“AMEN, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Mt 5,17)
We have just been reminded of these words from our Lord recently. They tell us there are things that do not change and we need to conform to them no matter what. They form the basis for the need for fidelity that we should cultivate and aim at all the time.
We cannot allow ourselves to drift in any way the wind blows, because that surely will not take us to our proper end, nor bring us in ways fit for our dignity as persons. In this rapidly changing world, it is imperative that we be clear about what these things that do not and should not change are.
This knowledge, which should be abiding and operative, is urgently needed these days when we are pressured to dance to the tune of change as dictated by the tenets of practicality, popularity, relativistic morals and other purely worldly values.
The intensity of such pressure is undermining our sense of commitment, perseverance and fidelity to the constants of our life. We are compelled to give knee-jerk reactions to events, and so to be shallow in our grasp of things, myopic and narrow-minded.
We are pushed to be flippant and frivolous in our talk and behavior, not serious and sober. We seem to be egged to have no long-term plans, just short-term, induced not to think in metaphysical terms but rather to think with feelings alone.
Nowadays, deception, betrayals and treachery are getting common. People easily make promises and just as easily also break them. Words people give are just words with hardly any spirit to animate them to reality and to bring to their ultimate consequences. The now Bisayan slang “estoryahee” (tell it to the Marines) captures the general skepticism and cynicism people have toward one another.
People enter into relationships, vows, contracts and marriages driven not so much out of true love and care for the others as simply out of selfish and opportunistic motives. People seem to become more of users than lovers. They treat others more as objects than persons.
Their sense of justice is more anchored on their own interest rather than that of the others, and much less, that of God. In fact, their sense of sin is disappearing, since what is right and wrong is now purely a matter of personal, subjective or at best some consensual judgment. There’s nothing absolute, because God is often excluded in the equation.
Just look around. While within the Church these sad phenomena can also take place—Christ was not even spared of Judas and the Church from time to time can be rocked in scandals—the world now seems to be making as norms and standards the irregular status of infidelity and promiscuity.
A congressman dies and two or three women fight over the custody of the body and the legacy. A movie star divorces her husband and after a day she is seen cavorting with another man in public.
Even among ordinary folks, when asked whether they are single or married, a good number now respond with the now notorious word, “complicated.” It’s clear that the sense of fidelity is waning fast, is ebbing away in the minds of many of us.
What should we do? Obviously, the first thing to do is to pray, to ask everyone to beg our Lord to give us more grace, more light, more strength to effect another conversion in the hearts of all. And out of this prayer should come practical initiatives.
We have to rein in our emotions, passions and urges, and submit them to the workings of reason and grace. This requires a continuing formation that should be given in all places—not only in schools, churches, offices, but also in the media, in the streets, billboards, farms, etc.
This formation should include not only the doctrinal aspects which cater more to the intellects of the people, but also the human and spiritual that would truly enter into the hearts of the people, creating deep, firm convictions and permanent but ever-improving virtues.
We have to realize that fidelity, commitment and perseverance is a matter of one’s true relationship with God. It’s not just our own making, our own choice.
Let’s hope that we can also count of credible witnesses and models of fidelity, commitment and perseverance, especially among our leaders and other people of influence.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Taking God for granted
ONE of the famous laments of Christ was when he went back to his hometown and was treated by his own people with disbelief and suspicion. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?” They felt uneasy with him. Why is he behaving differently from us, they must have asked themselves.
That’s when Jesus said the famous line: “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred.” (Mk 6,3-4) Indeed, he was like them, except that he also was, and is, not only a prophet, but also in fact, the very son of God.
We have to be wary of our tendency to take things for granted. To our estimation these things may seem to be common, ordinary, of little value. We fail to realize that it is precisely in the little things that we can sow the seeds of the true character of our person.
Failing to take care of the little things means we will most likely fail also in taking care of the big things. Taking care of the little things prepares us for the big things. The little things are like prophets. They can portend how we will behave when faced with big things. “He who is faithful in little is faithful also in much.” (Lk 16,10)
Much more should we be wary of our tendency to take our Lord for granted. We can take him for granted because to our estimation he can only be in the big things, in some special occasions, and the like. We fail to realize that he is precisely in the little things of our life, since in fact, he is in everything.
That is why, when talking about the Last Judgment when all of us will be either sheep or goat, he said to the sheep whom he blessed because they gave him food when he was hungry, drink when he was thirsty, etc., that “as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25,40)
Our Lord identifies himself especially with the little ones and with the ordinary things and events in our life. He has a special preference for the little things and the little ones as can be gleaned from what St. Paul also once said:
“But the foolish things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the strong. And the base things of the world and the things that are contemptible has God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to naught things that are.” (1 Cor 1,27-28)
His preaching has consistently highlighted the importance of humility, of becoming little children, of being the last, of wanting to serve and not to be served. It’s clear that it is in the small things in life that we can find our Lord first and start our relation of love with him.
