WE are always fascinated by what is
new and different.
That must be part of our human condition that even if we know that we
continue to be what we are, we always long for something different,
something new.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are told that there
actually is nothing new under the sun. Just the same, it also
acknowledges that in our earthly existence, we have to contend with
all sorts of changing conditions that will always give us a sensation
of things new and different.
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is
what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun,” says
Ecclesiastes (1,9). But there will always be some kind of cycle, a
time for every possibility in life to take place—a time to be born and
a time to die, a time to be merry and a time to be sad, etc.—giving us
something new and different as we go through life.
This somehow can be verified, and written large at that,
in our current local and American politics where some kind of new and
different kind of presidentiables in the persons of Duterte and Trump
are gaining popularity.
This phenomenon should not surprise us anymore. We have to
expect it to happen anytime. It can only mean that we are still alive
and quite free to do anything. But we should not get lost in its
twists and turns and its transitory and instrumental character in the
context of our life’s over-all purpose and goal.
We need to learn to handle the new and the old, the
innovative and the traditional elements in our life. For this, we need
to be theological in our thinking so we can have a good sense of what
is essential and what is incidental from our faith that is our
ultimate source of knowledge.
We need to realize that our thinking cannot work in its most
proper way if it is not enlightened and guided by faith. It would be
like saying we ourselves can simply be on our own. We don’t need God.
Or we may need him from time to time, but not always, and that he is
not truly indispensable in our life.
We have to cultivate this theological mind, which is actually
necessary for us but which we have to do freely. Theological thinking
is actually not an optional thing. We always need to refer everything
to God, because everything comes from him and belongs to him.
The only thing outside of that system is sin. And even in that
situation God is still the reference point, for without him there will
be no sin either. This is actually what some people, the professed
atheists and practical non-believers, view the world and all. What
they consider sin would be what goes against their will, not God’s
will.
Faith is what God, our Creator and Father, gives us to start and
sustain our life with him, which is how our life ought to be since we
have been made in his image and likeness.
Our life is not merely a human, natural life. It is a life called to
the supernatural order, to participate in the divine life, because
that is how God made us. We have been empowered for it, endowed with
the spiritual faculties of intelligence and will so that we can
receive his grace and thus enabled to enter into God’s life.
We actually have a natural tendency for this, a tendency that sadly
these days is often frustrated by a willful rejection of God in spite
of the abundant elements that lead us to him. Children in their
innocence are naturally oriented to God. And even adults have that
longing as evidenced by those famous words of St. Augustine:
“Despite everything, man, though but a small part of your creation,
wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your
praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless
until it rests in you.”
It’s for this reason that we have to see the original connection
between everything human and natural and God. We just cannot go on
discovering things and constructing all sorts of knowledge through our
sciences and arts without acknowledging that they all come from God
and continue to be governed by him.
We need to correct this deeply embedded error in our thinking. We can
never have basis to presume that things are just the way they are
without any reference to God as their Creator and therefore their
designer and original and constant “administrator.”
That must be part of our human condition that even if we know that we
continue to be what we are, we always long for something different,
something new.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are told that there
actually is nothing new under the sun. Just the same, it also
acknowledges that in our earthly existence, we have to contend with
all sorts of changing conditions that will always give us a sensation
of things new and different.
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is
what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun,” says
Ecclesiastes (1,9). But there will always be some kind of cycle, a
time for every possibility in life to take place—a time to be born and
a time to die, a time to be merry and a time to be sad, etc.—giving us
something new and different as we go through life.
This somehow can be verified, and written large at that,
in our current local and American politics where some kind of new and
different kind of presidentiables in the persons of Duterte and Trump
are gaining popularity.
This phenomenon should not surprise us anymore. We have to
expect it to happen anytime. It can only mean that we are still alive
and quite free to do anything. But we should not get lost in its
twists and turns and its transitory and instrumental character in the
context of our life’s over-all purpose and goal.
We need to learn to handle the new and the old, the
innovative and the traditional elements in our life. For this, we need
to be theological in our thinking so we can have a good sense of what
is essential and what is incidental from our faith that is our
ultimate source of knowledge.
We need to realize that our thinking cannot work in its most
proper way if it is not enlightened and guided by faith. It would be
like saying we ourselves can simply be on our own. We don’t need God.
Or we may need him from time to time, but not always, and that he is
not truly indispensable in our life.
We have to cultivate this theological mind, which is actually
necessary for us but which we have to do freely. Theological thinking
is actually not an optional thing. We always need to refer everything
to God, because everything comes from him and belongs to him.
The only thing outside of that system is sin. And even in that
situation God is still the reference point, for without him there will
be no sin either. This is actually what some people, the professed
atheists and practical non-believers, view the world and all. What
they consider sin would be what goes against their will, not God’s
will.
Faith is what God, our Creator and Father, gives us to start and
sustain our life with him, which is how our life ought to be since we
have been made in his image and likeness.
Our life is not merely a human, natural life. It is a life called to
the supernatural order, to participate in the divine life, because
that is how God made us. We have been empowered for it, endowed with
the spiritual faculties of intelligence and will so that we can
receive his grace and thus enabled to enter into God’s life.
We actually have a natural tendency for this, a tendency that sadly
these days is often frustrated by a willful rejection of God in spite
of the abundant elements that lead us to him. Children in their
innocence are naturally oriented to God. And even adults have that
longing as evidenced by those famous words of St. Augustine:
“Despite everything, man, though but a small part of your creation,
wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your
praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless
until it rests in you.”
It’s for this reason that we have to see the original connection
between everything human and natural and God. We just cannot go on
discovering things and constructing all sorts of knowledge through our
sciences and arts without acknowledging that they all come from God
and continue to be governed by him.
We need to correct this deeply embedded error in our thinking. We can
never have basis to presume that things are just the way they are
without any reference to God as their Creator and therefore their
designer and original and constant “administrator.”
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