Saturday, March 16, 2024

We should follow where Christ leads us

THIS is the law we should follow in our life here on earth. It is Christ who shapes and leads the way for us, and we should just follow. Why? Precisely because Christ is the pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity. Our life here on earth is a test to see whether we would like to be with Christ, as we should, or to be by ourselves which, though very attractive to us, is actually a tragedy for us. 

 We are reminded of this truth of our faith in the readings of the Mass for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B. (cfr. Jer 31,31-34 / Ps 51,3-4.12-13.14-15 / Heb 5,7-9 / Jn 12,20-33). They talk about God making a new covenant with the people, creating a new heart for them, and of how that covenant is perfected by Christ as long as we, the people, would follow him by dying to ourselves so Christ can live in us. 

 “If any man ministers to me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my minister be,” Christ said. But for this to happen, he also said: “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life shall lose it, and that he hates his life in this world, keeps it unto life eternal.” 

 And for us to believe, obey and follow what Christ indicated, we are also given some clue, and that is when the Letter to the Hebrews, the 2nd reading of Mass for the 5th Sunday of Lent, said: “Whereas indeed he (Christ) was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And being consummated, he became to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation.” 

 It’s important that we meditate thoroughly on these words of divine wisdom, so we can have a clear idea of what our life here on earth is all about and what we can and should do to pursue the real and ultimate purpose of our life. We cannot be cavalier in our attitude toward this serious duty of ours. 

 Given, of course, our usual wounded human condition, we really would need to develop a certain plan that would effectively put us on track with respect to this duty of ours to pursue the real goal of our life. It cannot be denied that we have to contend with our many limitations like our tendency to be lazy, complacent, unbelieving, etc. 

 Everyone should be made to understand that this duty is incumbent on everyone. So, we should just help everyone in inculcating this very basic duty of ours, starting in the family and radiating to the ever widening and growing levels and dimensions of society and human life itself. 

 Yes, it’s going to involve a “bloody” struggle. But we are assured of victory as long as we go along with Christ who makes himself all available to us. We should never think that we will be going through this struggle by our lonesome, relying only on our own human powers. It’s true that what we would be tackling is overwhelming. But if we only open ourselves to God, nothing would be impossible for us. 

 We have to strengthen our belief that God never abandons us. It is rather us who can abandon him. That’s the problem that we have to try our best to resolve. If our faith is strong, we would know how to go through the process of suffering and dying to ourselves so we can rise with Christ.

Friday, March 15, 2024

The cross is necessary in our life

WE have to realize that we need the cross. Whether we like it or not, the cross will be unavoidable in our life due to our wounded human condition. We should, therefore, develop the proper attitude toward it, and that can only be the attitude Christ had toward the cross. 

 The gospel tells us that Christ knew he was going to offer his life on the cross as the ransom for all our sins. When it was not yet his time to do it, he managed to escape the attempts of those who wanted to arrest him. (cfr. Jn 7,1-2.10.25-30) But when that time came, he even went to offer himself for his eventual arrest and execution. 

 We have to understand that the cross, in any form it comes to us, is the way to our redemption. Christ had to win our redemption through the cross. And if we believe that we are meant to follow Christ, then we too, like Christ, has to win our own redemption through the cross with Christ. 

 It’s important that we lose the fear of the cross. For this, we need to ask first for God’s grace, and then train ourselves to develop a certain love for the cross. While the cross would inevitably cause us some suffering, we have to look at it with faith and convince ourselves that it actually is what would give us true joy. 

 So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of the cross in our life. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing the cross, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of the cross. 

 Thus, we have to understand this very well. Unless we love the cross, we can never say that we are loving enough. Of course, we have to qualify that assertion. It’s when we love the cross the way God wills it—the way Christ loves it—that we can really say that we are loving as we should, or loving with the fullness of love. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to limit our loving to ways and forms that give us some benefits alone, be it material, moral or spiritual. While they are also a form of love, they are not yet the fullness of love. Given our human wounded condition, the fullness of our love would always need the cross. 

 So, everyday let’s see to it that we have the cross. It can come to us in different ways—sickness, trials, difficulties, losses, death, etc.—and if we seem to have no cross for the day, then let’s look for it, the way Christ looked forward to embracing his cross. 

 This can take the form of taking the initiative to do a lot of good to others, or to make better use of our time, fighting against our tendency to laziness and complacency, or to do some small mortifications like denying ourselves some food, drink, the use of gadgets, etc. 

 We have to see to it that the cross figures prominently in our daily life, since the cross would clearly enable us to follow Christ instead of just following our own will and ways, which is a strong tendency for us. Our own victory over sin and death can only come through the cross, the cross of Christ.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Our proneness to infidelity

WE have to be wary of this danger and do everything we can to avoid falling into it. We cannot deny that we are all prone to be unfaithful to whatever commitment we have with God and with others. 

 Our first parents, for example, started this trend. And the succeeding generations were hardly any different. In the readings of Thursday of the 4th Week of Lent, we are somehow reminded of this danger when God showed great disappointment at the Israelites who, despite plucking them out of slavery from the Egyptians, started to worship another god, a molten calf, of all things. (cfr. Ex 32,7-14) 

 God threatened to inflict destruction on the people until he was appeased by the smart reasoning of Moses. In the gospel of the day (cfr. Jn 5,31-47), Christ lamented over the unbelief of the Jewish people despite the great teachings and the miracles that he performed. 

 He appealed to them to believe the words of Moses, because as he said, “If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” 

 We really cannot overemphasize the need to always renew and strengthen our fidelity and sense of commitment to God and to others, given our weakened human condition that is marked by fickleness, forgetfulness, the tendency to take things, especially the serious matters, for granted, etc. 

 In this regard, it’s important that we be always moved and driven by a love that is anchored and focused on God first and then on others. For this to take place, we should make an effort to always acknowledge all the good things God has given us—from our life itself to the many talents, gifts, fortune, privileges, favors, etc. we enjoy in life. Only in this way can we feel urged to be thankful, faithful and to enter into the natural dynamic of love where love is always repaid by love. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to be swallowed up by the many powerful and attractive distractions we have nowadays, leading us along the ways of self-absorption, self-centeredness and self-indulgence. 

 As a matter of fact, we should declare an unrelenting war against our self-indulgence which has become a very formidable problem we all have. Yes, this has always been a problem to us, but these days it is much more so. We really would need to be properly trained to tackle this challenge. 

 With the many new wonderful things that can instantly give us convenience, comfort, pleasure and satisfaction, many of us are trapped into the very sticky web of obsessions, addictions and the many other forms of self-indulgence that feed on our weaknesses, like lust, pride, conceit, gluttony, unhinged curiosities, envy, etc., etc. 

 We should never forget that what we enjoy in life should be always related to God. Otherwise, we would set ourselves in a position of danger. We should always feel thankful to God. Even in our moments of difficulties and human miseries, we still have reason to be thankful because God continues to be with us and to help us cope with them. 

 Indeed, our problems, difficulties and miseries should prod even more to go to God. Yes, we can express our pains to him, even complain to him, but we should never sacrifice our faith and trust in him, knowing that God takes care of everything, especially those things that we ourselves cannot take care anymore due to our limitations.