Rene Drachenberg
365 TESTIMONIES OF HOSPITALITY |
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Co-worker |
United States of America |
Rene Drachenberg |
I am the CCO of the USA Province’s ministries. As a physician and hospital administrator, I experience great happiness and fulfilment at St. John of God Retirement & Care Center in Los Angeles. Mine is not just another administrative position – as it might be in the ‘hospitality industry’. Our hospitality is different. We base our hospitality on personal principles and individual convictions of the moral and rewarding behaviour that brings internal satisfaction to individuals and is a blessing to the community. As an executive at St. John of God, it is challenging to balance the expression of my daily hospitality toward others when we are confronted with a society that has lost these core values. Not only have they lost their way, but they often misinterpret hospitality, respect and dignity as signs of weaknesses and insecurity. It is then that I think of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five, in which we are admonished to love our neighbour, as well as those that offend us and dislike us, not just our friends and the "nice" people. It is in our daily activities that we have the divine opportunities to practice what we preach. For these and many other reasons, I am very grateful to God for the abundant opportunities that I have received at St. John of God to become a conduit for the organization’s core values, sharing them with co-workers and every person with whom I come into contact. "Do good to yourself by doing good to others."