Starting the day right

THIS may look like just a minor detail in our life, but it

actually plays an important, strategic role. If we know how to start

our day well, most likely our whole day will run and end well too.

Ignoring this detail will most likely leave us always struggling to

prime ourselves to do what we are supposed to do the whole day. It

would really be quite a drag.

              Starting our day right can mean many things. But one

thing, for sure, it is about the habit of greeting God right upon

waking up, then thanking him at least for the sleep regardless of how

it went, and then begin to offer the whole day to him.

  

            That way we start to burn the fire of love in us. Let’s

always remember that loving is the ideal condition to be in, and the

earlier we set ourselves in it, the better. We are actually meant for

loving. We demean our humanity if we fail to love.

  

            And the first object of our love should be God since he is

the very essence of love, and the source, end, pattern and power of

love. We need to make acts of faith to be able to feel the urge to

love God first and last, because only through him can we love

everybody and everything else properly.

  

            That morning offering we make as we wake up will provide

us with the proper spiritual and supernatural tone to our attitudes,

our thoughts, desires, words and deeds. It will remind us that our

whole life is and should be an offering for it to be a life of love

meant for us.

  

            Yes, our life ought to be spent as an offering. It has to

be lived as a gift, because it is first of all a gift also from God to

us. In other words, our life has to mirror the life of God himself,

whose image and likeness we are. Since God is love, is self-giving,

then we too have to live in love and in self-giving.

  

            Let us remember to renew many times during the day that

initial offering we do as we wake up, so that the fire of love will

continue not only to burn, but to also to grow until we are totally

consumed by it at the end of the day.

  

            That’s when we can say we have completed or perfected our

offering of ourselves to God and to others. That’s when we can say we

have loved fully. That’s when we can say we have consummated our

humanity for that day.

  

            We need to renew our morning offering often during the day

since we have to contend with many things that will try to ebb away

our love. We have our own personal weaknesses, our laziness and

complacency. We also have to contend with the many temptations around

that tend to make us self-centered instead of being focused on God and

on others.

  

            Renewing our morning offering often during the day will

launch us into some kind of divine adventure where we will be happily

and gamely confronted with challenges and trials. There will be ups

and downs, successes and failures, etc. But then again, as long as we

offer everything to God, all will just be fine.

  

            Let us make it a habit to make this morning offering

everyday as we wake up. When we manage to start the day right, we are

bound to end that day right too, that is, with God and in communion

with everybody else somehow.

Prowling for the ruin of souls

THE warning is actually meant for everyone, but I believe

it is meant especially for priests who carry the most delicate task of

ministering the people of God so that Christ, not the priests, would

always be shown to them, and that Christ’s words, not the priests’

words, opinions, theories, etc., are what the people hear.

  

            The warning comes from the first letter of St. Peter: “Be

alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a

roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (5,8) We, priests, should

take these words very seriously.

  

            It cannot be denied that a certain worldly culture, so

prevalent these days, can easily lend credence to the subject of this

warning. Priests are the best target of the devils because when they

fall, they don’t fall alone but bring many others with them. The

devils are shrewd and they know about the so-called “economy of

scale.”

  

            And we have to understand that when we get closer to God

because of our work of sanctification and our position in the Church

and society, the devil works double-time to trick and trap us. He will

use very subtle means, coming up with many good-looking and

sweet-tasting ploys that are injected with his venom.

  

            We should always be most discerning. We cannot let our

guard down at any time, because the devil does not take vacation until

he succeeds with his plots against us.

  

            We, priests, should know how to do spiritual combats with

the devil. We ought to know the art of offense and defense. And this

can only happen if we try our best to keep our spiritual and

supernatural bearing.

   

            We should be the first one to heed what St. Paul said:

“Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you

may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,

to stand.” (Eph 6,13)

  

            We, priests, should take our life of prayer and sacrifice

seriously. We should be the first to wage continuing interior

struggle, never falling into complacency in this regard. Doing all

these does not alienate us from the people, but rather would attract

them to us properly.

  

            We have to overcome the myth that by being serious with

our spiritual and supernatural identity, we end up acting strange and

weird, unable to relate ourselves with the realities on the ground.

Hardly anything can be farther from the truth. By being close to

Christ, we in fact would know how to act with total naturalness,

knowing how to blend with anyone and anything, without compromising

the essential.

  

            Let us follow Christ’s advice to deny ourselves and carry

the cross with him. That is how we can keep ourselves safe from the

deceptive tricks of the devil. That is also how we can effectively

show Christ to one and all in an abiding manner, and not just

intermittently.

            Let us just focus on what we are supposed to do, and give

our all there. We are promised that what we give will actually return

to us a hundredfold. It’s the best deal that we can have.

   

            One good prayer that we can say everyday in this regard is

that addressed to St. Michael:

  

            “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our

defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke

him, we humbly pray, and do you, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by

the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Evolving with the world

BECAUSE we are told through our first parents to “be

fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and

have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,

and over every living animal that moveth upon the earth,” (Gen 1,28)

the world cannot help but to evolve with us as the motor of such

evolution.

  

            Of course, we can only carry out that task with God,

following his will and ways, following his commandments. In other

words, we are made his stewards of the world he created for us. We

have a great responsibility over it.

