HOLY Week is once again upon us. Like some kind of magic, we mysteriously sort of stop what we usually do, change gear and enter into a mode of
prayer and silence as we commemorate the central mystery of our salvation as a people of God.
It’s a real phenomenon to see an ocean of piety flooding our churches, our homes and even our streets on these days. All of sudden, we see many people
doing, individually or in groups, the “Via Crucis,” the “visita Iglesia,” etc.
Long lines of penitents approach the confessionals to purify their hearts. Many don’t mind the heat and crowd, sweating and often hungry because the fasting and abstinence, just to attend the services. Some of us find the time to go to a spiritual retreat or at least a day of recollection. I know many who just want to have some days of isolation, simply to be alone with God.
Many old women and those in far barrios still sing the “pasion” with gusto. You may get irritated with the singing, but your heart will melt at the sight of sincere and simple piety shown by these folks. Thank God for them!
Sometimes I think these people, together with the children and the poor and the weak who suffer all sorts of difficulties and injustices, do more in strengthening our Church than the supposedly bright and clever guys among us.
Every time I see these things, I get deeply moved. Seeing them makes me see the soul of our people who are trying their best to be true children of God. And I get convinced we have a wealth much more precious than what money can give.
There definitely are many imperfections, even mistakes, blighting these practices. And we may have conflicts, we quarrel and wrangle, but, heck, the good news is that we as a nation continue to have a living faith.
This is what truly matters. And that’s why I feel pained whenever I see that faith harmed.
Sad to say, there are indications this is happening. I am referring to many
of our “educated” people, often rich and in very good position in our society, whose approach to religion is led more by their reason than by faith.
This is made worse by the fact that they often are quite articulate and vocal about their views. But, of course, what can we expect?
Because of this fundamental deviation in their approach to religion which is the virtue that defines our relationship with God, many could not understand why the Church still is against contraception, divorce, same-sex unions, etc.
There are many issues, often involving fundamental doctrines of Christ and of the Church, which they find hard to accept, since these to them go against what they consider to be reasonable, or practical, or convenient.
They tend not to be consistent in their being a Christian faithful. At one time, they feel they are part of the Church. And then at another time, they act against the Church. The typical fair-weather Christians, they seem to be active only on Sundays or in other formal occasions.
It would seem that to them faith is not a supernatural gift, something gratuitously given to us by God and gratefully received by us. It is more a product of their own making, of their own understanding of things.
If something proposed by faith fails to pass the test of their human intelligence, then it is rejected.
Or worse, when they see the imperfections and mistakes committed by some members of the Church hierarchy, they are quick to condemn, as if they themselves are immaculate and cannot commit mistakes.
This is what is happening for example in some of the views expressed regarding the Ligtas Bunltis issue. I find this lamentable.
One columnist even went to the extent of saying that the Church must be wrong about its teaching against contraception as it was wrong about the Galileo case.
They often boast that they are real Christian by hearts, but of the “liberated” type—they cannot be bothered by some details of Church life, laws and teachings. Thus, many times they don’t go to Mass, much less go to confession, etc.
Still, not everything is lost. There is still a lot of hope. The passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord, commemorated this Holy Week, gives us vivid reasons that a conversion can take place in the hearts of many.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005
The new life
THAT’S what Easter actually means. With Christ’s resurrection, with his
triumph over sin and death, through the Cross, we actually have a new life.
We are not anymore enemies of God, alienated and cursed, condemned to eternal death. We are now children of his, his people, living members of Christ’s mystical body!
That is, as long as we do our part, learn to correspond to his love, since as St. Augustine once said, while he created us without us, he cannot save us without us. That’s just how it is, my friend.
And this is simply because we are men, we are persons, with intelligence and free will. Things that happen in our life, while always under God’s loving and all-powerful providence, are also things for which we just have to be responsible.
That’s the reason why Our Lord had to do so many complicated things to save us. Yes, what a complicated plan of salvation he undertook! This is to show us the way for which we too can be responsible for our own salvation.
The second person of the Blessed Trinity had to become man, he truly shared the condition of man, even in our weakened nature. He respected the way we are and was willing to recreate that wounded nature of ours by showing us the only way.
He had to be born poor, he spent 30 years of hidden life subject to Mary and Joseph and to all other human authorities. He worked hard, with his hands, as a carpenter. We are told that he did all things well.
