WE need to see the unity between heaven and earth, and try
our best,
with God’s grace, to conform to such reality. Obviously, this unity
between heaven and earth will always be a tentative one while we are
still here on earth, but we need to work on it.
That’s the reason why in the Lord’s prayer, we are asked to
constantly pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.” Many
other passages in the gospel can attest to this. St. Paul in his First
Letter to the Corinthians said: “As we have borne the image of the
earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly.” (15,49)
In his Letter to the Philippians, the same sentiment is made—that our
conversation be in heaven even if we are still here on earth. (3,20)
Let’s hope that we take this truth of our faith seriously, avoiding
anything that can trivialize it.
For us who are the image and likeness of God, adopted children of
his, meant to participate in the very life of God, we have to
understand that our earthly life is a journey toward heaven, from
where we come and to where we belong. That’s because God is our
Creator and our beginning, as well as our Ultimate End, and he is in
heaven.
Our earthly life is the time and space of our trial—to see if we also
like to be God’s children. God wants us to be his children, but he
does not impose it on us. We have to freely choose it, by
corresponding to his love with our love which is a matter of keeping
his commandments, doing his will.
For this purpose, God has given us everything. In fact, God has given
us his very own son who became man, Jesus Christ, to be “the way, the
truth and the life” for us. We have no reason then to think that this
truth of faith cannot be attained by us.
God has become man, has assumed everything human except sin, so that
what is his becomes ours, and what is ours also becomes his. St. Paul
went to the extent of saying that Christ made himself like sin just to
save us. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5,21)
God is never scandalized by our sins. In fact, our sins attract him
in a special way. On the cross, offering his life, he went to the
extent of bearing all our sins. “God so loved the world as to give his
only begotten Son…” Nothing of our sinfulness, including all the ugly
consequences of our sin, is invincible to God’s love, mercy and
compassion.
We need to meditate on this truth slowly and deeply, so that can we
learn to adapt the very same spirit of God in his love and mercy for
all of us, and avoid the subtle and devious ways of
self-righteousness. We need to imitate Christ, the master of
adaptation, who can take on anything that can take place in our
earthly life.
The other day, in a visit to Bohol, I dropped by a church to do my
afternoon prayer. Of course, after the 2013 killer earthquake, the
big, beautiful church is gone, and in its place is a small, poor
makeshift chapel, full of improvised ornaments.
A funeral Mass was going on when I entered. The place was full of
people, simple townspeople whose greatest wealth can only be their
undeniably strong faith and piety.
I could not help but notice the indigence of the place. But I was
warmed to see the fervor of the people while attending the Mass. Yes,
I missed the splendor of a solemn Mass with all its rich vestments and
vessels. But in that particular setting, I was happier to notice how
the people prayed and paid attention to the priest-celebrant.
Then I remembered the Mass of Pope Francis in Tacloban. He was in a
raincoat because it was raining heavily. Due to the weather, the altar
used was a simple table, instead of the prepared ornate one. The
people were all in raincoats, but attentive and solemn in their
prayers.
No doubt, heaven can adjust itself to the conditions of our earth, no
matter how poor it may be in its physical and material dimension. It’s
in the spirit of Christ’s love and mercy, that presumes faith and
requires hope, that heaven and earth can be united, and the fullness
of time achieved.
with God’s grace, to conform to such reality. Obviously, this unity
between heaven and earth will always be a tentative one while we are
still here on earth, but we need to work on it.
That’s the reason why in the Lord’s prayer, we are asked to
constantly pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.” Many
other passages in the gospel can attest to this. St. Paul in his First
Letter to the Corinthians said: “As we have borne the image of the
earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly.” (15,49)
In his Letter to the Philippians, the same sentiment is made—that our
conversation be in heaven even if we are still here on earth. (3,20)
Let’s hope that we take this truth of our faith seriously, avoiding
anything that can trivialize it.
For us who are the image and likeness of God, adopted children of
his, meant to participate in the very life of God, we have to
understand that our earthly life is a journey toward heaven, from
where we come and to where we belong. That’s because God is our
Creator and our beginning, as well as our Ultimate End, and he is in
heaven.
Our earthly life is the time and space of our trial—to see if we also
like to be God’s children. God wants us to be his children, but he
does not impose it on us. We have to freely choose it, by
corresponding to his love with our love which is a matter of keeping
his commandments, doing his will.
For this purpose, God has given us everything. In fact, God has given
us his very own son who became man, Jesus Christ, to be “the way, the
truth and the life” for us. We have no reason then to think that this
truth of faith cannot be attained by us.
God has become man, has assumed everything human except sin, so that
what is his becomes ours, and what is ours also becomes his. St. Paul
went to the extent of saying that Christ made himself like sin just to
save us. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5,21)
God is never scandalized by our sins. In fact, our sins attract him
in a special way. On the cross, offering his life, he went to the
extent of bearing all our sins. “God so loved the world as to give his
only begotten Son…” Nothing of our sinfulness, including all the ugly
consequences of our sin, is invincible to God’s love, mercy and
compassion.
We need to meditate on this truth slowly and deeply, so that can we
learn to adapt the very same spirit of God in his love and mercy for
all of us, and avoid the subtle and devious ways of
self-righteousness. We need to imitate Christ, the master of
adaptation, who can take on anything that can take place in our
earthly life.
The other day, in a visit to Bohol, I dropped by a church to do my
afternoon prayer. Of course, after the 2013 killer earthquake, the
big, beautiful church is gone, and in its place is a small, poor
makeshift chapel, full of improvised ornaments.
A funeral Mass was going on when I entered. The place was full of
people, simple townspeople whose greatest wealth can only be their
undeniably strong faith and piety.
I could not help but notice the indigence of the place. But I was
warmed to see the fervor of the people while attending the Mass. Yes,
I missed the splendor of a solemn Mass with all its rich vestments and
vessels. But in that particular setting, I was happier to notice how
the people prayed and paid attention to the priest-celebrant.
Then I remembered the Mass of Pope Francis in Tacloban. He was in a
raincoat because it was raining heavily. Due to the weather, the altar
used was a simple table, instead of the prepared ornate one. The
people were all in raincoats, but attentive and solemn in their
prayers.
No doubt, heaven can adjust itself to the conditions of our earth, no
matter how poor it may be in its physical and material dimension. It’s
in the spirit of Christ’s love and mercy, that presumes faith and
requires hope, that heaven and earth can be united, and the fullness
of time achieved.
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