Sizing up the challenges

EVERY new year poses new challenges. We’ve been through this routine for quite some time now. But I must say that this new year presents to us challenges that are more complex and complicated, more tricky and deadly.

This must be due, at least in part, to the accelerated pace of technological development, as well as a population that is growing not only in number but also in both sophistication, on the one hand, and ignorance, confusion and error, on the other.

Both contrasts and conflicts that are getting sharper, on the one hand, and the subtle process of homogeneizing and uniforming people mindlessly, on the other, are taking place.

I find this combination of factors very intriguing, indeed. Some people can know a lot yet miss the point. Others can know little yet continue to be wise. And now, at the back of our minds, we ask, and who is going to judge who is right and is who is wrong?

There now on seems to be a crisis on what norms and standards to follow these days, what values and in what order they have to be upheld and defended. Many people seem to be guided solely by purely subjective criteria.

Which reminds me of what St. Paul once said: “The spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man.” (1 Cor 2,13) It’s an intriguing affirmation that for sure will be questioned, if not rejected, by sceptics, agnostics and atheists.

But I believe in it—it’s the spiritual man, the one vitally connected with God, who knows things objectively. In the end, it’s the kind of spirit one submits himself to that would guide him in his decisions. So I always bat for spiritual formation and development more than anything else, without disparaging the other requirements.

The virtues of prudence and discretion have never been so needed as during these times. The demands of charity have become more nuanced. We have to careful with our rash judgments and our reckless speech.

So many things are just happening in the micro and macro levels of our life, in the personal and social aspects, in the spiritual and moral and the material worlds. Today’s ballistic development in technology actually requires a corresponding radical maturation of our spiritual life. But we can observe hardly any correspondence between the two.

We have to learn how to distinguish and integrate things properly, putting them in their right places, order and hierarchy. This is not going to be an easy task, but neither is it impossible.

We need to learn how to hold our horses and restrain our emotions, moderate our urges, and how to think, judge and reason properly, as well as how to speak and express ourselves with tact and courtesy in spite of our differences.

We have to learn how to dialogue with the different parties on different issues. The more interaction, the better. The more linkages we have among ourselves, the better for us. We have to foster the culture of dialogue.

We need to know more the range and intricacies of the now in-thing of tolerance—in the fields of culture, law, religion, politics, etc., without falling into chaos and disorder, and without forgetting that there are certain things that remain absolute and unchangeable in spite of the constant flux in life.

We need to know more about the scope and limits of our rights—to expression, to privacy, personal and social development, etc. We have to be more sensitive to the fine lines involved in the discretionary part of our laws. This appears to be abused quite openly lately.

As we can see, challenges that pose problems to us are actually opportunities, chances and windows for us to develop the appropriate virtues, attitudes and skills. They provide us with the occasion and the spur to bring our knowledge, wisdom and maturity to the next level. We should never say enough.

Our life here is always on the go. We should never think we know enough, or that our formation has already reached its maximum level. We have to remember that with our spiritual nature, we are oriented toward the infinite. Our capacity to know and to learn, to exercise our freedom, knows no limits, though a certain law governs it.

Let’s always remember that our freedom can go in two ways—either for good or evil, for greater freedom or deeper slavery as when we sink in the world of different addictions which are also noticing these days.

If only

ENDING a year and beginning a new one usually elicits fond wishes among us. For me, I think I have many, but for now, I simply wish our media people become more human and Christian in our work. At least, that they—we, I include myself—have a deeper sense of ethics, and that we realize we need continuing formation, just like everybody else.

That might be too blunt to say, but that can actually be applied to everybody else, be he in media or not, and of course, myself included. Our humanity and Christianity are always a work in progress.

I just hope that we can be more serious and specific as to how that transformation, that humanization and Christianization can take place. In this task, I think everyone can and should help, can and should contribute whatever he can.

I was thinking that a more feasible and sustainable program of formation for media people that includes not only the technical aspects but also and more so on the ethical aspect, should be put in place. It’s a pity that with all the advances in technology and the profession, we remain largely puerile in our spiritual and ethical life.

You see, casual and random occasions lately provoked in me some intriguing if disturbing thoughts. While having a haircut the other day, for example, I overheard on TV (the set was at my back and above; I could hear it but not see it) things that made me immediately ask myself: Have we gone this far and this low already?

It was what I later learned to be one of our local reality shows. It was kind of investigative and confrontational in format. And I was shocked by what were exposed by a string of gays who openly said they were into regular sex with a young man who was living-in with a girl.

Lurid, almost pornographic details in foul language were mentioned, all impertinent to any ethical goal the show might be presumed to pursue. The interrogations were gossipy in character, creating a voyeuristic atmosphere, personal privacy violated with impunity. Many in the barber shop dropped our jaws in disbelief.

I could not help but suspect that money must be the reason those characters dared to present themselves and tell their stories there. Most likely, the poverty of people is again exploited to satisfy a big untapped market of misplaced curiosity that many people have, all for the sake of ratings.

Mischievous social observers might dismiss the parties involved as our low-lifers who should just be given their fifteen minutes of fame, since, anyway, that would be unavoidable.

But to me that would be inhuman and unchristian. Everyone is a child of God regardless of his defects and sins, and should be loved and helped. We should try our best not to expose to the public things that are not supposed to be known by others, especially if they are scandalous.

The hostess of the show pressured the poor fellow to admit what were claimed by both the gays and the girl, and even by some neighbours. I found it very disgusting, and wondered if anything can be done to police this kind of shows.

Also, while riding in a taxi recently, I heard over the radio the driver was listening to, some running commentaries of the recent floods in Cebu and the unavoidable references to Typhoon Sendong in Mindanao.

When there was a lull because no new data came in or the information were not clear, the commentators tried to fill up their time by dishing out some trivia, like cows can swim for an hour in the sea, being dragged by a pump boat.

No problem, there. But I was just thinking that with the gravity of the situation, could these media men not come out with more meaningful commentaries? I then realized that, of course, these men are lacking in formation. They could not talk about the spiritual and religious significance of the event.

This is a big challenge, since a lot of bias and prejudice prevent many people, including those in media, to see the importance and relevance of spiritual and religious formation in their work. They get contented with the technical and the professional aspects, not knowing that these need to be animated more deeply in one’s spiritual life.

Of course, things cannot be worse than in the political commentaries where a lot of bullying, insulting, all sorts of non-sequiturs are standard fare.

If only we, media people, get serious with our continuing formation...

Keeping the Christmas spirit alive always

“SHE will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” The Christmas message.

With these few words, the gospel tells us the core reason for our joy in spite of whatever may be our condition and situation in life. Christian life is always a happy life. We should be wary when we find ourselves in the clutches of sadness for a variety of reasons.

We are meant to be happy, because no matter how we may be at any given moment, our Lord is always there to save us. He is bent to bring to completion the wonderful thing God has started in us.

We can, of course, abuse his goodness, his eternal mercy, as many times we have done in the past and for sure will do in the future, but Christ never changes his mind about us. His love is eternal. It’s unshakeable.

We have to learn to love him in return. Love is always repaid with love. This is what Christmas is trying elicit in us. Every time we see the Son of God turn into a baby, defenceless and in total need of our care, let’s bring it to our mind that he’s inviting us to the marvellous, if tortuous, road to love.

It’s love that is meant for us. Everything else is subordinated to it—our pursuit for justice and peace and truth, our concern for development and progress, our interest in the enrichment of our culture, etc.

May we know how to relate everything to love, or to charity, which is another name for love, the very essence of God, whose image and likeness we are. May we know how to inspire and lead everything to love, to God.

This would mean that we have to make an effort. In fact, an effort that should be with us till the end of our life, and till the end of time. Love without effort, without sacrifice, is fake. It would just be for show. A bubble that cannot last.

We have to learn how to engage our mind and heart with Christ. He is never just an idea, nor a historical figure who lived in the past but is only made present in our memory. He is truly alive, here and now. Through faith, hope and charity, we can see and hear him at every moment. This is no fiction. This is real, not virtual.

This is the challenge we have to face—how to keep ourselves alive to Christ, since as far as he is concerned, he is already alive in us. In this, we have to help one another.

We are actually given all the means for this purpose. We have the Church, established by Christ so that his presence and work of redemption and perfection of our creation can continue throughout time.

In the Church, we have the salvific doctrine of our faith, the truths that include mysteries that bring us to him. We have the sacraments that, regardless of their human and natural elements, convey grace if not the very Christ, in body and blood, to us.

We have the living witnesses of holiness through the myriads of saints and holy men and women who have identified themselves unsparingly with Christ. Through them, we get a good idea of how it is to be a true child of God. We will never lack inspiration to give us the needed impulses to go on in spite of whatever.

