Even Christ ‘failed’…

WE have to acknowledge this truth and learn some precious

lessons from it. We cannot deny that Christ is God made man to save

us. As God, he is supposed to be all powerful and nothing is

impossible with him.

            And yet he failed miserably in the sense that in spite of

his best efforts he did not manage to convert men into saints as he

wants us to be. In fact, he was made to suffer and die a most

ignominious death on the cross.

            We, of course, know that his suffering and death do not

have the last word for him and for his redemptive work. His death led

to his resurrection, that final victory that conquered all our sins

and death itself. This victory of his resurrection has the last word

in his redemptive work.

            This resurrection was not the result of human effort at

all. It was God’s divine power that did it. We should not think that

we too can resurrect to eternal life based on our human effort alone.

Though we have to merit it, our own victory of the resurrection to

eternal life should be understood as a gratuitous gift from God.

            We should make some helpful conclusions from the

considerations we have so far made above. And one of them is that our

earthly life here will always end with death, the consequence of sin.

It will be hounded always by our human weaknesses, temptations,

failures, sins.

            No matter how good and holy we try to be, we can never

achieve our ultimate goal of being blessed forever while here on

earth. Even the holiest man here on earth will die with problems and

issues still unresolved, human goals not attained. We should not be

surprised by this reality, much less worried and saddened by it. God

assures us that he will save us if we only dispose ourselves to be

with him, doing his will the best way we can.

            So, it would not be right if we imagine our life here on

earth as having the possibility of attaining the bliss that can only

be in heaven. It would be wrong to picture Christian life here on

earth as so perfect that there would never be any problem.

            We just have to learn to contend with our weaknesses,

temptations and sin that will always be with us till the end of time,

not in the sense of justifying them, considering what is wrong as

right, or sin as not sin at all. We just have to learn how to suffer

them, convinced that if seen with faith, they can actually give us

some good.

            We have to learn how to convert our weaknesses,

temptations, sins and failures as occasions to go to God, asking for

help and forgiveness, and deriving from them precious lessons, for

good lessons there will always be. In short, our weaknesses,

temptations, sins and failures should not separate us from God, but

rather lead us to him.

            While we try our best to be holy by following God as

closely as possible, we should never think that we can achieve a life

here on earth that is completely free of pain and suffering in all

their forms, much less, achieve the fullness of our being a child of

God here on earth and with our own effort alone.

            We have to firm up our belief that as long as we refer

everything to God, out of love for him, everything—including our

weaknesses, temptations, sins and failures—will work out for the good.

“Omnia in bonum.” (cfr. Rom 8,28)

            Christ allowed himself to fail with his passion and death

to identify himself completely with us in our worst condition, and to

convert that condition into a way of our salvation with his

resurrection.

The joy and peace from God

IF we are truly with God, we will always have peace

whatever the situation in our earthly life would be. It’s a peace that

the world cannot give, just as what Christ said: “Peace I leave with

you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do

not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (Jn 14,27)

            Of course, with that Christ-given peace comes joy also.

The two always go together. They cannot be separated, although their

expressions may not tally with the worldly standards of joy and peace.

            The joy and peace that comes from God are always a fruit

of a continuing spiritual battle to keep God’s love burning in us.

It’s a joy and peace that is compatible with the cross, with all forms

of suffering. It is not afraid of suffering which also has an

important role to play in our life and in the redemption of mankind.

            It’s a joy and peace that comes as a consequence of faith

and a growing identification with Christ who bore all the sins of men

and the evils of this world and conquered them with his resurrection.

In short, it’s a joy and peace that expresses guaranteed victory even

if at the moment we are still fighting and suffering. It’s an

all-weather kind of joy and peace.

            We need to examine ourselves to see if we have such joy

and peace. It is actually offered to us for free. It’s all there for

the taking. We just have to find a way of having and keeping it.

            And one important way of doing so is to learn to pray,

since prayer is our basic way of connecting with God that hopefully

would lead us to a growing identification with him as we are meant to

be. Remember that we are God’s image and likeness. With God’s grace we

are supposed to do our part, free beings as we are, in realizing this

divine plan for us.

            Learning to pray would obviously need some plan. We have

to go by stages. First, I imagine, would be to learn the vocal payers,

which are already very important as they are inspired prayers given to

us if not by Christ himself like the Our Father then by many holy men

and women down the ages.

            As such, these prayers are very enlightening and would

teach us what to say, how to say, and the kind of attitude or

disposition we ought to have when we pray. Going through them slowly,

trying to figure out what they mean, would certainly help us connect

with God.

            Then we should just spend some moments everyday doing

nothing other than meditating on God’s word as found in the gospel,

and on the life and teachings of Christ as reflected in the lives and

writings of the saints.