            Obviously, the world has its inherent God-given law, its

God-given nature which we should respect and develop. What makes our

task more exciting and challenging is that our sins—starting with

those of our first parents down to those of us in the present—have

left their mark in the world and we also have to contend with the

effects and consequences of our sins, as we as its steward develop and

care for it.

            When we say that we have to evolve with the world, it

means that we ourselves have to evolve to adapt to the continuing and

changing challenges the world poses on us. We cannot remain in a

static way of handling the world, because the world is constantly

evolving. We have to try to dominate it rather than be dominated by

it. This is the constant challenge.

            To properly evolve with the world, we have to be truly

identified with God, its creator and provident keeper. Otherwise,

there’s no way but to be confused and to get lost. God in dealing with

the world goes all the way to “send his only-begotten son” so that we

do not perish but rather gain eternal life. (cfr Jn 3,16) Without him,

we cannot dominate the world but rather be dominated by it.

            God himself, in converting his eternal designs for the

world into time to accommodate our human condition, has to send his

son who became man. He completely adapted himself to the condition of

man, including assuming all the consequences of sin without committing

sin.

            This is how we also have to evolve and adapt to the world.

With Christ, we should be willing to go all the way to assuming the

ways of the world that are affected by our sins without committing

sin.

            That’s the ideal. The reality is that no matter how

careful we are in dealing with the world, we always manage to err and

fall into sin. And yet, as long as we return to Christ, quickly asking

for forgiveness and his grace, what may seem impossible for us to do

can become possible, what is broken is fixed. And we just have to

continue dominating the world even as we evolve with it, following

God’s will as best as we can.

            This can mean many things in practical terms. We have to

learn how to be faithful and consistent in following God’s will while

being dynamic, open-minded and versatile in dealing with the world.

            We should not run away from the challenges of the world,

but face them properly, with due preparation. We should be willing to

get dirty even as we try not to get dirty in what is important and

essential to us. And if we get dirty inside, that is, if we commit

sin, we can always find ways to clean up.

  

            The world has to be dealt with the way it is, warts and

all, and not the way we want it to be. With Christ, we can do all

things, bear all things, etc.

Heroic sanctity

GENUINE sanctity, and not just the many forms of apparent

and fake holiness sadly proliferating in the world today, will always

require heroism. And it need not be lived and achieved in some

extraordinary situations. It can be attained even in the very ordinary

things of our daily life, but pursued in utmost heroism in following

God’s will and ways.

  

            In other words, it does not flaunt its performance and

achievements. In fact, it likes to pass unnoticed. It’s never showy,

although something in it will always attract the attention of those

who have faith. Of course, it may turn off those who are hostile to

the faith.

  

            This is the sanctity that comes from Christ who, in spite

of the many wonderful miracles he made, tried his best not to show off

because of them. Rather, he preferred that people get attracted to him

when he would already be on the cross, as testified by his words: “And

I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to

myself.” (Jn 12,32)

  

            Genuine sanctity can never sit well with complacency,

laziness, self-satisfaction, the attitude that we can say enough in

our self-giving and the like. It will always demand more and more from

us, and we correspond to that demand with utmost freedom and love,

never feeling pressured or coerced to do so.

  

            It is something done, developed and lived gratuitously,

reflecting the very gratuitousness of the love of God for us. The

dedication and devotion involved in sanctity is freely given, with no

strings attached, even if we know that God will richly reward such

self-giving.

  

            And in situations where there can be many legitimate

options, the one pursuing genuine sanctity will choose the worst

option, that is, the one that give the most disadvantage to him, again

without seeking any earthly reward.

  

            In that way, he gains more merit in the eyes of God since

he would be approximating the example of Christ who chose, of all the

options to redeem us, the one where he had to bear all our sins by

offering his life on the cross.

  

            This way of behaving echoes what Christ himself said:

“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your

right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your

Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you...” (Mt

6,3-4)

  

            In other words, we have to do things out of love for God

only and for no other reason. We should avoid trying to fish for some

human or worldly glory. The intention should be entirely pure, without

any mixture of self-aggrandizement.

  

            In fact, on the contrary, we will seek and choose what

will keep us always humble, reflecting the example of Christ himself

and that of St. Paul, who said:

  

            “Whatever was an asset to me, I count as loss for the sake

of Christ. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the

surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I

have lost all things...” (Phil 3,7-8)

  

            This is the heroism involved in the pursuit of genuine

sanctity. We need to train ourselves to develop this spirit and

attitude that should inspire our every thought, word and deed.

  

            That is why we can never exaggerate the need to humble

ourselves all the time, seeing to it that we have a firm grip on our

egos whose most subtle form of pride is to project an image of

sanctity that is not truly inspired by the love of God, but rather by

one’s self-love.

  

            We have to be most wary of this very likely possibility!

On priestly celibacy

THE other day, the Cebu clergy held their monthly

afternoon of recollection with priestly celibacy as the theme for

consideration and reflection. This topic, of course, is part of the

line-up meant for this Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons.

  

            While the speaker gave a very thorough and also very

humorous treatment of the topic, what struck me first was that the

main approach sounded more like priestly celibacy as a burden rather

than a gift of God.