Yes, we just have to train our mind and heart to focus on our Lord and to beat in synch with the heart of Christ. That is always possible. If it can be done in our human love affairs where we depend more on human means, this definitely can be done in our love affair with Christ who gives us much more powerful means.

How important it is that we know how to develop a lifestyle and culture that spring vitally from this Christmas message and spirit! In our journey of life, we face tremendous trials and challenges. Temptations from within and without abound, and they can truly darken and spoil our outlook.

We cannot underestimate the dangers that lurk at every moment and in every corner of our earthly pilgrimage. We truly need Christ. He is our strength, our light, our cure, our salvation and perfection. Let’s never think we are ok without him.

Again, let’s help one another. We have to keep the Christmas spirit alive always.

When disasters strike

WE have to be ready spiritually and morally, and not just materially,
socially, politically, etc., when disasters and calamities strike. In
the end, this is really what matters.

This state of preparedness should not be reduced to lower levels,
overtaken by other considerations that, while they may be more
immediate, are not the ultimate and decisive factors.

At the moment, I can discern an unspoken lament over God’s role in
these sad events. Why did God allow Typhoon Sendong to happen? Why did
he let so many people, even innocent children, to die in such a
manner? Why does he want us to suffer?

We have to be ready for the right answers to these questions that
understandably would spring in anyone’s mind and heart. And for this,
let’s not rely on our reasoning alone, but rather on our faith always.
Faith gives us a glimpse of the mind of God with respect to our human
affairs and world events.

And what can we gather from our faith? What we can safely say is that
God allows these disasters to happen, first, because our natural
world has its inherent finite and limited character. And God deals
with the world as with us always respecting the nature the world and
we have.

Sooner or later, our world and everything in it will meet their end.
They will pass away. As an old Nat King Cole song would have it, “The
Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble, they are only made of clay,
but our love is here to stay.”

That romantic line echoes what our Lord said: “Heaven and earth shall
pass, but my words shall not pass.” (Mt 24,35) It’s a clear indication
that in our earthly affairs, we have to be guided by God’s word, by
the faith God revealed and gave to us, more than just our gut feel, or
our sciences, arts and technologies.

We can then say that disasters and calamities are occasions, reasons
and invitations for us to grow in our faith, to go beyond what our
senses can perceive and intelligence can understand. We need faith!

Thus, in the episode of our Lord with the apostles on a boat tossed
by big waves of a storm, he reprimanded the apostles for their lack of
faith when they in fear roused him from sleep to do something about
the water threatening to sink them. “Why are you fearful: Have you no
faith yet?” he told them. (Mk 4,40)

It’s not that we should not bother our Lord because of our faith. We
can and in fact should bother him when we are threatened by disasters
or are already suffering in them. It’s just that we have to bother him
out of faith, and not out of mere fear. With faith, our Lord can
always calm down the raging seas of our life.

We have to strengthen our faith always. We have to see to it that our
thinking, judging and reasoning are always infused by faith. We should
never allow them to be inspired only by what we see, hear and feel, or
even by what we understand. We have to go by our faith always.

Our earthly condition is made worse by the mistakes and sins we
commit. So, not only do we have to contend with the natural
limitations and weaknesses, but also with the infranatural factors of
these sins and mistakes.

That is why, our Lord taught us how not only to have faith, but also
to be ready to carry the cross with him. The cross is a necessary
element of our faith. It signifies, among other things, the inevitable
suffering we have to undergo in this life because of these natural and
infranatural factors of our wounded human nature.

Knowing how to carry the cross with Christ enables us to face
whatever disaster we can meet in life. Our cross then becomes the
cross of Christ, a suffering that will lead us to our own
resurrection, to our victory over sin, to our own perfection as
children of God.

The cross of Christ, converts our suffering into something redemptive
and perfective of us, and not just painful events of our lives. We
have to assimilate this truth of our faith well.

For this, our Lord wants us to be ready always. “Know this, that if
the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he
would certainly watch... be you also ready, because at what hour you
know not the Son of man will come.” (Mt 24,43-44)

Selling charity today

SELLING charity today is like selling rotten fish. You would have more success selling it to a wall. Charity has become a total outcast, hardly known, ignored if not ridiculed by many who are driven only by their so-called sense of justice.

This actually has always been our universal human problem. The root cause is that we pursue justice outside of charity. We make it subject only to our feelings and passions. Or to purely human criteria and laws that cannot go far from the eye-for-an-eye law of Talion, and the tit-for-tat logic of our wiles.

It’s a justice that is mired in legalism, very prone to manipulations, to knee-jerk reactions, to the mob rule dynamics, that cannot free itself from the motive of vindictiveness, and the temptation to gloat over the misfortunes of others, to insult and do all sorts of below-the-belt actuations.

Without charity, it’s a justice that is not an organic extension of divine justice, but its caricature. It covers only a biased part of the over-all picture of true justice, and its main if not sole purpose is to punish and demand restitution, rather than to heal the offender, the sinner.

It considers only the externals, and hardly the inner drama in men’s hearts. Its judgments are therefore based mainly on appearances and impressions. Those who dispense it tend to get hasty and rash in their decisions, often abusing the discretionary part of law.

If possible, what injustice damaged, wounded and killed, justice should repair, heal and resurrect to life. If possible, justice should go against the law of nature, of biology and physics, etc., if only to recover what was lost. It finds it hard to move on without satisfying its lust for revenge.

We have to understand that without charity, justice can go unhinged, and can simply follow the madness of a heart deprived of God who is precisely love, charity. We have to understand that justice is never enough when we deal with people, especially those who may have offended us.

Without charity, our justice can only spring and strengthen our self-righteousness, or that of the world, in its different forms. It’s a justice that cannot understand the workings of grace, the value of the cross, the need for forgiveness and the transcendent providence of God.

Still, no matter how hard it is to sell charity today, we just have to make an act of faith and hope that one day, people will realize we need charity, the charity of God and not just our own version, when we pursue the cause of justice. We just have to run the gauntlet.

Nowadays, the Church, that is, the bishops and priests, gets accused for not doing enough of justice. Some contributors of public opinion claim that the Church gets quiet when one of its own gets involved in some crime, or when it does not make any clear pronouncements on the volatile political issues wracking the nation today.

Aside from mistaking the Church to be composed only of bishops and priests (the Church is hierarchy-clergy-and the laity and consecrated religious men and women all together), they want the Church to follow their kind of earthly justice. They want the Church to shame the suspect or the culprit, for example. They cry for blood.

Perhaps, it’s partly the fault of our Church leaders for not providing concrete Christian guidelines on how to resolve problems and issues when they erupt. They should do this as promptly and as clearly and strongly as prudently possible.

But the truth is all of us, clergy or lay, if we are to be genuine Christians and living members of the Church, should practice justice always within the sphere of the charity of God, revealed and lived by Christ.

Certainly, there are loopholes in how cases of criminal offenses within the Church human structure may be handled, or there can be cases of clerics overstepping their competence and are falling already into partisan politics, etc.

These should be repaired and corrected. But these are not excuses for the Church to pursue justice without charity, just like what these Church accusers want it to do. These accusers are making themselves the final authority of what justice is and how it should be lived.

Granted, to preach about justice within charity may be hard, but definitely it’s not impossible. If we just learn how to be humble, if all of us just try to assume the mind and heart of Christ, as we Christians ought to do, then the ideal can be made real!

Christmas is Christ with us

JUST in case we forget, Christmas is about Christ born to us. The reminder has become necessary because proofs of the disfiguring of Christmas are increasing.

No less than the Pope reminded us not to be dazzled by the shopping lights of the season but to keep focused on the coming of Jesus Christ, the “true light of the world.”

In a town in the US, a controversy erupted because a group put street signs saying, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Obviously when messages like that have to be put up in public, there must be something quite wrong in that place.

This was verified when another group precisely kicked up a fuss about it citing legal provisions. Instead, the group wanted their own banner to be hung in the streets, saying:

“At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

Ah, ok. No problem. We have freedom of expression and of consciences. If atheists want their messages publicized, that’s just fine. But let’s not deny believers their right also to show their faith in public, as long as public order is observed.

The legal basis of the group’s complaint is that the “Keep Christ in Christmas” signs were put on public property, which turned out to be false, since they were on private property. But that legal basis raises the questions like, should public property then be devoid of religious signs? Would religious signs already create public disorder?

I’ll leave the people concerned and their public authorities to resolve that issue, but I, frankly, just find the reasons behind the ban of religious signs on public property funny. To me, it’s taking the principle of Church-state separation to its ridiculous conclusions.

Truth is, for Christian believers, we need God, we need Christ, who is the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God who became man, to save us, to complete our creation, to give us a way to attain the fullness and perfection of our human dignity.

