Changing gears

THE way things are now, what with all the glare, blare and

rapidity of modern, highly technological life, we need to re-study how

to change gears not only in our whole life in general, but also in our

day-to-day routine. What we of the older generation used to know and

use about this skill may not be helpful anymore now with the

Generation Y.

            At least, we need to tweak it a little, if not do some

major changes, adjustments and adaptations, or we may need to

completely reinvent ourselves. This seems to be the call of the times.

Yes, there are things that should not change, but we cannot deny there

also are many things that need to change.

            Virtues will always be virtues, and vices will always be

vices. But the way they are established, expressed and developed have

changed quite significantly. The terrain is now very different from

what it used to be.

            We have to be most wary of the almost irresistible pull of

the modern technologies. They tend to rivet us to a particular field

of interest, confining us there often with the sensation we are doing

all right. We fail to realize we are neglecting other aspects that are

even more important and fundamental in life.

            This is when we can unwittingly fall into some bad habits

and even addictions. We lose the proper sense of objectivity and get

more buried under an increasingly invincible subjectivism, often

driven and dominated by the blind impulses of the flesh and the

passing values of the worldly spirit.

            We have to update our skills in changing gears. We have to

learn how to differentiate, blend and practice in their proper places

and times our meditative and active modes, our prayer, work, study,

hobbies and rest, our family, social and professional obligations, our

private and public lives.

            We have to learn how to pay due attention to our spiritual

and material needs, our practice of the theological virtues of faith,

hope and charity as well as the human cardinal virtues of prudence,

justice, fortitude and temperance. This should be given more teeth and

made real, and stop being a mere theory and dream.

            We have to be more discerning of the many facets and

aspects of our life and to give the proper attention to each one of

them in a healthy hierarchy of values that reflects our dignity as

persons and citizens, as image and likeness of God, and as children of

God.

            In this regard, what is most helpful is for us to make use

of some workable plan of life, a dynamic, living structure that puts

some order into the many elements of our life as well as being open to

new, unexpected developments that can come along.

            Basic to this plan is to give due time to our need to

pray, study, work and rest. We need to further specify how to go about

these fundamental activities so we can truly say that they are

functional and are clearly helping us in pursuing our ultimate

objective of loving God and loving everybody else, whoever and however

he may be.

            What is also helpful is to continue purifying and

disciplining ourselves so that we can avoid being held captive by mere

sensations and emotions, or by mere trends and fads. That’s precisely

why Christ told us that if we want to follow him, we need to deny

ourselves and carry the cross.

            So we should have no doubt about the essential role that

the spirit of sacrifice, mortification and penance plays in our life.

When we are not open to this spirit, when we tend to shy away from it,

let’s be convinced that we would be disabling ourselves to change

gears properly and promptly.

            The skill of changing gears in our life is ultimately a

matter of our constant awareness that God is always with us, is always

intervening in our lives, is speaking to us through all the events of

our life.

            It is therefore also a matter of always recognizing the

presence of God in everything, and of discerning what is trying to

tell us at every moment and situation. This will require tremendous

faith and a strong, vibrant piety, which hopefully would be nourished

by that plan of life we referred to earlier.

            Let’s be convinced that being aware of God’s presence all

the time, and actively corresponding to his will and ways is really

what matters in our life after all is said and done.

Being watchful

WE can’t help but be watchful in life. We are in a

journey, needing to reach a certain destination. And there are just

too many elements we have to contend with, and not all of them are

good and proper to us. In fact, many of them can be dangerous.

            Just like when we are driving a car, when we need to have

our eyes open all the time, looking not only at what is in front, but

also at what is on the right and on the left, and from time to time

also at the back, as well as to follow traffic rules and road signs,

we need to have the eyes of our mind and heart open all the time.

            Thus, in the gospel, we are told: “Stay awake! For you do

not know on which day your Lord will come.” (Mt 24,42) That’s the big

difference between the vigilance on the road and that on our life’s

journey. The former has our destination quite known. The latter has it

still hidden behind all kinds of mountains and clouds in our life.

            The secret of this lifelong vigilance that has to contend

with many mysteries is for us to be with God always. This is always

possible and doable. That’s because though he is the most mysterious

being, he is also the most accessible. Though he is the remotest, he

is also actually the nearest to us.

            We have to learn how to handle this paradox. This is not

an absurdity. It is simply a truth that is beyond the reach of our

natural reasoning. It is attainable only when we make use of God’s

gifts of faith, hope and charity.

