KEEPING order has always been an
abiding concern of ours.
And especially now, when we are thrown into an increasingly complex
and complicated world, we would really need to have a firm and solid
hold on this virtue. Otherwise, we would just be lost in today’s maze,
so marked with a lot of pressures, issues, need for multi-tasking,
challenges, etc.
We just have to make sure, first of all, that in speaking
of order, we need to have an objective basis. We just cannot be led in
this by passing ideas of how this virtue should be, as in simply
following our raw instincts, or some merely worldly values like
efficiency and convenience, profitability and popularity, or some
earthly concept of aesthetics, etc.
Our instincts and the worldly values can only give us some
semblance of order, but they cannot bring us to our eternal
destination which is what this virtue of order in the end is for. Our
instincts and the worldly values are in need of a deeper, more stable
foundation that would put them oriented and on track toward our final
goal in life.
And this objective basis of the virtue of order is none
other than God who is our creator and the first and ultimate lawgiver.
To him we should always have constant recourse, because as creator and
lawgiver he is actually governing all his creation at all times
through his providence. We should never forget this fundamental truth
of our faith.
God is always in control of everything, no matter how much
we mess up his work. As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it: “All things
have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A
time to be born and a time to die…A time of love and a time of hatred.
A time of war and a time of peace.” (3,1ff)
God knows what to do with any situation. He allows his
creatures, especially us, to live according to their God-given nature,
including the possibility of going against nature which of all the
creatures, we, as free beings, are capable of doing. And in spite of
that, God would still know in his wisdom, power and mercy, what to do.
God effectively orchestrates a kind of symphony out of his own
creation.
Our virtue of order that necessarily involves also the
virtue of prudence would require us to have an abiding and intimate
relationship with God. That way, we would go along with God’s plans
and ways. We, so to speak, would do our part in that great symphony
God is conducting in his entire creation, hoping to avoid getting out
of tune.
That is why when we talk about how to develop this crucial
virtue, we need to realize more deeply that we have to take care,
first of all, of our interior order before we worry about exterior
order, material, temporal, social, cultural, political, etc.
Obviously, the priority we give to interior order over
exterior order is in terms of the spiritual and moral dimension of our
life. In the actual flow of life, we learn first some exterior order
before we are aware of the need to take care of our interior order.
But once we see the priority of interior order over the exterior, we
need to change gear and give due attention to the former.
With interior order well taken care of, we would really
know what is essential in life and would be properly guided when we
are faced with apparently competing options that in themselves are
good. We would know what to sacrifice for the sake of the greater
good, or bluntly said, of what God wants in any given moment.
This interior order prevents us from getting rigid,
although it will always make use of certain attitudes, practices and
habits that would always be welcome anytime or most of the time. This
can be the attitudes of always being prompt and making good use of
time, avoiding idleness and laziness, or the practice of assigning
specific places for specific items, or specific times for specific
activities.
Still, the main motor of our sense of order is that
intimate sensibility of following God’s will in any given moment. This
will make our sense of order flexible, not frozen. This is, of course,
a big challenge, since it will not be easy to be acquainted and
abidingly familiar with God’s will and ways.
But that’s the big challenge which we have to face
squarely. And the sooner we tackle it, the better for us.
And especially now, when we are thrown into an increasingly complex
and complicated world, we would really need to have a firm and solid
hold on this virtue. Otherwise, we would just be lost in today’s maze,
so marked with a lot of pressures, issues, need for multi-tasking,
challenges, etc.
We just have to make sure, first of all, that in speaking
of order, we need to have an objective basis. We just cannot be led in
this by passing ideas of how this virtue should be, as in simply
following our raw instincts, or some merely worldly values like
efficiency and convenience, profitability and popularity, or some
earthly concept of aesthetics, etc.
Our instincts and the worldly values can only give us some
semblance of order, but they cannot bring us to our eternal
destination which is what this virtue of order in the end is for. Our
instincts and the worldly values are in need of a deeper, more stable
foundation that would put them oriented and on track toward our final
goal in life.
And this objective basis of the virtue of order is none
other than God who is our creator and the first and ultimate lawgiver.
To him we should always have constant recourse, because as creator and
lawgiver he is actually governing all his creation at all times
through his providence. We should never forget this fundamental truth
of our faith.
God is always in control of everything, no matter how much
we mess up his work. As the Book of Ecclesiastes puts it: “All things
have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. A
time to be born and a time to die…A time of love and a time of hatred.
A time of war and a time of peace.” (3,1ff)
God knows what to do with any situation. He allows his
creatures, especially us, to live according to their God-given nature,
including the possibility of going against nature which of all the
creatures, we, as free beings, are capable of doing. And in spite of
that, God would still know in his wisdom, power and mercy, what to do.
God effectively orchestrates a kind of symphony out of his own
creation.
Our virtue of order that necessarily involves also the
virtue of prudence would require us to have an abiding and intimate
relationship with God. That way, we would go along with God’s plans
and ways. We, so to speak, would do our part in that great symphony
God is conducting in his entire creation, hoping to avoid getting out
of tune.
That is why when we talk about how to develop this crucial
virtue, we need to realize more deeply that we have to take care,
first of all, of our interior order before we worry about exterior
order, material, temporal, social, cultural, political, etc.
Obviously, the priority we give to interior order over
exterior order is in terms of the spiritual and moral dimension of our
life. In the actual flow of life, we learn first some exterior order
before we are aware of the need to take care of our interior order.
But once we see the priority of interior order over the exterior, we
need to change gear and give due attention to the former.
With interior order well taken care of, we would really
know what is essential in life and would be properly guided when we
are faced with apparently competing options that in themselves are
good. We would know what to sacrifice for the sake of the greater
good, or bluntly said, of what God wants in any given moment.
This interior order prevents us from getting rigid,
although it will always make use of certain attitudes, practices and
habits that would always be welcome anytime or most of the time. This
can be the attitudes of always being prompt and making good use of
time, avoiding idleness and laziness, or the practice of assigning
specific places for specific items, or specific times for specific
activities.
Still, the main motor of our sense of order is that
intimate sensibility of following God’s will in any given moment. This
will make our sense of order flexible, not frozen. This is, of course,
a big challenge, since it will not be easy to be acquainted and
abidingly familiar with God’s will and ways.
But that’s the big challenge which we have to face
squarely. And the sooner we tackle it, the better for us.
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