God is our creator. We, and the universe around us, just did not come to exist on our own, quite spontaneously out of nothing, since from nothing, nothing comes. We are not our own creator.

In our case, since we are creatures of reason and will, our creation by God has to be corresponded to with our reason and will also. Paraphrasing St. Augustine, we can say that if God created us without us, he cannot complete that creation without us. We need to correspond to God’s creation of us. We need to cooperate and bring it to its completion.

In other words, our creation by God is still a work in progress. And our life here on earth is precisely where that “progress” has to take place, where the lifelong drama of our correspondence or non-correspondence to God’s work becomes the ultimate purpose of our life.

This is a truth of faith that is actually meant for everyone, but especially more for believers than for non-believers. For the latter, we need a different tack that uses reason and philosophy more than faith and theology. This piece is addressed more to believers.

We need to be reminded that as Christian believers, we need to be ‘alter Christus,’ if not ‘ipse Christus,’ another Christ if not Christ himself. That’s because Christ is the very pattern of our humanity. We cannot live properly without him. Remember Christ saying, “I am the truth, the way, and the life…”

We become another Christ through God’s grace, but also through our cooperation, when we let our mind and heart, our intelligence and will to get engaged with Christ in the spirit.

In short, we need to assume the mind of Christ, following what St. Paul said that “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2,16) We need to train ourselves for this ideal, realizing that our thoughts should not just be our thoughts, but also those of Christ. The same with our will, our desires, our plans, etc.

Our life is always a shared life with Christ. It’s a reflective life driven by reason and faith, and not just a life animated by the senses and reason alone.

For this, we need humility, otherwise we won’t allow faith to guide our reason. We need to study, develop virtues, so that Christ becomes alive in us, and true Christmas becomes a reality!

Conversing with the world

“They are in the world…(but) they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.” (Jn 17)

Words of our Lord, with a slight rephrasing, to highlight our relation with the world. We are in it, but we are not of it. We are in the world but we are not supposed to be worldly, since we are not of the world.

This may sound like petty quibbling but it’s actually a crucial fine distinction we have to make. On it depend not only our temporal and earthly destiny but also our eternal one.

We have to remember that the way to our supernatural end passes through our natural world. How we conduct ourselves in our earthly affairs becomes the ticket either for eternal glory or eternal damnation.

Our human perfection, our redemption and salvation, while having its definitive state in heaven, is forged through the things of this world. The supernatural grace, which perfects us and brings us to God, never annuls our human and natural condition. Rather, it always works on it, purifying it and elevating it to the order of God.

In this regard, we have to know how to deal with the things of the world. This is done through a continuing conversation with the world in all its aspects. But in this, we have to strictly follow the example of Christ.

As the Son of God who became man, Christ is the image of God who assumed everything human, except sin. We can derive from that truth that Christ engaged the world in its totality while never forgetting the supernatural mission that he had.

His whole earthly life, his words and deeds, and especially that culminating act of his passion, death and resurrection, indicate his complete immersion of our human and earthly condition and yet transcending it to show us the way to our supernatural end.

This kind of situation involves a combination of active and passive involvement, patience and intolerance, leniency and strictness, openness and firmness, and other sets of apparent contrasting qualities that are unified if one closely follows Christ.

We have to know when to speak and when to keep quiet, when to act and when to wait, when to move and when to stay put.

Since Christ is “the way, the truth and the life” to us, we have to realize that we need to follow or imitate him in his attitude and understanding of the meaning and purpose of our life here on earth.

In our relation with the world, we need to learn how to infuse the Christian spirit in it, never allowing ourselves as much as possible to be dominated by the worldly spirit of materialism, secularism, relativism, and many other isms.

For this the Church has articulated the social doctrine to guide us—clergy, religious and laity—on how to deal with the world in ways proper to each one. Everyone of us, according to his own state and possibilities, should do all he can to engage the world in all its affairs in a Christian way.

Here are some relevant words about the Church’s social doctrine taken from the presentation page of the Church’s Compendium of Social Doctrine:

“To the people of our time, the Church offers her social doctrine. In fact, when the Church fulfills her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of person. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.”

This prophetic mission of the Church has to be done in a more consistent way especially these when we are faced with all sorts of issues, controversies and challenges in the areas of business, politics, environment, culture, etc.

The disturbing impression is that in our temporal affairs, it seems the Church is silent or is mainly upstaged, sidelined and displaced by purely worldly ideologies and merely human reactions.

There seems a disconnect between the proclaimed Gospel and our concerns, both the small, daily and immediate kind as well as the big and long-running ones.

When Church leaders try to make some interventions, they are often seen as outsiders or clueless due to a host of factors like incompetence, lecturing style, etc.

Of course, it has to be understood that much of the Church’s continuing conversation with the world is done by the laity who have to be aware of their responsibility to the world and have to be properly trained and motivated for this mission.

Let’s not get used to sin!

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8, we are given another reminder of a basic truth about ourselves that has been all but forgotten.

Our Lady, given to us by Christ himself to be our own Mother and our most powerful intercessor, reminds us of who we really are and how we are supposed to be. Like her, we are supposed to be sinless, though for us that can only happen when we finally arrive at our ultimate destination of heaven.

Just the same, we have to understand that at the beginning, we were supposed to be sinless. The same also at the end of time. Thus, in the Eucharistic preface of the feast’s Mass, we read the following about our Lady who is the perfect model for us:

“Full of grace, she was to be a worthy mother of your Son, your sign of favor to the Church at its beginning, and the promise of its perfection as the bride of Christ, radiant in beauty.

“Purest of virgins, she was to bring forth your Son, the innocent lamb who takes away our sins. You chose her from all women to be our advocate with you and our pattern of holiness.”

These beautiful words, so meaningful to us, should have no other effect than to make us develop a great love and devotion to our Lady, our Mother. They should strongly prompt us that she does nothing other than to give Jesus to us, Jesus who is everything to us.

They should also prod us to do everything to fight against sin. Nowadays, there are many pieces of evidence pointing to people getting used to sin, such that sin has become normal or that the sense of sin is waning.

Many people are falling into vices and other bad habits, worsened by the fact that these can now be easily hidden and rationalized. The tricky part is that many of these temptations and occasions of sin can also be moments of good possibilities. It now really depends on the integrity of the person to choose which path to take.

But what I see is that in many people there is practically no more fear of God nor of sin. They, even the young ones, seem to have become emptied of conscience. Their sense of right and wrong, good and evil, just follows any way the wind blows—it’s so arbitrary!

Many seem to be losing the sense of meaning and purpose in life. They swing from boredom to reckless adventures and idle gimmicks just to fill up their time.

The Internet is infested with porn. I just learned that many people carry with them downloaded porn in their cell phones. The new technologies have become the new scourge of our time, because many people are ill-prepared to use them. They are like little children playing with matches.

There is now an epidemic of self-abuse, substance abuse, all kinds of delinquency, negligences and irresponsibilities. The picture is really bad and rotten!

We should not allow this situation to go on without doing anything to correct it. I know it’s not going to be easy. But there’s always hope. St. Paul has reassured us that “where sin has abounded, the grace of God has abounded even more.”

We need to return to God through Mary. She is the one who will make things easy for us. She will put our mind and heart in their proper places, that is, focused on God and filled with love for him and for others.

She will help us with her example of humility, simplicity and obedience how to handle our weaknesses, how to fight in our ascetical struggles, how to be in God’s presence all the time, how to develop virtues.

She will teach us how to deal with temptations, how to be totally sincere as to acknowledge always our weakness and to never stay away from God. She will teach us how to deal with the wiles of the devil, the world and our own flesh and deceitful mind and heart.

This clear and strong relationship with God and with others, sustained by this Marian devotion, is basic and indispensable, because without it there’s no chance our spiritual and moral life can ever take wing. We would always be handicapped when that relation with God is weak.

We should never take for granted this crucial Marian dimension of our Christian life! Mary is the surest, safest, shortest path to Jesus.

Church perspectives

IN the world of public opinion, there’s no doubt that a battle of perspectives is taking place. Each party has their own platforms or set of principles from which they see events and make their judgments, and many times they clash.

Just take a look at the newspapers, the hard copy or online, and the ever growing number of blogs in the digital continent, and you would have no doubt that indeed there’s some kind of war raging out there.

Social and political observers have attempted to classify them as conservatives or liberals, leftists or rightists, partisan or independent, secular or religious, etc. We can’t help but use these categories to more or less simplify our life, though we have to admit that these have their limits that we should always be aware of.

This is but normal, as long as we don’t forget that amid the flux of views and positions reflecting one’s attitudes and outlook in life, there is an unchanging core that should unite all of us together.

This is normal, because we always see things differently, even if we come from the same family, same school, same city and province, etc. Even in our own individual selves, if the different parts of the body could just speak, they too would have different takes on any concern.