Then he started his public life, preaching about the Kingdom of God, about repentance, about the beatitudes. He did some miracles, but only to highlight his divinity and his mercy.
Then he culminated all these by dying on the Cross. He could have chosen another way, a more comfortable one, after all nothing is impossible with him. But he chose the Cross.
That was the most painful, most humiliating kind of death! No other death can approximate the cruelty of his death. To die by the tsunami or by poisoning, already very ugly in their human form, cannot compare with his death.
This is to show the enormity of all the malice of all men, from Adam and
Even to the last person to be born in this world. He was willing to carry all the burden of our sins, to be the lamb to be sacrificed, the ransom to be paid.
This is also to show how much he loves us. He accepted his death calmly, peacefully, with only the human whimper of pain of a son to his father. His love is not passive or formalistic. It was, it is total and active always, going all the way.
This is also to show us how we can truly recreate ourselves, by learning how to love, all the way to its most demanding part—to learn how to suffer, how to forgive.
May we learn how to suffer, how to embrace and love the Cross, not just tolerate it, but to love it. Suffering, in whatever form, should be for us the invitation to identify ourselves with Christ, the surest sign of loving.
This is the new life that our Lord is giving us with his resurrection. If we only can be better Christians, by learning how to correspond to his love!
He had given us his sacraments and doctrine, he has given us nothing less
than the Church—over which the gates of hell cannot prevail, he assured us—to make sure we can always be with him.
This new life wants us to be more consistent to the teachings and life of Christ himself, a legacy entrusted to the Church. Let’s not get entangled with the mistakes and weaknesses of the men that comprise the Church—that’s us.
We just have to try to go deep in our knowledge of Christian doctrine, to be more determined to develop the virtues, to be more concerned with the others.
The Church has issued the Compendium of the Social Doctrine, a book that clearly spells out our Christian duties towards others in all levels of our life, and I wonder if people are studying it.
That could be one specific project we can do these days to truly possess that new life that Christ has won for us through the Cross.
triumph over sin and death, through the Cross, we actually have a new life.
We are not anymore enemies of God, alienated and cursed, condemned to eternal death. We are now children of his, his people, living members of Christ’s mystical body!
That is, as long as we do our part, learn to correspond to his love, since as St. Augustine once said, while he created us without us, he cannot save us without us. That’s just how it is, my friend.
And this is simply because we are men, we are persons, with intelligence and free will. Things that happen in our life, while always under God’s loving and all-powerful providence, are also things for which we just have to be responsible.
That’s the reason why Our Lord had to do so many complicated things to save us. Yes, what a complicated plan of salvation he undertook! This is to show us the way for which we too can be responsible for our own salvation.
The second person of the Blessed Trinity had to become man, he truly shared the condition of man, even in our weakened nature. He respected the way we are and was willing to recreate that wounded nature of ours by showing us the only way.
He had to be born poor, he spent 30 years of hidden life subject to Mary and Joseph and to all other human authorities. He worked hard, with his hands, as a carpenter. We are told that he did all things well.
Then he started his public life, preaching about the Kingdom of God, about repentance, about the beatitudes. He did some miracles, but only to highlight his divinity and his mercy.
Then he culminated all these by dying on the Cross. He could have chosen another way, a more comfortable one, after all nothing is impossible with him. But he chose the Cross.
That was the most painful, most humiliating kind of death! No other death can approximate the cruelty of his death. To die by the tsunami or by poisoning, already very ugly in their human form, cannot compare with his death.
This is to show the enormity of all the malice of all men, from Adam and
Even to the last person to be born in this world. He was willing to carry all the burden of our sins, to be the lamb to be sacrificed, the ransom to be paid.
This is also to show how much he loves us. He accepted his death calmly, peacefully, with only the human whimper of pain of a son to his father. His love is not passive or formalistic. It was, it is total and active always, going all the way.
This is also to show us how we can truly recreate ourselves, by learning how to love, all the way to its most demanding part—to learn how to suffer, how to forgive.
May we learn how to suffer, how to embrace and love the Cross, not just tolerate it, but to love it. Suffering, in whatever form, should be for us the invitation to identify ourselves with Christ, the surest sign of loving.
This is the new life that our Lord is giving us with his resurrection. If we only can be better Christians, by learning how to correspond to his love!
