Work as prayer

WE should not miss the chance to make our work prayer

also. As long as it is honest work, regardless of whether it is

manual, technical or intellectual, it can and should be part of God’s

providence over us, of God’s continuing work over us.

  

            As such, it is something that would be pleasing to God and

can serve as a way to praise and adore him, thank him for the many

blessings he has given us, or to serve as atonement for our sins and

the sins of others as well as proof of our faith and love for him

especially when we ask for favors from him.

  

            We should never regard our work as purely human with no

connection to God’s will and ways. We should never regard our work as

purely temporal and earth-bound. It has eternal dimensions and

potentials. In fact, it can and should be our usual way to develop and

achieve holiness.

  

            In that perspective, work is no hindrance in our

continuing relationship with God and with others, no matter how

hidden, mundane and secular our work may be. It need not be a break

from our life of prayer and contemplation even in the midst of our

very worldly activities.

  

            We therefore have to broaden our understanding of the true

character of our ordinary daily work. Our work should not be motivated

or inspired by merely human and earthly values no matter how

legitimate they may be.

  

            That’s because if not motivated by love of God and carried

out as an offering to God, and because of that, also as our sign and

contribution to the common good of men, it would not lead us to where

we should be. We can rightfully be reproached by Christ when he said:

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his

soul?” (Mk 8,36)

  

            We obviously need to readjust our attitude toward our

ordinary daily work. While it can involve dirt and grime, or the

sophisticated technicalities of the arts and sciences, it is actually

something sacred, a part of God’s design for us, and an effective

vehicle for us to relate ourselves to God in an abiding way.

  

            Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that with our work,

as long as it is done with great faith and love for God and others, we

can already touch heaven. It is when our work can also truly sanctify

us, can attract God’s grace to us. We should never think that our work

only has temporal and worldly value.

  

            We have to inculcate the proper understanding of our work

as early as possible, especially in homes and schools, so that the

general culture would be one where the sanctifying value of work is a

given and everyone is working according to that spirit.

  

            As of now, we can say that we are still light years away

from that proper understanding of work. Many of us still do not see

God in our work. We still do not realize that whatever art, science

and technology we discover and make use of, come from God and are

there to lead us to God. We have the notorious tendency to expropriate

them to ourselves, without relating them to God.

  

            We need to see the organic link between our spiritual life

and our life of work, between our piety and our temporal and worldly

affairs. We should overcome the usual dichotomy we have between our

spiritual life and our life of work.

            We only have one life, though with different aspects, each

one with its distinctive character and manner of being that should be

respected. We have to learn how to integrate them together, and not

fragment them.

Developing a sense of communion

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints and

the Commemoration of All Souls, we should be reminded of that

beautiful, if very overwhelming, reality that all of us, from Adam to

the last man still to be born, are meant to live in communion with God

and with one another.

  

            It is a communion of heart and mind, of spirit, marked by

love and truth that can only originate and be maintained in God

through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The dimensions of this communion go

beyond space and time, beyond the material. They go into the spiritual

and supernatural.

  

            This is what is called the communion of saints, since as

God’s creatures, made in his image and likeness, all of us are meant

to form one people, one body with one soul in Christ who, as the Son

of God and perfect image that God has of himself, is the pattern of

our humanity, and as the Son of God who became man to redeem us from

our sins, is the savior of our damaged humanity.

  

            In short, it is God through Christ in the Holy Spirit who

is the source and maintainer of this communion. This communion of

saints involves all humanity—those who are already in heaven, those

still on earth and those still purifying themselves in purgatory.

There is a certain God-given dynamic of inteconnectivity and sharing

among all the members of this communion.

  

            It is important that we are aware of this truth of our

faith so that we can both enjoy the rights and privileges of such

communion, and fulfill the duties that fall on us to keep that

communion going.

   

            Yes, with the keen awareness of this communion, we are

assured of God’s love and mercy for us. And so, we really have no

reason to worry so much about anything. We just have to try our best

to do our part of deserving what God wants us to be.

  

            Among the many implications of this truth of our faith is

that we ought to broaden our attitude to things to include, first of

the all, the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life and in

our relations with others.

  

            We need, for example, to know more about the saints

through whose intercession we can ask favors from God. This is not to

mention that they can truly edify us and help us in our own

sanctification with their example. They lived certain aspects of

Christian life to a heroic degree. They deserve to be emulated,

especially when their particular spirituality or charism fits more

with our personal circumstances.