            We should persist in this practice until it becomes a

habit that would lead us to feel God’s presence and distinguish his

voice since God is actually guiding us every moment of the day.

            Yes, when we persist in praying we stand to hear those

reassuring words Christ told his apostles who were caught with fear:

“It is I, do not be afraid.” (Jn 6,20) We really have no reason to

fear or to worry at all, since Christ will take care of everything.

What we cannot do, he always can. We just have to trust in his

merciful omnipotence.

            Let’s hope that with this joy and peace that comes from

God, we can focus more directly on what we are supposed to do here on

earth. And that is nothing other than to do a lot of good. It is to

love the way Christ has loved us, a love that goes all the way. (cfr.

Jn 13,34)

Teaching piety to today’s youth

THIS may indeed sound like a pipe dream or an illusion,

given the way many young people nowadays are, but this simply has to

be done. We know that without piety, we would be like branches

detached from the vine. Death, spiritual more than physical, would

just be a matter of time. So, no matter how impossible things may

look, we just have to do whatever we can to teach piety to today’s

youth.

            We doubtless cannot underestimate the complexity of the

challenge. Today’s youth, at least a good number of them, are

dominated by all sorts of isms and anomalies—materialism,

technologism, agnosticism, atheism, plus pornography, drugs,

alcoholism, etc.

            These are some of the demons we have to contend with. They

certainly are formidable, but let’s remind ourselves that with God’s

grace, nothing is impossible, and if we do things with trust and love

for God, everything, including our mistakes, will work out for the

good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

            We just have to make sure that we, as elders, lead a

genuine life of piety. That’s simply because we cannot give what we do

not have, nor teach what we do not know, nor show what we do not live

ourselves. Let’s hope that with our presence alone, many of today’s

youth can feel edified and get inspired and encouraged to be pious

themselves.

            If we really are pious, having a vibrant and intimate

relationship with God, we cannot help but also feel the urge to help

the others, especially the young ones, to know, love and serve God as

well as to do the same to the others. This urge is one clear proof

that we have genuine piety. Otherwise, we have reason to doubt about

our piety.

            Among the concerns that we have to tackle is the effort to

adapt things to the way the young ones are nowadays. We have to accept

and deal with them the way they are, much like what Christ did to

bring us to him.

            We have to learn how to speak their language to be able to

connect with them, and to present the doctrine of our faith and the

practices of piety in the way they can understand, appreciate and make

as their own.

            We should not ignore the very conspicuous fact that many

of the young people today find the doctrine of our faith quite

abstruse, way above their head. They seem unable to connect and

relate. Or their understanding of it is shallow and with a lot of

gaps.

            The same with the many practices of piety which they often

find to be anachronistic to their current lifestyle. Many young people

today have the bias that these practices of piety are only for some

‘special’ people.

            To grapple with this challenge, I believe that the older

generations have to take the initiative to adjust to the young ones.

We actually have more capacity to adapt to the younger ones, rather

than vice-versa.

            Let’s hope and pray that we the elders can have the

versatility and creativity that genuine piety can actually give. We

need to loosen up for this very exciting ‘game’ of teaching piety to

the youth. Let’s take advantage of the new technologies and growing

amount of literature that can help us adapt ourselves to the young

ones.

            We may have to organize games, camps, excursions. But give

special attention to winning their friendship and confidence and

entering into their private individual lives in order to help them.

Let’s be encouraging always, quick to give them hope and understanding

especially when they start opening up and showing their struggles,

faults and falls.

            As true friends, we should give and share with them the

greatest good we can have, and that is to bring them to God and to

make them see and feel all the goodness and love of God.

When the legitimate becomes immoral

WE have to be careful with this possibility that, sad to

say, has become rampant nowadays. It cannot be denied that we are

aware of the many blessings we have, and the many rights of our human

condition. We have all kinds of talents, we have intelligence and

freedom, and varying degrees of wealth, resources, power. We have the

right for rest and comfort and some amount of bodily pleasure.

            We obviously can use and enjoy them. We just have to make

sure that these legitimate things do not become immoral as when we

allow them to lead us to sheer self-indulgence, with God completely

out of the picture. That’s when what is good can become bad.

            This danger is always present in our life and we should do

something about it. We should not allow God’s blessings and the rights

we have to simply be spoiled and to spoil us because we feel they have

nothing to do with God.

            No, sir! God is and should be the beginning, the center

and end of all these blessings and rights. They are supposed to lead

us to God, to give glory to him, and not just for us to wallow in our

shameless pleasure. We should not forget that these things are

God-given. They are not simply and exclusively our own.

            We have to remember that without God in their use and

enjoyment, there is no other alternative but to fall into sin, into

some self-entrapment that alienates us from God and others. We would

soon lose the sense of balance, restraint and moderation, prudence and

propriety, and start our wayward ways. We would just feed our bodily

and worldly pleasures while starving the soul. The animal in us

dominates.

