Beware of Pelagianism

ANOTHER form of fake holiness mentioned in Pope Francis’

“Gaudete et exsultate” is what is known as Pelagianism that also

includes its mitigated but still erroneous idea of holiness that is

labeled as semi-Pelagianism. It is a heretical doctrine attributed to

a British theologian, Pelagius, who lived circa 360-418 AD.

            Pelagianism is the belief that holiness can be achieved

mainly if not exclusively through man’s effort alone, with hardly any

help of the divine grace. It goes against what St. Paul said clearly

that everything, especially sanctity itself, “depends not on human

will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.” (Rom 9,16)

            Not that human will and exertion are irrelevant in the

pursuit of holiness and everything that is good and proper to us. They

are, in fact, indispensable, but only as means, as evidence and

consequence of the working of God’s grace and his mercy.

            This clarification is crucial especially nowadays when

there is a lot of religious indifference, confusion and ignorance. We

may, in fact, see a lot of people who are doing a lot of good things,

but still missing the real thing. And that’s simply because their idea

of anything good is mainly subjective rather than objective. It

depends on their own understanding of what is good rather than the

good that truly comes from God.

            Due to such understanding, the consequent actions would

not be truly inspired by the love that comes from God. They would

simply come as a result of their own will and effort. And a will and

effort exercised in this way, that is, without God’s grace and

inspiration, would only be proud and vain.

            It is indeed very important that we examine closely the

motives of our actions and the source from which they spring as well

as the end to which they proceed. That’s because we can do many of

what may look like good acts but which are motivated by self-love, by

pride and vanity, rather than by the real love that comes from God

alone and is lived only with God.

            A Pelagian person is actually a very proud and vain

person. He is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, faking holiness through

his seemingly good works that may include many acts of piety, like

praying in a showy way, making a lot of sacrifices, being active in

church functions, etc.

            He personifies what St. Paul once said about the

importance of charity in our lives and about how charity can be

distinguished from seemingly good works: “If I have the gift of

prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have

a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

(1 Cor 13,2)

            A Pelagian person cannot stand the test of true love in

spite of the many good things he appears to be doing. This truth was

practically established by Christ in that encounter he had with a rich

young man. (cfr Mt 19,16-30)

            The rich young man appeared to be doing a lot of good, to

be following the commandments. But when Christ asked for his whole

heart by asking him to sell all he had and to just follow Christ, the

rich young man went away sad.

            A Pelagian person, in the end, has his own self to love

rather than God. He can be exposed to be such when the true and

ultimate demands of God’s love are made on him. Before this, he

somehow can be known when problems, difficulties, mistakes and

failures he can experience in his life would make him angry and

frustrated, rather than willing to suffer.

            Indeed, it’s time that we examine ourselves closely to see

if traces of Pelagianism, so subtle in its ways, are marring our

desire and pursuit for holiness.

Loving enemies is Christian

TO be able to love our enemies even as we try our best to

resolve with justice and charity our differences, conflicts and other

issues is clearly a sign of being Christ-like. It could be the proof

that one’s Christianity is real and genuine, and not fake.

            Christ said this in no unclear terms. “Love your enemies,”

he said, “and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons

of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and

the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous…” (Mt

5,44-45)

            We have to be ready to develop and assume this attitude,

always asking first of all for the grace of God and trying to have the

very mind and heart of Christ. We also need to discipline our

reactions and to train our emotions to conform to this basic Christian

standard.

            Yes, this ideal can only be possible and doable with God’s

grace and the constant effort to assume the very mind and heart of

Christ. We should never take this requirement for granted.

            In the first place, we have to remember that our true

identity is when we become another Christ knowingly and willingly.

This presumes a constant effort on our part, since this cannot be

considered as an automatic thing to happen in our life. This is not

falling into some kind of pious presumption. This is what we are

supposed to be. And God, for his part, is all ready to give us all

that we need to attain this goal.

            We should give full attention to this fundamental need of

ours, seeing to it that in our prayers we explicitly ask for this

grace. Let’s hope that we come out of our prayer deeply conscious of

who we are at the very core of our being and of how we are supposed to

behave, especially in the face of difficulties and when dealing with

enemies, or those not quite friendly with us.