  

            I have always believed that priestly celibacy is first of

all a gift—in fact, a great gift and treasure—in the life of the

persons involved and of the Church in general. It should make priests

more happy and welcoming rather than worried and hesitant.

  

            And that’s simply because priestly celibacy conforms one

to Christ as head of the Church in a more intense way. With celibacy,

a priest like Christ can be more available to the people in their

spiritual and moral needs.

  

            Besides, priestly celibacy holds the so-called

eschatological meaning of reminding everyone here on earth that in our

definitive state of life in heaven, all of us will be celibate.

  

            And that’s because Christ clarified in that gospel episode

where he was asked whose wife a woman was who got married to seven

brothers, that in the resurrection on the last day and in heaven we

will be like angels. (cfr Lk 20,27-40)

  

            In other words, in heaven our resurrected body will be

completely spiritualized, like that of Christ after his resurrection.

There will be no need for any carnal or marital activity since the

population there will be fixed. There will be no more births nor

deaths. That is why priests and consecrated persons have to dress up

and behave in such a way as to give some kind of public witness to

this truth of our faith.

  

            How I wished this aspect of the reason for priestly

celibacy had been more highlighted!

  

            I believe the problem was because the main approach to the

theme was that of priestly celibacy as an ecclesiastical requirement

rather than a gift and treasure. It gave more focus on the frailties

of men rather than on the grace and mercy of God and the beauty of

celibacy itself.

  

            Of course, it cannot be denied that priestly celibacy

would require nothing less than heroic efforts from those who are

obliged to live it. Given our weaknesses, not to mention the growing

temptations around, we cannot exaggerate the need for this kind of

efforts that should correspond as faithfully as possible to God’s

abundant grace.

  

            Without detracting from the more fundamental truth that

priestly celibacy is a divine gift, we should be realistic enough

about the grave duties and responsibilities we priests and consecrated

persons have in living that gift.

  

            That is why the need for a life of genuine prayer and

sacrifice, of vigilance and spiritual struggle, of developing the

appropriate virtues and skills, cannot be overemphasized. There’s no

way one can live priestly celibacy if these means are not taken up

seriously.

  

            In a recent statement, Pope Francis confessed that he had

been talking to victims of clerical sex abuse and that he considered

this scandal of erring clerics as the “greatest desolation that the

Church is undergoing.” He also said that the scandal expresses both

the Church’s fragility as well as its level of hypocrisy.

  

            Those are truly strong words that should stir up in all

those concerned the need to get very serious in loving God and others

more and more, because only with that love can one truly live priestly

celibacy. Only with that love will one continually wage war against

his human frailty and the many temptations and sins around.

Organic innovations

THERE’S no doubt that if we want to survive in our

increasingly complicated times, we need to be flexible, adaptive,

versatile and innovative. This should be our constant mindset. We

should not get stuck with the modes and ways of the past that while

helpful in their own time, may be impractical today.

  

            Just the same, we neither should just discard the things

of the past in an indiscriminating way. That would lead us to a lot of

dangers. We have to know what in them are still useful, because the

new things just cannot arise out of thin air.

  

            The innovations can only come out from the ground of the

past. They bud and flower from the rich soil of our traditions and

especially of the absolute truths of our faith and morals that serve

as the ultimate criteria of what are deemed good in our innovations.

  

            Yes, we need to be innovative always, but of the kind that

is organic, knowing how to blend the old and the new. It’s good that

we develop the skill of thinking out of the box, but neither should we

forget the things of the past that can serve as the launching pad for

the new things.

  

            For sure, we need some structure—like a daily schedule or

plan of action, etc.—to facilitate our innovations. We just have to

remember that we also should not be too schedule-or plan-bound because

surprises can come anytime and we have to be quick to make adjustments

for them.

  

            Thus, we need to be prudent and discerning of things, and

especially of what the Holy Spirit is actually prompting us to do. We

should not forget that the Holy Spirit is always intervening in our

lives and that we need to be most sensitive to his promptings.

  

            We may also have to do some consultations with the

appropriate persons. For this, we need to be humble and open-minded to

acknowledge our limitations and our need for help.

            It also helps that we practice a certain degree of

restraint in our eagerness to innovate. We cannot deny that sometimes

we can be over-eager and we may have to exert extraordinary effort to

deny ourselves in some innovations that are clearly sinful.

              In all this, we just have to be sport and game. We should

not be afraid to do some experiments and suffer some failures. As

someone said, if Plan A does not work, we still have a lot of letters

in the alphabet that we can use to continue with our experimentations.

We just have to learn how to begin and begin again. Our failures and

setbacks are actually good sources of precious lessons.

  

            The important thing is that our motives are earnest and

sincere, founded ultimately on our love for God and for others, and

not just some personal interest. We may have to take some calculated

risks. They are unavoidable in the adventure of our life.

  

            Of course, we need to pause from time to time to see how

things are going. Are we still on the right course? Are our motives

and intentions still pure, or are they slowly contaminated by egoistic

impulses? Is everything done really for the glory of God and for love

of the others, or is already driven by a me-first attitude? Are we

still humble and simple, keeping our right spiritual and supernatural

bearing, or are things deviating from that course?