Our human condition makes each one of an individual person, with a unique character and unrepeatable life and everything that goes with it. We should not be surprised that we have different backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, and therefore different views.

But we should never forget that no matter how different we and our views are, we are all human beings, persons, children of God, inhabiting the same earth, making use of the same resources.

Over and above these, we are one and united because we are supposed to love one another. Even our enemies deserve to be loved. We are urged to do so, because despite our differences we are all children of God.

We have to learn how to navigate within these terms. The problem arises when we get mixed up—when in failing to distinguish between what is absolute and relative, we absolutize what is relative, and relativize what is absolute.

The Church, the “expert in humanity,” offers a perspective that sets the line between what is absolute and relative. That´s because the Church assumes the perspective of God who through Christ in the Holy Spirit has endowed her with powers to do so. ¨Whatever you bind here on earth is bound in heaven...¨

We have to listen to what the Church says, but, of course, we also have to make sure that the Church says something about issues, questions, challenges, etc. She always has or should always have something to say, because whatever affects man, even in his temporal affairs, affects God and therefore the Church.

This is her prophetic mission which is carried out in different ways by the different elements that comprise her. The clergy, starting with the Pope, the bishops down to the priests, have an official or authoritative character when carrying out this function. Thus they have to be suitably competent for the office they occupy.

The lay faithful also have their prophetic mission as they try to infuse the Christian spirit in the earthly affairs they are involved in. This does not mean that the Church can dogmatize on matters of opinion, but she will always have something to say about how these matters ought to be handled.

First of all, we have to acknowledge that the Church is not just a human invention. She’s a divine, supernatural reality despite her human dimension. She’s a reality of faith, rather than just a reality of nature. We have to keep this very much in mind so that we don´t stray from how we ought to behave.

But because of her human dimension, she cannot but act also in a human way, that is, there is need for study, for consultation, for testing, for correcting, etc., especially when she has to comment on temporal and earthly issues like business, politics, culture, sports, entertainment, etc.

That´s why the social doctrine of the Church has been articulated so that there can be some ground rules to follow in pursuing our earthly business and politics. This is what the Church perspectives provide.

This is a crucial element in any given society, otherwise we will tend to chaos as differences and conflicts can lose their unitive basis and purpose, and their capacity to resolve themselves.

Local, global, metaphysical

NOWADAYS, we cannot afford to remain local without going global. With the frenzied pace of world developments, it would be fatal if we ignore the widening scope of our concerns. We need to be ready for the delicate task of integrating the parochial to the universal, and even beyond.

We need to break loose from a provincial outlook to assume a more regional, national and even international perspective. This would require adjustments in our attitudes and ways of thinking and judging, based on a healthy balance among the different cultures, ethos, mentalities we will be dealing with.

We need to widen, and also deepen, our knowledge of things. We just have to realize more keenly that we have to develop an interdisciplinary approach. While we may be comfortable and competent with a particular viewpoint—economic, social, political, etc.—we need to connect with the other angles from which things are also considered.

In this regard, we should not disregard the spiritual and moral aspects of the issues and other developments. These, in fact, are a constant that should never be waived. They are the final guiding light in assessing things.

Truth is we need to connect all our temporal affairs in their varying manifestations, levels and aspects, to God, to his plan for us, and to the requirements of truth, justice and charity.

While enjoying a certain autonomy, our worldly businesses just cannot be absolutely detached from our duty towards God and others. They need to be inspired and oriented towards God and by our love and concern for the others. Sad to say, the relevant attitude and ability to do this are largely absent in most people yet.

For this, we have to develop the skill to go metaphysical, that is, to think beyond the physical and the material dimensions of our life. This would enable us to go to the essential without getting lost in the incidentals and accidentals. This would enable us to uphold and defend the absolute truths while being tolerant with matters of opinion.

Thinking metaphysical allows us to enter the spiritual and supernatural realities of our faith, hope and charity, the ultimate considerations we have to make when doing our temporal affairs.

We should never remain in the purely human, natural, social and material dimensions of our life. God has to come in. He’s actually already there. We just have to acknowledge him and include him in our thoughts, words and deeds.

This, of course, is not going to be easy. Just imagine the vast mass of the population that need to be educated and given proper and continuing formation! Even among the so-called educated class, how many can really distinguish and handle the intricacies of such big realities as culture, faith, charity, common good, justice, etc.?

And yet I’ve also been meeting a growing number of young people who are conversant with both local and international issues. They’re, of course, techies who with today’s powerful gadgets can link up with people from distant places and with ideas from all over the place.

I envy them, in a way, because when I was at their age, I did not have that kind of grasp of world events. We contented ourselves with what we can get from the radio and newspapers, and later the TV.

With the new technologies, all of us should feel the need, as far as we are able, to be technologically abreast, so we can navigate today’s complex world more easily. We have to help another here.

But the young techies today need to be closely guided. The great advantages they enjoy now can also turn to be proximate occasions of sins and temptations. Let’s always be wary of the duty to correctly use these powerful gadgets, otherwise they can do us great harm.

Ethics and morals are never useless items in this regards. In fact, they hold pride of place in our considerations of things. They have the first and the last word.

What is crucial is that all of us be properly grounded in our relationship with God and with others. With that in order, we can manage to have a good sense of value and priority to lead us. We would have the suitable criteria to enlighten us in our thinking and assessments.

This would also guide us in sorting out the practical aspects of today’s intricate challenges, like how much time to spend in the Internet, how much money to allocate to different needs, how to be immersed in the things of the world without getting lost in it.

Addiction and the spiritual life

FRANKLY, I was surprised when I was invited recently to give a talk in a rehab center about addiction from the spiritual point of view. As far I know, I have not made any serious paper on the topic, and my knowledge about it, I confess, is at best sophomoric.

Just the same, I accepted the request simply because I found it hard to say no to the one who invited me. Besides, the spiritual angle of the issue made me think it could and should be a concern of mine too. Anyway, whether I made a right or wrong decision, I just said yes to a friend.

I tried to make a little excursion into the materials I thought were relevant, and finding little, I just proceeded to the date begging the Holy Spirit for light. I went to the Internet and, yes, while there were some materials, I found them a bit inadequate, if not biased toward certain cultic practices. So I just followed my common sense.

Everyone is, of course, familiar with addiction. It’s a repetitive act, a kind of obsessive act that one finds hard to break even if wants to. It seems to be beyond the control of the party involved. He needs outside help.

The distinguishing mark of addiction is that it’s a vice, not a virtue, since the uncontrollable repeated acts are harmful to the person concerned. He may or may not know it, or he may deny it, but the fact remains that addiction is a vice, not a virtue. It is harmful, not helpful, even if the party says otherwise.

Sad to say, addiction is a plague we are facing in an increasingly menacing way today. Offhand, I suspect that our new “freedoms” generated by the advancement of technology, the greater availability of resources at least to some people, etc., somehow create a certain environment that may be good to some but are highly toxic to others.

Those who are more vulnerable to this affliction are those who enjoy a certain amount of advantages in life—intelligence, talents, power, wealth, fame—but who unfortunately have not been able to put them on the right foundation, order and purpose.

When the things that we have are not referred to God and to others, they easily become an instrument for our own selfish purposes. We then become weak to the seductions, allurements and concerns of this world.

That’s when we can develop addicting attitudes and practices that are objectively harmful to us. They are meant as some kind of defense mechanism, a way to escape certain realities or to find relief and rationalization over some developments.

It involves a certain kind of deceit which, when not corrected early enough, can grow so strong as to be invincible by the person himself. When he refuses to acknowledge his predicament and seek help, then the problem becomes worse.

I believe that while there may be certain organic and environmental factors that predispose one to fall into addiction, the main and ultimate factor would be how one thinks, judges and reasons about this situation.

We need to be most careful about how we exercise these spiritual operations and functions of ours that show that there is something spiritual in us, and that therefore, we should take care of our spiritual life.

Sad to say, many people are not aware of the existence, the nature and the responsibilities we owe to our spiritual life. They may have heard about the spiritual life, but they cannot relate themselves to it, not knowing exactly it is.

When I ask people randomly how would we know there is something spiritual in us, 99% would give me a blank stare. They don’t realize that the act of thinking, judging, reasoning, loving, etc., are spiritual operations that indicate we have something spiritual in us.

Much less would they know that these spiritual operations with their respective faculties (the intelligence and the will) need to be rightly engaged to their proper foundation and end, just like our bodily organism needs to be related to food and other healthy practices.

They cannot figure out why it is necessary for us to take care of our relationship with God, since he is the origin and the purpose, the life and the power of our spiritual faculties.

When one does not pray nor make any effort to deal with God, but instead enjoys just pursuing his own ideas and interests, he is actually harming himself. He is prone to fall to addiction.