            This will require tremendous effort, of course, but once

done, we will surely feel the way Christ felt even in his most

difficult moment when he had to suffer his passion and death on the

cross. That’s when we can echo St. Paul’s words: “I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2,20)

            There will be a kind of peace and joy that the world can

never give. There will be a sense of confidence and courage in spite

of the tremendous suffering involved. Somehow, even if we are still

immersed in our material or physical condition, we can manage to be

spiritual and supernatural in our bearing.

            We have to undertake the appropriate plan or program, or

some exercises and activities that will foster this kind of attitude

and outlook. Definitely, we need to be patient and hopeful, and kind

of sport about the usual drama in life where there will always be

things beyond our control. We have to learn to take certain things in

stride. If need be, we should just roll with the punches.

            Everyday, we have to make another step of progress in the

art of loving our enemies. It could be in the area of patience, or in

the skill of finding the saving grace of a person who otherwise is

full of defects, or the virtue of hope and optimism. Opportunities to

grow in these virtues will always be at hand. We need to seize every

chance we have to grow in them.

            We have to convince ourselves that all the effort needed

for this would be all worthwhile. It will surely unleash the power of

God’s grace and actualize the hidden potentials in our life.

We need to be with Christ always

CHRIST himself said it so clearly. “Whoever is not with me

is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Lk

11,23) “I am the vine, you are the branches.” (Jn 15,5)

            There is no way we can have a life that is proper to us

other than to be with Christ and to work with him. After all, Christ

is actually the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our

damaged humanity. We cannot be what we ought to be outside of Christ.

            Without Christ, everything will be vanity. “Vanity of

vanities,” as the Book of Ecclesiastes says. Without Christ, we would

simply be falling into self-indulgence which can be mesmerizing for a

while, even a long while. But in the end it would lead us nowhere.

            This is a truth of faith that has to filter down to the

ends of the world. We may have to do it slowly and with great effort,

but also steadily, never stopping because of certain difficulties and

resistance. To be sure, this is a truth of our nature, let alone, a

truth of faith. Our nature is not just biological, social, etc. It is

first of all spiritual that relates to the supernatural world in a

knowing and loving way.

            Yes, we have to respect the freedom of men, but we also

have to make everyone realize that we need to respect freedom itself.

And that can only mean that we have to conform ourselves to Christ

because he is the very author and personification of freedom. This is

a natural truth that should lead us to the spiritual and supernatural

world.

            Remember Christ saying, “I am the way, the truth and the

life. No one goes to the Father except through me.” Well, if Christ is

the truth, then he is also freedom, since it is the truth that will

set us free. (cfr. Jn 8,32)

            In other words, we cannot be in the truth and be free if

we are not with Christ. Let’s remember that truth and freedom are not

self-generated things. They are not our inventions. They come from our

Creator.

            We have to strive all our life that we be with him. That

is why, in the Mass, we always are reminded, “The Lord be with you.

And with your spirit.” It is to make us realize that we cannot be

without God.

            For his part, he already reassured us that he will always

be with us. “Behold, I am with you everyday, even unto the end of

time,” he said. (Mt 28,20) And we can be sure that his omnipresence in

us is never passive. It is a presence that is full of love, of

solicitude.

            The challenge and the task are enormous, indeed.

Convincing people about this truth, especially those who are not

inclined toward things like religion and faith, can seem impossible.

But it simply has to be done.

            We may have to start from very basic things without

mentioning anything yet about faith, God and the spiritual and

supernatural realities. The so-called classes on apologetics really

have to be carried out without let-up. Let’s hope that the task of

catechesis and evangelization never stops.

            There has to be a gradual process of introducing the

indispensable role of faith, of God and of spiritual and supernatural

realities to the people, making them understand that these are

essential elements in our life.

            We need to demonstrate the validity and necessity of faith

and the spiritual and supernatural realities. Obviously, a lot of

prayer and sacrifice should be done before, during and after every

effort we make for this purpose.

            But we cannot deny that talking about faith and the

spiritual and supernatural realities will always involve some

mysteries that can overwhelm what our senses can discern and what our

intelligence can understand. We need to help everybody develop a sense

of mystery in life.

Dealing with life’s trials

ALL sorts of trials can come to us anytime. They are

unavoidable. In fact, it would be good if we can already expect them,

so we can prepare ourselves for them. We have to learn how to deal

with them effectively.

