The need for anchoring

THIS is what we should never forget to do. If in our physical world, we need to have some foundation to keep ourselves stable and well-grounded, much more so would we need a clear foundation as anchor in our spiritual world.

            Our thoughts and desires, our pursuit for knowledge and love, which constitute our spiritual world, just cannot be done without due concern for some stabilizing anchor, since we can easily get lost there.

            That’s the reason, for example, why we build a house so we may have a home not only to come to at day’s end, and to eat and sleep, but also and, in fact, more importantly, to grow and mature in our humanity, both in our material and spiritual aspects.

            And that anchor is none other than God himself, our creator and the very foundation of reality. He is the beginning and the end of everything. He is the ultimate home for us, our ultimate anchor and foundation.

            That’s why it is always good that we develop a sense of the beginning and a sense of the end of our life and of everything else. This sense of both beginning and end will surely guide us in our day-to-day affairs.

            This truth should not be left in the realm of theories alone. It has to be brought down to concrete reality. It has to be cultivated and lived. We have to start with our own individual selves and then try to spread it around, helping one another attain this very crucial necessity in our lives.

            We, of course, have some ideas of God, however imperfect and even wrong they may be. That we do what we think is right and good is already an indication that we believe in some God. That’s because man is basically a religious being, regardless of what atheists, agnostics and skeptics say.

            History can attest to the fact that in different people, times and places, there has always been some effort to discover and deal with a God. The challenge now is to discover the one true God.

            This is where we have to distinguish between man-made natural religions and a supernatural religion that is revealed to us more than is developed by us. The Christian faith is of the latter type whose central figure, Christ, is the fullness of the revelation of God.

            It is Christ who tells us that we have to seek first the kingdom of God before we get immersed in the things of the world, no matter how valid they are. He reassures us that these things of the world would be given us besides, as long as we seek God first.

            In this season of Easter that celebrates and makes present Christ’s victory over sin and death, we are reminded in so many words of how he continues to be present in us, how he continues to guide the world with his wise and merciful providence, etc.

            This is a truth that we should never miss, but rather relish increasingly deeply, so that we can always find meaning and have a sense of direction in life, never feeling lost, especially in our moments of human darkness, when problems and all sorts of contradiction baffle us.

            That’s why we should try to refer and relate everything to God. In our work, for example, we should not just be contented with efficiency or profitability as our guiding criteria. Though in themselves they are not bad, they can easily turn against us if they are not founded and oriented toward God.

            Without God as the clear foundation and anchor, our pursuit for efficiency and profitability would be very vulnerable to the subtle workings of greed, vanity and pride. Our concern for the common good would not be consummated. It would easily be trapped by our selfish interests.

            St. Paul told us very clearly: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) We have to discover the presence of God in everyone and in everything.

            In fact, we have to familiarize ourselves with his will and ways in our worldly affairs, since with his abiding providence, he is always intervening in them. To be able to do this, we need to be born again, to be born in the spirit, as Christ told Nicodemus one time. That’s when we get vitally connected with God.

            For as Christ said: “What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit.” (Jn 3)