Experience God

IS it possible to experience God, to feel his presence, to know his will and to participate in his own life? To all these questions, the answer is a loud yes.

Not only is it possible, but also, first of all, it is God’s will. Besides, he has endowed us with the power that would enable us to achieve these feats.

God as our Creator and Father always intervenes in our life. He is never away from us even if we fall into the state of sin. We only lose him in hell. But in our whole earthly sojourn, he is in us, right deep in the core of our existence.

That’s because he is the giver and maintainer of our existence. For as long as we exist, God is in us. Our existence does not depend on our biological constitution alone, nor on food and air and health only. Even before these things become indispensable to us, it is God who gives and keeps our existence.

And since we have been made in his image and likeness, he links with us through our intelligence and will, through our thinking and loving, and thus he comes to us as objects of our innate desire for truth, goodness and beauty.

That’s why we have to be most careful in the exercise of our spiritual faculties—how we are thinking, judging, reasoning, loving, etc. These human operations have to be firmly grounded on God, and not just made to be mainly dominated by the twists and turns of our bodily and natural conditions.

Our thinking and willing, our knowing and loving should be properly engaged and not allowed to just drift anywhere, and especially when they are given only to the instance of our instincts, emotions and passions. They have to be properly inspired and directed.

The need to experience God has become an urgent necessity these days because the spiritual and moral health of our life, taken individually and collectively, depends on this fact and on no other.

Pope Benedict emphasized this point recently. In an address to some lay faithful, he said the following:

“How do we reawaken the question of God so that it becomes the fundamental question?...The question of God is reawakened in meeting those who have a living relationship with the Lord. God is known through men and women who know him. The way to him passes, in a concrete way, through those who have met him.”

This is just but natural. God is not just an idea, a theory, a philosophical or theological term. Christ is not just a historical figure nor an object of curiosity. God is alive. In fact, he is the very foundation of reality and of life itself. It’s not in his character to stay away from us or to hide from us or to play hard to get.

Thus, the Pope said that God should be the central point of reference in our thinking and acting. He warned that ignoring God will harm our humanity. “A mentality that rejects every reference to the transcendent has shown itself to be incapable of preserving the human,” he said.

“The spread of this mentality has generated the crisis that we are experiencing today, which is a crisis of meaning and of values before it is an economic and social crisis,” he added. How true!

God actually engages us every moment of our life. This is what providence is all about. We have to learn how to correspond to that continual divine governance, by learning how to pray, how to know and follow his will, how to offer whatever we are doing to him, how to live in his presence all the time, how what we are doing at the moment fits in his plan, etc.

For this we need to study well the doctrine of our faith, to have recourse to the sacraments, to develop the virtues, and to commit ourselves to a certain plan of continuing piety so that whatever may be the circumstances of our life, we can manage to be with him always.

To experience God is not an impossibility. Nor is it meant only to some gifted if not strange people. It is for all, though we need to help another, since to achieve that condition involves a lifelong process with endless stages, aspects and possibilities.

To experience God should be second nature to us. With the proper attitude and skills, with the relevant plans and virtues, this is always possible. Nowadays, the world needs people who have direct experience of God!

Spirit of Advent

THE season of Advent is once again with us. The preparation for Christmas is now entering its final stretch. But Advent means much more than just decorating our houses and offices with the frills of December.

Advent, more than anything else, is a reminder for us all that we need to prepare for the second and final coming of Christ. It reminds us that we have to look forward to that coming, with efforts to make Christ “all in all” in us, or “everything to everyone.”

This is the more important meaning of Advent. We have to rescue this liturgical season from the dustbin of obscurity and oblivion into which many of us have thrown it. We need to remember that our life here on earth is a pilgrimage, a work in progress, whose destination and completion is Christ, the Alpha and Omega.

We have been created in his image and likeness, and with his grace made children of his, meant to participate in God’s very own life. While God created us without us—to paraphrase St. Augustine—he cannot complete that creation without us. God does not impose his love and goodness on us. We need to correspond to it too.

This religious dimension and purpose of our life needs to be re-emphasized again and again, since we tend to forget it or take it for granted. As a result, many have already developed an anti-God or anti-religion mentality, perhaps not so much out of malice as of ignorance, confusion and error.

Let’s hope the media can help in this effort to remind and clarify things in this regard. It’s understandable that they go full blast into mundane issues like politics, business, culture, etc., but they should not leave religion and faith behind.

Ignoring faith and religion invariably leads us to paths of trouble, conflicts, misunderstanding and hatred, and all forms of abuses of our freedom and rights. That’s simply because ignoring faith and religion in our earthly affairs takes away the source and purpose of freedom.

Let’s remember that freedom comes from God. We did not generate it on our own. It’s a gift, the highest gift God gives us, since it is what resembles us with him, and enables us to love and be responsible for all our actions and, in fact, for our whole life.

This freedom is shown in its best form in the life of Christ who did nothing other than to do the will of his Father, no matter what the cost. Let’s hope that this truth of our faith gets a fair hearing in us individually and collectively, especially in the media, since they are a powerful force of influence in society.

Let’s bring this truth of faith about our freedom to its practical manifestations, freeing it from a mainly theoretical understanding. In our daily concerns as well as in the big political and socio-economic issues that confront us, we need to highlight how we ought to live our freedom well, always referring it to God.

At the moment, we find ourselves in such confusion that many of us don’t know anymore where to go. The local political squabbles, the world economic crisis, the social unrest in many parts of the world just don’t have purely political or socio-economic causes.

These causes would not be radical enough if they are not referred to how they violate the use of our freedom as given to us by God. The real germ of the problem would elude detection when the spiritual and moral roots of these causes are ignored.

The real culprit is when we misuse or abuse our freedom to do not God’s will but simply ours, in whatever level or way that will of ours can manifest itself. The real culprit is when we do our own will in opposition to God’s, cleverly using our talents, resources, and the imperfections of our political and legal systems.

In the media right now, for example, there is so much expression of nothing short than the sheer law of Talion, the eye-for-an eye type of justice, a primitive kind long considered to be inhuman. It’s amazing that this kind of mentality still prevails.

There’s quickness to get angry, to get even, to gloat at one’s misfortunes, to judge and condemn. Criminals are not anymore considered human and are therefore placed in a kind of hell here on earth.

This was never the example of Christ. He was quick to forgive and to understand. He was quick to heal. Let’s hope we truly understand the spirit of Advent!

Running amok

WHEN things are not inspired by charity, when we fail to keep a supernatural outlook in life, when we just depend on our reasoning and feelings, then most likely we end up running amok, killing everyone we meet.

This cruelty can easily be seen when political issues and controversies erupt. They erupt in the first place because many people think politics is outside the domain of charity, faith and religion.

The underlying mentality is that prayer and sacrifice have nothing to do with politics. One would be accused of living in a different planet if they behave along lines of charity and religion. He would not be “getting real.”

This attitude has been demonizing us for quite some time now that I’m afraid it has become part of our culture. Proof to that is the openness with which this inhumanity is expressed in public, and hardly anyone complains. On the contrary, a great majority applauds it.

I thought, for example, that gossiping and backbiting are done in whispers, quite hidden in some corner and in small groups. No, it’s not like that anymore. Gossips, backbiting, all sorts of impertinent ad hominems can now be broadcast on radio, TV and the Internet, with many people stoking them to their maximum viciousness.

What is worse—and I hope I’m wrong—is that they think they are doing the right thing, that their reaction is what is just and fair. They have lost the sense of balance, and charity is, of course, regarded as an outcast in the discussion.

In this kind of discussion, the targets are painted all in black. They do not seem to have any saving grace. They seem to be beyond redemption.

This does not bode well of us as a people. We will be hooked to divisiveness and to a spiral of vindictiveness if we exclude charity and the finer requirements of religion in our political discussions.

Let’s remember that our Lord himself told us to love even our enemies. He himself forgave those who crucified him. To the repentant thief, he also promised the Paradise. He told us to forgive not only seven times, but seventy times seven. He asked us to be merciful, because our heavenly Father is merciful.

We need to consider these words as the perfection of our humanity, a way to purify and heal us of our spiritual and moral wounds. They serve none other than to reconcile us with God and with one another. These commands and counsels are not optional. They are necessary.

The truth is that we are all sinners. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1,8) We need to understand each other, and forgive each other. No use getting entangled with our sins, mistakes and failures. We just have to move on, doing all to make that possible as soon as we can.

I was both amused and bothered when I heard a radio commentator say that since justice is supposed to be equal, then everyone has to be treated in the same way whether the one involved is a high official or just an ordinary Juan.

In the first place, equality in justice is never to be interpreted as uniformity in treatment. This is commonsensical. Even in our family life, parents love their children equally but treat them differently, simply because the children are different from one another.