            There definitely are human and natural ways to handle

these trials, difficulties and challenges in life. But we should never

forget that there are times when we could be completely helpless to do

something about them. Still, we have to remember that there is always

a way out.

            What we cannot solve or resolve in our own ways, God

always can. And the secret is to follow the example of Christ. In the

end, he just bore everything all the way to offering his life on the

cross. But he resurrected, and with that he conquered and removed the

sting of death, the worst thing that can happen to us.

            We have to strengthen our belief that only with Christ,

our redeemer, can we bear all the trials of life, find meaning in them

and even derive some good from them. With him, there is absolutely

nothing to worry, as long as we also do our part.

            We need to see very clearly how bearing all our problems

and difficulties with Christ can bring us to the best solution. That’s

simply because with Christ, our trials and difficulties would not

simply have a human solution, but one that can bring us to our eternal

destination in heaven.

            While we are most interested in finding human and natural

solutions to our problems, we should see to it that we are not trapped

by that mindset or system alone. We have to learn how to transcend

that attitude and enter into the world of our faith, of the spiritual

and supernatural dimensions of our life.

            God is a father to us all. He has given us everything that

we need, especially the ones that we need to gain our ultimate goal in

life. He has done this by giving us his Son who became man, Jesus

Christ, who continues to be present and alive in our lives, ever

helpful to us in our needs through the Holy Spirit.

            On this, St. Paul has this to say: “If God is for us, who

is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us

all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Rom 8,31-32)

            We need to etch these words indelibly in our hearts so

that whatever happens in life, we can manage to feel always secure and

hopeful. Let’s remember that as much as possible we should avoid being

frozen by some fears and doubts in life.

            On the contrary, we need to be confident and bold so that

we do a lot of good, we can do the things of God which are always for

the good of all men. Irrespective of how the outcome of our good deeds

would be, we know that they will do all of us a lot of good.

            So we have to learn how to suffer the way Christ suffered.

We have to learn how to be patient and to let go of certain things the

way Christ was patient and let go of things, like the strict

requirements of justice.

            Everyday we should take advantage of the many trials and

difficulties we meet to learn the art of Christian patience and the

value of suffering with Christ.

Times have indeed changed!

THAT’S, of course, an understatement. As someone said

before, change is the only permanent thing in this life. That might be

a bit stretched, but, yes, just the same it contains a lot of truth.

            I say this because the other day I had this amusing

experience of being seated in the plane between an elderly woman, at

least 70 years old according to my estimation, and a young boy of

about 9 or 10 years old.

            The woman, already with grey hair, was wearing denims with

several tears in them, much like what you see among the millennials.

And the boy, so small and looking innocent yet, already was wearing

earring on his left earlobe.

            Then, in another occasion while doing my brisk walking in

a park, I saw a pair of young ladies who looked decent enough and the

type that I usually see working in places like Jollibee or 7-Eleven.

But they wore shirts that shocked me. Printed on their shirts were the

words “I (heart) sucking head.”

            I immediately thought if there was another, more

acceptable meaning to those words than what I know. I must confess

that I was bothered for the rest of my exercise. Did they know what

those words meant, I asked myself. Flashing through my mind was the

thought that I am getting to be a stranger to the places I usually

find myself.

            Indeed, times are changing, and with them, many other

things are, too. I have to make adjustments in the way I see and judge

things. I know this should be an abiding concern, but sometimes I feel

like I have neglected this duty.

            Yet, in spite of all these observations, I took pleasure

in what Pope Francis said recently to those aspiring to become

priests. He told them “not to be scared of young people and of

tattoos” and to use these tattoos as a talking point to encourage

dialogue. He said that even behind the things that are not so good,

there is something that will bring us to some truth.

            That is, of course, a good idea. St. Paul told us that we

have to be all things to all men to be able to save all. (cfr. 1 Cor

9,22) And Christ, of course, is the prime example for this.

            We have to understand though that we can only live that

ideal if we are truly identified with Christ. Otherwise, there is no

other way but for us to ignore others, to find it difficult to adapt

ourselves to others, or worse, to be scandalized and be influenced by

them instead of us influencing them for the good.

            Toward this end, we cannot exaggerate the need for us to

truly be with Christ all the time. This will also require of us to

live a certain healthy detachment from our own ways and style of doing

things, of our own culture and tradition.