He had given us his sacraments and doctrine, he has given us nothing less
than the Church—over which the gates of hell cannot prevail, he assured us—to make sure we can always be with him.
This new life wants us to be more consistent to the teachings and life of Christ himself, a legacy entrusted to the Church. Let’s not get entangled with the mistakes and weaknesses of the men that comprise the Church—that’s us.
We just have to try to go deep in our knowledge of Christian doctrine, to be more determined to develop the virtues, to be more concerned with the others.
The Church has issued the Compendium of the Social Doctrine, a book that clearly spells out our Christian duties towards others in all levels of our life, and I wonder if people are studying it.
That could be one specific project we can do these days to truly possess that new life that Christ has won for us through the Cross.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Celebrating our faith
HOLY Week is once again upon us. Like some kind of magic, we mysteriously sort of stop what we usually do, change gear and enter into a mode of prayer and silence as we commemorate the central mystery of our salvation as a people of God.
It’s a real phenomenon to see an ocean of piety flooding our churches, our homes and even our streets on these days. All of sudden, we see many people doing, individually or in groups, the “Via Crucis,” the “visita Iglesia,” etc.
Long lines of penitents approach the confessionals to purify their hearts. Many don’t mind the heat and crowd, sweating and often hungry because of the fasting and abstinence, just to attend the services.
Some of us find the time to go to a spiritual retreat or at least a day of recollection. I know many who just want to have some days of isolation, simply to be alone with God.
Many old women and those in far barrios still sing the “pasion” with gusto. You may get irritated with the singing, but your heart will melt at the sight of sincere and simple piety shown by these folks. Thank God for them!
Sometimes I think these people, together with the children and the poor and the weak who suffer all sorts of difficulties and injustices, do more in strengthening our Church than the supposedly bright and clever guys among us.
Every time I see these things, I get deeply moved. Seeing them makes me see the soul of our people who are trying their best to be true children of God. And I get convinced we have a wealth much more precious than what money can give.
There definitely are many imperfections, even mistakes, blighting these practices. And we may have conflicts, we quarrel and wrangle, but, heck, the good news is that we as a nation continue to have a living faith.
This is what truly matters. And that’s why I feel pained whenever I see that faith harmed.
Sad to say, there are indications this is happening. I am referring to many of our “educated” people, often rich and in very good position in our society, whose approach to religion is led more by their reason than by faith.
This is made worse by the fact that they often are quite articulate and vocal about their views. But, of course, what can we expect?
Because of this fundamental deviation in their approach to religion which is the virtue that defines our relationship with God, many could not understand why the Church still is against contraception, divorce, same-sex unions, etc.
There are many issues, often involving fundamental doctrines of Christ and of the Church, which they find hard to accept, since these to them go against what they consider to be reasonable, or practical, or convenient.
They tend not to be consistent in their being a Christian faithful. At one time, they feel they are part of the Church. And then at another time, they act against the Church. The typical fair-weather Christians, they seem to be active only on Sundays or in other formal occasions.
It would seem that to them faith is not a supernatural gift, something gratuitously given to us by God and gratefully received by us. It is more a product of their own making, of their own understanding of things.
If something proposed by faith fails to pass the test of their human intelligence, then it is rejected.
Or worse, when they see the imperfections and mistakes committed by some members of the Church hierarchy, they are quick to condemn, as if they themselves are immaculate and cannot commit mistakes.
This is what is happening for example in some of the views expressed regarding the Ligtas Bunltis issue. I find this lamentable.
One columnist even went to the extent of saying that the Church must be wrong about its teaching against contraception as it was wrong about the Galileo case.
They often boast that they are real Christian by hearts, but of the “liberated” type—they cannot be bothered by some details of Church life, laws and teachings. Thus, many times they don’t go to Mass, much less go to confession, etc.
Still, not everything is lost. There is still a lot of hope. The passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord, commemorated this Holy Week, gives us vivid reasons that a conversion can take place in the hearts of many.
It’s a real phenomenon to see an ocean of piety flooding our churches, our homes and even our streets on these days. All of sudden, we see many people doing, individually or in groups, the “Via Crucis,” the “visita Iglesia,” etc.
Long lines of penitents approach the confessionals to purify their hearts. Many don’t mind the heat and crowd, sweating and often hungry because of the fasting and abstinence, just to attend the services.
Some of us find the time to go to a spiritual retreat or at least a day of recollection. I know many who just want to have some days of isolation, simply to be alone with God.
