WE need to develop this sense of the
eternal because that
is proper to us. It’s not a luxury, and much less is it an exercise in
fantastic, delusional futility. It is a necessity. Without it, we
would be lost in this great and largely uncharted ocean that our world
is.
As human persons with a spiritual soul, we are not meant
to live only in time. We just don’t have a temporal, mundane life,
governed only by temporal and worldly values. We are meant for the
eternal life with eternal laws governing it.
It would be good that we cultivate an abiding sense of the
eternal, for that would give us the whole picture of our life and
would provide us with the ultimate standards of our life by which all
our mundane affairs and concerns ought to be related and assessed.
We should not be contented with merely human and natural
criteria as we live our life here on earth. No matter how
indispensable they also are, they only have a relative value,
effective only when organically related to the eternal virtues of
faith, hope and charity.
The standards of efficiency, effectivity, profitability,
etc., are indeed very helpful, but they can only serve us so much.
They still are in need of a more radical motivation and an ultimate
end. It’s the sense of the eternal that would make us most
broad-minded and that goes all the way in satisfying all the
requirements of our dignity.
These eternal, theological virtues of faith, hope and
charity are what would lead us to our eternal life. They actually are
the initiatives of God, our Creator and Father, whose image and
likeness we all are, and from whom we come and to whom we belong. They
are not our inventions.
Precisely, as his image and likeness, we are meant to
belong to him in a most intimate way by sharing in his life and
nature. This is made possible through his grace that brings with it
faith, hope and charity and the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, how important and crucial it is then to know at least
the basic truth about our relation with God so that we would know how
to keep and enliven that relation, ever mindful of our duties and
responsibilities arising from it.
Unfortunately, this relation, if ever we are still aware
of it, is often taken for granted, or is mainly influenced by elements
of sentimentalism, social and cultural conditionings, and the like. It
is hardly developed according to the terms of the God-given gifts of
faith, hope and charity.
To be sure, these gifts of faith, hope and charity are
given to us abundantly. In this, God is never sparing. But it is up to
us to get as much of them as we can, and to keep and develop them
properly, without wasting them.
We can claim this because of the fact that God has sent
his Son to us to save us, to heal and re-create us. And after the Son
has accomplished his mission, God now has sent us the Holy Spirit to
keep alive the redemptive work of the Son-made-man, Jesus Christ.
With the Holy Spirit, we are given some special gifts and
fruits that would further facilitate the workings of faith, hope and
charity in us. It’s very important that we be keenly aware of this
truth of our faith, so we can do our part of conforming ourselves to
that reality.
To be sure, we are equipped with enough God-given powers
to properly handle these supernatural gifts God is giving us. Our
intelligence and will, or what are called our spiritual faculties, can
manage with God’s grace to process the content and standards of the
divine, supernatural gifts.
It is crucial that we learn how to keep our spiritual
faculties properly grounded and oriented. They just should not be
contented with processing purely worldly things, no matter how
reasonable or scientific or artistic they are. They need to enter into
the world of the supernatural faith, hope and charity.
Thus, we need to learn how to be recollected, how to keep
our senses, our feelings, emotions and passions, our thinking and
activities, always beginning and ending with God, as what we usually
say in our prayers.
Immersing ourselves in God does not compromise our
immersion in our worldly affairs. What it does is to help us immerse
ourselves in them properly, supernaturalizing them and relating them
to our eternal life with God, our ultimate end!
is proper to us. It’s not a luxury, and much less is it an exercise in
fantastic, delusional futility. It is a necessity. Without it, we
would be lost in this great and largely uncharted ocean that our world
is.
As human persons with a spiritual soul, we are not meant
to live only in time. We just don’t have a temporal, mundane life,
governed only by temporal and worldly values. We are meant for the
eternal life with eternal laws governing it.
It would be good that we cultivate an abiding sense of the
eternal, for that would give us the whole picture of our life and
would provide us with the ultimate standards of our life by which all
our mundane affairs and concerns ought to be related and assessed.
We should not be contented with merely human and natural
criteria as we live our life here on earth. No matter how
indispensable they also are, they only have a relative value,
effective only when organically related to the eternal virtues of
faith, hope and charity.
The standards of efficiency, effectivity, profitability,
etc., are indeed very helpful, but they can only serve us so much.
They still are in need of a more radical motivation and an ultimate
end. It’s the sense of the eternal that would make us most
broad-minded and that goes all the way in satisfying all the
requirements of our dignity.
These eternal, theological virtues of faith, hope and
charity are what would lead us to our eternal life. They actually are
the initiatives of God, our Creator and Father, whose image and
likeness we all are, and from whom we come and to whom we belong. They
are not our inventions.
Precisely, as his image and likeness, we are meant to
belong to him in a most intimate way by sharing in his life and
nature. This is made possible through his grace that brings with it
faith, hope and charity and the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, how important and crucial it is then to know at least
the basic truth about our relation with God so that we would know how
to keep and enliven that relation, ever mindful of our duties and
responsibilities arising from it.
Unfortunately, this relation, if ever we are still aware
of it, is often taken for granted, or is mainly influenced by elements
of sentimentalism, social and cultural conditionings, and the like. It
is hardly developed according to the terms of the God-given gifts of
faith, hope and charity.
To be sure, these gifts of faith, hope and charity are
given to us abundantly. In this, God is never sparing. But it is up to
us to get as much of them as we can, and to keep and develop them
properly, without wasting them.
We can claim this because of the fact that God has sent
his Son to us to save us, to heal and re-create us. And after the Son
has accomplished his mission, God now has sent us the Holy Spirit to
keep alive the redemptive work of the Son-made-man, Jesus Christ.
With the Holy Spirit, we are given some special gifts and
fruits that would further facilitate the workings of faith, hope and
charity in us. It’s very important that we be keenly aware of this
truth of our faith, so we can do our part of conforming ourselves to
that reality.
To be sure, we are equipped with enough God-given powers
to properly handle these supernatural gifts God is giving us. Our
intelligence and will, or what are called our spiritual faculties, can
manage with God’s grace to process the content and standards of the
divine, supernatural gifts.
It is crucial that we learn how to keep our spiritual
faculties properly grounded and oriented. They just should not be
contented with processing purely worldly things, no matter how
reasonable or scientific or artistic they are. They need to enter into
the world of the supernatural faith, hope and charity.
Thus, we need to learn how to be recollected, how to keep
our senses, our feelings, emotions and passions, our thinking and
activities, always beginning and ending with God, as what we usually
say in our prayers.
Immersing ourselves in God does not compromise our
immersion in our worldly affairs. What it does is to help us immerse
ourselves in them properly, supernaturalizing them and relating them
to our eternal life with God, our ultimate end!
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