            In other words, we have to learn how to transcend beyond

the many conditionings we are subject to, no matter how legitimate

they are, because these conditionings do not have the exclusive

ownership of what is right and proper to us.

            In this regard, we have to be most careful to distinguish

between what is really essential and not in our human dignity as

persons and children of God. And we have to remember that even in the

essential things about us, there can be several ways and forms of

living them out legitimately.

            The essential things need not be lived in a uniform way.

There can be a great variety of living them. Obviously, we need to be

most discerning so that we do not end up compromising these essential

things.

            We have to learn how to be adaptive and flexible without

sacrificing what is essential in our dignity as a human person and a

child of God.

Spiritual life and preaching

WE have to remind ourselves that the effectiveness of a

priest’s preaching depends mainly on the state of his spiritual life.

More than his intellectual caliber and his speaking and entertaining

skills and all other human charms he possesses, it’s in the health of

his spiritual life where the people can truly hear the word of Christ.

            Let’s remember that Christ said to his disciples, “Whoever

listens to you listens to me.” (Lk 10,16) These words clearly presume

that the priest should be vitally identified with Christ so that his

preaching would actually be the preaching of Christ, and not just his

alone.

            While all his human powers and talents have to be used for

preaching, one has to see to it that that these powers and talents get

truly inspired by the spirit of Christ. In short, the priest has to

assume the very mind and heart of Christ when he preaches. Otherwise,

he will just be preaching himself to the people. And that would be a

very funny and anomalous situation.

            All the legitimate concerns for him to be effective in his

preaching, like he has  to be identified with the people, to be

innovative in order to flow with the times, etc., should come as a

consequence of his indispensable identification with the living Christ

to whom he is sacramentally conformed.

            Let’s remember that Christ is the perfect and lone

mediator between God and men. The priest can only be a good mediating

preacher to the extent that he becomes another Christ.

            The priest should always remember the radical identity

that he has. He is no one other than Christ, head of the Church. Even

when he is playing sports and doing an excursion, this awareness of

this identity should never be lost.

            Imagine if he is truly another Christ, if he has the very

mind and heart of Christ. He would never run out of things to say, he

would know how to read minds and the signs of the times, he would be

full of goodness and mercy, etc.!

            For this, he should always be praying, or at least,

conscious that he is in the presence of God. Everything in his life,

no matter how small and insignificant it is in human terms, should be

a material for his abiding dialogue with God.

            How important therefore it is to do everything just to be

another Christ not only in name and title, but most especially in

vivo! He should avoid simply being some kind of bureaucrat, an

official in the Church, a scholar, an expert in something. He has to

be another Christ, nothing short of that!

            When one strives to be another Christ, even his

limitations and mistakes can be very useful. And the opposite is also

true. When one is not truly another Christ, even the best qualities

and talents he has can be a danger to him and to everybody else. Let’s

remember what St Paul said in this regard.

            “Brothers,” he said, “consider the time of your calling.

Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the

world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to

shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world,

and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are.” (1 Cor

1,26-28)

            The path to be another Christ is that of humility that in

turn will always nourish our faith, hope and charity, or in short, our

spiritual life. We need to travel this path for one to be a good and

effective preacher.

How our patience should be

WE cannot deny that whether we like it or not, we need to

have patience, lots of it, in our life. Otherwise, we cannot survive

beyond our young age. There are just so many difficulties, problems,

issues and all sorts of predicaments that would demand from us nothing

less than patience--heroic, holy patience, in fact.

            But we have to make sure that our patience is not simply a

matter of some practical advantage or purpose, with some ulterior

motives. It should have a deeper source, a greater motive and a higher

objective. It would be a pity if those occasions where patience is

needed would miss the chance to base and orient our patience properly.

            And this can only mean that we pattern our patience after

the patience of Christ who bore all our sins by going through his

passion and death on the cross, all of this out of pure obedience to

his Father and pure love for us.

            In short, we have to have the mind and attitude of Christ

when developing and practicing patience. It’s only then that our

patience would acquire its true value and would play along the

providence of God.

            This can only be done when we have Christ vitally with us.

We should continually ask for his grace for this purpose. In fact, the

first thing we should do when we need to be patient is to ask for

God’s grace.

            And with God’s grace, let us develop the pertinent

attitudes, skills and virtues. Foremost among these would be a strong

trust in God’s providence that is accompanied by our all-out effort to

handle our challenges. We have to learn to always defer to God’s will

and ways even if they may appear to be against our reasoning and

calculations.

