THIS we have to deliberately do. We cannot and should not
expect that this hunger and thirst would just come about
automatically, as if it is going to be physically felt and
biologically dictated. This is a spiritual hunger and thirst that
needs the impulses of our faith, the dynamics of grace and the
cooperation of our spiritual faculties.
On the part of God, he is already giving us all that we
need to have this hunger and thirst be felt by us. His grace is made
available in abundance. Even when we are in the state of sin, that
grace is there. “Where sin has abounded,” St. Paul said, “grace has
abounded even more.” (Rom 5,20) And so, instead of running away from
Christ because of our sin, we should be more drawn to him.
Besides, the whole mystery of God, if properly
appreciated, can never quench our hunger and thirst for him. We can
never know him and love him enough. And that state, instead of making
us indifferent to him, should continually spur our desire for him.
It’s just how we react to all this goodness of God that we
need to train ourselves properly. And this can mean cultivating that
spiritual hunger and thirst for him that should be with us all the
time.
We need to pause and reflect on this truth of our faith,
so that we can be more aware of it, and more importantly, would know
how to act accordingly. We really would need to spend time knowing him
more by praying, studying and meditating on God’s word, cultivating a
certain fondness for him, having regular recourse to the sacraments,
etc.
We have to be wary of the many factors that tend to deaden
our appetite for God by replacing it with merely earthly appetites. We
all know that the inordinate fascination for worldly pleasures, be it
in food and drinks, sex, sports, entertainment, etc., can easily
dominate us. Thus, we need to be properly guarded.
That’s why Christ told us that if we want to follow him,
we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. It’s not that we have
no right to have these earthly pleasures. We can have them as long as
they are legitimately and morally resorted to, that is, they begin and
end with God, giving glory to him, our Father and Creator, which is
what we are all supposed to be doing all the time.
We have to be wary of how we are exercising our freedom,
because we have the tendency to abuse it, using it at the impulses of
our selfishness rather than giving glory to God and loving others.
St. Paul already warned about this. “You, my brothers and
sister, were called to be free,” he said. “But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Gal
5,13)
St. Peter made a similar warning. “Live as free people,”
he said, “but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.” (1 Pt
2,16)
We need to frequently ask ourselves about how we are using
our freedom to see if it is serving the law proper to it, that is, to
give glory to God and to serve others. In these times, many things
work to compromise the proper exercise of our freedom. We should be
more adept in handling this particular aspect of our life.
What should ideally happen with the use of our freedom is
that our desire and appetite for God and for others is always whetted,
not diminished, when we are handling our legitimate temporal affairs,
whether it be about money, politics and the other things that give us
some degree of pleasure.
We are actually facing a tremendous challenge, since the
current dominant world culture is precisely held captive by merely
earthly things and values. The more important spiritual and
supernatural things and values are, at best, held as optional, not a
necessity.
The task at hand is to instill little by little the sense
of the spiritual and supernatural in everyone, starting with those
close to us—the family, friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.—so that
the appetite for God is not compromised, but rather fostered and
enhanced, protected and defended.
We have to wean everyone from being overly dependent on
earthly and temporal things that at best only have a relative and
passing value. But first, let us make Christ really known and erase
the false images of him, so everyone would find it natural to have
hunger and thirst for him.
expect that this hunger and thirst would just come about
automatically, as if it is going to be physically felt and
biologically dictated. This is a spiritual hunger and thirst that
needs the impulses of our faith, the dynamics of grace and the
cooperation of our spiritual faculties.
On the part of God, he is already giving us all that we
need to have this hunger and thirst be felt by us. His grace is made
available in abundance. Even when we are in the state of sin, that
grace is there. “Where sin has abounded,” St. Paul said, “grace has
abounded even more.” (Rom 5,20) And so, instead of running away from
Christ because of our sin, we should be more drawn to him.
Besides, the whole mystery of God, if properly
appreciated, can never quench our hunger and thirst for him. We can
never know him and love him enough. And that state, instead of making
us indifferent to him, should continually spur our desire for him.
It’s just how we react to all this goodness of God that we
need to train ourselves properly. And this can mean cultivating that
spiritual hunger and thirst for him that should be with us all the
time.
We need to pause and reflect on this truth of our faith,
so that we can be more aware of it, and more importantly, would know
how to act accordingly. We really would need to spend time knowing him
more by praying, studying and meditating on God’s word, cultivating a
certain fondness for him, having regular recourse to the sacraments,
etc.
We have to be wary of the many factors that tend to deaden
our appetite for God by replacing it with merely earthly appetites. We
all know that the inordinate fascination for worldly pleasures, be it
in food and drinks, sex, sports, entertainment, etc., can easily
dominate us. Thus, we need to be properly guarded.
That’s why Christ told us that if we want to follow him,
we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. It’s not that we have
no right to have these earthly pleasures. We can have them as long as
they are legitimately and morally resorted to, that is, they begin and
end with God, giving glory to him, our Father and Creator, which is
what we are all supposed to be doing all the time.
We have to be wary of how we are exercising our freedom,
because we have the tendency to abuse it, using it at the impulses of
our selfishness rather than giving glory to God and loving others.
St. Paul already warned about this. “You, my brothers and
sister, were called to be free,” he said. “But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Gal
5,13)
St. Peter made a similar warning. “Live as free people,”
he said, “but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.” (1 Pt
2,16)
We need to frequently ask ourselves about how we are using
our freedom to see if it is serving the law proper to it, that is, to
give glory to God and to serve others. In these times, many things
work to compromise the proper exercise of our freedom. We should be
more adept in handling this particular aspect of our life.
What should ideally happen with the use of our freedom is
that our desire and appetite for God and for others is always whetted,
not diminished, when we are handling our legitimate temporal affairs,
whether it be about money, politics and the other things that give us
some degree of pleasure.
We are actually facing a tremendous challenge, since the
current dominant world culture is precisely held captive by merely
earthly things and values. The more important spiritual and
supernatural things and values are, at best, held as optional, not a
necessity.
The task at hand is to instill little by little the sense
of the spiritual and supernatural in everyone, starting with those
close to us—the family, friends, relatives, colleagues, etc.—so that
the appetite for God is not compromised, but rather fostered and
enhanced, protected and defended.
We have to wean everyone from being overly dependent on
earthly and temporal things that at best only have a relative and
passing value. But first, let us make Christ really known and erase
the false images of him, so everyone would find it natural to have
hunger and thirst for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment