Searching for the Basic 

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came to birth, I consecrated you. - Jeremiah 1:5

Emmanuel Levinas' primary attempt at making ethics into ‘first philosophy', centred on the relationship between the self and the other. According to John Wild, Levinas' work is a testimony to the description of a human experience that is definitely biased and egocentric. ‘I take precedence over the various objects I find around me, and in so far as my experience is normal, I learn to manipulate and control them to my advantage, either as the member of a group which I identify with myself or simply as myself alone', wrote Wild. What precisely makes it so difficult for the human person, to reach out to the other, with less emphasis on selfinterest? 

The Prophet Jeremiah laid out an excuse when Yahweh requested of his service. Jeremiah's resistance did not constitute a willing disobedience to the Lord; on the contrary, it was an exhibition of self-interest. Primarily, it was the avoidance to meeting with the other. However, the words of Yahweh reminded him to go on an inner searching, a search that will reveal a basic truth: before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came to birth, I consecrated you . To know this truth is, to find an end to our searching. And when we live out this truth, it will be evident that upon a meeting with the other, we can either give from our little and who we are, or we give from our surplus and what we have become. 

The feast of St Patrick which we celebrate today, is a lesson about the mission of Christ. From the many stories about him, we can learn that reaching out to the other was at the centre of his life. From pastoring to teaching, St Patrick made obvious the fact that humanity is meant to be God's representative and that this cannot be possible without human solidarity. In St Patrick, we see man's effort in contributing to the process of self-renewal, not self-interest. May his intercessions succeed to pull us away from manipulating others, to a conversion to meekness and the hunger for righteousness.