Advent asks us to begin well again

WITH the season of Advent which marks the beginning of

another liturgical year, we are reminded of our duty to begin well

again in our spiritual and moral life, in our life that is meant for

loving God and everybody else.

  

            We have to remember that our life here on earth is like a

divine project that has a beginning and an end, and a very concrete

purpose. But it’s a project that we also take active part, since as an

intelligent and free creature of God capable of knowing and loving God

and others, we are meant to knowingly and lovingly correspond to God’s

plans for us individually and collectively. We are not passive

materials in this project.

  

            And this divine project takes the form of a yearly cycle,

what we call as the liturgical year, where the working of the whole

economy of salvation that God has for us, takes place. God’s

interventions in our life are actually constant and abiding.

   

            This yearly cycle of the divine project is meant to

prepare us for our ultimate eternal destination. It would be good if

we make ourselves most aware of this truth of our faith, so that we

know what we ought to do in this earthly life of ours.

  

            For this, a prayer that can be helpful is the Glory Be,

where we find the words, “As it was in the beginning, is now, and will

be forever.” Let’s put our mind and heart into these words if only to

remind ourselves strongly that we need to have a good sense of

continuity and consistency between our beginning and end, between the

past, present and future, and between time and eternity.

  

            Let us foster the awareness of this basic truth about

ourselves and about our life here on earth. We need to encourage

everyone to have a clear and strong sense of purpose, and to know how

to pursue it given our human condition and all the means that God has

given us.

  

            We cannot deny that many of us are ignorant of this truth.

And if not, many are doubtful and skeptical. There are even those who

are openly hostile to this truth, swayed as they are by some

ideologies not based on faith but rather on some human estimation

alone.

  

            The youth especially are quite vulnerable. Often hooked to

the many isms of the times, they give little regard to the truths of

our faith. Even among those who profess the Christian faith, we can

still find many who are inconsistent. As our bishops once observed,

many of us are quite sacramentalized, but not evangelized.

  

            In this Year of the Youth, let’s hope that we can do

something to make the young people more mindful and competent in

developing and living out their authentic Christian identity and

dignity. They need to be pastorally accompanied, for sure, and very

closely at that.

  

            They have to be reassured of the truths of our Christian

faith. A lot of explanations have to be done in this regard. But more

than that, they have to be shown proofs and means of how to

effectively live out these truths of our Christian faith. For sure,

they will need models to look up to, and we just have to pray that we

won’t be lacking in this department.

  

            The youth, in general, look for authenticity in the things

that we tell or teach them. They at first may have a rather shallow

and fleeting appreciation of things, but once they get convinced, they

are capable of a deep and lifelong sense of commitment.

  

            Let us underwrite this task with a lot of prayers and

spirit of sacrifice!