   

            It’s good that we be demanding in our self-examination so

that we don’t spoil what otherwise is a good initiative to be

innovative, and so that we can map out the relevant strategies to

pursue the ideal of organic innovations.

Always renew and purify our love

THAT’S simply because of the tension between our nature

and our supernatural goal, not to mention our present wounded human

condition that is prone to temptation and sin and to all kinds of

weaknesses. We unavoidably contend with these conditions in our

earthly life.

  

            We can always start with good intentions and the best of

our efforts in anything that we do. But if we do not constantly renew

and purify our love for God and neighbour that should inspire all our

actions, we simply cannot go the distance.

              Somewhere along the way, our energy will weaken, our

motives will get warped, our objectives will get displaced. We should

be realistic and humble enough to acknowledge this fact of life and do

something about it. In this life, the law that we ought to follow is

to always renew and purify our love for God and neighbour.

   

            Yes, there is struggle involved. In fact, we are already

told by our Christian faith that our life here on earth is a warfare.

“The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (Job 7,1) We need to be

always prepared to do battle with the enemies of our soul and of God

that undermine our true love.

  

            These enemies are identified as the world itself with its

lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life and the

devil himself. St. Paul reminds us that our spiritual enemies are no

joke.

  

            He said that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but

against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the

darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly

places.” (Eph 6,12)

  

            To constantly renew and purify our love means to steadily

conform our love to the love God has for us as shown to us by Christ

and as effected in us through the Holy Spirit. That is why at one

point Christ himself said that we have to love one another as he

himself has loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34)

  

            Given our unstable human condition, we need to make

constant effort to conform our love to Christ’s love that goes all the

way to assuming all our sins and offering us his mercy.

  

            Everyday we have to make plans and strategies of how to

make our love reflect Christ’s love better. This means that we really

have to actively look at Christ and follow his example more closely.

Like him, we should be willing to do a lot of good and be patient,

understanding and merciful with those who do not practice Christian

love.

   

            In this, we have to be willing to suffer. That’s why the

love for the cross is a sure sign that we are truly loving. We have to

learn how to overcome our tendency to be self-absorbed and

self-centered, interested more in our own good than in the good of the

others.

  

            The usual events of our day actually offer us many

opportunities to renew and purify our love. There are challenges to

tackle, setbacks and disappointments to suffer, etc. These and many

others are good sources to conform our love to Christ’s love. Let’s

not take them for granted.

  

            If our love is real, that is, if it truly reflects

Christ’s love, we will always enjoy a certain sense of peace and joy

in spite of the suffering we can encounter. We may die with Christ,

but we will surely resurrect with him also.

  

            We need to see to it that everyday, we are conscious of

renewing and purifying our love for God and others often. We should

never take this for granted.

The name to call always

THAT’S Jesus. He is the Savior God who continues to be at

work in us (cfr. Phil 2,13). He is always there for us. All we have to

do is call his name.

  

            As St. Paul said, “God has highly exalted and bestowed the

name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee

should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every

tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father.” (Phil 2,9-11).

  

            In the Collect of the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Jesus,

we pray that God gives us the mercy we implore, “so that all may know

there is no other name to be invoked but the name of your Only

Begotten Son.”

  

            We have to develop the habit of calling on the name of

Jesus always, both in good times and in bad, because in the end, he is

really what matters in any situation we may find ourselves in.

  

            His ways may be different and even in conflict with what

we want, but he always listens to us and resolves things in the best

way for our own good. He will never fail us. But we just have to be

game enough to go through his mysterious and inscrutable ways. Yes,

there will be suffering but he has assured us: “In this world you will

have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

  

            Let’s remember that with his death and resurrection,

Christ already has conquered all evils and has resolved all our

problems, especially our grave mistakes and sins that can compromise

our eternal destiny. St. Paul expressed this truth of our faith when

he said: “God works all things together for the good of those who love

Him, who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8,28)

  

            The name Jesus means “God saves,” as can be gleaned from

that episode where Joseph was told in a dream to take Mary as his wife

who was found pregnant before they lived together.

  

            “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will

bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his

people from their sins.” (Mt 1,20-21)

  

            Jesus, being God who became man for our sake, is always

with us, is always attentive to our needs, is always shaping us and

redeeming us so we can be patterned after him. We are meant to be

“alter Christus” because Christ is the perfect image that God has of

himself and we are supposed to be created in God’s image and likeness

as well.

  

            Even if Jesus is always with us, it is good that we always

call his name so that we can be always aware of our need for him. The

problem we have is that we tend to ignore and forget him, which is

just a step before we go against him. Without him, we find no meaning

in the difficulties, trials, failures and sins that we can commit.

  

            Let us develop the habit of calling his name to the point

that Jesus’ name is somehow mentioned with our every breath. That may

sound quixotic and fantastic, but if we have faith, it certainly can

be achieved. In fact, that is the ideal state to be in our life.

  

            Jesus has made everything available for us to be what we

ought to be: “alter Christus,” another Christ!

Saving the salvageable

IT’S an art we have to learn. Especially these days when

what is good can be flooded by an ocean of evil things, we have to

know how to identify that good and try our best to save it and turn it

into an agent to convert evil to good or at least to derive some good

from evil.

  

            Christ himself is the perfect model for this. First, being

God he became man and assumed our sinfulness without committing sin if

only to save us. And he did this by converting the consequences of

sin—our pains and difficulties and death itself—into the very means of

our salvation.

  

            He went to the extent of offering his life on the cross

for us and thus removing the sting of death with his resurrection. We

can say that he was game to this game plan, so to speak.

  

            We should try to have the same attitude toward our life

and the many complicated situations we can find ourselves in. This is

what is actually proper to us. Instead of simply being dominated by

evil, let’s try to find some good in any predicament we have, and turn

it into some kind of reagent to change any bad situation into

something that is morally acceptable.

  

            Christ always looked for what is salvageable in a

situation that is filled with hopelessness. This was dramatized for

example when he talked about the parable of the dishonest steward.

(cfr. Lk 16,1-13)

  

            A steward was about to be dismissed from work, and since

he was afraid he could not find work anymore after being fired, he

curried favour with his master’s debtors by remitting parts of their

debts.

            For what this steward did, Christ praised him, not because

of his dishonesty that clearly is wrong, but because of his astuteness

even if such cleverness was at the immediate service of the steward’s

dishonesty.

  

            Such astuteness has the potential of being used for a good

cause, and so it deserves to be praised. That Christ did not approve

the dishonesty of the steward can be seen when later on in that gospel

episode, he clearly said that “no servant can serve two masters.” (cfr

Lk 16,13)

   

            This attitude was also highlighted when then Pope Benedict

XIII said that the use of condoms may be justified in some special

circumstances. In explaining the papal statement, the then papal

spokesman said:

  

            “The Pope considered an exceptional situation in which the

exercise of sexuality represents a real risk to the lives of others.

In this case, the Pope does not morally justify the exercise of

disordered sexuality, but believes that the use of condoms to reduce

the risk of infection is a 'first step on the road to a more human

sexuality', rather than not to use it and risking the lives of

others."

  

            We need to be astute and clever without losing our

spiritual and moral bearing in dealing with the many issues and

predicaments in our life. That is what Christ also said: “Behold, I am

sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as

serpents and innocent as doves.” (Mt 10,16)

  

            And so we need to be tough and game in this life, not

easily affected and scandalized by the dirt and the evils that are

unavoidable in this life. We have to know how to be patient and

optimistic, no matter how dark and seemingly hopeless a particular

situation may look to us.

  

            We have to sharpen our skill of discerning the moral

qualities of the different situations we can find ourselves in and

that also of making the right judgments. In this we have to help one

another, always praying, reflecting and consulting when necessary.

  

            But we just have to learn how to save the salvageable and

use it for a good purpose or, at least, to start on the road toward

reconciliation with God and others.

Sharpening our combat skills

THE season of Lent is meant for sharpening our skills in

spiritual warfare. This should be foremost in our mind as we go

through the highly recommended acts of penance and mortification

during these days of Lent.

  

            We cannot deny that our life here on earth is an endless

struggle between good and evil, between obeying God’s will  and

following our own will, etc. Our freedom is such that we can choose to

be God-like, as God our Creator wants us to be and has endowed us with

all the means, or we can prefer to be by ourselves, whichever way our

will tilts.

  

            This 40-day period that leads to the commemoration of

Christ’s supreme act of loving us by saving us through his passion,

death and resurrection is the best occasion to learn and improve in

our skills in dealing with our weaknesses, temptations and sins.

  

            As we pass through another year of trying to be faithful

to God, we must have gained more insights, lessons and experiences

regarding our weaknesses and failures. We should consider them in

God’s presence and see what we can do to tackle them more effectively.

  

            One thing for certain is that all this need for spiritual

struggle is first of all a matter of growing in our love for God and

for others. Our spiritual health, strength and invincibility will

depend mainly on this requirement. Everything else that we need to do

to protect ourselves from all forms of evil should begin with a

vibrating love for God and for others. Without this, we make ourselves

easy prey to the enemies of our soul.

  

            And this love for God and others can be nourished every

time we pray or we make acts of faith, hope and charity, or when we

carry out the duties of our state in life, our profession and other

positions we have in society, with gusto.

  

            We need to see to it that at any given time, we are at

least conscious that all we are doing is really out of love for God

and for others. We should not take this point for granted. When this

motivation for our thoughts, words and deed is not clear and strong,

then we are giving an opening for our enemies—our own flesh, the

alienated world and the devil himself—to take advantage of us.

             Perhaps, one concrete way to handle this requirement well

is to pause from time to time during the day to recover our proper

spiritual and supernatural bearing, seeing to it that it is real love

that motivates and drives us into action.

  

            Having said that, we should do the consequences and

implications of such love. We have to discipline our wounded flesh

that is so inclined to concupiscence. This concupiscence can be in the

form of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of

life. We have to realize that this will be a lifelong struggle. We

should banish the myth that there can be a time or a state where we

can be exempted from all these.

  

            Then we have to learn how to deal with the world and the

devil himself. With the world, we have to be most prudent by learning

to distinguish between what is inherently good in it and what is

already corrupted by sin and therefore can be dangerous. We have to

make the appropriate plans and strategies for this.

