Friday, March 30, 2018

Count the blessing, not the cost


HAPPY Easter! Christ is risen, alleluia, alleluia. We now
have the possibility of being a new creation in Christ, patterned
after him and empowered by him!

            If we are truly good men and women, let alone good
Christians, we should just count the many blessings we receive from
God, and be most thankful for them, thinking of how we can best use
them, rather than count the cost and then grumble for the effort and
the deficiencies that may be involved in raising it.

            The basic reality is that we have received a lot more from
God than what we can account for. We should try our best to
acknowledge these many blessings as best as we could. This basic
reality dominates much more than what we think are our deficiencies,
misfortunes and miseries we can have in life.

            And if we sincerely feel that we lack something that we
consider to be necessary in our life, then we can always ask God for
it, with faith, humility and patience, knowing that God is always in
control of things. We should not feel bad, much less, angry or sad or
desperate because of this lack.

            The important thing to do is to discern what God has in
mind for us at any given moment, because that would give us a good
picture of why we have what we have and why we don’t have what we
think we should have.

            In any event, it is always possible that what we have and
what we don’t have are God’s ways of relating us to him. They are not
meant to make us live our life independently of God.

            We can always presume that God always provides us with
everything that we need to live our life and vocation as well as carry
out our mission properly. So we can validly presume that what we have
and what we don’t have are just right for us at the moment.

            Just the same, since our life is like a pilgrimage, we can
also presume that God may want us to discard certain things that we
have at the moment, and look for those that we still do not have.

            Given these two possibilities, what is important is, as
said earlier, to relate ourselves to God always. Without relating
ourselves and our current condition to God, it is possible that the
many blessings we have received from God can harm us rather than do us
good or help us do the things we are supposed to do.

            Again, without relating ourselves and our current
condition to God, it is very likely that we can fall into all sorts of
frustration, anger and even desperation. We can fail to realize that
perhaps it is God’s way of making us go to him, to beg him for this
favor, and in the process, strengthen our relationship with him.

            What we can gather from all these considerations so far is
that we should try to be calm always, so that we can see and judge
things properly. This way we can act with greater prudence, as we can
get to see things more objectively and ultimately to see God’s will
and ways.

          It’s very important that we are always humble. In fact,
our humility should always grow deeper, because this is the only way
for us to see things and judge things properly. It allows faith to act
on us fully as testified by Christ himself who said:

            “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed
them to little children.” (Mt 11,25)

            St. James echoes the same idea in his letter: “God opposes
the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (4,6)


Thursday, March 29, 2018

The real anti-aging


MANY people today, especially the women and some men, are
quite concerned about aging. And they can get obsessed with how to
slow or delay it, if not avoid it altogether.

            This, to me, is quite understandable, because deep within
our heart and soul, we want to live forever, we want to go beyond the
limits of time and space, which is actually a manifestation of the
spiritual part of our nature.

            And if we want to be philosophical about this, we can say
that we are actually meant for immortality. We have a certain
connaturality with immortality and eternal life. The spiritual
dimension of our nature is wired and equipped for this purpose. But we
need to know how we can turn this longing into a reality.

            If our spiritual soul is mainly dominated by our bodily
aspects, then it cannot help but age with our own flesh. No amount of
creams, pills and Zumba exercises, of Belo and Calayan make-overs can
stop the process. At best, they can only do so much. Sooner or later,
age will catch up with them.

            But if it is animated by the spirit of God, with whom we
are actually intimately united, then our spiritual soul can transcend
the limits of our material nature and can enter into the eternal life
of bliss with God, even starting here on earth. The body can body
enter into a process of perpetual renewal and rejuvenation.

            This spiritual anti-aging knows how to deal with our
mistakes and sins that causes aging and ultimately will lead us to
death. And this means that our anti-aging ‘agent’ should be none other
than Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged
humanity.

            Yes, it’s only in Christ, it’s only when we are fully
animated by Christ’s spirit that we can manage to remain ageless
irrespective of the varying conditions of our body that will
unavoidably lead to its deterioration. Let’s never forget that as St.
Peter said in his second letter, “With the Lord a day is like a
thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (3,8) This can
only mean that we would be ageless with Christ.

