounter requires our bravery to overcome it. We always encounter challenges in our daily lives. Those challenges we have is to sacrifice. We experienced being deprived or the one to stand firm to fight. Being brave is to sacrifice. Being brave is to be deprived and stand firm to fight. When we have problems, we are tested for what the things we can sacrifice. If we sacrifice things and is very painful for us the Lord knows that. He is the one to return good things after our losses. Even Esther saved the Jews and hadn’t so much loss maybe it’s because she suffered already. She was in suffering when she was not with her family. She was in suffering when she became queen as she needs to be faithful to the commandments. Maybe the Lord intervened with the king’s decision whether to save or not the Jews. Maybe the Lord repaid Esther’s sacrifices and bravery and He answered her prayer. Just like Esther, I wish I could be faithful as she was. I wish I will be a faithful Christian. After that Esther asked for a Thanksgiving feast. It shows after facing a problem we shouldn’t forget to give thanks to our God.


To become a hero doesn’t mean to fight with a sword and kill the enemies. Let us say our enemies are our problems. We can become a hero just like Esther who is obedient. Though obedience we are trained to be patient. If we become patient we see the ways to overcome. We see the ways to fight. Being a hero is to be BRAVE. To overcome problems in life is to be obedient, which leads to patience, faithfulness and bravery, which teach us to sacrifice great things.

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