  

            With the devil, Pope Francis recently advised us not to

argue with him, since he is much more clever than us.  We just have to

avoid him, cutting any dialogue with him as soon as possible. Truth is

we hardly have any good resistance to his apparently convincing

sophistries.

A healthy spirit of abandonment

WITH all the things that we have to contend with in this

life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s

loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways

that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what

we would like to have.

  

            A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is

necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our

goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments

of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith.

  

            Let us quote some words of Christ that form the basis for

this belief:

  

                “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow

nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add

one cubit to his stature?

  

            “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies

of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say

to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of

these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is,

and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe

you, O you of little faith?

   

            “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or

‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these

things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need

all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His

righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own

things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Mt 6,26-34)

  

            We need to engrave these words in our heart so that

whatever difficulty we encounter in our life, we would know how to

react. Very often, we tend to face things simply on our own, relying

only on our own powers that no matter how impressive can only do so

much.

  

            We always have to go to God through Christ in the Holy

Spirit. This is not an exercise of surrender and futility, but rather

of conquest and victory. With God, everything always works for the

good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

  

            St. Paul precisely recommended this move. “Do not be

anxious about anything,” he said, “but in every situation, by prayer

and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the

peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 6,6-7)

  

            Let’s take note that St. Paul said that the peace of God

transcends all understanding. That means that God’s peace may impact

on us in a way that can seem to be the opposite of what we want.

  

            And so, we just have to see to it that we always activate

our faith in reacting to our difficulties in life, because left to our

own devices, there is no way we can be calm and be at peace. And the

sufferings that are unavoidable in this life will mean nothing to us.

             We just have to learn and develop a healthy sense of

abandonment in the mysterious will and ways of God. What can help in

this regard is to cultivate also a sporting attitude to life. We win

some, we lose some, but in the end God takes care of everything as

long as we always go to him!

Let’s welcome Lent

WITH Ash Wednesday, we enter a new season of Lent. In

spite of the gloom and austerity usually associated with it, there’s

actually something new and bright to it. That’s because Lent involves

a certain dying to ourselves so we can be born again in Christ.

  

            That’s the plain truth about Lent. All the sacrifices,

mortifications and penance, the fasting and abstinence, are meant to

cure us of our old man so we can be a new man in Christ. (cfr Eph

4,22-24)

  

            Let’s not forget that Christ’s redemptive sacrifice would

not be complete without his resurrection. The whole Lenten season,

with its epicenter on Good Friday, would be meaningless without Easter

Sunday. Lent cannot be but end in the joy of Easter. It has to show

the passage from defeat to triumph, from death to life everlasting.

  

            Lent should put our full attention to the necessity of the

Christ’s Cross in our life. It is what re-creates us. It perfects the

precarious condition of our first creation, when we only knew how to

enjoy the good but would not know what to do when we get into the ways

of evil.

  

            The Cross brings us to Christ. “If any man will come after

me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt

16,24) This is actually a formula we should always engrave in our

hearts.

  

            The Cross teaches us the true and complete ways of love.

We often have our own ideas of love that are usually sweet and sugary,

but actually incomplete, even twisted and detached from its true

source and pattern.

  

            The Cross extends the dimensions of our life, going beyond

our natural limits so it can merge with God’s own life. We are meant

for this. We have been designed for this.

  

            Lent reminds us that we need to weep and mourn somehow. We

tend to get so absorbed with our earthly affairs and concerns, dancing

to their twists and turns, that we forget we need to be with God. We

have to acknowledge our need for purification and conversion.

  

            That is why in the first reading of the Mass for Ash

Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, we are told, “Even now,

says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and

weeping, and mourning…” (Joel 2,12)

   

            Yes, we have to remember this invitation of God to us. We

have to go back to him with our whole heart that would first need to

be purified through fasting, weeping and mourning. And the second

reading, from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, tells

us “now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.” (6,2)

            This liturgical season of Lent highlights a basic need,

that of conversion, from the inmost part of our being, our heart and

mind, to the most social and global dimension of our life.

   

            This is the be-all and end-all of Lent, supposed to be a

permanent feature in our consciousness, not to serve as a wet blanket,

but rather as a stimulus for us to return to the orbit proper to us.

It’s like a corrective maintenance for us.

  

            We have to be wary of the many factors, especially in our

current culture and world environment, that tend to weaken our

awareness of this need, and even to distort and annul it.

   

            We have been warned so many times before by saints and

Church leaders that our sense of sin down the ages has been quite

skewed and left out of sync with our faith in God’s plan for us.

             Directly said, we need conversion because we have fallen

away from our God, our Creator and Father. Yes, it’s time to remind

ourselves that we come from God, not just from dust, and that we are

meant to live our life with him and to return to him.

Beware of clericalism and laicism

SINCE 2018 is declared by our bishops to be the Year of

the Clergy and Consecrated Persons with the thrust on clerics and

religious to be renewed servant-leaders for the New Evangelization, we

should encourage everyone, especially the laity, to contribute

whatever he or she can to make this campaign successful.