            Without God, we would easily fall into some form of

addiction and many other anomalies, like pride, vanity, greed,

self-righteousness, rash judgments, etc. We should be quick to feel

something is wrong when we realize we are enjoying things without God

and simply by our own selves. We should correct that predicament just

as quickly.

            In other words, just like in anything else we do, we

should have rectitude of intention when exercising our rights and

enjoying our endowments. To be sure, such practice does not undermine

the enjoyment of what is legitimate in our condition.

            On the contrary, it would enhance such enjoyment,

purifying it and elevating it to the supernatural order which is

proper to us as children of God. It would affirm the dignity proper to

us as persons and children of God.

            With God, we would know how to use and enjoy them with

measure, with self-discipline and control. We would avoid being fully

at the mercy of our worldly curiosities and other bodily impulses and

urges.

            Again, let us spread this caveat around. More than that,

let us teach everybody the ways and means of how to rectify our

intentions when exercising our rights and enjoying the blessings God

has given us.

            Let us remind ourselves of the importance of developing a

life of prayer, to such an extent that we truly have an abiding

contemplative spirit, when we would be always aware of God’s presence,

and see him in everything and in everyone, and get to know his will

and follow it as faithfully as possible.

            This should not be regarded as alien to our human nature.

On the contrary, this is what is essential and integral in our nature.

Without God, we as human beings would go on a limb. Sooner or later,

we would get into trouble that is made worse because we might not even

know we are in trouble.

            It would be good if right there in the family, this basic

skill of praying is taught and lived, and the small ones would already

be initiated into the ways of prayer and prudence.

The Easter joy

The Easter joy, which is earned for us by Christ, should

go way beyond feelings. It should enter deep into our soul,

transforming us into Easter persons, completely identified with the

risen Christ who identifies himself with us all the way to offering

his life for us, and conquering sin and death for us with his

resurrection.

            Yes, we will still have our weaknesses, we will always be

hounded by temptations, we will fall into sin. But let’s never forget

that Christ has taken care of all of these for us, offering us help,

forgiveness and salvation.

            As St. Paul said, Christ made himself like sin without

committing sin so he can identify himself with us even in our worst

human condition. No matter how unworthy we feel we are in our relation

with Christ, let’s not hesitate to identify ourselves with him as

completely as possible, just as Christ identifies himself with each

one of us all the way.

            It’s not presumptuous of us to assume the identity of

Christ even if such identity is still in the process of completion

while we are still here on earth. We just have to try our best. Christ

will always be around to help us. We should not be held captive by

feelings of unworthiness, shame and fear. These are tricks of the

devil to keep us away from Christ.

            We should not worry if our assumption of Christ’s identity

may lead us to feel proud and conceited. To be sure, such possibility

is a temptation from the devil, because if we are truly identifying

ourselves with Christ, then like him we would try always to be humble,

to be willing to serve everyone, to suffer, to love all, even our

enemies. Like Christ, we would try our best to do nothing other than

the will of God.

            Joy, a deep sense of confidence and security, the

conviction that everything will always work out for the good even if

we commit mistakes, should always be with us, because Christ takes

care of everything.  Ours is simply to try our best in doing good,

even if our best efforts will never be enough according to God’s

standards. They can always be made better.

            We should just be sport with our human condition here on

earth. The idea is simply to do our best. If we fail in something,

let’s be quick to rise, asking forgiveness and then move on. Let’s not

waste time ruing and brooding over our mistakes which can give us

precious lessons. These mistakes and failures should not keep us from

God. Rather, they should spur us to go to God.

            In practical terms, it may be a good idea that we always

remind ourselves that “I am Christ.” No matter what situations we find

ourselves, we just have to say to ourselves, “I am Christ.” We may

have to make some qualifications to that declaration, as we start

considering the implications of such declaration, but it should be

professed first of all.

            We should try our best that such constant reminder becomes

a streaming consciousness of our own selves.  Again that is not

presumption, simply because our true identity is that Christ has taken

the initiative to identify himself with us. We just have to learn to

correspond to that reality and to start feeling at home with such

truth about ourselves.

            Such consciousness will surely give us joy and confidence

no matter what happens to us here on earth. It would be an

indestructible joy, the joy and confidence of a son who completely

trusts his father.

            Let us spread this Easter joy, evangelizing as many people

as we can so we can take them out of the ignorance and unbelief of a

very important truth about ourselves. More than evangelizing, let us

be models and active endorsers of this Easter joy!

The challenge of today’s youth

WITH the holding of the National Youth Day celebration

here in Cebu this week, we are again given a chance to take a long and

serious look at the situation of today’s youth not only in our country

but also all over the world. And let’s see what we can do with the

pluses and minuses, the lights and shadows that such consideration

would give us.