Failing in that, we most likely will also fail to love him at all, because any love that we may show him in the big things would hang in the air. It would be a bogus kind of love, perhaps showy but actually empty.
We have to make adjustments in the way we view things. Our ordinary duties and chores of everyday should be exciting to us since that’s where we can meet Christ and really develop our love for him. We should rectify our tendency to be excited only in the big things.
And that’s why we should not be picky as to what job or task falls on us in a given moment, because it is not so much the kind of work that we do that matters, as the love with which we do that work, be it a big one or a small one. A gardener who does his work with greater love than that of a CEO in his work would be more pleasing to God.
So whether we are on top or below, in front or at the back, it’s more or less the same, since what really matters is whether do our work with love. And with love, we will always find God, because “God is love.” We don’t have to look for him in some special places, because we can find him anywhere whenever we practice love.
We have to be wary of our tendency to neglect our ordinary duties of the day.
That’s when Jesus said the famous line: “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred.” (Mk 6,3-4) Indeed, he was like them, except that he also was, and is, not only a prophet, but also in fact, the very son of God.
We have to be wary of our tendency to take things for granted. To our estimation these things may seem to be common, ordinary, of little value. We fail to realize that it is precisely in the little things that we can sow the seeds of the true character of our person.
Failing to take care of the little things means we will most likely fail also in taking care of the big things. Taking care of the little things prepares us for the big things. The little things are like prophets. They can portend how we will behave when faced with big things. “He who is faithful in little is faithful also in much.” (Lk 16,10)
Much more should we be wary of our tendency to take our Lord for granted. We can take him for granted because to our estimation he can only be in the big things, in some special occasions, and the like. We fail to realize that he is precisely in the little things of our life, since in fact, he is in everything.
That is why, when talking about the Last Judgment when all of us will be either sheep or goat, he said to the sheep whom he blessed because they gave him food when he was hungry, drink when he was thirsty, etc., that “as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25,40)
Our Lord identifies himself especially with the little ones and with the ordinary things and events in our life. He has a special preference for the little things and the little ones as can be gleaned from what St. Paul also once said:
“But the foolish things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world has God chosen, that he may confound the strong. And the base things of the world and the things that are contemptible has God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to naught things that are.” (1 Cor 1,27-28)
His preaching has consistently highlighted the importance of humility, of becoming little children, of being the last, of wanting to serve and not to be served. It’s clear that it is in the small things in life that we can find our Lord first and start our relation of love with him.
Failing in that, we most likely will also fail to love him at all, because any love that we may show him in the big things would hang in the air. It would be a bogus kind of love, perhaps showy but actually empty.
We have to make adjustments in the way we view things. Our ordinary duties and chores of everyday should be exciting to us since that’s where we can meet Christ and really develop our love for him. We should rectify our tendency to be excited only in the big things.
And that’s why we should not be picky as to what job or task falls on us in a given moment, because it is not so much the kind of work that we do that matters, as the love with which we do that work, be it a big one or a small one. A gardener who does his work with greater love than that of a CEO in his work would be more pleasing to God.
So whether we are on top or below, in front or at the back, it’s more or less the same, since what really matters is whether do our work with love. And with love, we will always find God, because “God is love.” We don’t have to look for him in some special places, because we can find him anywhere whenever we practice love.
We have to be wary of our tendency to neglect our ordinary duties of the day.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Removing Lady Justice’s blindfold
I CAN understand why Lady Justice is depicted as blindfolded, holding a balance scale and a sword. The idea is to portray justice as objective and impartial (blindfold), able to weigh the arguments and pieces of evidence from both parties (scale), always using reason and sense of justice to carry out her duty (double-edged sword).
For all those reasons, I am for Lady Justice blindfolded and all. They all have a place in the sun. We always have to respect, protect and defend these reasons.
But we also have to understand that those reasons are in constant need of rectification and improvement, of refinement and growing conformity to the ultimate basis of justice who is God. Though embodied in some system, they cannot be considered as frozen and rigid. They have to be in vital sync with God’s providence.
The balance scale can only weigh things mechanically. It can miss many subtle things, let alone the spiritual requirements of justice and charity. Our reason and a certain sense of justice are always in need of its ultimate grounding and orientation. They cannot really take off unless inspired by God. Without God they will just go in circles and are prone to be taken advantage of.
Justice cannot be real justice if it just gets stuck with our own idea alone of what is right and wrong, good and bad, true and false. No matter how wide a consensus we may have about what is just and unjust, if our idea and sense of justice is not vitally linked to God, we would just be making our own brand of justice, open to all kinds of manipulations and the subtle workings of self-righteousness.
Apart from God, the Creator and Author of all reality, we would be at sea as to what is right and fair. We would put ourselves prone to distortions and abuses that can come from our passions and many other factors, like some privileged position we may have over others. Our sense of justice has to flow with God’s mind, will and ways.