            We have to stretch our capacity to suffer, and even to

suffer with a smile. After all when we suffer with Christ, everything

will already be taken care of, irrespective of how things end.

          In this regard, we can always take advantage of our daily

events, already full of contradictions, to broaden and deepen our

capacity to suffer out of love, which is what patience is all about.

            We should practice restraint and moderation in our

thoughts and reactions. Since our spontaneous reactions cannot be

controlled, let’s see to it that we can manage to correct ourselves or

at least put ourselves in some cautious mode as soon as we can.

            We should always be careful with our emotions, moods and

passions. The same with the social trends and fashions that can

trigger a mob response to situations, instead of a more human and

charitable one.

            Our words should be well thought out before they are

uttered. More importantly, we should always arm ourselves with good

intentions, the skill to discern whatever good there may be in any

situation even if it is dominated by so much evil. This will make

patience easy and even enjoyable.

            We should avoid being dragged by negative thoughts

whenever we encounter difficulties. We should be quick to react in a

spiritual and supernatural way, always hopeful and optimistic even,

deeply convinced that with Christ, everything will always work out for

the good. Christ knows how to derive good from evil, how to resurrect

from the dead, etc.

            Our patience should always be marked by peace and

serenity. While the physical signs of pain and suffering cannot be

avoided, we should try our best, if we have true patience, that we

refrain from falling into self-pity and subjective misery. True

patience can only be lived with joy. A joyless patience is not true

patience.

Imitate the Good Shepherd

IF we truly want to be good Christians, we need to imitate

Christ as the Good Shepherd. That is to say, that we have to learn to

complicate our life to look for those who are lost. We just cannot be

contented with taking care of those who are already somehow safe in

the flock which, definitely, is already a complicated matter.

            We have to complicate our life some more, willing to leave

behind our comfort and convenience readily. Christ, in describing

himself as the Good Shepherd, said that he was willing to lay down his

life for his sheep. (cfr Jn 10,11-18) The immediate context of those

words was in order to protect his sheep. But we can readily say also

that his willingness to die for his sheep was meant also to look for

the lost one.

            We need to process this requirement of a good Christian as

a good shepherd very slowly, and start to develop the proper attitude,

skills and virtues to fulfil it. Definitely, we need to be strongly

identified with Christ, first of all, and then go through the details

of how to meet this requirement.

            Do we know what is to be lost, especially in the context

of today? It’s easy to identify those who openly consider themselves

as atheists, agnostics, heretics, etc., as lost. But there are those

who may appear to be very pious, very saintly but actually are also

lost, even to a greater degree, because of their most deceptive

inconsistency in their Christian life.

            And there are those who are deeply trapped in some kind of

addiction, whether it be in drugs, alcohol, sex, the internet, games,

gambling, etc. These cases will require a lot of creative and patient

interventions. Would we be willing to tackle this challenge?

            To be a good shepherd would require that we should always

be observing people and following or, even better, be promptly in the

know with regard to events, trends, fashions, signs of the times.

            We should sharpen our skills of discerning and assessing

the moral quality of a person’s actuations or status, and of the

different situations in life. We need to be ready with the appropriate

criteria with which to judge these things. So you can just imagine the

amount of prayer and study needed to attain this ideal.

            If we truly care for people, we should arrive at that

point where we get to know their strengths and weaknesses. Somehow we

would be able to monitor the developments of their lives. We have to

understand then that to be immersed in God is to be immersed also in

the lives of people. We cannot live in a cocoon. As Pope Francis

always reminds us, we need to reach out to the peripheries.

            For sure, to be a good shepherd, we should be willing to

get dirty, to be truly patient and hopeful in spite of the

difficulties and the likely setbacks we will experience along the way.

            And what makes things more exciting is that while we

should be ready to look for the lost, we should also see to it that we

don’t lose those who are already safe in the flock. So this means that

we have to have the right priorities in organizing our day.

            We cannot sacrifice our prayer life, our family life, our

professional life, just to search for the lost. Or better said, we

just have to know how to put all these competing goals together.

            I suppose this is the reason why to be truly Christian, to

be truly a saint, one would really need to be heroic, making

extraordinary sacrifices when the need arises. It cannot be any other

way. We need to know how to undertake great sacrifices.