            We need to do everything to be so animated by the spirit
of Christ that whatever situation and condition we may be in life, we
can still remain fresh and young, and reflect what the Book of
Revelation said:

            “The dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with
them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and
be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be
no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of
things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am
making everything new!’” (21,4-5)

            It’s important that we do not take this truth of our faith
for granted. We have to return to it and meditate on it often to
reassure ourselves of the possibility of our true immortality. We need
to do this because nowadays there are also other ideologies with
tremendous charm powers that promise immortality outside of God’s
power, and these claims can only be false.

            Of course, there are also ideologies that do not promise
immortality anymore. They simply believe that there is no more life
after death, and all this talk about eternal life is trash. But they
contradict a basic and undeniable longing we hold in our hearts.

            We need to strengthen our conviction that before we take
on any human effort to be always youthful, it is only in Christ who is
the real anti-aging agent for us, even while here on earth. Christ who
died and rose from the dead, Christ who conquered sin and death
itself. All of this, out of love. Loving in and with Christ is what
makes us forever young.


Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Up or down?


LET’S never forget that because of our freedom, we always
have the possibility and capability either to go up or down, to turn
right or left, to move on or to stop not only physically but also
morally and spiritually.

            In fact, in the spiritual and moral realm, the
possibilities are infinite, while in the physical dimension we
certainly have clear limits. Yes, we can be a saint or a sinner, a
hero or a villain. It’s our choice.

            Said in another way, the possibility is always there for
us to betray Christ like Judas, or to deny him like Peter. Or we can
be another Christ, as is what is most ideal, who remain faithful till
the end, whatever it takes, in our love for God and for everybody
else.

            We should try our best that we make the proper choice. All
the means needed for that purpose are already made available. It’s
really up to us now to make the proper choice and to be faithful to it
by availing ourselves of the means.

            For sure, there is always a need to wage a continuing
spiritual struggle. As long as we struggle interiorly, we would be
nourishing our relationship with God and with others. We would manage
to be faithful to whatever commitment we have entered into.

            We have to remember that is life is very dynamic, with all
sorts of challenges to face, problems to solve, issues to be
clarified. We need to see to it that our interior life, our spiritual
life, our thoughts, desires and intentions are firmly rooted on God,
their proper foundation.

            We need not only to purify our thoughts and intentions
from any stain of pride, vanity, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, anger,
etc. We need to also fill them and rev them up with true love and
wisdom. These are the reasons why we have to engage in a lifelong
interior or spiritual struggle.

            The ideal situation should be that we are always in awe at
the presence of God in our life, making him the principle and
objective of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We have to be
spiritually fit before we can be fit anywhere else—family-wise,
professionally, socially, politically, etc.

            We have to strongly remind ourselves that our thoughts and
desires should somehow start and end with God in heaven, from whom we
come and to whom we belong.

            This much, at least St. Paul tells us in very clear terms:
“Set your hearts on heavenly things, not the things that are on
earth.” (Col 3)

            It’s not that we ignore the earthly things. The most
obvious and undeniable reality is that we are here one earth, and we
just cannot and should not be indifferent to its affairs.

            What we are rather reminded of is that we learn how to
relate everything to God, and not get entangled with our merely
earthly and temporal affairs. Everything is meant to start and end
with God who is the Creator of everything and the very foundation of
reality. All our earthly affairs should be an occasion and a means to
relate ourselves to him.

            Our problem that we often do not realize is that we live
our life as if everything is just a matter of our concerns here.
There’s hardly any reference to heaven. We need to wake up from this
lethargy, make the necessary changes in our attitude and actuations,
and get to conforming our whole life to this truth of our faith.

            If we manage to resolve this problem, we can also manage
to be faithful to Christ until we become like him, and avoid the
possibility of betraying him like Judas and denying him like Peter.


