Conditioned but not controlled

WE in life are subject to many conditionings—from the
physical, biological, temperamental to the social, economic, cultural,
etc. But we should not allow ourselves to be completely controlled by
them. We have a dignity and identity that go beyond these
conditionings.

            While it’s true that these conditionings somehow describe
us, they should not definitely define us. We are much more than just
the sum-total of these conditions. The value of a person is more than
the moral quality of his words and deeds. Christ himself has shown and
taught this to us.

            In the eyes of God, we are always like little children,
regardless of how mature and accomplished we are in human terms. We
are always lovable to him, in spite of our weaknesses, mistakes and
sins. He might be angry for some reason, but his anger will only be
for a moment, but his mercy will always be there.

            We need to acknowledge the ultimate reality about
ourselves—that we are all creatures of God, children of his, created
in his image and likeness. He will love us still like crazy, in spite
of our stupidities.

            What should define us is what God has meant us to be,
which can be known and lived through his gifts of faith, hope and
charity to which we also have to correspond with the fullness of our
being.

            That is why, we need to pray, make sacrifices, develop
virtues, have recourse to the sacraments, study the doctrines of our
faith, etc., because that is the way we can know and live the truth
about ourselves more than anything else.

            There will be many times when what our faith tells us
would somehow contradict the impulses and urgings of our many
conditionings. And that is why we should be ready to go against the
grain, to undertake a continuing ascetical struggle in life.

            Christ himself was clear about this. “Whoever wants to be
my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
(Mt 16,24)

            Some people may argue that it is difficult, if not
impossible, to distinguish between what is simply a conditioning and
what is essential in our life. We, of course, have to acknowledge that
difficulty but it is not true that it is impossible to do.

            Precisely, we can manage to distinguish between the two if
we realize that there is such thing as the supernatural gift of faith,
with its complements of hope and charity, and that we need to be
guided by it rather than just by our own estimations of things that
are mainly derived from our conditionings.

            There are those who think that we cannot actually go
beyond our many conditionings. This claim is simply false, because we
have seen many people doing heroic and saintly acts who clearly show
that they have acted beyond and even against their conditionings.

            We should never forget that while we are material beings,
we also are spiritual beings, capable of spiritual operations that can
transcend the material and temporal conditionings of our existence.

            This spiritual character of our life is what should be
cultivated with greater focus and determination. This aspect of our
life is what links us to the spiritual and supernatural world where we
can apprehend truths that are not simply material and natural. It is
what enables us to receive the grace of God who gives it to us in
abundance, enabling us to enter into God’s life itself.

            That is why 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.

            We have to undertake the appropriate training to acquire
not only a theological mind, but also a theological lifestyle.
Thinking, reacting, speaking and behaving in terms of faith should be
made second nature to all of us. This is how we can go beyond the many
conditionings without necessarily avoiding them.

            If we have to suffer because of our faith, so be it. If
faith prevails, we also would find meaning and purpose in that
suffering, because in the end it is the faith that gives the global
picture of things, that says the last word about anything. It is the
faith that brings us back to where we originally came from—that is,
heaven, with God.

            We really have to know how to deal with the many
conditionings in our life.