Wherever we go we try to be fair with everyone, but we always treat everyone differently, because people are just different. We don’t make a big fuss about this, unless there is clear injustice.

I froze in disbelief when the commentator said that if a public official who happens to be sick already has been arrested, he should go to prison with all the other criminals who had to bear with all the inconveniences of prison life, like hard labor and exposure to sickness because that is simply a prisoner’s plight.

That, he said, is equal justice. There should be no privileges like a hospital arrest. Then he launched into personal attacks on the public official involved, taking jibes at the physical defects of the person. All this at prime time and in a major media outfit. Unbelievable!

He forgot that everyone has a right to protect oneself, his name, his dignity. If many prisoners are treated inhumanly, it’s not because of some discrimination. It’s because of the imperfections of our human justice and legal system.

Again, if there is no charity, our justice can run amok.

Youth and social change

O, YOUTH! The dawning of the future, the shaper of tomorrow! If the child is the father of the man, then youth must be that crucial stage in-between that would determine whether the child is going to be a good father or a bad father of the man. Youth is the junction where one takes a life-defining choice. It is that transitory part of life that is still seeking stability and maturity.

That’s reason enough to put utmost attention and care on them. All sectors—Church, schools, civil society, government, media, etc.—ought to have a permanent concern for their well-being not only in the physical sense, but more so in the spiritual and moral sense.

By sheer number alone, barring the so-called demographic winter some countries are now suffering, the youth make for a tremendous force in the Church and in the world. They simply need to be well formed so that they too, can help in shaping the kind of world and future they want and ought to live, the world God wants for us.

They have to be gradually drawn to assume increasing responsibilities, instead of leaving them to fall into self-absorption and isolationism that are always a danger.

That’s because in spite of the new technologies that in theory should promote sociability, with the wrong attitudes and habits, the youth can instead harden in their egotism, vanity and individualism. Instead of getting more deeply in touch with reality, they can get lost in a world of virtuality, creating a bubble for themselves.

Toward this end, the youth need to be given clear doctrine and criteria, based on our natural law and our Christian faith, so that their innate dynamism would be well-guided and oriented.

With these, they can avoid the pitfalls of exaggerated idealism and activism, to mention a few of the anomalies that usually threaten them. Some other menaces can be extreme, radical independence on the one hand, and the tendency to fall into a herd mentality, on the other, which show a certain degree of instability in their condition.

Times are now complicated and confusing. The youth today are exposed to more things, both good and bad, constructive and destructive, than their counterpart of yesterday. They can flip quickly from local issues to the global ones, thanks to our new technologies. They now have in their hands powerful tools and instruments that can be used either for good or for evil.

Besides, the world environment has changed tremendously in so short a time. Materialism and commercialism are far fiercer in the present than in the past. And we are actually wallowing in a cesspool of secularism and relativism, made worse by the fact that these anomalies can now be better disguised and rationalized.

More than just being given doctrine and criteria, the youth must make these doctrine and criteria their own, to the point that these become their convictions, enabling them to think, judge, speak and act properly, and later to love and enter into a life of commitment. They have to go beyond the stage of theories, clichés and slogans.

This is the ideal situation. We need youth who are active agents of change for the better in society. But how can this happen?

I imagine that first of all, we have to take care of each one of them. Before they are treated as a group, a class or sector, they have to be considered individually and personally. Each one has to be known as he really is—his character and temperament, his strengths and weaknesses, his likes and dislikes, his dreams and fears, etc.

It’s important that each of them is able to share his thoughts and desires with someone he can trust completely. What is important is that each one feels loved and cared for so he too can learn to love and care for the others.

The earlier one realizes deeply that life is relational that involves not only physical and material things, but also and especially spiritual and moral things, the better for him and for everyone else.

Everyone has to learn how to love properly, based on the love of God and not just any form of human attraction. This is more properly known as communion. This realization will serve as the seed for the youth to become active agents in social change.

Social action should always be a function of charity, truth and justice, and should foster communion. While it involves issues, it should not just stop there, but rather proceed to build up communion.

Call for sobriety and magnanimity

I WAS just amused to notice certain differences in the behavior of our leaders and public officials when faced with issues and charges.

I remember that when a few months ago some bishops were falsely accused of misusing government money to buy Pajeros, the bishops immediately came forward to both apologize, which was not necessary, and explain the matter to the public.

They even went to the extent of returning the so-called Pajeros that turned out to be simple vans used for charity—again something that was not necessary. In fact, the embarrassed investigators asked them to keep the vehicles, but the bishops would not.

They were willing to face the taunters and the senators and earnestly showed the real score of the issue. The public were mainly supportive of the bishops, though there of course were some people who “spat and buffeted” them.

But when politicians are concerned, the reaction of everyone, both those involved and the public in general, takes a different, very ugly turn. It would seem that in this field, everyone has the right to do anything, including the unethical and the immoral, to save one’s face or to show one’s outrage.

There’s an open season for venting one’s anger, hatred, deceit, revenge, envy, and many other forms of vile, venom and malice. Restraint and moderation are discarded as passions and emotions are given free rein.

Gloating over one’s misfortunes, otherwise a taboo during normal times, becomes a standard practice in times of tension and crisis, and this can be done not only by ordinary people, but also by politicians with high and very honorable positions and substantial credentials.

This is really a shame on all of us. Are we still human? Are we still Christian? Does a mistake one can commit—no matter how serious and many times still to be investigated—warrant public lynching in the media and elsewhere? Does it authorize us to let go of our rule of law, no matter how imperfect it is?

I was reading the opinions of many people in the social networks, and though there were many valid points raised, it could not be denied that there was a prevalence of poor thinking and reasoning, rash judgments and knee-jerk reactions, poisoned partisan views that have already abandoned objectivity and fairness, pure bashings.

We all need to discipline ourselves when we are faced with exciting issues. We have to make sure that we have good control of our agitated feelings and emotions, and not only should we try to think rationally, but also to see to it that our thoughts and feelings are infused with charity.

Yes, charity should never be cast aside even as we try to pass through the trickiest stage of exacting justice on some persons. Charity is not an optional item. It is a basic, indispensable requirement in our human and Christian behavior.

We cannot say that just because we are dealing with politics, or we are dealing with a crook, etc., that we can be excused from charity, or that we can feel free to tear that person’s name if the not person himself to shreds.

Sad to say, this seems to be the prevalent mindset of many people. We really need to dismantle this mentality, because it is not human, much less Christian. It makes us insensitive to the real essence of righteousness and plunges us to a blinding self-righteousness.

We have to learn to be sober, allowing our thinking to be inspired by true love and compassion even as we also have to uphold justice. We need to broaden our perspectives so we can consider many other factors, taking us away from our biases and prejudices, and giving us a fuller picture of the situation.

We should feel uncomfortable when we find ourselves in some rage, and should do all to get out of that state as soon as we can. Our problem is sometimes we like to prolong that mood for as long as we can.

We have to be magnanimous, quick to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, focused more on what is constructive rather than dwelling on the distracting and destructive.

We should instead look for ways on how to heal wounds, to bring back those who strayed, to look for the lost, to strengthen the weak, to remedy what is defective in our systems. We have to look forward more than backward, the future more than the past.

Sobriety and magnanimity should not just be nice words. They have to be lived.

Sustaining our conversation with God

WE have to learn to converse with our Lord all the time. Let’s try to avoid any gap in this lifelong conversation with our Lord. This is the ideal thing we can and ought to do, primarily because our life is not simply our own. Our life is always a life with God. That’s how we are created and designed.

It’s a shared life, and the least thing we can do to maintain that sharing is to keep a conversation with him. To paraphrase a romantic song, we should keep our music with God playing, finding new things always to say to him, and certainly we can never run out of things to tell or ask him. With all the challenges, problems and pressures we have today, we will always have something to say.

Obviously we have to overcome certain biases and the natural awkwardness that come with this necessity. We can compare this situation of unease to a child who has to learn to speak, walk, write, eat and behave properly, etc.

In the beginning, like the child we have to pass through some clumsy drills of the learning process. We need to develop a sense of focus and substance in our conversation with God. But if we just persist and persevere, we can hack it sooner or later.

The first thing that we have to be clear about is that we actually need to talk with God. We should dump the common idea that talking with God is nonsense. This is actually a groundless myth.

We need to talk to him because as our Creator and Father who loves us all the way, he is everything to us—the source of truth, goodness, wisdom, power, etc. Even if we cannot penetrate the mystery that shrouds him, talking to him provides us with the best and ultimate perspective we can have in understanding reality.

He is the one that gives meaning to all the events in our life. He gives us the proper direction. In fact, Christ described himself as “the way, the truth and the life” for us. “No one goes to the Father except through him.”

