Thursday, May 28, 2015

Restore the sense of penance

LET’S do something about this grave concern. We cannot deny that we
are losing the genuine sense of penance. It’s a word that nowadays
hardly figures in the vocabulary of the people, especially the young.

But we, of course, have to be optimistic about this. No matter how
ugly things look at the moment, there is always hope. I personally
believe that the uglier the things are, the bigger also, the brighter
and the more beautiful the potentials for redemption are, if we know
how to react to this predicament.

Yes, our general sense of penance is in crisis, mainly because people
are turning away from God who in the end is the one who sets what is
right and wrong, what is good and evil, what is virtue and sin and
vice.

Our sense of penance is in crisis because our idea of what is good and
evil is now reduced to our personal preferences, or at best to what
can be termed as our social, political, cultural or even ideological
consensus. Our legal system is often regarded as explicitly atheistic
or agnostic, to free it from the so-called religious bias.

In short, we are not anymore referring things to God but to ourselves.
This is what is called the post-modern thinking which, as the
Wikipedia defines or describes, views “realities as plural and
subjective and dependent on the individual’s worldview.”

It proclaims that there can be diverse interpretations of truth, being
and ways of seeing. It rejects sharp distinctions and global and
dominant truths. It sees truth as highly individualistic and
subjective.

And so now, we have public figures like US President Obama and singer
Bono saying that the Christian definition of marriage should not be
imposed on all, which is a distortion of the reality of things.

First of all, the Catholic definition of marriage is not so much a
matter of religion as it is a matter of the very nature of marriage.
And it is not imposed. It is simply taught with the authority of the
Church magisterium. Everyone is always free to go against it, though
obviously he has to face the consequences.

This post-modern thinking is very much in the words of Bono who
recently said: “Marriage is now an idea that transcends religion…It is
owned by the people. They can decide. It’s not a religious
institution.”

Many people today do not anymore have the healthy fear of God, nor of
sin and temptation. What would terrify them more is when they see the
low-batt sign in their cellphone, or the low internet signal and the
circling buffering sign in their computers.

But we should not be daunted by all these developments. What is needed
is a continuing or ongoing catechesis rendered in an atmosphere of
friendship and personal apostolate. If this can only be done, as in
fact it should, since it is a basic duty of a every child of God, then
we do not have much to worry.

Our country is still a strong bastion of Christian faith, supported by
a still large amount of humility, simplicity, docility to Church
authority or any rightful authority, and a breathing piety. Let’s take
advantage of these blessings to counter the onslaught of post-modern
thinking that is afflicting some of our public figures and political
leaders.

With gift of tongues, let’s remind everyone that we are all sinners
because we have offended God and not just anyone, and that we need
redemption, which God so willingly gives us. We have to learn how to
avoid sin, fight temptations, stay away from occasions of sin, and to
make up for the consequences of our unavoidable sins.

Let’s remind everyone that there is a wonderful sacrament called
Confession that more than a tribunal of strict justice is a seat of
abundant fatherly mercy from God. Let’s reassure everyone that God
wants to heal us, to sanctify us, to make us like him since we are his
image and likeness, and children of his.

Let’s tell everyone that God has given us everything we need to be a
true child of God, full of love and goodness, of truth and wisdom,
etc. But let’s not be afraid to go through some suffering which is a
way of our purification and atonement for sin in general, ours and
those of everybody else.

Let’s do all these with joy and optimism, without bitter zeal. God
makes wonders far beyond our wildest and fondest expectations. If we
persist in this hope, then we can truly recover a healthy sense of
penance.

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