I have always loved quotations and sayings that inspire, that strike a chord of something deep within me. Alexander Pope once wrote: “What oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.” In my younger years, such quotations were often hard to come by I could memorize all my favorite quotes, most of them from the Bible. Later on, I had a collection of such quotations saved in some printed form and which I would liberally use and refer to in my writings, in the papers I wrote, for the memos I issued, in the various article I made, as slogans or mottoes for projects or campaigns I managed. Today, there is such an avalanche of such quotations everyday – specially on Facebook – I am inundated and I get a quotations overload. Many are truly inspiring. Others are very inane and banal. Still others are self-serving or reeking with cynicism and sarcasm.
I guess this phenomenon is a universal human experience. It is an attempt to give voice and expression to something deep within us. I for one would want to see what and why and how there is something more to life than what my senses can perceive. I realize when I go over my life how I have missed important cues in my past, how these cues could have led to some life-changing decisions. And I could only say: “Oh well, I wish I had been wiser or more sensitive then.” The right quotation at the right moment might have made me see what I missed the first time. Oh well. I have no regrets though for there is nothing major in my life today that I would change even if I had the possibility to do so.
This love for and resonating with inspiring quotations is part of my quest for meaning. It is a spiritual longing that seeks for an answer. It is a thirst and a hunger for food that does not perish. It is like a seed yearning to grow, live and endure for eternal life. It is the Word wanting to be incarnated in my life.
Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
John 6:22-29