   

            Then, we have to exert effort to relate ourselves with

everybody else in this life. While we have our own limitations, we

should always try to be open to the possibility of knowing more and

more people and in an increasingly better way.

  

            We have to remember that we should not only rely on our

own powers, but should first of all seek God’s grace whose

effectiveness knows no limits. With God’s grace, what is impossible to

us becomes possible.

  

            Besides, precisely because of this communion of saints,

whatever good we do, no matter how small and hidden, will always

redound to the good of all. This realization should make us generous

in doing good all the time. We don’t have to wait for some

extraordinary situations to do good. The ordinary tasks of the day,

done with love, can already generate a lot of good for everyone.

  

            We should also keep in mind the souls in purgatory. They

are our brothers and sisters. Their death has not separated them from

us. And they are in need of great help which we can readily give if we

would just make the effort to pray and offer sacrifices for them.

  

            May we develop a keen sense of communion!

Fluidity and stability

WE cannot deny that life is very fluid, very dynamic.

There are many issues to tackle, pressures to bear, problems and

challenges to meet, deadlines to meet. To top it all, there can be

many surprises along the way and mysteries to contend with. This is

not to mention the constant battle between good and evil that rages in

our hearts.

  

            And yet in all this, we have to learn how to have focus,

to stay on course, to be stable so as not to get lost or even

confused. We should avoid getting tossed back and forth by just any

kind of wave in the ocean of life, or blown here and there in the

drama of life.

  

            Definitely, what is needed is to have a clear vision of

our real and ultimate goal in life, and then arrange all the other

elements in our life so as to attain that goal. I wonder if everyone

has this concern to establish a clear vision of our ultimate goal.

  

            Having this vision would help us to distinguish between

what is essential and what is not, and to develop a sense of priority.

As some management technique would have it, we have to start something

with the end always first in mind. Otherwise, we would be going

nowhere.

  

            That is why we have to bring into the picture our core

beliefs in life, since that is where we would have the idea of what is

the end or goal that is proper to us. Is it just material success or

something spiritual and supernatural?

              This is already a big challenge since right now there are

just too many ideologies and philosophies, not to mention, lifestyles

and cultures that compete in defining what the ultimate goal of man

is.

  

            We need to explain again and again, with gift of tongue,

that it is Christ who tells us what man is. It is to him that we

should go to know about the ultimate end of man. And Christ’s

teachings are now deposited, interpreted and taught by the Church.

   

            In the school where I work, the Christian view of life as

taught by the Church is, of course, proclaimed. It is not imposed or

forced on everyone. I respect the consciences of students who may hold

positions of unbelief, doubt and confusion.

             The idea is simply to accompany them pastorally,

explaining things, suggesting, opening horizons, even correcting. Yes,

sometimes and very occasionally, scolding can help too. Many if not

all of them actually have no problem accepting the Catholic faith, but

the challenge is how they can be stably consistent to that faith.

  

            It is to help them walk, run, climb, swim and fly properly

in the flow of life. It is for them to develop and grow in their

spiritual life, tutoring them in the art of prayer and the whole range

of a life of piety suited to their personal condition.

  

            When they make their first awkward baby steps in this

regard, it is important that they be closely supervised. Thus, it is

necessary that I win their friendship and confidence. This will

require a heavy investment of time and effort that should be

underwritten with a lot of prayers and sacrifice.

  

            Given the temper of the times that make many young people

very materialistic and worldly, the challenge is indeed great. In

fact, it is overwhelming. But there is always hope. And all the effort

needed to help them is indeed worth it.

  

            Let us hope that we can count on many people who can help

in this delicate task of helping the youth how to be stable in their

Christian life amid the dizzying fluidity of the real world. Let’s

hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

Prayer just a placebo?

MANY of the so-called millennials think so. They say that

prayer simply serves as a tool to calm them down, relieve them of some

worries, but it hardly has any real effect. By that claim, they seem

to mean that even with what they consider as their fervent prayer,

life continues to go on. That is, with many of their petitions, dreams

and desires unanswered and unfulfilled.

            This is, of course, regarding prayer from a wrong

perspective. But in spite of that, I would readily reassure them that

any placebo effect of prayer should not be belittled. For prayer to

have a placebo effect is already a good and tremendous benefit, and

should not be a reason or excuse to reject it.

