WE are supposed to be burning with love. Away with
complacency and
spiritual lukewarmness that, as some spiritual writers have described,
is actually the grave of authentic piety.
The Bible has described this spiritual malaise as having the
appearance of life when one is in fact dead, and that’s why it is most
delusive. The Book of Revelation, for example, has this graphic
description for it: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.” (3,16) Eww!
Christ was seized with zeal himself in pursuing his sole mission on
earth, extreme suffering and all. “I have come to set the earth on
fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12,49) If we are
conformed to Christ, as we are supposed to be, then we cannot help but
take part in that zeal ourselves.
This is something we have to be more conscious about, since right now
I believe that many of us are buried under a heavy albeit deceivingly
sweet yoke of spiritual lethargy. We take things easy in our spiritual
and moral life. What would arouse us are mainly material and worldly
things.
We need to react to this stranglehold of our spiritual life, helping
one another to be more spiritually alive, considering each one’s
conditions and possibilities, giving good example and timely pieces of
advice and suggestions, and leading the way in actively cooperating in
this exhilarating divine adventure God is inviting us to join in this
life.
Everyday, we should be seized by that urge to “carpe diem,” to kind
of strike while the iron is hot. If we have faith, each day brings
with it its own adventure orchestrated by God in his abiding
providence, and we are invited to it since we are supposed to be
co-agents with God in our life here.
To be sure, our life here on earth is never just an interplay of our
plans and the other natural forces. God is very much in it, a fact
that we have to be more aware of it and more importantly, better
skilled in handling. We cannot go on unmindful of this fundamental
truth.
We should not be afraid to enter and take most active part in this
drama with God and others, because even if it involves everything and
all sorts of trials and difficulties, it is always worth it. This is
what our life is really all about. We avoid making a fiction of our
life, deluded by its false images.
To top it all, if we have faith and trust in God, we know, in spite
of passing contradictions, that we get involved in is always something
for the good of all of us in all aspects of our life, from the most
personal to the most global.
We know that with God, everything will always work out for the good.
Even our mistakes and failures, and even our own sins no matter how
big, if handled with faith and treated properly, can occasion greater
developments in our life.
This is how God works. He allows us to go through the peaks and
valleys of life, but he always knows how to derive good from them.
Even death, the ultimate evil that can befall us, is emptied of its
sting by the death and resurrection of Christ himself. Thus, if we die
with him, we also will rise with him, as St. Paul tells us.
Obviously, before all these wonderful truths our faith tells, we
cannot afford to remain passive and complacent. Before God’s
tremendous love for us, we ought to love him in return, for love is
repaid with love. God, who is love, loves us first, and we just have
to love him in return.
It is in the very essence of love that it is given and expressed
without measure, without expecting recompense. Its language is
generosity, abundance, heroism to the point of the extreme sacrifice
of offering one’s life.
It would be good if everyday we try our best to read what God’s plan
is for us. This should be the ultimate and constant context of
whatever plans we have for the day. Let’s never just make plans
without referring them to God’s plan.
If we persist in this attitude, we can develop the skill and ease of
knowing God’s plan. We just have to overcome the initial awkwardness
and difficulties. In time, we would know how to handle them.
Truth is, we need to have zeal, that consuming divine zeal driven by
love, and not by bitterness.
spiritual lukewarmness that, as some spiritual writers have described,
is actually the grave of authentic piety.
The Bible has described this spiritual malaise as having the
appearance of life when one is in fact dead, and that’s why it is most
delusive. The Book of Revelation, for example, has this graphic
description for it: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.” (3,16) Eww!
Christ was seized with zeal himself in pursuing his sole mission on
earth, extreme suffering and all. “I have come to set the earth on
fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12,49) If we are
conformed to Christ, as we are supposed to be, then we cannot help but
take part in that zeal ourselves.
This is something we have to be more conscious about, since right now
I believe that many of us are buried under a heavy albeit deceivingly
sweet yoke of spiritual lethargy. We take things easy in our spiritual
and moral life. What would arouse us are mainly material and worldly
things.
We need to react to this stranglehold of our spiritual life, helping
one another to be more spiritually alive, considering each one’s
conditions and possibilities, giving good example and timely pieces of
advice and suggestions, and leading the way in actively cooperating in
this exhilarating divine adventure God is inviting us to join in this
life.
Everyday, we should be seized by that urge to “carpe diem,” to kind
of strike while the iron is hot. If we have faith, each day brings
with it its own adventure orchestrated by God in his abiding
providence, and we are invited to it since we are supposed to be
co-agents with God in our life here.
To be sure, our life here on earth is never just an interplay of our
plans and the other natural forces. God is very much in it, a fact
that we have to be more aware of it and more importantly, better
skilled in handling. We cannot go on unmindful of this fundamental
truth.
We should not be afraid to enter and take most active part in this
drama with God and others, because even if it involves everything and
all sorts of trials and difficulties, it is always worth it. This is
what our life is really all about. We avoid making a fiction of our
life, deluded by its false images.
To top it all, if we have faith and trust in God, we know, in spite
of passing contradictions, that we get involved in is always something
for the good of all of us in all aspects of our life, from the most
personal to the most global.
We know that with God, everything will always work out for the good.
Even our mistakes and failures, and even our own sins no matter how
big, if handled with faith and treated properly, can occasion greater
developments in our life.
This is how God works. He allows us to go through the peaks and
valleys of life, but he always knows how to derive good from them.
Even death, the ultimate evil that can befall us, is emptied of its
sting by the death and resurrection of Christ himself. Thus, if we die
with him, we also will rise with him, as St. Paul tells us.
Obviously, before all these wonderful truths our faith tells, we
cannot afford to remain passive and complacent. Before God’s
tremendous love for us, we ought to love him in return, for love is
repaid with love. God, who is love, loves us first, and we just have
to love him in return.
It is in the very essence of love that it is given and expressed
without measure, without expecting recompense. Its language is
generosity, abundance, heroism to the point of the extreme sacrifice
of offering one’s life.
It would be good if everyday we try our best to read what God’s plan
is for us. This should be the ultimate and constant context of
whatever plans we have for the day. Let’s never just make plans
without referring them to God’s plan.
If we persist in this attitude, we can develop the skill and ease of
knowing God’s plan. We just have to overcome the initial awkwardness
and difficulties. In time, we would know how to handle them.
Truth is, we need to have zeal, that consuming divine zeal driven by
love, and not by bitterness.
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