Obviously, we need structures and systems to carry out justice. But those structures and systems should be such that they remain open to God’s promptings and to the flowing developments of the case that can change the picture drastically. They have to be animated by a proper spirit of truth, justice and charity, not inert or dead.
This means that those in charge of dispensing justice should be spiritually alive and connected with God. Otherwise, they would be unhinged and can become like a floating mine, dangerous to any passing ship.
It’s for this reason that Lady Justice also has to learn to remove the blindfold, so she can see, hear and talk to God and the parties involved. It’s important that she has a running conversation with the all the parties involved. She should not get stuck with a fact in the past. She has to flow with life in its variety of possibilities.
What we have to avoid is to dispense justice indiscriminately, relying only on a blind conformity to the letter of the law without discerning its true spirit. We have to be wary of this tendency because there seems to be a strong drift toward it, a growing bias for it.
With the eyes of Lady Justice wide open, those in charge of dispensing justice can serve as instruments of God’s justice, and not just human justice, that aside from being imperfect, is vulnerable to be easily manipulated by those with more power, more money, more talents.
We cannot really guarantee the objectivity and impartiality of justice by having Lady Justice blindfolded and using only a balance scale and a double-edge sword. A lot more are needed.
There is need for Lady Justice to know how to dispense justice with charity and mercy and with healing qualities, and to protect justice from becoming merely an instrument for anger and revenge. Lady Justice has to expand the understanding of justice by going beyond her distributive, commutative, legal and social aspects.
Justice has to be the justice of God, because that in the end is what is proper to us who are God’s image and likeness, and made children of his. That may not be easy to achieve, but we can always try. We should use everything we have to reach it.
We should avoid confining our understanding of justice to a secularized, positivist kind, where God is taken out of the picture and only human consensus is considered.
For all those reasons, I am for Lady Justice blindfolded and all. They all have a place in the sun. We always have to respect, protect and defend these reasons.
But we also have to understand that those reasons are in constant need of rectification and improvement, of refinement and growing conformity to the ultimate basis of justice who is God. Though embodied in some system, they cannot be considered as frozen and rigid. They have to be in vital sync with God’s providence.
The balance scale can only weigh things mechanically. It can miss many subtle things, let alone the spiritual requirements of justice and charity. Our reason and a certain sense of justice are always in need of its ultimate grounding and orientation. They cannot really take off unless inspired by God. Without God they will just go in circles and are prone to be taken advantage of.
Justice cannot be real justice if it just gets stuck with our own idea alone of what is right and wrong, good and bad, true and false. No matter how wide a consensus we may have about what is just and unjust, if our idea and sense of justice is not vitally linked to God, we would just be making our own brand of justice, open to all kinds of manipulations and the subtle workings of self-righteousness.
Apart from God, the Creator and Author of all reality, we would be at sea as to what is right and fair. We would put ourselves prone to distortions and abuses that can come from our passions and many other factors, like some privileged position we may have over others. Our sense of justice has to flow with God’s mind, will and ways.
Obviously, we need structures and systems to carry out justice. But those structures and systems should be such that they remain open to God’s promptings and to the flowing developments of the case that can change the picture drastically. They have to be animated by a proper spirit of truth, justice and charity, not inert or dead.
This means that those in charge of dispensing justice should be spiritually alive and connected with God. Otherwise, they would be unhinged and can become like a floating mine, dangerous to any passing ship.
It’s for this reason that Lady Justice also has to learn to remove the blindfold, so she can see, hear and talk to God and the parties involved. It’s important that she has a running conversation with the all the parties involved. She should not get stuck with a fact in the past. She has to flow with life in its variety of possibilities.
What we have to avoid is to dispense justice indiscriminately, relying only on a blind conformity to the letter of the law without discerning its true spirit. We have to be wary of this tendency because there seems to be a strong drift toward it, a growing bias for it.
With the eyes of Lady Justice wide open, those in charge of dispensing justice can serve as instruments of God’s justice, and not just human justice, that aside from being imperfect, is vulnerable to be easily manipulated by those with more power, more money, more talents.
We cannot really guarantee the objectivity and impartiality of justice by having Lady Justice blindfolded and using only a balance scale and a double-edge sword. A lot more are needed.
There is need for Lady Justice to know how to dispense justice with charity and mercy and with healing qualities, and to protect justice from becoming merely an instrument for anger and revenge. Lady Justice has to expand the understanding of justice by going beyond her distributive, commutative, legal and social aspects.
Justice has to be the justice of God, because that in the end is what is proper to us who are God’s image and likeness, and made children of his. That may not be easy to achieve, but we can always try. We should use everything we have to reach it.
We should avoid confining our understanding of justice to a secularized, positivist kind, where God is taken out of the picture and only human consensus is considered.
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