   

            Yes, the lay people can do a lot in helping us, the clergy

and consecrated persons. Rather than staying on the background since

the focus is on the clerics, the laity should be emboldened to help

their bishops, priests and other consecrated persons, so that we, the

clerics and religious, will remain consistent to our calling and

ministry and not stray to other areas where they are not meant to be.

  

            We need to remember that there is supposed to be an

“organic cooperation” between clergy and the laity in the Church,

since both have the same calling for holiness, though this is pursued

in different ways. The laity should never be regarded, and worse,

should never regard themselves as secondary citizens in the Church.

  

            There is a fundamental equality between clergy and laity.

No one is superior or inferior to the other. This is the reality about

the clergy and the laity. Therefore, we should avoid two extremes that

does damage to this reality. These are clericalism and laicism.

  

            Clericalism is, in a nutshell, when the clerics think or

are regarded as superior to the laity. This anomaly can lend itself in

many manifestations. Laicism is the opposite. It’s when the laity

thinks the clerics are completely irrelevant in their lives. Again,

this error can be expressed in many ways and in different degrees.

  

            For years, decades and centuries, many and big parts of

the world´s population have been under the wrong notion that the

Church is mainly if not exclusively the responsibility of the priests

and bishops. The lay people only play a supporting cameo role if not

just an extra.

  

            Priests and laity, by their baptism, enjoy a fundamental

equality in that being conformed to Christ all of us are called to aim

at genuine holiness and to participate in carrying out the mission of

the Church, each one in the way proper to his condition.

  

            It's true that there's distinction of how priests and

laity carry out their mission, a distinction that's meant to nourish

their mutual cooperation. But it's this fundamental equality that

needs to be aired out more fully to erase some wrong ideas about the

laity's role in the Church.

  

            These erroneous ideas can be called the clerical mentality

that has been afflicting us here in the Philippines, in spite of our

long Christian tradition. It gives undue importance to the role of

priests and bishops at the expense of the laity.

  

            Its usual manifestations are the tendency to make the lay

people as some kind of assistants, servants and longa manus of the

clergy or the attitude of regarding the priests as the sole agents of

the Church mission.

  

            The laity can be active in the life of the Church, first

of all, by fulfilling their primary duty of sanctifying the world

where they live and work. They also can help the clergy in carrying

out certain Church work.

             But they should not hesitate to make suggestions and even

corrections to priests who need to carry out their ministry as

faithfully as possible according to the mind of Christ and the laws of

the Church.

             In this Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, let

all of us, clerics, lay and religious, examine ourselves more deeply

and root out whatever traces of clericalism or laicism there may be in

our understanding of things and in our lifestyle.

Learning to be contemplative

EVERYONE should learn to be contemplative. We are actually

meant for it. Equipped and wired for it, we reach our ideal situation

when we manage to become contemplatives even in the middle of the

world. We have to start with ourselves before we can dare to teach the

others, especially the young ones, how to be so.

  

            To be a contemplative is to see Christ in everyone and in

everything. It is to see God in every situation, in every

circumstance, convinced that God is everywhere, and his presence is

not just passive but is rather full of love and solicitude.

   

            Remember Christ saying, “I am with you always, to the very

end of the age.” (Mt 28,20) He did not say he will be with us in such

and such a situation, or in such and such a person or thing. He just

said, “I am with you always...”

            Besides, God as the Creator can never be absent from his

creatures, because the creatures’ existence completely depends on the

Creator who precisely gives and keeps the existence of his creatures.

Without him, the creature reverts to nothing.

  

            Now, in our case, as man endowed with intelligence and

will, that is, enabled to know and to love, we are meant at least to

be aware of God and to try our best to correspond to his will and

ways. God as Creator continues to shape us in our whole life until our

creation is completed.

   

            The completion of our creation is when we are finally

formed according to God’s image and likeness, which is how God wants

us to be. “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God

he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1,27)

  

            And that means, until we become “alter Christus,” another

Christ, who as the Son of God is God’s perfect image of himself and

thus, the pattern of our humanity, and who as God who became man, is

the redeemer of our humanity that is damaged by our sin.

  

            That is why St. Paul said: “He who began a good work in

you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Phil 1,6)

  

            As a corollary to this truth of faith is that God or

Christ is always with us. There is no time, no situation, no

circumstance, no matter how considered it is in human terms, where God

or Christ is not there.

  

            When we are in the heights of our successes and

accomplishments, or in the depths of our defeats and all forms of

human misery, God is there. We need to learn to correspond to that

reality because that is the most important and indispensable part of

our life, of our world, of our reality.

   

            That God became man means that God adapts himself to our

condition, whatever it is. He has even made himself like sin without

committing sin, as St. Paul said, so that we can become the very

righteousness of God! (cfr 2 Cor 5,21)

  

            Let’s hope that we can warm ourselves up to this truth of

our faith, and start behaving according to it. We should not worry too

much about the initial awkwardness, because if we know the full

character of what it is to be contemplative, we would realize that we

can be so whether we are in the church or in the farm or in our

bedroom, or whether we are doing some intellectual or manual work,

etc.

  

            Christ adapts himself completely to us even in our worst

situation when we would be in a state of grave sin! God will always

love us. He will never reject us. It is us who are capable of

rejecting him.

