EMMANUEL, of course, means
God-with-us. It is the name
given to Christ, the son of God who became man to save us. It’s he who
perfectly translates this name into reality. Though he died,
resurrected and ascended into heaven, he continues to be with us, in
fact, not only in a passive way, but in a most active way. He always
intervenes in our life.
God can never be absent in our life. As creator, he is the
giver of our very existence and maintains it, since otherwise we would
cease to exist. As savior through his son, he re-creates us to free us
from the clutches of sin that has deformed us. Driven by an eternal
love for us, he will always be with us.
We need to train ourselves to be more aware of the
constant presence of God in each one of us, among all of us, and in
the whole world and the entire creation. He is in every place and in
every situation of our life. And he is actually always showing us the
way to live each moment—how to think, judge, reason, conclude, etc.
All we have to do is to discern his will and ways.
We need to be more aware of this reality that first of all
requires faith. But let’s remember that faith should not just be a
purely intellectual and spiritual affair. Since it is meant for us,
and we are men with body and soul, our faith should affect us all the
way to our bodily dimension. It should not be stuck in the spiritual
level alone. Thus, crucial in this concern is the role of our emotions
and passions, our sentiments and affections.
Though only secondary to the role of our intelligence and
will, our emotions and affections nevertheless cannot be neglected,
since as our Catechism teaches, they are “the movements of the
sensible appetite—natural components of human psychology—which incline
a person to act or not to act in view of what is perceived as good or
evil.”
Our emotions and affections are integral and somehow
indispensable in our life, and therefore also in our relation with God
and with others which in the end are what our life is all about.
We cannot and should not take them lightly for the simple
reason that if they are not for God and for others, then they would be
against them and would just be instruments of our self-indulgence,
something that will spoil us sooner or later.
We can apply in this regard the words of Christ: “He who
is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me,
scatters.” (Mt 12,30) These words may strike us at first as quite
demanding, but let’s always remember that Christ also has given us
everything so we can actually follow his will. All we have to do is to
avail of what Christ has given us.
In short, if our feelings and affections are not with him,
and because of him with everybody else, then they will be against him
and others. They will just be for ourselves, lived and developed at
the instance of our own whims and caprices.
Besides, when our feelings and affections are truly
grounded on love for God and for others, then we would have more unity
and consistency in our life, and avoid the usual tendency of ours to
profess one thing and yet do another. We would avoid, in short,
hypocrisy, double-life or at least some inconsistency in our life
where our actions often belie what we say.
That’s why for us to be more aware of God’s continuing
presence in us and to be stably driven by the love that is proper to
us, we have to see to it that our relation with him should also be
felt, and in fact, felt quite strongly. It’s not enough that our
feelings for him are shallow, tenuous and easily overtaken by many
mundane things in life.
We need to spend some time training our feelings and
affections to conform to our professed belief and love for God and for
others. For this, we have to ask first for the grace of God, then go
through the process of meditating the word of God, savoring the
tremendous love Christ is showing us through those words.
We have to allow ourselves to burn with love. It should
also be a love that knows how to be practical and adaptable to the
different circumstances of our life. Let’s give it a thought and start
moving!
given to Christ, the son of God who became man to save us. It’s he who
perfectly translates this name into reality. Though he died,
resurrected and ascended into heaven, he continues to be with us, in
fact, not only in a passive way, but in a most active way. He always
intervenes in our life.
God can never be absent in our life. As creator, he is the
giver of our very existence and maintains it, since otherwise we would
cease to exist. As savior through his son, he re-creates us to free us
from the clutches of sin that has deformed us. Driven by an eternal
love for us, he will always be with us.
We need to train ourselves to be more aware of the
constant presence of God in each one of us, among all of us, and in
the whole world and the entire creation. He is in every place and in
every situation of our life. And he is actually always showing us the
way to live each moment—how to think, judge, reason, conclude, etc.
All we have to do is to discern his will and ways.
We need to be more aware of this reality that first of all
requires faith. But let’s remember that faith should not just be a
purely intellectual and spiritual affair. Since it is meant for us,
and we are men with body and soul, our faith should affect us all the
way to our bodily dimension. It should not be stuck in the spiritual
level alone. Thus, crucial in this concern is the role of our emotions
and passions, our sentiments and affections.
Though only secondary to the role of our intelligence and
will, our emotions and affections nevertheless cannot be neglected,
since as our Catechism teaches, they are “the movements of the
sensible appetite—natural components of human psychology—which incline
a person to act or not to act in view of what is perceived as good or
evil.”
Our emotions and affections are integral and somehow
indispensable in our life, and therefore also in our relation with God
and with others which in the end are what our life is all about.
We cannot and should not take them lightly for the simple
reason that if they are not for God and for others, then they would be
against them and would just be instruments of our self-indulgence,
something that will spoil us sooner or later.
We can apply in this regard the words of Christ: “He who
is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me,
scatters.” (Mt 12,30) These words may strike us at first as quite
demanding, but let’s always remember that Christ also has given us
everything so we can actually follow his will. All we have to do is to
avail of what Christ has given us.
In short, if our feelings and affections are not with him,
and because of him with everybody else, then they will be against him
and others. They will just be for ourselves, lived and developed at
the instance of our own whims and caprices.
Besides, when our feelings and affections are truly
grounded on love for God and for others, then we would have more unity
and consistency in our life, and avoid the usual tendency of ours to
profess one thing and yet do another. We would avoid, in short,
hypocrisy, double-life or at least some inconsistency in our life
where our actions often belie what we say.
That’s why for us to be more aware of God’s continuing
presence in us and to be stably driven by the love that is proper to
us, we have to see to it that our relation with him should also be
felt, and in fact, felt quite strongly. It’s not enough that our
feelings for him are shallow, tenuous and easily overtaken by many
mundane things in life.
We need to spend some time training our feelings and
affections to conform to our professed belief and love for God and for
others. For this, we have to ask first for the grace of God, then go
through the process of meditating the word of God, savoring the
tremendous love Christ is showing us through those words.
We have to allow ourselves to burn with love. It should
also be a love that knows how to be practical and adaptable to the
different circumstances of our life. Let’s give it a thought and start
moving!
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