            In fact, if only for its placebo effect, prayer should be

resorted to always. Even doctors do that when the case they are

handling cannot be cured so far by any drug that they know of. We

should never ignore the importance of a placebo unless we use it to

deceive ourselves and to justify the lack of due responsibility.

            But prayer, irrespective of whether it only gives us a

placebo effect, is a necessity for us. It is the basic way of relating

ourselves to God who is always with us, who always loves and cares for

us. It is the first thing we do to correspond to God’s love and

goodness for us.

            The important thing to remember is that we be always

sincere in our prayer. It should come as consequence of our faith in

God, of our love for him. It is our way of worshipping him who is

actually everything to us, of thanking him for the many blessings we

have received from him, many of them we may not even be able to

account for.

            It is also our way of asking forgiveness for our sins as

well as a way of making reparation for them. And, of course, prayer is

our way of asking for some favors from God—and favors and requests we

will never run out of.

            Prayer serves a lot of purposes. The only thing we have to

remember is that we do it with utmost sincerity and humility. We

should avoid just going through the motions of prayer. We should mean

what we say in our prayer. We should, with our faith, feel a certain

intimacy with God who is a father to us and who loves us always.

            To consider prayer as a waste time or that it simply

serves as a placebo is to misunderstand prayer. Such misunderstanding

can come about as a result of a certain mentality, so common nowadays

among the young ones. It is the mentality of entitlement. It is to

think that they do not have to do or work so much to be entitled to

some benefits or advantage.

            This is now a big challenge. While it is true that today’s

generation enjoy more things compared to what the previous generations

enjoyed, or that they know more things, etc., it does not mean that

they are exempted from work and from prayer, especially those types

that involve a lot of effort and sacrifice.

            In fact, given what they have and enjoy now, today’s

generation should have a keener sense of responsibility of growing

more in the different virtues—hard work, justice, prudence,

temperance, fortitude and many others. They should be aware of the

dangers of complacency and self-indulgence. They have to understand

that these things can only spoil them if they do not do anything about

them.

            They have to know how to make good use of their time and

of the many conveniences the modern things are giving them. They have

to have a keener sense of the spiritual and the supernatural, and

avoid wallowing in the mud of the material and the transitory things.

Thus, they really have to pray properly.

The restlessness of love

THERE’S an undeniable restlessness when we are truly in

love. With love, we cannot afford to remain idle and passive. Love

will always set us on fire, making us fervent, passionate, driven,

zealous. No difficulty or problem can stop it. Boredom has no place in

love. Love will always find a way around obstacles.

            Love will always be inventive and creative. It never

ceases its drive for serving God and others. It is not afraid of

sacrifices. It does not count cost. It gives itself without measure.

In fact, it considers the cost and sacrifices involved as signs of its

intensity. In short, it is freely given and is its own reward. It does

not expect to be reciprocated, though it would certainly welcome being

requited.

            To be sure, this restlessness of true love is compatible

with peace and joy. Its tension is constructive and sweet, not

destructive nor bitter. Its zeal does not leave behind the details of

understanding, compassion and affection. It knows how to go slow or to

‘waste’ time when the occasion requires them. But its impelling

forcefulness abides.

            It would know how to adapt itself to every person and

situation without compromising itself. Its focus is not lost. It stays

the course. It is keenly discerning of what is essential without

unduly neglecting the non-essentials as long as they make things more

integral, more complete and perfect. The restlessness of true love is

the genuine expression of the empowerment proper to us.

            We need to find out if we have this kind of restlessness.

If what we have instead makes us more agitated than peaceful and

joyful, then it can be a restlessness that is motivated by

selfishness. It could be a result of a worry or anxiety that comes

from a lack of faith and hope. Or worse, it could be a symptom of

malice, or concupiscence, for example.

            To have this restlessness of true love, we need to train

ourselves always to be thoughtful of others, that is, of God first and

then of everybody else following a certain hierarchy. This is actually

what is proper to us. Remember that when Christ was asked which was

the greatest commandment of God, he replied that it was to love God

with everything and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

            The moment we think simply of ourselves or when we just

allow our thoughts to go anywhere without direction, we would actually

be undermining our own nature. That’s because we would be going

against the character of love for which we have been created. We would

simply be indulging on ourselves, a sign of selfishness that will

always spoil us.