            We therefore should never take these divine gifts for

granted. They are our constant means, our indispensable weapons. We

really cannot make any real progress in our life-journey when they are

not used.

            Thus, St. Augustine once said: “The less a man has God in

his thoughts, the less is his soul subject to God.” Of course, the

reverse is also true: the more one has God in his thoughts, the more

he is subject to God who loves, cares, protects and guides him to

reach his final destination.

            We should cultivate the proper attitude and skill of

having God in our mind and heart all the time. This is actually a

necessity that we have to freely attend to, an option that actually is

not optional.

            God never sleeps. His love and concern for us never wanes.

As long as we entrust ourselves to him, we somehow manage to be

attentive and watchful even if we need to sleep and are always subject

to our limitations and the consequences of our sins.

            He gives us his all-powerful and wise light, a light that,

in the words of St. Augustine, is an “immutable light…not an ordinary

light perceptible to all flesh, nor is it merely something of greater

magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly and

diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity.”

            A psalm expresses this truth more simply: “The Lord is

good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray, he guides the

humble in the right path, he teaches his way to the poor.” (Ps 24)

            We should disabuse ourselves from relying solely on our

human estimations of things. We certainly and unavoidably have to make

certain human estimations of things, be it historical, social,

political, economic, etc., but all of them should be inspired and

guided by our faith, hope and charity.

            Let us humble ourselves to acknowledge this truth and to

act out its implications and consequences. We have to be wary of the

many intoxicating elements of the world today that tend to deaden our

sensitivity to this need for complete reliance on God, on our faith,

hope and charity, even as we also need to make full use of our human

knowledge.

            Sad to say, there are many instances where we can see many

people simply depending on their human estimations of things, making

themselves practically the standard and the very law of things, frozen

in their self-righteousness, confined in their own world.

            It would be good that at the end of the day, we make a

brief examination of conscience, putting ourselves in the presence of

God, pleading for his light, and reviewing how the day went, seeing if

indeed it is God and not just some earthly goals that we are seeking.

            This is how we can be truly watchful, putting ourselves on

track to our proper ultimate end.

From digital to personal

THE more common expression is “unity amid diversity.” But that sounds

a bit bland, conveying simply an abstract ideal that we would not know

how to attain or that leaves us with all sorts of ideas without any

animating spirit.

    We need to be aware that the goal of unity, in whatever context it is

taken, can be achieved precisely because of our differences and

diversity of circumstances, situations, preferences, etc.

    It is this variety and diversity that forms the basis for any effort

toward unity. It is also what invites us and offers us the means to

work for a unity that is not uniformity, a unity that can take on

anything, reached not by any artificial means or controlled

environment, but by the very things as they are in life, but

approached and handled with a certain spirit.

    We need to be aware of this need and duty, otherwise we would confine

ourselves to an idea of unity that does not correspond to the real

needs of people and the world in general. And given the increasingly

complicated world we are having, we indeed have to learn this art and

skill of attaining unity through diversity quickly.

    We have to be most interested in unity because in the first place we

are all human beings and we form one universal family in spite of our

diversity of cultures, mentalities, lifestyles and other social,

economic, historical circumstances, etc.

    We have to learn how to weave one rich fabric, making use of all

these different threads that come in a wide variety of colors and

tints, of make and consistency. We have to learn how to orchestrate a

deep pool of musical instruments to come out with beautiful symphony.

This is possible and practicable.

    Another reason we have to be most interested in working for unity is,

of course, because unity means a healthy life, or a system that is

efficient and effective, fruitful and meaningful. We all deserve to

enjoy this kind of life and system.

    And the spirit proper to animate this effort of attaining unity

through diversity is, to put it bluntly, the spirit of Christ. It’s he

who before his passion and death made that most fervent prayer to his

Father that we be all one with him (ut unum sint) as he is also one

with the Father and the Spirit.

    St. Paul reiterates this truth when he said: “There is neither Jew

nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor

female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3,28)

    It is God who, as Creator of the universe and our most loving Father,

is the foundation and purpose of our unity. No effort at unity would

prosper without God at the center of it all.

    And since we messed up with our sin the original unity and order, God

sent his Son to recover that lost unity and enrich it even some more.

The Son became man, and as ‘the way, the truth, and the life,’ taught

us everything we need to know and showed us the way to attain unity

not only through our legitimate diversity but also through our

hostility against him and others.

