Fundamental and radical

IT’S good that we from time to time revisit the truth of

our creation, since that comprises the most fundamental and radical

truth about ourselves. Such consideration would definitely give us the

most basic as well as global picture about ourselves. It would remind

us to develop the proper attitude, outlook and perspective of our

life.

            Now that we are beginning a new liturgical year with the

celebration of the First Sunday of Advent, I feel this revisiting of

our creation is timely.

            Revisiting the truth about creation will certainly show us

that God is the source of all reality, of what is true, good and

beautiful. He is the foundation of the unity of all the creatures. He

spells out the proper relationship that should develop among us and

all the creatures.

            Nowadays, with all the galloping developments around, we

tend to forget about who we really are, what the real purpose of our

life is, and how we ought to behave as a consequence.

            Nowadays, we seem to be simply reacting to what we have at

the moment, much like a knee-jerk reaction that definitely will miss a

lot of things, especially the essential ones.

            There are now a lot of distractions. Our proper focus in

life is vitiated, a situation that is a fertile ground for many other

anomalies to arise. This religious indifference and ignorance can

easily give rise to all sorts of isms—agnosticism, atheism,

polytheism, materialism, etc. These are what we are seeing these days.

            We need to return to the basics, to the fundamental and

the radical. We have to reaffirm the truth that there is God who

created everything. The least thing that we can do in reaction to this

truth is that we have to relate everything to God—at least to thank

him and ultimately to glorify him, since that is the final purpose of

our life.

            Forgetting or ignoring God will only lead us to an unreal

world which to us can seem to be real because of our capacity to know

and to will. We don’t realize that our creation by God is an ongoing

affair, not a one-shot deal, since it’s the very existence of

creatures that is involved.

            God does not only fabricate us and leave us on our own

once our fabrication is finished. His creation means that he gives us

existence and keeps that existence which, in our case, since we are

made also spiritual, will last forever. His creation is a continuing,

never-ending affair. What we call as providence or God’s continuing

governance over his creation is just another name for his continuing

creation.

            There is a big difference between a fabricator or

manufacturer and the Creator. Only God is the Creator. We are only a

fabricator, or at best, a procreator as is the case of parents who

beget children. In the latter case, the parents simply cooperate in

the creation of another human being. That’s why their conjugal act is

a very sacred act that should not be degraded into a merely sexual

act.

            It’s indeed a big challenge now to spread this basic truth

about the implications of our creation by God. Our life is a shared

life with God. A direct corollary to this is that we ought always to

be aware of God’s presence and interventions in our life. In fact, as

much as possible we should try to feel the divine even while we are

immersed in the things of the world.