            It is not that we do not think or take care of ourselves.

We should. It, in fact, is against common sense, let alone, God’s

commandment, if we neglect our own selves. But the concern we have for

ourselves should always be related to our duties toward God and

others. Otherwise, that concern would be destructive to us, sooner or

later.

            Yes, we have to think of our own health, our own security,

and even of our comfort, convenience and our own name and reputation.

But all these should be pursued in relation to our duty toward God and

others.

            We need to train ourselves in the art of thinking always

of God and of the others. And we have to help others to do so. Let’s

strive that this becomes an abiding trait in us. Failing in that would

actually mean failing in our life. It is as simple as that.

            In this regard, we cannot deny that we have a tremendous

challenge to face, given the temper of the times that is now given to

so much self-indulgence. Just the same, God will always be around,

guiding and helping us in this delicate task.

The power of prayer and fasting

THERE is an interesting episode in the gospel where Christ

mentioned the great power of prayer and fasting. It is recorded both

in the gospels of St. Matthew (17,14-21) and St. Mark (9,17-21). It is

about a man who begged Christ to cast out a demon possessing his son.

He had previously asked Christ’s disciples to do it but they failed.

            When Christ finally drove the demon out of the boy, the

disciples asked Christ, “Why could we not cast him out?” And so Christ

said, “Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if you

have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this

mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove. And

nothing shall be impossible unto you. This kind can only come out by

prayer and fasting.’”

            Here we are given a clear indication of how our faith can

be made strong and powerful. It is through prayer and fasting. It is

something that we have to learn to do as well, especially when we are

faced with a big problem or a strong temptation.

            Prayer is our duty to maintain our relationship with God

and to share in whatever he has. Fasting is like a prayer of our body

that also needs to be in vital relation with God. It purifies the body

of the effects of our sins and strengthens it to enter into a loving

relation with God. Both comply with what Christ said about what we

need to do to follow him, that is, we need to deny ourselves and carry

the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24)

            We have to make sure that our prayer is real prayer, that

is, a real conversation with God. We have to see to it that we are

truly making contact with him, which actually should be no problem

since God is always around and treats us with love.

            We have to be wary of our tendency to just go through the

motions of praying. We can now easily affect the appearance of praying

without actually praying. This is a problem that we have to

acknowledge and proceed to find solutions.

            We have to check on our attitudes and dispositions. Are we

really exercising our faith? Is our piety fervent? Or are we, on the

contrary, bogged down by laziness, complacency, doubts, and all the

forms of pretension and hypocrisy? Prayer will always require effort

and sacrifice and demands consistency and unity of life.

            This is where some fasting is involved. That’s because our

body needs to be disciplined, because with our earthly condition that

is wounded by sin, it usually finds its pleasure in earthly things

rather than in God. And fasting is one such effective form of

self-denial and carrying the cross of Christ.

            With fasting we align our body according to the dynamics

of God’s love that will always be motivated by the salvation of

mankind and will involve sacrifice. We don’t fast simply because of

some health reasons, be it physical health or mental or emotional. Our

fasting should be motivated by love.

            And fasting nowadays may involve more than food. It can

involve the use of our modern gadgets and technologies that if

resorted indiscriminately can truly spoil and enslave us.

            We really need to practice restraint and moderation in the

use of these new things so that we would not compromise our spiritual

and supernatural bearing. We need to purify our intentions and set

clear limits when using them. In fact, we have to come out with a

concrete plan to translate this ideal into reality.

            We would see that if we truly pray and fast, as Christ

indicated, nothing would be impossible to us. We would be truly united

to his will and ways. And demons would have no chances of success with

us.

Tempus breve est

THAT’S from the First Letter of St. Paul to the

Corinthians. (7,29) It means that time is short. It strongly reminds

us that we cannot afford to waste time which is a most precious

resource we have in fulfilling the ultimate goal of our life.

            The complete passage goes this way: “What I am saying,

brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives

should live as if they had none; those who weep, as if they did not;

those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase,

as if they had nothing…”

            This passage should be complemented with what St. James

also said in his letter. “You do not know what your life will be like

tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and

then vanishes away.” (4,14)

            The main message is that we should not get so confused and

lost in the drama of life as to ignore and forget the real and

ultimate purpose of our life. Therefore we need to manage our time

well, seeing to it that whatever we do or whatever situation and

condition we find ourselves in, we have to be sure that our time is

spent in such a way it would bring us to our eternal destiny. We

cannot afford to be idle, lazy, aimless, etc.