We should not just talk with ourselves, nor just with the others. Our consciousness, which is a result of some conversation, should not just be limited to our own thoughts and feelings. God has to enter into it.

Our sense of consciousness would be gravely handicapped if we just use our common sense, or our own estimations of things. We even should not just rely on our arts and sciences nor our increasingly sophisticated technologies to cope with all the demands of life. We need God always. He is the light and the strength we need.

God is the foundation of reality. What is true, good and beautiful can only come and end with him. Outside of him, we will only get at virtuality, not at reality. A basic attitude to develop therefore is to actively look for Christ in the things that we are handling or doing.

We should not be passive and wait for some kind of inspiration before we start talking with God. We ought to have a pro-active approach. We need to look for him, and engage him in a conversation.

With God’s grace, which is never lacking, and with our proper dispositions, and some skills and habits that we need to develop, we can always enter into some dialogue with God. We can always refer things to him.

That’s why St. Paul tells us that “whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) And again, St. Paul encourages us to work such that “God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15,28) This is the goal we have to aim at.

When we are in the dark, we need to talk with God. When we are tempted or experiencing the sting of our weakness, then talking to God becomes urgent. Remember St. Paul’s “it’s when I’m weak that I’m strong,” that shows us that we can use our weakness to occasion our getting close to God, our source of strength.

When we are baffled by the twists and turns of things inside us and outside us, our Lord for sure will be there to give us a sense of direction and confidence. When we are tired, harassed, bored, whatever, he gives us rest, peace and joy.

We need to sharpen our skills to sustain our conversation with God always!

Life of fascination

A CERTAIN sense of fascination should characterize our life. As a jazzy song would put it, fascination should take control. Let’s hope that as another old song would put it, fascination turns to love, just as love often relishes in fascination.

Saints are invariably known for their life of fascination in spite of the trials, difficulties and even martyrdom that they had to suffer. Some of them have reached the level of mysticism and ecstasy, which we can consider as the extraordinary forms of fascination.

All this is understandable, since as humans with body and not only with a soul, an ideal situation for us would be to be awe-struck or be excited even in the humdrum of our daily routine. Ideally, the body should share in the true delights of the soul.

We just have to make sure then that our sense of fascination is not exclusively developed and lived in the realm of the flesh, of the material, and of the earthly and temporal. That would detach the body from our soul, our material condition from our spiritual character and supernatural goal.

We have to make sure that our fascination is inspired by faith and sparked to action by our will. We can describe it as a theological fascination that has to be deliberately developed.

It should not just be a spontaneous movement of the flesh, stuck at the level of spur-of-the-moment reactions entirely dependent on feelings and ruled by an obsession for novelties and curiosities. That would make fascination less human.

To be sure, fascination is not just a physical act. It is a human act that should correspond to all the requirements of our human nature and condition.

Our fascination should not just delight the flesh. It should delight us in our totality as a human person and as a child of God. In short, it should delight our mind and will properly, stimulating them properly to get interested in their proper objects.

And these objects could only be love for God and others. Short of these, our fascination would be incomplete and imperfect. It certainly would be vulnerable to abuses and excesses.

Thus, we see many people getting addicted to sex, drugs, gambling, worldly power, etc., since their sense of fascination has not entered the realm of the spiritual and the supernatural.

This is a challenge we should acknowledge and face. We have to save our sense of fascination from the grip of the material and emotional to make it spiritual and theological.

Obviously, in developing this sense of fascination, we need to go through stages. While the initial stage is understandably the physical and emotional, we have to understand that it should go all the way to the spiritual. For this, a certain training is required. The proper understanding, attitudes and habits have to be developed.

In this regard, it might be interesting to pay attention to a passage in the gospel which can refer to this need of ours to develop a life of fascination. It’s in the gospel of St. John where we hear our Lord say: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw al things to myself.” (12,32)

The passage that follows it immediately gives a parenthetical explanation of these words. “Now this he said, signifying what death he should die.”

I think that in these passages we are made to know how our Lord attracts us to himself and therefore what should fascinate us. It’s when our Lord is lifted on the cross that we would be drawn to him. It’s when we train our attention to Christ on the cross that we would be fascinated by him.

And that is because it is on the cross that our Lord shows the supreme and most pure love that can ever be shown to us, and that therefore should attract us. Our problem is that we tend to confine love to what is physically and sensibly pleasant only, to what makes us feel good.

It is a shallow kind of love that cannot understand the value of suffering in this life, the cross, as a necessary ingredient in our human condition that is now marked by sin and all sorts of weakness.

We need to train ourselves to focus and meditate on the passion and death of Christ and to develop this theological fascination of the crucified Christ. Only then can we perfect our sense of fascination that should mark our life here on earth. Only then can we protect ourselves from unwanted, immoral fascinations.

Transmitting faith

FAITH is, of course, a supernatural gift to us, given by God in ways that defy understanding. But since it concerns us, we have to realize there are things we need to do to make that faith take root in our lives, grow to maturity, and spread out to other people.

We have to realize then that we have a duty to transmit faith to the others, and to help them keep that faith vibrant and fruitful. Faith can never just be an individual, isolated affair. It too has a social aspect. In fact, it needs to be shared and to animate our culture, since it is supposed to cover all aspects of our life.

Obviously, to be effective in this business, we should not only talk about faith. We have to walk the talk. We really have to live it and incarnate it consistently. One way or another, it has to show externally, and the others should be able to see it, and admire and love it eventually, making it their own as well.

Only then can faith be understood, loved and lived by the others. Faith is not just a collection of doctrine nor a smart intellectual exercise. Much less is it only about classes, lectures and modules. It’s about life of love with God and with everybody else.

For this to happen, we can cite at least three things that are needed. One is to develop a true life of piety. Faith cannot prosper unless its seed falls on the fertile ground of piety.

Piety is the attitude that corresponds to the deepest longing we have in our heart. We realize that we need to be attached to someone higher than us. Thus, we can have first of all a filial piety toward our parents, then to other people whom we truly love. Ultimately, we should realize we need to have a piety toward God.

This piety is expressed in deeds—praying, doing acts of worship, and other related acts or gestures like making sacrifices, pilgrimages, fasting and abstinence, going to the sacraments—all of which happening in the heart and tilting us toward God. These should be like our breathing, or the beating of the heart, a second nature to us.

A second point would be the need for doctrine. Piety without doctrine is a dangerous situation, prone to superstitions and other abuses. We have to understand that doctrine is for us the path to know and love God more and more.

Doctrine is not just a body of ideas and theories. The doctrine of our faith is life itself in the context of love. It is God himself, who is at once the source, the substance and standard of life and love. We should never reduce doctrine to mere ideas, words and theories.

We should spread this doctrine as widely as possible, seeing to it that the study of doctrine should be within the context of love of God and others. It should never be converted into a mere intellectual affair that would surely empty it of its living substance, leaving only a shell.

We need to be active in studying and teaching catechism, and in following closely the Church magisterium as expressed in the words of the Holy Father and the bishops in union with the Pope. When we study doctrine, we should get to know Christ better. When we teach or preach it, we should be able to show Christ to others.

A third point would be the lifelong development of virtues. When piety and doctrine do not produce virtues, there would be something terribly wrong in our understanding and life of faith.

Faith by definition is always transformative. It will always have an effect in a manner much more effective than what a most potent medicine can do to heal us of a certain sickness.

So, a man of faith will always be a man of virtues, especially charity that includes everything else that is good and perfecting in us. Faith can be shown when we have patience, temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice, humility, etc.

In the work of apostolate and evangelization that we should be doing and where faith is transmitted, it’s important that we manage to really befriend everyone, listening to them, adapting ourselves to them, and gently leading them with gift of tongues to Christ.

We have to remember that this business of transmitting faith is a most intimate affair, where freedom has to be respected all the time, and a lot of patience and sacrifice are required.

Dignity of labor

I FEEL that we have to resurrect from the grave the dignity of labor. For long, it has fallen into such disrepute that our young generation today often thinks of it as a curse, a compulsory evil, or a plague to be avoided at all costs.

Even those who may be considered as intelligent and well-motivated, going to schools, training programs and all that, often succumb to the wrong notion that their high education can take them away from some work they consider lowly.

That is not just right. Work and labor, whether manual or intellectual, in the fields and farms or in offices, is always part of our human nature, part of God’s design for us to make us image and likeness of his, and even children of his.

Any kind of work, as long as it is honest work, affirms our humanity. It actualizes whatever potentials we have. It is the way we contribute to the common good, the main means to earn our living. Work and labor just make us legitimately proud and happy.

More than these, it enables us to share in God’s providence over us, a way to reach our spiritual and supernatural goal. We need to highlight this truth, because the prevalent understanding of work detaches it from its objective divine context. Indeed, it can be our path to be with God right in the middle of the world.