Monday, March 26, 2018

We should die so as to live


THIS is again one of the paradoxes in Christian life.
These paradoxes are unavoidable since we have to deal with the many
conflicts and oppositions we have within ourselves and among
ourselves, not to mention the tension among the different dimensions
and aspects of our earthly life—the material and the spiritual, the
natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, etc.

            We have to learn how to be cool with this condition in our
life, and avoid falling into unnecessary stress and worries. This is
part of the territory. We can handle it perfectly well. We just have
to have the right attitudes and skills.

            Christ somehow referred to this particular paradox when he
said: “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much
fruit. Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life
in this world will keep it for eternal life…” (Jn 12, 24-25) And he
acted it out himself when he finally died on the cross and then
resurrected after three days.

            It would be good if we keep this paradigm in mind always.
We need to die in order to have eternal life with God. And this can
happen if we die with Christ, that is, with faith, hope and charity,
because only then can we share also in the resurrection of Christ.

            St. Paul said as much: “If we have been united with him
(Christ) in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in
a resurrection like his…If we have died with Christ, we believe that
we shall also live with him.” (Rom 6,5-8)

            We have to find ways to die a little everyday so that
little by little also we can achieve a certain degree of the life that
God meant for us, he who created us to be his image and likeness. We
have to avoid simply developing our life purely according to our
designs.

            We need to chisel out those parts in ourselves that are
not in conformity with God’s designs for us—our sins, our defects and
weaknesses. We have to render death to our pride, vanity, lust, greed,
laziness, etc.

            These of course will require a lot of time and effort, but
before anything else, we would need nothing less than the grace of God
to conquer them or at least to have control over them. And God himself
gives us this grace abundantly.

            This is what is meant by dying a little every day. We have
to pray and make sacrifices, denying ourselves of something, even the
legitimate ones, like food and drinks and some means of comfort
without compromising our health, spiritual, physical and otherwise.

            We have to learn to detach ourselves from earthly things
while using them, so that our heart can only be filled with love for
God, and with that love, we can love everybody and everything else
properly.

            We have to see to it that while we die a little everyday
according to what is suggested above, there should also be some kind
of awareness that we are being purified, liberated from some burden,
etc. In other words, while there is some pain, there should also be a
corresponding feeling of joy and peace, otherwise our dying would be
dying for nothing.

            There definitely should be some feeling that we are
getting more intimate with God and with all the others, irrespective
of how they are to us. This is how we ought to die so as to live the
life proper to us.



Saturday, March 24, 2018

Doubt Christ no more


IN the run-up toward the culminating act of his redemptive
mission here on earth, Christ finally was quite open about who he
really was. That is, that he was the Christ, the expected Redeemer,
the son of God who became man for our sake.

            And yet in spite of all the miracles and the wonderful
teachings he gave them, many of the people continued to be doubtful
and even suspicious of him. On several occasions, they even tried to
harm and eliminate him.          Of course, in the end they got their
way. They managed to put Christ to death in the most ignominious way
to die, i.e., to be crucified.

            It is a phenomenon that continues to take place today, in
spite of the most convincing of the miracles of Christ—his own
resurrection that later led to his ascension into heaven that was
witnessed by a good number of people.

            That many of us continue to doubt and even to be
suspicious of him can be seen in the fact that we continue to take him
for granted, to put him aside from our daily affairs as if he is
irrelevant or just a drag to our activities, and even to openly reject
and to be hostile to him.

            We need to correct this predicament immediately and
strongly, otherwise we would be fully cut off from the very source and
keeper of our humanity. There are many ways to resolve this problem.
We obviously cannot cover all of them, but we can at least mention a
few.

            One way is to disabuse ourselves from banking our belief
in Christ mainly on some tremendous miracles and extraordinary events.
That would be like testing or doubting God always. We should believe
in Christ, with or without miracles.

            Christ himself complained about this. “Unless you people
see signs and wonders you will not believe,” he said to a court
official whose daughter was dying. (Jn 4,48)

            We need to keep our faith alive and burning. We should
never allow it to cool down. That’s why we should strive to develop a
vibrant life of piety that is supported by a concrete plan for which
we should not be sparing in our efforts and sacrifices. It cannot be
denied that a plan to support our life of faith and piety will always
involve a lot of effort and sacrifice.

