WE have to learn how to cope with these situations. They are
unavoidable in life. As the Book of Ecclesiastes says: “There is a
time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to
dance...a time to get, and a time to lose...All things have their
season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.”
So, let’s just take it easy, and avoid getting upset or afraid or
desperate unnecessarily. God is in control. What we have to do is to
carry out what clearly is incumbent on us—our ordinary work, our daily
duties that should be done with love for God and others.
We should avoid extrapolating things out of a misplaced zeal, or
self-righteousness, or simply out of fear to lose and desire to win
and dominate. God’s all-abiding providence is driven solely out of
love and mercy. His justice is included there.
And while we can not fully decipher the mystery of God’s ways and
providence, we have to see to it that we too are driven by love and
mercy in our attitude and reactions to anything that happens in our
life.
Our sense of justice should be subordinated to love and mercy. Our
plans and strategies, the moves that we have to make, should be
animated solely by love and mercy. This is God’s way as shown clearly
by Christ and the saints who followed him.
Remember that time when the disciples told Christ to rain fire on
those who did not receive them? (Lk 9,51ff) Christ rebuked his
disciples, saying: “You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of
man came not to destroy souls, but to save.”
It’s good to meditate on the passion and death of Christ, for from
there we can get the clear idea of how to face trials, insults and
mockeries, setbacks and apparent defeats and losses in our life.
Why did Christ for the most part simply keep quiet during his trial?
What is the significance of his reply to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of
this world...?” Why did he allow himself to be buffeted, crowned with
thorns, crucified, pierced by a spear, and finally to die?
Let’s consider the lives of some saints. St. John of the Cross, for
example. He was really badly treated even by his own confreres who
imprisoned him in a dark dungeon for 6 months.
If he was not a man of God, he would have gone crazy and died. But
instead, he found light in darkness, and a certain freedom of soul in
his forced physical confinement. And from that experience, he produced
a very lyrical set of poems that savored exquisitely of the spiritual,
mystical and supernatural.
Now that we are into the RH Bill debate, and it seems that the pro-RH
side is gaining headway, we should learn how to keep our cool not just
out of tactic but rather out of love and complete trust in the
providence of God.
But it should not be the cool of not doing anything. We need to
intensify our prayers and sacrifices, and launch into a more ardent
campaign of evangelization about human life and sexuality, marriage
and family, etc. The idea is not to defeat opponents to the faith. It
is to convert them.
For this, we need to study the doctrine of our faith very well,
assimilating them to the extent of making it the flesh of our flesh,
and then quietly and continuously going into a personal apostolate of
friendship and confidence where from heart to heart, and not through
the noise of the world, we transmit the saving truths of our faith
relevant to the RH Bill.
Let’s not waste time judging the motives of those who are pro-RH.
That’s not our task. And in the gospel, we already know the possible
motives of those who killed Christ. There was pride, hatred, envy,
articulated in a variety of ways that ultimately led to Christ’s
crucifixion.
But in the end, Christ asked his Father to forgive them—for they know
not what they were doing. This is the extreme of charity to which we
are also called. But for all that, we have to realize also that we
need to defend our faith, the truth in charity.
And so, we can also go through the human means available for this
purpose without losing the spirit proper of a child of God. Yes, we
can enter into debates, join rallies, do all sorts of political
maneuvers, but in charity.
unavoidable in life. As the Book of Ecclesiastes says: “There is a
time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to
dance...a time to get, and a time to lose...All things have their
season, and in their times all things pass under heaven.”
So, let’s just take it easy, and avoid getting upset or afraid or
desperate unnecessarily. God is in control. What we have to do is to
carry out what clearly is incumbent on us—our ordinary work, our daily
duties that should be done with love for God and others.
We should avoid extrapolating things out of a misplaced zeal, or
self-righteousness, or simply out of fear to lose and desire to win
and dominate. God’s all-abiding providence is driven solely out of
love and mercy. His justice is included there.
And while we can not fully decipher the mystery of God’s ways and
providence, we have to see to it that we too are driven by love and
mercy in our attitude and reactions to anything that happens in our
life.
Our sense of justice should be subordinated to love and mercy. Our
plans and strategies, the moves that we have to make, should be
animated solely by love and mercy. This is God’s way as shown clearly
by Christ and the saints who followed him.
Remember that time when the disciples told Christ to rain fire on
those who did not receive them? (Lk 9,51ff) Christ rebuked his
disciples, saying: “You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of
man came not to destroy souls, but to save.”
It’s good to meditate on the passion and death of Christ, for from
there we can get the clear idea of how to face trials, insults and
mockeries, setbacks and apparent defeats and losses in our life.
Why did Christ for the most part simply keep quiet during his trial?
What is the significance of his reply to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of
this world...?” Why did he allow himself to be buffeted, crowned with
thorns, crucified, pierced by a spear, and finally to die?
Let’s consider the lives of some saints. St. John of the Cross, for
example. He was really badly treated even by his own confreres who
imprisoned him in a dark dungeon for 6 months.
If he was not a man of God, he would have gone crazy and died. But
instead, he found light in darkness, and a certain freedom of soul in
his forced physical confinement. And from that experience, he produced
a very lyrical set of poems that savored exquisitely of the spiritual,
mystical and supernatural.
Now that we are into the RH Bill debate, and it seems that the pro-RH
side is gaining headway, we should learn how to keep our cool not just
out of tactic but rather out of love and complete trust in the
providence of God.
But it should not be the cool of not doing anything. We need to
intensify our prayers and sacrifices, and launch into a more ardent
campaign of evangelization about human life and sexuality, marriage
and family, etc. The idea is not to defeat opponents to the faith. It
is to convert them.
For this, we need to study the doctrine of our faith very well,
assimilating them to the extent of making it the flesh of our flesh,
and then quietly and continuously going into a personal apostolate of
friendship and confidence where from heart to heart, and not through
the noise of the world, we transmit the saving truths of our faith
relevant to the RH Bill.
Let’s not waste time judging the motives of those who are pro-RH.
That’s not our task. And in the gospel, we already know the possible
motives of those who killed Christ. There was pride, hatred, envy,
articulated in a variety of ways that ultimately led to Christ’s
crucifixion.
But in the end, Christ asked his Father to forgive them—for they know
not what they were doing. This is the extreme of charity to which we
are also called. But for all that, we have to realize also that we
need to defend our faith, the truth in charity.
And so, we can also go through the human means available for this
purpose without losing the spirit proper of a child of God. Yes, we
can enter into debates, join rallies, do all sorts of political
maneuvers, but in charity.
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