  

            To be a real contemplative is to give our heart to him.

Some notes on preaching

ALREADY for a number of years, I have been preaching and

also being preached to. I thought of sharing my experiences for

whatever they are worth.

  

            First of all, preaching is definitely not just a

performance, although we priests should try our best to perform as

best as we can as preachers. The people appreciate good performers.

And we just have to try our best to meet their expectations in that

department.

  

            Just the same, preaching is not merely a performance. The

clarification is important because preaching involves much more than

just being a good performer or a good actor. The preacher has to be a

faithful minister of Christ.

              As such, he is duty-bound, after he has been sacramentally

conformed to Christ as priest, head of the Church, to assume the very

mind and heart of Christ, the thoughts, desires and words of Christ as

head of the Church.

  

            He can only talk about God, whatever the situation or

circumstances may be. He has to present the living Christ, not a

theoretical Christ, and much less, his own self. The people should

take home a vivid, and even stirring memory of Christ, not someone or

something else.

  

            This, of course, is a lifelong affair that involves the

priest’s total commitment at praying, meditating and assimilating the

words of Christ, making them their very own and relating them to the

current issues, the temper of the times, the cultures of the people,

etc.

  

            In other words, the priest is primarily required to live a

unity of life that is patterned closely to that of Christ as priest,

head of the Church. This is a tremendous, if not an overwhelming task,

but it can and should be done, since all the means are already made

available in abundance. It would just need the priest’s free

cooperation and correspondence.

  

            The priest should prepare his preaching spiritually, by

praying and offering sacrifices. Then he has to study and start

composing his thoughts and words, always keeping in mind both Christ

and the people he has to preach to. Of course, he has to give due

consideration to the different circumstances—place, time, issues, etc.

  

            There are just a few points that I would like to

highlight. In preaching, we priests should present Christ in a

positive and encouraging manner, helping people how to relate to him,

and not to alienate them by threatening, scolding or lecturing to

them. We need to use the appropriate tone and words, avoiding a

condescending tone and being ever sensitive to the sensitivities of

the people.

  

            And while we priests may propose, suggest or even

recommend a particular way of doing things, we should not give the

impression that it is the only way when many other legitimate ways can

also be resorted to.

  

            We should always respect the freedom of the people, always

treating them the way they are but also keeping in mind the way they

ought to be. This can only take place when we exert the effort to

imitate Christ who is the very personification of the proper blend

between the exclusivity of truth and the inclusivity of charity.

  

            We priests should not just remain in the level of saying

“do this or do that.” We have to give people many ideas of how to “do

this or do that.” And more than giving ideas, we should be the first

to give living testimony of what we preach, to such an extent that

people can say we practice what we preach.

What prayer builds up in us

IF we understand that our creation is still a work in

progress, that our life here on earth is a life with God in Christ

through the Holy Spirit who is still shaping and directing it until we

become his image and likeness, and children of his in Christ, then we

will realize how important and indispensable it is to pray.

  

            Prayer is our basic correspondence to God’s continuing

work of creation and redemption in us. We need it much more than we

need air or food. Thus, we need to do our part in learning it and in

doing it all our life.

  

            In other words, with prayer we do our part in building up

in ourselves the image of God who is fully revealed, given and shared

with us in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Christ is the pattern of

our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. We are supposed

to be “alter Christus,” another Christ.

  

            This should not be breaking news anymore. In fact, one way

or another we actually do some form of prayer, because even if we are

not talking with God, we would still be conversing with someone,

usually with our own selves or with some other entity. Prayer is

actually unavoidable in our life. It is part of our nature.

  

            But we need to pray properly. We need to talk with God,

and not just with ourselves or anybody else. God is our Creator and

Savior, our source and end and, of course, in-between. In other words,

God is everything to us.

  

            Of course, we have to exert due effort to learn how to

pray, just like anything else in our life. But once learned, then we

can launch ourselves in a divine adventure that is initiated by God

himself and will be completed and perfected by him.

  

            We have to continually ask ourselves, especially at the

end of the day when we do some examination of conscience, whether we

manage to pray properly, whether we can say that there is some

progress in ourselves becoming more and more like Christ, etc.

  

            In the end, that is the purpose of prayer. We just do not

solve or resolve some human problems and worldly issues when we pray,

although these too can be taken up in our prayer. We have to see to it

that we are becoming more and more like Christ through these problems,

issues and whatever circumstances and situations we can have in this

life.

  

            In fact, any moment can and should be a moment of prayer,

since we can and should always relate everything to Christ. But we

certainly would need some special moments of greater intimacy with him

by spending time in mental prayer, meditation and contemplation.

  

            Such exercise should put us in closer contact with God,

and should be the opportunity where we can see things better, discern

more closely God’s will and ways for us, and get energized to do a lot

of good in spite of difficulties. We get a better view of the entire

reality of our life, and can somehow find meaning for any happening in

our life.

  

            If at the end of a mental prayer, for example, we feel

tired and bored, it would be a clear sign that we have not done our

prayer well, or that it was not prayer we were doing.

  

            The ultimate proof of a good prayer is when we build up

the conviction that we are becoming more and more like Christ, that

our mind and heart are in communion with Christ. We reflect the power

of Christ.