    All this he did by offering his life on the cross that summarized and

completed all his preaching and redemptive work. It’s the cross that

would unite us in Christ, as he himself said: “If I be lifted up from

the earth, I will draw all things to myself.” (Jn 12,32)

    It’s the cross that also led to his resurrection that bore all the

sins of man and everything that our sins cause. It’s the cross that

perpetuates the living redemptive work of Christ all through time.

    Thus, the word he left us is always living and effective, the

sacraments become effective channels of his grace, and the Church, in

spite of its failing members, is truly the living Christ with us

actively continuing with us his redemptive work.

    It’s him through the Church who teaches us all things about how to

attain unity through diversity. We need to care for one another,

attentive, mindful and thoughtful of everyone. We have to learn how to

empathize and sympathize, unafraid to suffer for everyone.

    We have to be experts in the art of dialogue, always having an

attitude of openness, tolerance and patience. We have to live the

social principles of the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity.

    This is how we can achieve unity through the very diversity that

marks our life here on earth!

Unity through diversity

THE more common expression is “unity amid diversity.” But that sounds

a bit bland, conveying simply an abstract ideal that we would not know

how to attain or that leaves us with all sorts of ideas without any

animating spirit.

    We need to be aware that the goal of unity, in whatever context it is

taken, can be achieved precisely because of our differences and

diversity of circumstances, situations, preferences, etc.

    It is this variety and diversity that forms the basis for any effort

toward unity. It is also what invites us and offers us the means to

work for a unity that is not uniformity, a unity that can take on

anything, reached not by any artificial means or controlled

environment, but by the very things as they are in life, but

approached and handled with a certain spirit.

    We need to be aware of this need and duty, otherwise we would confine

ourselves to an idea of unity that does not correspond to the real

needs of people and the world in general. And given the increasingly

complicated world we are having, we indeed have to learn this art and

skill of attaining unity through diversity quickly.

    We have to be most interested in unity because in the first place we

are all human beings and we form one universal family in spite of our

diversity of cultures, mentalities, lifestyles and other social,

economic, historical circumstances, etc.

    We have to learn how to weave one rich fabric, making use of all

these different threads that come in a wide variety of colors and

tints, of make and consistency. We have to learn how to orchestrate a

deep pool of musical instruments to come out with beautiful symphony.

This is possible and practicable.

    Another reason we have to be most interested in working for unity is,

of course, because unity means a healthy life, or a system that is

efficient and effective, fruitful and meaningful. We all deserve to

enjoy this kind of life and system.

    And the spirit proper to animate this effort of attaining unity

through diversity is, to put it bluntly, the spirit of Christ. It’s he

who before his passion and death made that most fervent prayer to his

Father that we be all one with him (ut unum sint) as he is also one

with the Father and the Spirit.

    St. Paul reiterates this truth when he said: “There is neither Jew

nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor

female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3,28)

    It is God who, as Creator of the universe and our most loving Father,

is the foundation and purpose of our unity. No effort at unity would

prosper without God at the center of it all.

    And since we messed up with our sin the original unity and order, God

sent his Son to recover that lost unity and enrich it even some more.

The Son became man, and as ‘the way, the truth, and the life,’ taught

us everything we need to know and showed us the way to attain unity

not only through our legitimate diversity but also through our

hostility against him and others.

    All this he did by offering his life on the cross that summarized and

completed all his preaching and redemptive work. It’s the cross that

would unite us in Christ, as he himself said: “If I be lifted up from

the earth, I will draw all things to myself.” (Jn 12,32)

    It’s the cross that also led to his resurrection that bore all the

sins of man and everything that our sins cause. It’s the cross that

perpetuates the living redemptive work of Christ all through time.

    Thus, the word he left us is always living and effective, the

sacraments become effective channels of his grace, and the Church, in

spite of its failing members, is truly the living Christ with us

actively continuing with us his redemptive work.

    It’s him through the Church who teaches us all things about how to

attain unity through diversity. We need to care for one another,

attentive, mindful and thoughtful of everyone. We have to learn how to

empathize and sympathize, unafraid to suffer for everyone.

    We have to be experts in the art of dialogue, always having an

attitude of openness, tolerance and patience. We have to live the

social principles of the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity.

    This is how we can achieve unity through the very diversity that

marks our life here on earth!