            Things should come to the point when we somehow can see
Christ in all the situations of our life, and discern his will for us
at any moment. In other words, that we practically make ourselves
contemplative souls even the midst of the world.

            This is not falling into fantasies. This is, in fact,
making ourselves most realistic, because in spite of our limitations,
we cannot deny that Christ is in everything and is actually
intervening in our life always. This is because being God, Christ is
the very foundation of all reality. He is everywhere.

            Let us hope that we can have a vivid awareness of the
presence of Christ all throughout the day, 24/7, and that we can be
drawn always to correspond to his loving and merciful will. We should
feel as much as possible God’s continuous love for us, and we should
try to repay that love with our love. Let’s never set him aside.

            The ideal to aim at is that we get fully conscious of
being with Christ all the time, and that it is he who is actually
guiding us and showing us the way of how to proceed in any endeavor.
That is why we need to set aside some time for some meditative prayer
so as to discern more clearly God’s will and ways.


Friday, March 23, 2018

Our capacity to suffer


SINCE suffering and death are unavoidable in our life, we
just have to see to it that we develop the appropriate skill and
capacity to suffer and die. In this regard, the only way to proceed is
to be vitally identified with Christ who knew how to suffer and die,
how to conquer sin and the suffering and the death that come as a
consequence of sin.

            And let’s take note of this important point. Not only is
he teaching us how to suffer. He actually accompanies us in our
suffering and death. He is willing to suffer and to die with us!

            This is what we can gather as we go through the passion,
death and resurrection of Christ during the celebration of what is
known as the Easter triduum that starts in the evening of Holy
Thursday with the Mass of the Last Supper, then the Passion and Death
of Christ on Good Friday and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

            It would be good if we find time to meditate more deeply
and slowly on this most important event in the liturgical calendar
that actually culminates and summarizes the redemptive work of Christ.

            We have to understand that Christ’s passion, death and
resurrection are what complete our creation, providing us with
everything we need to be reconciled with God our Creator and Father
and to be what we ought to be.

            And all we have to do now is to apply the merits of
Christ’s redemptive work on ourselves. Let’s remember that Christ does
not impose his good designs for us on us. We have to freely accept and
correspond to them.

            So, we really need to know how to suffer with Christ. Any
problem that we encounter in life, in whatever form and degree it
comes, should always be referred and united to the suffering of
Christ. We have to avoid going through our suffering simply on our
own. That would simply be disastrous.

            With Christ, we would know why suffering comes, why it can
be a redemptive means, a clear expression of love and of obedience to
the will of God. With Christ, we would lose the fear of suffering and
would even develop a welcoming attitude toward it, considering that it
is not only good for us only, but also for others. We would realize
that it has tremendous sanctifying, purifying and atoning power.

            Any form of suffering is actually an invitation for us to
unite ourselves with Christ more intimately, and to join him in the
continuing work of the redemption of man. That is why suffering has a
very positive value.

            We need to process these truths and considerations more
slowly so that we can develop the appropriate attitude and the
relevant skills. We should learn to suffer not only in silence but
also in joy and optimism. The truth is that Christ has taken up all
our suffering. We really have nothing to worry about. Our role is only
to have some share of it to enable us to relate ourselves to Christ.
Isn’t that wonderful?

            Suffering therefore can and should be a happy event for
us. And when due to our human weakness, we cannot help but feel
burdened and pained, Christ also has reassured us to go to him so he
can refresh us. (cfr. Mt 11,28) So we should not delay in having
recourse to him whenever we in some way feel down, low and out.

            Thus, our suffering should not be a hindrance in doing
what we are supposed to do—sanctifying ourselves, sanctifying our
duties and the world in general, and helping others to sanctify
themselves. It can be a tremendous aid in carrying out the essential
tasks and responsibilities we have in life.





