WE have to be humble enough that our certainties can
never cope with
the mysteries of life. No matter how objective and
scientific these
certainties are derived, no matter how deep and
exhaustive our
philosophies, theologies and ideologies are made, our
certainties just
cannot take all the mysteries in our life.
Even in the world of nature where in theory we have the
capacity to
know things conclusively, we often find ourselves in
situations of
tentativeness and even of outright error. That is why we
are always in
the process of discoveries and we would not know when we
can end it,
that is to say, when we can say that we have known
everything to be
known in the world of nature.
This does not mean that our certainties can never know
the truth, even
the absolute, and not just relative, truths. Yes, we can,
but the best
that we can do is to project ourselves to infinite
possibilities,
because even the absolute truths are not things that are
frozen. They
are always dynamic.
Our certainties can only tackle some aspects and levels
of the reality
that is proper to us. We need to realize more deeply that
we have to
contend not only with natural and even spiritual
realities but also
with supernatural realities that simply are above our
nature to know,
unless some revelation is made which should be
corresponded to with
our act of belief.
Indeed, we have to be truly humble to acknowledge this
fact of life
and behave accordingly. While we can know some aspects of
the truth,
we can never say that we know everything. Not even our
mathematical
precision and scientific accuracy can warrant us to claim
that we know
everything.
That is why we need to be most careful with our
judgments. We have to
judge fairly, that is, with love of God and neighbor as
the main
motive for judging. From the Book of Leviticus, we read:
“You shall
not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither
partiality to
the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your
fellow men
justly.” (19,15)
If we have love for God and neighbor as the main motive
for judging,
we would know what to say, how to say it, and when to say
it. And
somehow we can manage to judge all things, just as St.
Paul once said:
“He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself
is judged of
no man.” (1 Cor 2,15)
We have to do everything to be able to judge people and
things with
love for God and neighbor as the driving force. This can
mean that we
really need to pray and meditate closely on the life,
words and deeds
of Christ who knew how to read the minds of people, and
what to say,
how to say it and when to say it.
We may still not be able to fully capture the many
mysteries of our
life, but at least we are approximating them. And that is
why it is
also necessary that we be always game in this life and
never to lose
our good humor so that even in our mistakes, we can still
manage to
move on.
We also have to make sure that our inability to fully
capture life’s
mysteries should not dampen our eagerness to know and
love Christ
more. Rather it should prod us to know and love Christ
better. And
with that motive, let us polish and refine our
certainties some more.
No comments:
Post a Comment