Let’s not be scandalized by sin

INSTEAD of being scandalized by the many sins and all

forms of evil that we see around, let’s make an effort, obviously with

Christ and through his justice and mercy, to reach out to everyone and

help them recover their dignity as children of God.

            This can only happen if we ourselves make an effort to

identify ourselves with Christ. Our Christian concern for others can

only be effective if it comes as a consequence of our intimate

relationship with Christ through our prayers, sacrifices and ascetical

struggles to resist temptations and sins and to develop virtues.

            Nowadays, this campaign of retrieving lost souls, or at

least helping the confused ones, is urgent. And it is incumbent on

every believer and follower of Christ to lend a hand in this. In fact,

it is one of our primordial duties as a Christian. Let’s hope that

each one of us becomes a burning ember wherever we are, so we can

generate the warmth of Christian love to everyone.

            Everyday, we somehow have to come up with some concrete

plans and strategies. We cannot afford anymore to be passive and

complacent with respect to this duty which should be carried out with

extreme delicacy and charity.

            Thus, we have to understand that in fulfilling this duty,

we need to establish deep and stable friendship with others. The

approach should always be personal and intimate, not so much

collective and formal. The latter style should only be a subsidiary to

the person-to-person way of doing things.

            Because of this, we should sharpen our social skills and

try our best to be friendly with everyone in spite of our unavoidable

differences and conflicts. That is why we have to learn to be tough

and not allow our emotions to lead the way. We should follow Christ’s

example by enlivening our faith, hope and charity.

            In this way, we can be patient and willing to suffer and

bear the burdens of the others. We can even allow ourselves to be

dirtied to a certain extent without compromising what is essential in

our spiritual health.

            We should try to approximate what is said in St. Paul’s

second letter to the Corinthians: “God made him who had no sin to be

sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(5,21) If we are with Christ, we surely would be properly vaccinated

against sin.

            We should ask for the gift of tongue so that we can speak

to others with the right words and in the right time. In other words,

so that we can bring Christ’s presence and saving words and actions to

the others effectively.

            We have to be convinced that everyone of us needs to feel

Christ’s presence and hear his words. We have to convince everyone

that Christ should be the number one priority in our life, and should

not be subordinated to anyone or anything in life.

            Obviously, we also need to study the doctrine of Church so

we become more familiar with the teachings of Christ and more able to

discern his will and ways, especially given our very complicated times

nowadays. We need to assimilate these teachings well, making them

flesh of our flesh.

            We should try our best to be always consistent in our

Christian identity so that we avoid becoming Christians in name and in

words only. Sad to say, we are seeing many who are inconsistent in

their Christian identity. We need to correct this inconsistency.