While it’s true that we can have different aptitudes toward different kinds of work—some are meant more for white-collar jobs than the blue ones, others better as managers than clerks, some prefer to till the land than handle computers, etc.—truth is all of us need to work, and any kind of work would just be fine.

I would even venture to say that he who discriminates against the simple, ordinary work like the household chores would already be handicapped to tackle the bigger, extraordinary tasks we can encounter in life.

Remember our Lord saying: “He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much.” We need to digest the wisdom of these words well.

I think this point is crucial especially these days when we are experiencing rapid developments that often cause changes and disruptions. We have to learn to be flexible—to retrain ourselves when it is requisite given a situation, and to be ready to take on whatever job is necessary or convenient at the moment.

We need to be upbeat about these challenges, and avoid falling into passivity, waiting for the so-called ‘right job’ to come to us. The ideal attitude should enable us to be a CEO of a conglomerate one day, and a gardener the next day without suffering any crisis.

We have to reinforce the attitude that was expressed one time by our Lord when he said: “I came to serve and not to be served.” At another instance, he recommended that we should always remind ourselves that we are simply “unprofitable servants,” doing only what we are supposed to do.

We should not mind whether, in our unavoidable human rankings, we are on top or at the bottom, in front or at the back, the main actor or just an extra. We should be happy where we are placed at the moment, as long as we are working.

We have to avoid a culture of privileges and entitlements, though some fair remuneration for our work is always necessary. But we need to take extra care to avoid taking our work out of its primordial nature and reason.

Our problem is that we tend to take our duty to work out of its original context in the plan of God, and spin a merely human culture around it that distorts its nature, character and purpose.

And so our labor easily becomes an instrument of pride, vanity, greed, deceit, envy, hatred, etc. And from these, what can we expect but injustice and inequality in society, and later on, spreading social disturbances until things reach a flashpoint for collapse?

Early on in life, when people are still children in their respective homes, we should be taught clearly about this objective dignity of work and labor. Everyone needs to be shown how to love work, acquire the proper attitudes and habits.

I once met a young man who was a successful yuppie with a top position in the corporate world, but who remained simple and humble, willing and eager to do household chores like cooking and washing dishes. I pray there be more of him.

Concatenation

THE word comes from “catena,” Latin for chain, a string of links, usually metallic, which with the prefix “con-” (or “cum” in Latin), meaning “with,” and the suffix, “-ation,” means the act or the state of being bound or connected.

The word is usually made to refer to the material item of a chain. Otherwise it is often used in a literary sense, as in a metaphor or a simile. But hardly is it used in the spiritual and moral sense, as in our duty to build up linkages among ourselves.

This is unfortunate, since our human dignity and our vocation urge us precisely to construct and strengthen in a constant and increasing way our interrelationships. We are meant to be connected with the others. No one lives alone.

This can be gleaned from our Christian faith when our Lord himself commanded us, first, to love our neighbor as ourselves, then later on in a more perfect way, to love one another as he loves us.

In fact, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Church teaches us that “the human person has a communal dimension as an essential component of his nature and vocation.” (401)

But even in our natural self, without considering the inputs of our faith yet, we can already discern a strong tendency to be with others, though this predisposition can easily be thwarted for a number of reasons.

Thus, we are born into a family, and we need our parents and siblings, and later on our friends, classmates, colleagues, etc., for us to grow, develop and find happiness here on earth.

We neither can avoid organizing ourselves into ascending levels of society—from family to local, national and international communities—simply because we need them. Problems we encounter along the way cannot stop this trend.

We have to be more aware that this human process just cannot be inspired by our natural needs alone nor ruled merely by the natural laws of economics, sociology, politics, and much less by the advantages of popularity and practicality.

We have to understand that our need and the corresponding duty to “concatenate” among ourselves go beyond these natural and temporal reasons. That need and duty arise from the spiritual character of our nature and the supernatural goal to which it is called.

Yes, to put it bluntly, the spirituality of our nature, expressed in our capacity to think, know, judge, reason, choose, love, etc., would not be complete unless it is poised if not engaged with the supernatural reality of a Supreme Being, who is God, our Creator and everything, eternal, omnipotent, provident, etc.

St. Augustine vividly gave an expression of this condition of ours when he said: “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” It is inherent in us to be connected with God, the ultimate Other, and with and through him, with all the others.

Thus, we are told that love for God is always inseparable from love for the others. We are “designed” to enter into communion, which is not mere physical union, but a union of life and love, with God and others.

In others words, we have to understand that we are meant to be responsible for one another. We cannot say, “That’s his problem, that’s his own affair.” While it’s true that we enjoy a right to privacy and that we also have the social principle of subsidiarity, all these do not mean we can ever be indifferent to the others.

Their concerns and affairs are somehow ours too. The faster we get convinced of this truth, the more quickly we understand it and prepare ourselves adequately to meet its practical consequences, readying ourselves to help others in the worst scenarios, the better for us.

Our Lord did this not only by becoming man, but also by assuming all the sinfulness of men. This he did by embracing the cross and freely allowing himself to die on it, in spite of his obvious sinlessness.

It’s a great lesson for us to learn. We will fail to establish and reinforce our true unity in its different levels and aspects—personal, social, cultural, etc.—if we refuse to follow the example of Christ, who is “the life, the truth and the way” for us.

We have to heed St. Paul’s advice that’s clearly inspired by Christ’s example: “Bear each other’s burden, and you shall fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6,2) We have to start training ourselves to acquire this attitude and lifestyle.

This is the way to fulfill the duty of concatenation.

Charity amid differences and conflicts

WE have to learn to see Christ in everyone, including those with whom we may have serious differences or are in conflict. We have to go beyond seeing others in a purely human way without, of course, neglecting the human and natural in us.

In short, we have to see others in a spiritual way, within the framework of faith, hope and charity. Otherwise we cannot avoid getting entangled in our limited and conflict-prone earthly condition. And no amount of human justice and humanitarianism can fully resolve this predicament.

Thus, we need to develop and hone our skills of looking at others beyond the merely physical, social, economic, cultural or political way. While these aspects are always to be considered, we should not be trapped by them.

There are many reasons for this. First would be that we are all brothers and sisters, created by God in his image and likeness, and made children of his through his grace.

In spite of our differences—race, culture, beliefs, etc.—we are meant to care and love one another. Thus, our Lord told us to “love your neighbour as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34)

And how did Christ love us? By becoming man and assuming all our sinfulness, dying to it to give us a new life in him. His love was for everyone, and especially for those who were weak and handicapped not so much in the physical sense as in the moral sense.

That’s why he was close to the sinners, fraternizing with them. He would only show his dislike to those who were self-righteous. Just the same, he loved all as proven by the fact that before dying on the cross, he asked forgiveness from his Father for those who crucified him.

We have to expand and deepen our attitudes towards others. Are we willing to think always of them, keenly observant of how they are? Are we moved to pray for them and to leap to their assistance when the chance comes?

Our problem is that we tend to think always of ourselves, and our view of the others is mainly shaped by purely human motives that cannot reach the level of charity that can love everyone regardless of conditions and circumstances.

Let’s remember that as St. Paul said, we have to “bear each other’s burdens.” (Gal 6,2) Do we have that kind of outlook? Are we quick to help others even to the point of inconveniencing ourselves?

We have to start dismantling attitudes, habits and practices that keep us imprisoned in our own world, mistakenly thinking that these actually would make us happy or are good for us.

These past days I had had the luck of meeting simple people who are thinking only of others. I did not hear any negative remark from them about anyone, and frankly, I felt so good talking to them. It was a joy to be with them.

Our problem is that we tend to just gossip and gossip, our mouth and tongue quite on their own with hardly any supervision from a higher agency in our system. We are also affected by our prejudices and biases. Of course, we tend to forget charity when we encounter sharp differences with others.

We have to follow the example of Christ who tried to find something good even in those who were doing wrong. For example, one time he told his disciples to continue observing what their religious leaders taught them, but not to follow their example, because they do not practice what they preach. (cfr Mt 23,2)

He made that distinction between what was taught and what was practiced, and did not lump up the right teaching with the wrong practice. We should be quick to find the right and the good things that can go together with the bad and wrong things.

Even with handling of dishonest money, he showed goodness of heart. Christ recommended that we “make friends with dishonest money,” so that when it fails we can still be welcomed to heaven. (cfr Lk 16,9)

It’s not that we ought to foster dishonesty, but rather to learn how to make do and make use of evil things in this world to do good. This conclusion can be gleaned from the fact that our Lord summarized the whole episode by saying, “No servant can serve two masters...You cannot serve God and mammon.”

We need to be pro-active in seeing Christ in everyone and in eliciting true charity when we relate to them, regardless of the circumstances.