Many old women and those in far barrios still sing the “pasion” with gusto. You may get irritated with the singing, but your heart will melt at the sight of sincere and simple piety shown by these folks. Thank God for them!
Sometimes I think these people, together with the children and the poor and the weak who suffer all sorts of difficulties and injustices, do more in strengthening our Church than the supposedly bright and clever guys among us.
Every time I see these things, I get deeply moved. Seeing them makes me see the soul of our people who are trying their best to be true children of God. And I get convinced we have a wealth much more precious than what money can give.
There definitely are many imperfections, even mistakes, blighting these practices. And we may have conflicts, we quarrel and wrangle, but, heck, the good news is that we as a nation continue to have a living faith.
This is what truly matters. And that’s why I feel pained whenever I see that faith harmed.
Sad to say, there are indications this is happening. I am referring to many of our “educated” people, often rich and in very good position in our society, whose approach to religion is led more by their reason than by faith.
This is made worse by the fact that they often are quite articulate and vocal about their views. But, of course, what can we expect?
Because of this fundamental deviation in their approach to religion which is the virtue that defines our relationship with God, many could not understand why the Church still is against contraception, divorce, same-sex unions, etc.
There are many issues, often involving fundamental doctrines of Christ and of the Church, which they find hard to accept, since these to them go against what they consider to be reasonable, or practical, or convenient.
They tend not to be consistent in their being a Christian faithful. At one time, they feel they are part of the Church. And then at another time, they act against the Church. The typical fair-weather Christians, they seem to be active only on Sundays or in other formal occasions.
It would seem that to them faith is not a supernatural gift, something gratuitously given to us by God and gratefully received by us. It is more a product of their own making, of their own understanding of things.
If something proposed by faith fails to pass the test of their human intelligence, then it is rejected.
Or worse, when they see the imperfections and mistakes committed by some members of the Church hierarchy, they are quick to condemn, as if they themselves are immaculate and cannot commit mistakes.
This is what is happening for example in some of the views expressed regarding the Ligtas Bunltis issue. I find this lamentable.
One columnist even went to the extent of saying that the Church must be wrong about its teaching against contraception as it was wrong about the Galileo case.
They often boast that they are real Christian by hearts, but of the “liberated” type—they cannot be bothered by some details of Church life, laws and teachings. Thus, many times they don’t go to Mass, much less go to confession, etc.
Still, not everything is lost. There is still a lot of hope. The passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord, commemorated this Holy Week, gives us vivid reasons that a conversion can take place in the hearts of many.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Our will and God’s will
THE ideal situation, of course, is that the two, our will and God’s will, work together in perfect harmony all the time, we are doing God’s will consciously, willingly and with great love and gusto.
That’s the ideal. The reality, however, is far, very far from it, be it the personal level or the social level, be it in field of family life, or business or politics, and a long etc. Yes, we have a big challenge to face.
In the first place, the common mindset, almost immutably fixed in most people, is that we just do things on our own, or as we see them as fit or convenient or practical, with hardly any reference to God’s will.
If there’s any reference to God’s will at all, it is by pure coincidence, unintended, or because it happens to give some convenience and advantages. It’s the same narrow-minded if not selfish attitude that’s gripping us firmly.
It’s our will that leads and dominates, the opposite of how things ought to be—God’s will always reigning supreme, upheld, defended, loved and glorified by us.
We repeat many times in the “Our Father,”—“Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.” But they seem to be just words that leave our lips and then to the air to disappear, without leaving any impact on our lives. What
a shame!
Many questions, if not doubts, may shroud our perception and understanding of God’s will. We may think that it can not be known, or if it can it would need heroic efforts just for us to know it. It may not be worthwhile then.
We may also think that God’s will always makes our life difficult, even miserable, with pain and sacrifices galore to pepper our whole lives. We may think that God’s will is something that will be impractical and irrelevant.
Or that if we are too concerned with conforming ourselves to God’s will, we will end up being narrow-minded or cold, unfeeling and rigid. Nothing can be farther than the truth. How can God’s will do that when God is love and truth?
That’s how bad things have become. Faith is slipping away. Or it has petrified, quite dead and useless, unable to give shape and impulse to our thoughts and desires.
Faith has fallen captive to man’s laziness and indifference, later aggravated by man’s sins and vices and the complicated web of problems that these generate.
