THAT may sound impossible, but in the
world of man I
believe we just have to try our best to achieve it. I believe there is
actually a chance for this, a basis for its feasibility. Our spiritual
nature, if grounded and nourished properly, is capable to fuse
together what at first sight may look like a contradiction.
But there’s the rub. Many of us think little of our
spiritual life. Thus, many of us do not know what it’s all about, how
it is developed, where it is to be rooted and oriented, etc. We seem
to be contented only with what we see, feel and think, or human acts
that flow mainly from our material dimension rather than the
spiritual.
In fact, any talk about spirituality is practically
considered as taboo especially in public. If ever it has to be taken
up, then it can only be done in private, and better in whispers. This
is the underlying tragedy of our times. We seem averse to acknowledge
the reality of our spiritual nature, its corresponding needs and our
duties toward them.
This is unfortunate because with all the confusing things
bombarding us today, we need to know how to cruise our life properly
and safely, with the destination clearly identified and not
compromised.
For example, there are now many billboards sprouting along
our highways and main streets promoting all sorts of products but
unavoidably also promoting values that are confusing if not outright
wrong. While we have to be tolerant to our increasingly multi-layered
culture, we should also be increasingly discerning of their harmful
effects.
We can easily see the double effects—both good and
bad—when it comes to some products like junk food, cigarettes, coal
and others that have immediate harmful effects on health and ecology.
But it’s the other products—beauty, recreation, toiletries, fashion,
etc.—that pose a much trickier challenge.
In the ads of these products, one can readily discern
vanity, arrogance, an invitation to be self-centered and frivolous, to
exaggerated pleasure and comfort seeking, to greed, lust and
unrestrained satisfaction of instincts, to pretension and hypocrisy,
etc.
Worse, these erroneous values are now made the mainstream
elements of society. They are considered the new normal. Their
reciprocal virtues, like humility, meekness, discretion, modesty,
moderation, etc., are now the new evil.
Consider a sampling of the slogans and taglines used:
“Gotta have that body,” “Ask for more,” “Obey your thirst,” “What you
want is what you get,” “For the pleasure of sensual living,” “When
you’ve got it, flaunt it,” “Live richly,” etc.
Always set with titillating pictures, the slogans at least
have a double meaning that teases the viewers and makes them prone to
some invasive impertinent and incontinent thoughts and feelings.
We’ll never know what goes inside the minds and hearts of
people, but neither can we deny that many bad things pass by there. No
state law can reach that part of our life to regulate things. We need
to be ruled by a higher and spiritual law. And that’s why we need to
strengthen our spiritual life.
When we are remiss of our duty to take care of our
spiritual life, there’s no way to go but to further degeneration and
decadence, even if such process can be made glossy and glamorous with
a well-entrenched wrong ideology.
A liturgical prayer captures this need of ours and
suggests a solution. It says: “Father, help us to seek the values that
will bring us eternal joy in this changing world. In our desire for
what you promise, make us one in mind and heart.”
We have to realize more deeply that for us to cruise
properly and safely in these confusing times, we should not be afraid
or ashamed to go to Christ, who is the perfecter of our humanity, the
source of all goodness. We should disabuse ourselves from the idea
that our perfection and goodness can come from somewhere else.
For this we need to pray and be familiar with God’s word
that in the Letter to the Hebrews is described as “living and
effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching
unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and
the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart.” (4,12)
It is precisely when our spiritual life is nourished by
the word of God, made alive in the Church through the liturgy and the
direction of the hierarchy, that we can balance tolerance and
intolerance in our environment today. It is in this happy balance that
virtue is achieved.
believe we just have to try our best to achieve it. I believe there is
actually a chance for this, a basis for its feasibility. Our spiritual
nature, if grounded and nourished properly, is capable to fuse
together what at first sight may look like a contradiction.
But there’s the rub. Many of us think little of our
spiritual life. Thus, many of us do not know what it’s all about, how
it is developed, where it is to be rooted and oriented, etc. We seem
to be contented only with what we see, feel and think, or human acts
that flow mainly from our material dimension rather than the
spiritual.
In fact, any talk about spirituality is practically
considered as taboo especially in public. If ever it has to be taken
up, then it can only be done in private, and better in whispers. This
is the underlying tragedy of our times. We seem averse to acknowledge
the reality of our spiritual nature, its corresponding needs and our
duties toward them.
This is unfortunate because with all the confusing things
bombarding us today, we need to know how to cruise our life properly
and safely, with the destination clearly identified and not
compromised.
For example, there are now many billboards sprouting along
our highways and main streets promoting all sorts of products but
unavoidably also promoting values that are confusing if not outright
wrong. While we have to be tolerant to our increasingly multi-layered
culture, we should also be increasingly discerning of their harmful
effects.
We can easily see the double effects—both good and
bad—when it comes to some products like junk food, cigarettes, coal
and others that have immediate harmful effects on health and ecology.
But it’s the other products—beauty, recreation, toiletries, fashion,
etc.—that pose a much trickier challenge.
In the ads of these products, one can readily discern
vanity, arrogance, an invitation to be self-centered and frivolous, to
exaggerated pleasure and comfort seeking, to greed, lust and
unrestrained satisfaction of instincts, to pretension and hypocrisy,
etc.
Worse, these erroneous values are now made the mainstream
elements of society. They are considered the new normal. Their
reciprocal virtues, like humility, meekness, discretion, modesty,
moderation, etc., are now the new evil.
Consider a sampling of the slogans and taglines used:
“Gotta have that body,” “Ask for more,” “Obey your thirst,” “What you
want is what you get,” “For the pleasure of sensual living,” “When
you’ve got it, flaunt it,” “Live richly,” etc.
Always set with titillating pictures, the slogans at least
have a double meaning that teases the viewers and makes them prone to
some invasive impertinent and incontinent thoughts and feelings.
We’ll never know what goes inside the minds and hearts of
people, but neither can we deny that many bad things pass by there. No
state law can reach that part of our life to regulate things. We need
to be ruled by a higher and spiritual law. And that’s why we need to
strengthen our spiritual life.
When we are remiss of our duty to take care of our
spiritual life, there’s no way to go but to further degeneration and
decadence, even if such process can be made glossy and glamorous with
a well-entrenched wrong ideology.
A liturgical prayer captures this need of ours and
suggests a solution. It says: “Father, help us to seek the values that
will bring us eternal joy in this changing world. In our desire for
what you promise, make us one in mind and heart.”
We have to realize more deeply that for us to cruise
properly and safely in these confusing times, we should not be afraid
or ashamed to go to Christ, who is the perfecter of our humanity, the
source of all goodness. We should disabuse ourselves from the idea
that our perfection and goodness can come from somewhere else.
For this we need to pray and be familiar with God’s word
that in the Letter to the Hebrews is described as “living and
effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching
unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and
the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart.” (4,12)
It is precisely when our spiritual life is nourished by
the word of God, made alive in the Church through the liturgy and the
direction of the hierarchy, that we can balance tolerance and
intolerance in our environment today. It is in this happy balance that
virtue is achieved.
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