Thursday, March 22, 2018

Beware of the Frankenstein effect


WE have to be most wary of the so-called Frankenstein
effect of our new technologies. As defined by some dictionary, the
Frankenstein effect is “any agency or creation that slips from the
control of and ultimately destroys its creator.” It is like a sweet
poison, a friendly fire.

            We cannot deny that many of our wonderful inventions, the
new technologies and gadgets that have given us tremendous advantages
and conveniences, have spoiled and practically destroyed lives of many
people, especially the young ones who are very vulnerable since they
do not know yet the art of prudence and self-discipline in their use.

            No wonder some prominent people involved in the making and
selling of these new technologies and gadgets regret making or selling
them because of the great harm and damage these things have caused.

            Some of them even have gone to the extent of refusing to
use these gadgets anymore. Or they prohibit their children to use them
especially while in the bedroom, for example, where they are most
vulnerable.

            But these disturbing developments should not translate
into banning all these technologies and gadgets altogether. What they
should provoke and inspire is for us to make serious effort to teach
and learn prudence and self-discipline in the use of these things.

          And there’s only one main principle we have to follow for
all of us to learn prudence and self-discipline in this regard. And
that is that we all train ourselves to be God-centered. If we are not
clear about this or are weak in this area, there is no way we can
derive a true good from these wonderful human inventions.

            We cannot over-emphasize what Christ said in this regard.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you.” (Mt 6,33) We have to do everything so
that this clear indication of Christ becomes our fundamental attitude
toward our worldly affairs, and especially toward our use of the new
technologies.

            Let’s hope that we can live out what Psalm 27,7-9 says:
“Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and
answer me. When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your
face, O Lord, I shall seek.’ Do not hide Your face from me, Do not
turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon
me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!”

            It’s good that we carve these words deep in our heart so
we can always recall them especially in our times of difficulty or
trouble. But more than that, we should try to build up our desire to
see Christ in everything, in everyone and in every situation, good or
bad.

            Everyday, let’s see to it that what drives us is the
desire to seek Christ. From the moment we wake up in the morning till
the time when we are about to retire, let us keep that desire strong
and vibrant. That is the only way we can avoid the pitfalls of our
weaknesses, the many temptations around and the consequences of sin,
both ours and those of others.

          We should realize that it’s when we are vitally united and
identified with Christ that we would experience the peace that only
Christ can give and not the way the world gives peace. Besides peace,
we can experience a deep sense of confidence and security despite the
difficulties we have to face.

            Most of all, we can manage to be prudent and disciplined
in the use of the many fascinating worldly inventions and thus avoid
getting spoiled and destroyed by them. We can avoid the Frankenstein
effect!


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The family as center of formation


THERE’S a certain urgency to make the family today an
effective center of formation. With all the growing developments and
complicated challenges of our times, we cannot afford to sit pretty
and just allow blind fate to take its course. We have to take the bull
by the horns.

            We need to remember that the family plays a very strategic
role in the development of a person and of society in general. It
should be able to handle the duties and responsibilities inherent to
its nature and purpose.

            We cannot deny the fact that many people have inadequate,
if not erroneous understanding of what the family and its closely
related institution of marriage are. In the US today, for example,
they are now legalizing and are openly promoting the soc-called
same-sex marriage and open marriages.

            It’s no wonder that we have many broken marriages and
dysfunctional families nowadays with matching complicated
consequences. Of course, the recourse to divorce does not solve the
problem. It can even make things worse.

            Everything has to be done to address this fundamental
problem. And all the subsidiary institutions and offices—the Church,
government, schools, NGOs, etc.—should lend a hand.

            Continuing formation and evangelization about marriage and
family has to be pursued without letup. Of course, the Church can take
the lead in this, but this can be done also by many other people in
the secular field. In this regard, the laity should also take a lot of
initiative, since this matter concerns them more than the clergy, and
they have the experience and the competence to talk about this matter.

            For one, couples planning to marry should be made to
realize clearly that their marriage brings with it the duty to make
their family the basic center of formation for their children. They
should be prepared and equipped to carry out this delicate duty.