            Time management is not only for some engineering projects.

We need time management in our personal lives as well, and especially

in our spiritual lives, that is, in our life of love with God and with

everybody else.

            For this, we have to be clear about the real purpose of

our life and of how each event, condition and circumstance in our life

can be related to that ultimate goal of ours. This is an indispensable

skill we have to develop and help everybody else to also acquire for

themselves.

            At the moment, we can readily see so much wastage of time

or so much time misspent, misused, abused. Many people are sunk in

idleness and laziness, or if they appear to be active, they are active

in the wrong way, much like what St. Augustine once said that people

can run fast but out of the track. They will never reach the finish

line.

            We have to be wary of the many distractions that are

around these days. They indeed are powerful in their allurement, but

we have to develop the proper antidote. What can help, of course, is

to have some kind of daily plan or schedule that is prepared before

the presence of God so that we reflect the proper priorities in it.

            We have to sharpen our sense of focus and purpose. It is

without doubt that we have to contend with many distracting things in

life. We have to learn to be quick in discerning what is truly

essential from the many things we are exposed to. Together with this

sense of focus is the sense of flexibility when new things or some

unexpected or surprising things appear.

            If we are truly serious with our use of time, it might be

a good idea also to submit ourselves to some timer, stopwatch or alarm

watch, since we tend to get so carried away by the excitement of a

given task that we may get stuck with it, forgetting the many other

tasks that we have to do.

            Such use of the timer would sharpen our sense of time and

our skill of budgeting our resources properly. When we do not have

this awareness, we tend to waste or misspend our time and our other

resources.

            The most important thing to remember that we are always

conscious that whatever we do, we do it out of love for God and for

everybody. That should be the constant motive by which our use of time

is measured.

The hidden God

“Adoro te devote, latens Deitas.” So starts that famous

Eucharistic hymn composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. It means, “Hidden

here before me, Lord, I worship you.” And it continues, “Quae sub his

figuris vere latitas,” which means, “Hidden in these symbols, yet

completely true.”

            The words definitely drip with deep faith and love. They

also can trigger an impulse of faith and love if they are truly taken

to heart. With faith and love, God becomes vividly present to us,

though hidden in some sacramental symbols.

            The “hiddenness” of God is precisely meant to provoke our

response of faith and love. God only appears to hide from us not

because he wants it that way but rather because our natural powers

simply cannot discern him without the help of God’s grace through his

gifts of faith and love.

            Aside from our human limitations, the effects of our sin

also serve as a wall that makes us unable to see God. But in reality,

God only appears to hide from us. He is actually very much present in

us and around us. In fact, he always intervenes in our life.

            Remember St. Augustine’s testimony about this point. “Late

have I loved you…” he said. “You were within and I was in the external

world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into

those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I

was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if

they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at

all…”

            Of course, God is all around us as well as within us. He

is our Creator who has given us our very own existence and that of

everything else. He cannot withdraw from us, since the moment he

withdraws from us, we will lose our very existence. We will revert to

nothing.

            We need to learn how to discover God in everything. St.

Paul in his Letter to the Romans assures us that God is in everything.

We actually have no excuse why we cannot see him in everything.

            “What may be known about God is plain to them,” he said,

“because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the

world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly seen, being understood from his workmanship, so that

men are without excuse.” (1,19-20)

            We just have to follow what Christ has advised us to do.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these

things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6,33) We have to observe the

proper priorities in our daily life. We have to continually defend

ourselves from the many forces that try to make God not the first

priority in our life.

            Besides, we are asked to seek God with determination,

since many things conspire with our own weaknesses and sinfulness to

compete if not replace God in the proper order of things in our life.

            “Ask and it will be given to you,” Christ said. “Seek and

you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt 7,7) We

should not just be sitting pretty, waiting for some special

inspiration to come before we get to see the hidden God.

            In this regard, it might be good to develop an athlete’s

attitude in seeking Christ. An athlete will do everything—from

training exercises to diet to sleeping habits—to keep himself fit for

his event. That should also be the case in training ourselves to be

able to see God in everything.

            As St. Paul said, “Do you not know that in a race all the

runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to

take the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24)