NOWADAYS, we are seeing a lot of
people depending solely
on their senses, judgments and reasoning in tackling all their
temporal affairs with hardly any reference to God’s will and plans.
Obviously, for Christian believers, all these senses and
human intelligence and will are God-given and, as such, can help us
tremendously in understanding things. They indeed have to be used to
the full.
But they are not meant to be our ultimate recourse. If not
inspired by God, if there is no deliberate effort to relate them to
God’s will and plans, they can come out with fantastic insights and
ideas, but still miss the most important point.
We need to be strongly reminded that God is our Creator.
As such, he is the author, foundation, law and standard of all
reality. Everything has to be referred to him. He ought to be the
inspiration and goal of everything, because nothing is true, good and
beautiful unless it is related to him.
Our current problem is that we seem to be steadily making
ourselves our own God, our own creator, author, foundation, law and
standard of practically everything. God has become irrelevant in our
life.
With our increasing capability to master and dominate
things, what with all our technological advances, etc., we are slowly
shifting from simply being stewards of creation, acting in the name of
God our Creator, to being God himself.
We seem to be replaying the story of the tower of Babel,
complete with its devastating effects. One wonders why, for example,
in spite of our tremendous communication technologies and other
political and social maneuvers aimed at unity, we seem to have not
only legitimate diversity, but rather more misunderstanding,
conflicts, intolerance and hatred.
We seem to have only an appearance of unity and civility,
but deep inside many people’s heart reign anger and envy and all the
other things that contribute to build up a towering and sometimes
exploding tension.
We have to learn to assume the mind of God, as shown to us
in Christ and handed down to us through the different
instrumentalities of the Church. This may sound presumptuous at the
beginning, but a closer look at this claim will reveal a solid basis
for it.
We have been made in the image and likeness of God,
children of his through his grace that he gives to us in abundance.
Even if we sinned and continue to sin, God is ever ready to forgive
us.
In short, he is giving us everything that we need to be
what we ought to be, that is, children of his, who think and act with
freedom in complete consonance to his mind and will.
It’s a pity that many people, especially the young, seem
now to be alienated from God. They think and act as if they are
strangers to God, and end up left to their own devices. They see,
understand and react to things based more on their own ideas,
feelings, moods and other worldly conditionings. And so they miss a
lot of things.
If their antics click with the world, then they can be
happy with an ephemeral joy that is prone to vanity, pride, arrogance
and greed. And if their antics don’t click, then they have no other
recourse but to fall into a web of sadness, depression, etc.
We have to understand that with God, we have everything
that we need to tackle all the situations of our life, whether they be
good or bad. With God, all our earthly affairs, our ups and downs,
have their meaning and can acquire not only their legitimate temporal
value, but their ultimate eternal value. With God, even our human
defeats and losses can turn into victories in the end.
We have to know more and more about the mind and will of
God as revealed to us in his word in Sacred Scripture and elaborated
faithfully and authoritatively by the Church Magisterium.
Let’s remember what the Letter to the Hebrews say about
God’s word: It is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and
marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
(4,12)
We should make it a habit to regularly read and meditate
on the word of God. More than anything else, it is the one that would
give us the whole picture of things. Our common sense, our judgments
and reasoning, our scientific knowledge and other worldly sources of
knowledge should have God as their inspiration and end.
on their senses, judgments and reasoning in tackling all their
temporal affairs with hardly any reference to God’s will and plans.
Obviously, for Christian believers, all these senses and
human intelligence and will are God-given and, as such, can help us
tremendously in understanding things. They indeed have to be used to
the full.
But they are not meant to be our ultimate recourse. If not
inspired by God, if there is no deliberate effort to relate them to
God’s will and plans, they can come out with fantastic insights and
ideas, but still miss the most important point.
We need to be strongly reminded that God is our Creator.
As such, he is the author, foundation, law and standard of all
reality. Everything has to be referred to him. He ought to be the
inspiration and goal of everything, because nothing is true, good and
beautiful unless it is related to him.
Our current problem is that we seem to be steadily making
ourselves our own God, our own creator, author, foundation, law and
standard of practically everything. God has become irrelevant in our
life.
With our increasing capability to master and dominate
things, what with all our technological advances, etc., we are slowly
shifting from simply being stewards of creation, acting in the name of
God our Creator, to being God himself.
We seem to be replaying the story of the tower of Babel,
complete with its devastating effects. One wonders why, for example,
in spite of our tremendous communication technologies and other
political and social maneuvers aimed at unity, we seem to have not
only legitimate diversity, but rather more misunderstanding,
conflicts, intolerance and hatred.
We seem to have only an appearance of unity and civility,
but deep inside many people’s heart reign anger and envy and all the
other things that contribute to build up a towering and sometimes
exploding tension.
We have to learn to assume the mind of God, as shown to us
in Christ and handed down to us through the different
instrumentalities of the Church. This may sound presumptuous at the
beginning, but a closer look at this claim will reveal a solid basis
for it.
We have been made in the image and likeness of God,
children of his through his grace that he gives to us in abundance.
Even if we sinned and continue to sin, God is ever ready to forgive
us.
In short, he is giving us everything that we need to be
what we ought to be, that is, children of his, who think and act with
freedom in complete consonance to his mind and will.
It’s a pity that many people, especially the young, seem
now to be alienated from God. They think and act as if they are
strangers to God, and end up left to their own devices. They see,
understand and react to things based more on their own ideas,
feelings, moods and other worldly conditionings. And so they miss a
lot of things.
If their antics click with the world, then they can be
happy with an ephemeral joy that is prone to vanity, pride, arrogance
and greed. And if their antics don’t click, then they have no other
recourse but to fall into a web of sadness, depression, etc.
We have to understand that with God, we have everything
that we need to tackle all the situations of our life, whether they be
good or bad. With God, all our earthly affairs, our ups and downs,
have their meaning and can acquire not only their legitimate temporal
value, but their ultimate eternal value. With God, even our human
defeats and losses can turn into victories in the end.
We have to know more and more about the mind and will of
God as revealed to us in his word in Sacred Scripture and elaborated
faithfully and authoritatively by the Church Magisterium.
Let’s remember what the Letter to the Hebrews say about
God’s word: It is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and
marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
(4,12)
We should make it a habit to regularly read and meditate
on the word of God. More than anything else, it is the one that would
give us the whole picture of things. Our common sense, our judgments
and reasoning, our scientific knowledge and other worldly sources of
knowledge should have God as their inspiration and end.
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