IF we could only acquire this skill of turning weakness
to strength, our life would be truly wonderful, full of joy and peace, and
effectiveness to carry out all the duties we have! And this is no exaggerated,
gratuitous aspiration, since there’s real basis for it.
Very often, we find ourselves depressed and frozen into
inactivity and idleness that sooner or later would trigger worse conditions,
because of our personal weakness and miseries that seem to persist in spite of
our best efforts to avert them.
We should not worry too much about this sticky
predicament of ours. While it’s true that our automatic reaction to these
things is that of sadness and worry, we should realize that we have a way to
get around them or to be released from their stranglehold.
What we have to do is to go spiritual and supernatural,
that is, to go to God. We need to say goodbye from our all-too-human way of
looking at things, since that is simply inadequate to tackle the realities of
our life, many of them harsh and unmerciful.
Besides, that is what is really meant for us. We have
been designed and wired for the spiritual and supernatural life, a truth that
we need to chew well since it is not immediately obvious or felt. That’s why we
need to do some self-disciplining and all that.
When we go spiritual and supernatural, that is, when we
pray, offer sacrifices, avail of the sacraments, develop virtues and wage a
continuous ascetical struggle, we can be with God, and we can join St. Paul in
saying, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” This is how we can be
truly realistic about our weakened humanity.
The apostle of the Gentiles—that’s us in general—also
said that it is precisely in his weakness that he is strong, precisely because
he uses his weakness as the very reason to go to God, the source of all
strength.
Let’s hope that we can develop that kind of attitude,
first by widening our perspective to include the truths of faith and then
meeting the demands our faith asks of us.
We should not shun from our faith. It’s what gives us the
entire picture of our human condition, and with the other virtues of hope and
charity, it works out our ideal life as a person and a child of God, and not
just of the flesh or of the world.
Yes, our life has to be a life of faith, hope and
charity. It cannot simply be a life of food and drinks, social and
professional, or cultural, etc. We are bound with God. We have to correspond to
that reality, because even if God meant us to be with him, he cannot force us
to be with him.
Let’s hope that we can discover that deep yearning in us
to be with God, a yearning that God himself, our Creator and Father has put in
our heart, and fan it to a flame, burning us in such a way that we will always
feel the need for him, that we become passionate about it.
I imagine that our ideal feelings for God could be
described in the way a soulful song of Alicia Keys would put it:
Some people want it all / But I don't want
nothing at all / If it ain't you, baby / If I
ain’t got you, baby / Some people want diamond rings /
Some just want everything / But everything means nothing / If I ain’t got you,
yeah... / Nothing in this whole wide world don’t mean a thing / If I ain’t got
you with me...
Human
as we are, we need to express our deep yearning for God in the language, the
rhythm and the music that the young these days, out of passion, express their
most intense desires. We should not afraid to do this, because whatever is
human can always be purified and elevated to the spiritual and supernatural.
Our
relation with God need not be confined in its expression in the classic Greek
or Latin languages, or dressed up in some Gregorian chants or Church hymns. We
can use the language and the music of the street if that is how our heart is
more comfortable with. We just have to make the necessary adjustments.
Let’s hope that we will always look for God. Christ
himself advised us so: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all
these things shall be added unto you.”
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