There is hardly any sense of cooperating with divine providence that should be at the heart of our thoughts and actions. We just do what we want to do. And so we create our own world, not God’s world.
We can enjoy certain benefits of our human reason and natural goodness, but unguided by faith and grace, these benefits get easily contaminated with bad elements like envy, hatred, sensuality and greed, and will fail to understand the wisdom behind patience, mercy, suffering, etc.
In fact, without a living union with God, our human will guided only by our reason and natural goodness is lamentably limited and unavoidably prone to deteriorate into evil.
We would end up being hypocritical to maintain our appearance of goodness. We have to remember that the only thing we are capable of doing completely on our own without God’s help is to sin.
The long human history we have had so far can eloquently corroborate this observation, which to a Christian believer is actually also an article of our faith.
We need to radically change our personal attitudes, convictions and life style to reflect the example of Christ, our model, who said:
“Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing, for what things he does, these the Son also does in like manner.” (Jn 5,19)
We have to actively seek this transformation by consciously knowing, loving and doing God’s will.
God’s will can be known through his commandments, through the laws of
nature, through our personal intimate prayer and conversations with him, through some spiritual direction and confession, through the catechism and reading of spiritual books, etc.
From there, we need to develop and cultivate the virtues, and help through an active and massive personal apostolate to create the appropriate culture and atmosphere for our society to be truly human and Christian.
That’s the ideal. The reality, however, is far, very far from it, be it the personal level or the social level, be it in field of family life, or business or politics, and a long etc. Yes, we have a big challenge to face.
In the first place, the common mindset, almost immutably fixed in most people, is that we just do things on our own, or as we see them as fit or convenient or practical, with hardly any reference to God’s will.
If there’s any reference to God’s will at all, it is by pure coincidence, unintended, or because it happens to give some convenience and advantages. It’s the same narrow-minded if not selfish attitude that’s gripping us firmly.
It’s our will that leads and dominates, the opposite of how things ought to be—God’s will always reigning supreme, upheld, defended, loved and glorified by us.
We repeat many times in the “Our Father,”—“Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.” But they seem to be just words that leave our lips and then to the air to disappear, without leaving any impact on our lives. What
a shame!
Many questions, if not doubts, may shroud our perception and understanding of God’s will. We may think that it can not be known, or if it can it would need heroic efforts just for us to know it. It may not be worthwhile then.
We may also think that God’s will always makes our life difficult, even miserable, with pain and sacrifices galore to pepper our whole lives. We may think that God’s will is something that will be impractical and irrelevant.
Or that if we are too concerned with conforming ourselves to God’s will, we will end up being narrow-minded or cold, unfeeling and rigid. Nothing can be farther than the truth. How can God’s will do that when God is love and truth?
That’s how bad things have become. Faith is slipping away. Or it has petrified, quite dead and useless, unable to give shape and impulse to our thoughts and desires.
Faith has fallen captive to man’s laziness and indifference, later aggravated by man’s sins and vices and the complicated web of problems that these generate.
There is hardly any sense of cooperating with divine providence that should be at the heart of our thoughts and actions. We just do what we want to do. And so we create our own world, not God’s world.
We can enjoy certain benefits of our human reason and natural goodness, but unguided by faith and grace, these benefits get easily contaminated with bad elements like envy, hatred, sensuality and greed, and will fail to understand the wisdom behind patience, mercy, suffering, etc.
In fact, without a living union with God, our human will guided only by our reason and natural goodness is lamentably limited and unavoidably prone to deteriorate into evil.
We would end up being hypocritical to maintain our appearance of goodness. We have to remember that the only thing we are capable of doing completely on our own without God’s help is to sin.
The long human history we have had so far can eloquently corroborate this observation, which to a Christian believer is actually also an article of our faith.
We need to radically change our personal attitudes, convictions and life style to reflect the example of Christ, our model, who said:
“Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing, for what things he does, these the Son also does in like manner.” (Jn 5,19)
We have to actively seek this transformation by consciously knowing, loving and doing God’s will.
God’s will can be known through his commandments, through the laws of
nature, through our personal intimate prayer and conversations with him, through some spiritual direction and confession, through the catechism and reading of spiritual books, etc.
From there, we need to develop and cultivate the virtues, and help through an active and massive personal apostolate to create the appropriate culture and atmosphere for our society to be truly human and Christian.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)