            As the basic center for formation, the family that is led
by the parents should know how to lay the foundations of the human
virtues and the life of faith and piety of the children. It should be
well-versed with the doctrine of faith and the traditions of piety so
that as early as possible the children would have the right attitudes
and outlook in life.

            Parents, for example, should know how to distinguish the
different characters and temperaments of their children as well as how
to motivate each one of them as he or she is. For this, parents may
need some basic training themselves which can be offered by the
parishes and schools, and even public and private offices.

            Parents should be ready by acquiring the necessary
competence to face the modern challenges of raising children,
especially the teen-agers, today. They must know how to run a home,
how to be good administrators of money and the things of the house,
how to understand the character of the children, how to get the
children improve in their individual behaviours, etc.

            Parents should know how to inspire their children to pray
and work, to develop virtues and the skills in dealing with pressures
and temptations around. A clear plan of formation should be
articulated with due diligence such that in time a certain healthy
family life and culture are established.

            Parents should realize that their own formation is also
something they should take care of. They have to update themselves
regarding marriage and family life through an ongoing plan of
formation. In this, they can also take initiatives, with the help of
other parents and other experts, to organize classes, talks and chats
for this purpose.

            The important thing to remember is that the family is made
an effective basic center of formation for the children.


Monday, March 19, 2018

What to tell Grade 6 graduates?


I WAS asked recently to say the Baccaluareate Mass for the
Grade 6 graduates of a certain school here in Cebu. That immediately
brought me to think about what to tell these young boys and girls.
More precisely, I thought of what Christ would tell them especially at
this juncture of rapid world development.

            Definitely, these graduates have to be inspired and
encouraged to look forward unafraid to the next stage of their
education and to the future in general. They have to be reassured that
things are looking good and that there are now more and more
opportunities for them to grow in knowledge, to learn new skills, to
meet more friends and people, etc.

            But neither can we be blind to the dangers that also lurk
along the way. We cannot deny that these dangers are not only many but
also are most tricky and subtle. How to alert these graduates of these
clear and present dangers without frightening them is the challenge to
face. More than that, how to train and equip them to tackle the
challenges and trials of the times is an urgent task to do.

            But before anything, it should be made clear to them that
everything depends on their relationship with God. And precisely the
purpose of education, to put it bluntly, is to make the students know,
love and serve God.

            Another way of saying that is to tell them that they have
to aim at becoming ‘another Christ’ who is the pattern of our humanity
and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. It would be good that as
early as possible these young boys and girls realize deeply that their
creation by God is still ongoing and that the finished product of
their creation is precisely for them to be ‘another Christ.’

            They should be instilled with a deep sense of religion and
piety, especially these days when the culture of secularism and
worldliness is getting invasive and becoming dominant. They have to be
made to realize that everything has to have God as the constant
reference point. In this, we have to teach and show them how to do it.

            Aside from a deep sense of religion and piety, the
graduates have to be encouraged to cultivate a deep sense of family.
We cannot deny that there are nowadays very strong forces that tend to
weaken family life. There are now, sad to say, many broken and
dysfunctional families. This problem has to be addressed urgently.

            Things should be done so that the graduates can enjoy a
healthy family life where they can feel very much at home with
everybody, where they feel loved and grow in their love for the
others, where they grow in the virtues, especially order, hard work,
etc.

            And lastly, the graduates have to be taught to develop a
strong and healthy personal, spiritual life. In this regard, they have
to be taught the value and the art of prayer and sacrifice. This is a
very delicate affair that has to be handled properly, giving these
young boys and girls the proper motivations.

            They should be encouraged to open up with someone whom
they can trust—their parents, first of all, and then their teachers
who should try to be their mentors, perhaps some priests and friends
who have the competence to guide them. They should feel reassured by
the help these people can give them. They should avoid keeping things
to themselves, especially when they have problems and difficulties.

            There actually are many more and even endless things to
tell them, but we do not have enough space for them now. Let’s just
pray for them and wish them all the best!