A man named Pilo....

Once there was a man named Teofilo, nicknamed Pilo. Pilo is a country person who decided to look for opportunities in the city. Arriving there, he was surprised to see lots of street children and beggars in the streets. Some of them gathered around him, asking for alms. He took pity at their condition, started to give each child a penny from his pocket. This amused the children, informing others, turning a small group into a mob around him. A policeman nearby saw the commotion and whistled, frightening the children and they scurried away, until it is only Pilo that is left. The policeman stared at Pilo in disdain, swung his handcuffs to Pilo's hands and started to drag him to the nearest police station. As they walk, the police talked:

" I know you have no bad intentions with those children, but what you had done is prohibited. We have an anti-mendicancy law here, and it is forbidden to give anything to those street children and to the beggars for if they fare well to the likes of you, they will remain close to danger in the streets. Better for them to stay away from the streets in order not to make trouble. Do you see where i am pointing to?"

"Yes, sir". replied Pilo. "Spare me this time sir, and I will never do it again."

The police, sensing the country accent of Pilo, assumed that Pilo is new in the city, so he decided to let him go.

This has made Pilo realize that the police is right, he will be endangering the children in the streets. Pilo then applied to be a house help in a rich man's mansion. Since Pilo is innately diligent, his master has become fond of him and trusted him more than anyone in the house. He was given the right to arrange and manage things in and around the mansion. One day he saw beggars waiting at the gate, asking for alms. He took pity at their condition, so after meals, Pilo gathers the leftovers and the excess foods and put them in plastic bags, and secretly he let the beggars enter the mansion's compound in the back gate, and there he let them eat. One day, his master caught him and summoned him upstairs. His master then said:

"Pilo, I know you had no bad intent with the people whom you let in here, nor to me, but what you had done, I may not speak well of. You see, all my riches I have gained through my hard work and I endured a lot in order to attain my comfort now. I believe that man can be successful if he tries to support and work for himself. But giving them our supplies for free, you will only teach them to gain their food easily without effort. You will teach them how to be lazy. If you really want to help them, you must let them work for their needs."

This made Pilo realize that his master is right. In order to really help people, he must help people work for their own needs at their own expense. So with the master's help, Pilo has received a lot of opportunities. Startlingly, Pilo has become rich. He had now his own mansion and his own company. He called some of the able vagrants and beggars to work in his business. He discovered their own abilities and arranged their affairs properly. In his place, there is hardly a beggar in the street, for all of them worked and lived in his own compound. Pilo regularly attends to the needs of the people under him, to the extent that all those former beggars have only relied on his generosity, without doing their own initiatives themselves. This the local bishop has noticed, and summoned Pilo to his diocesan office. The bishop then said:

"Pilo, I know you had no bad motive with the people whom you helped to make their lives better, but as I see it, it seems you need to refine them a bit more. Teach them livelihood programs, so that they can start having their own means of income. It is not forever that they had to depend on you. In order to really help them, you should start teaching them to stand in their own feet."

This has made Pilo realize that the good old bishop is right, helping them will also entail helping them help themselves. So he took a course in entrepreneurship in a nearby college, and after he graduated, formed a sector in his company to teach them further opportunities and how to start businesses which they like. It did not take long until his cause becomes effective. Many of his men became self-sufficient and started to go yonder to initiate their own businesses in town. Their businesses has become successful too, to the extent that they can now compete with Pilo's. Many had nurtured contempt and envy with him, so that many of the former beggars whom he had helped, has now disliked him.

Pilo saw another need that has to be met. These people, in order to be really helped, has to be brought to the Lord. He realized that there is no total development that can happen in man save when a man decides to give back to God his very self. This will also help them pass on to others good deeds, as what Pilo had done for them. So in his car, he went to their places, persuading them to come with him to church. The former beggars who are now rich businessmen ignored and laughed at Pilo's plea. Sad to know that they had been blinded by worldly greed, Pilo went to church all by himself.

Just on his way to the church, Pilo saw a vagabond at the sidewalk. He took pity at his condition, told the driver to stop, and opened the window. He beckoned the man to come closer to give him something, not knowing that the man was mentally deranged. As the vagabond approached, and as Pilo is about to give him a bag of goods, suddenly the vagabond became frightened and stabbed Pilo directly to the chest. Pilo was rushed to the hospital, and died that day, on his way to church.

News of his death swept the area. The former beggars whom Pilo had helped were suddenly awakened from their numbness and they realized that they had rejected the person who helped them. All of them attended his funeral, paying their respects and salutations to the man who gave them hope, a new direction in life. At last, Pilo has made them go back to the Church and to the Lord again.

And certainly, the Lord has summoned Pilo infront of Him. The Master of All, upon seeing him, smiled sweetly and said: "Well done, good and faithful servant..."