Our Christian faith tells us that such complication springs from our separation
from God who, as our creator, is the very foundation of reality, the source of
everything true, good and beautiful. Everything ought to be referred to him to
know what is true and what is not.
This is how we can aspire to achieve a state of unified vision and
understanding of things amid characteristic variety we can find in our life,
given the many legitimate differences among ourselves. But this truth requires
faith, a free gift from God which we can either accept or refuse, or worse, be
indifferent to.
As we can readily see, the as-is-where-is condition of the world today is far
from the ideal. Many of us, even those who profess to be pious and religious,
not to mention those who openly claim to be sceptics, agnostics and atheists,
are not in working unity with God.
Thus we have to learn how to cruise in our complicated world without fleeing
from it and at the same time without compromising the truth. That, indeed, is a
combination very difficult to make. But with God’s grace, it is not impossible
either.
We just have to learn how to be patient and tolerant, open-minded, slow to
judge, with a good grip on our emotions and passions, and ready to understand,
to disregard irritating details and to forgive and ask forgiveness, as well
adept in the art of congenial dialogue, avoiding being abrupt and abrasive.
Obviously, what should drive all these qualities is our growing and deepening
love for God whose love for us precisely goes all the way in spite of our lack
of correspondence and even open hostility to him.
Absent this love, we cannot really go far in our effort to understand one
another and achieve a measure of unity and harmony among ourselves. Sooner or
later, we will end up squabbling that can degenerate into bitter conflicts and
almost irreparable divisions among ourselves.
Very crucial in this regard is the ability to handle what is absolute and
relative in our life, what is dogma and what is opinion. Many times, these
distinctions get blurred, leading to confusion, and often explosive confusion
and conflict.
We need to look at Christ closely and see him as the perfect model of how to
handle our complicated life, how to be faithful to God in spite of the many
elements that tend to bring us wildly everywhere and nowhere.
He was clear about what he had to do, say and accomplish in his earthly
redemptive life. He was open to all the possibilities that man exercises his
freedom, whether rightly or wrongly. He was forceful with the forcefulness of
charity that knows how to be patient and merciful.
We just have to learn how to incarnate this example of Christ who is our Way,
Truth and Life. And so we need to learn how to be tolerant but also
single-minded in our purpose in life.
We have to be wary of our tendency to fall into bitter zeal, a kind of
misplaced zeal to defend the truth but sacrificing charity. This bitter zeal
can be manifested in our proclivity to simply dominate others, to score points,
to be the one to say the last word, and to consider oneself the standard and
measure of things.
It’s a zeal that does not know how to wait. It does not see the value of
suffering in all of its forms, including being misunderstood and
misrepresented. Remember that Christ many times did not mind being
misunderstood.
While it’s true that we too have to live by the tenets of justice, we should
also see to it that our sense of justice springs from a vital union with God in
order to know where justice ends to let charity play out its fullest range in
our life. This way, we can act more fully according to God’s plan for our
redemption.
Otherwise we will puff up justice without anymore the substance of charity. And
even if God can always countenance this and do something about it, we somehow
would be adding to the complications in the world.
We really need to learn how to be tolerant and flexible which only take place
if we are driven by true charity.
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