Wednesday, October 31, 2018

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.

Monday, October 29, 2018

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!


Monday, October 22, 2018

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.


Saturday, October 20, 2018

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.



Friday, October 19, 2018

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.


Thursday, October 18, 2018

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.


Wednesday, October 17, 2018

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.


Monday, October 15, 2018

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)