Rectifying our thoughts and intentions

IN the face of the many good developments taking place

today, we have to be ready to quickly rectify our thoughts and

intentions so that we avoid getting easily carried away by the passing

if not false allurements that these achievements and accomplishments

usually bring.

            This means that whatever we do with these new

developments, whether we are inventing them or studying them or using

and enjoying them, we should refer them always to God. Short of that,

we open ourselves to the possibility of getting into a spin of merely

worldly forces that despite their highs and perks can get us nowhere

but our own corruption.

            Obviously, these new developments, like our new

technologies, can give us some advantages and conveniences. But we

should always remember that whatever advantage or convenience they

give can only have a relative value.

            They can only acquire an absolute value if referred to God

and invented, studied, used or enjoyed according to God’s providence.

Otherwise, they can pose as potential danger to us, since they can

spoil us or occasion in us many moral anomalies, like vanity, pride,

lust, greed, envy, etc.

            In our involvement with them, let us quickly thank God for

whatever advantage they give us. If we are amazed at what these new

technologies, for example, can accomplish, let’s not forget that we

should first be amazed at God’s power and wisdom that is behind all

these amazing developments.

            We should not just stop at being amazed at the ingenuity

of the inventor concerned, or at the technical perfections the gadgets

possess. We should relate everything to God as the ultimate source and

goal of all these developments.

            More importantly, we should try our best to discern how

these new developments are supposed to play or to work in the abiding

providence of God. They should never just be an object of our own

plans and designs.

            Without referring them to God’s providence, they can only

become tools to our own selfish designs that we often mask with

extravagant hypes and clever deceits. Let’s remember that without God,

the only thing we can do is evil. Christ said it clearly: “Whoever is

not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me

scatters.” (Lk 11,23)

            Let us explode the myth that we can do some good even

without God’s help and providence. This, of course, does not detract

from the truth of our faith that God can derive good even from the

evil that we produce.

            But this should never be an excuse for us to do whatever

we want to do, since we can rationalize that God can always derive

good even from the evil that we produce. Let’s remember that God’s

omnipotence and his love for us that is full of mercy never do away

with the requirements of justice.

            We should see to it that we are always rectifying our

thoughts and intentions, always referring everything to God who is the

only one who can determine what is truly good and evil, safe and

dangerous in the new developments we are having today.