            It is obvious that today’s youth are way different from

those in the previous generations in so many respects, like in terms

of mentality, behavior and lifestyle, attitude, culture and manners,

etc. It should come as no surprise since today’s youth are exposed to

a lot more things than those of the past. While every generation is

different from the others, the present one seems to be more sharply

different.

            Today’s youth, in general, seem to know and to use a lot

more things in terms of technologies. Aside from the wealth of

knowledge that has been accumulated through the ages worldwide and now

made more accessible due to the new technologies, they are now freely

riding the wave of the many new developments in the areas of the

sciences, the arts, and of the course the technologies. They are the

digital natives.

            These new things, of course, can have double effects. They

can be good and bad, depending on how we understand and use them.

While we can see a lot of today’s youth empowered greatly because of

these new things, we can also see many of them sinking in all forms of

anomalies and disorders.

            There are those who manage to make good use of the many

possibilities the new things offer them, but there also those who are

simply confused and lost, trapped in their own self-indulgence. And

between the two, I am afraid the latter is far more plenty than the

former.

            It’s the latter case that we should be more concerned

about. They are the ones who seem to mature late when, in fact, the

challenges and complications of the times call for them to mature

early.

            How can we help them? What measures should we use? I am

sure we can come out with many ideas and initiatives. But initially

these are what come to my mind.

            We have to intensify our efforts to give effective

accompaniment to our youth. How this can be done is something that

should be the object of constant reflection, study, research and

consultation.

            In spite of difficulties arising from the sharp

differences between the young and the old of today, we have to find a

way of how these two sectors can go together in the journey of life.

We have to find a way of putting together for the benefit of today’s

youth the old and the new things in our life, the traditions and the

innovations, etc.

            What is also needed is that we have to be clear about what

would comprise as objectively good for all of us, especially the

young, what criteria and standard we can use to measure the maturity

of a person, etc.

            We cannot deny that the strengthening and deepening of

people’s faith in God is crucial in this concern. We also have to work

out the development of a genuine spiritual life in the young, because

without this, we may be doing a lot of things but would still miss the

real thing in life. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole

world…,” we are already amply warned.

            Some practical pieces of advice are also very much in

order. Like, we have to remind the young ones to go slow in their

pursuit for the new things today, and to avoid a multi-tasking work

style especially if they do not yet have a proper sense of priority

about the different human needs.

            Am sure a lot more can be said.

God’s original and ultimate will

GOD’S original will for us has not changed at all despite

the mess we created. That original will continues to be his ultimate

will for us. And that is that we truly become his image and likeness,

meant to share in his life and nature in our definitive status which

we hope to obtain at the end of time in heaven.

            We have to be clear about this fundamental truth about us,

especially since it is about our primordial relation with our Creator.

Yes, in spite of the total unworthiness we all feel about this

God-given dignity of ours, that truth holds. We cannot do anything to

change or modify it. We just have to accept it and try our best to

comply with God’s will for us.

            We need to proclaim this truth more widely, because in

spite of the significant catechesis done since time immemorial, this

truth has not yet entered deep in the minds and hearts of many people.

Many are still ignorant of it or have not realized the full

implications of such truth.

            Of course, there are those who still need to be convinced

that there is God and that we come from him and not just from our

parents. They certainly require a major conversion. But even among

those who are supposed to be believers already, it cannot be denied

that many do not have a clear idea about God’s ultimate will for us

which should actually be their ultimate purpose in life also.

            That is why many are entangled in worldly and temporal

affairs, in varying degrees of success and failure, without realizing

that everything in their life is meant to lead them to achieve God’s

will for us.

            In other words, many still do not realize that our

creation is still a work in progress, and that we need to keep our

relation with God alive and vibrant if only to make sure that we are

heading in the right direction. Many still have a weak sense of

religion.

            Of course, this ultimate will of God for us is manifested

to us in different levels. We have the ten commandments which can be

described as the Old Law, a summary of the natural law that is

supposed to prepare and dispose us to the New Law that would convert

us into God’s image and likeness, children of his.

            Part of God’s will is expressed in the duties inherent in

our state of life and the different positions we occupy in life. These

duties that spring from some earthly authority like our parents, the

state, etc., also express God’s will since the authority that commands

them is always a participation in the authority of God. (cfr. Rom

13,1)

            God’s will is fully expressed in the New Law which is the

law of grace, the law that identifies us with Christ himself. It is

what brings about the supernatural life in us. It enables us to live

the beatitudes and to be another Christ, ‘alter Christus,’ much like

what St. Paul said: “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in

me.” (Gal 2,20)

            Given our human condition that is prone to mistakes, falls

and sin, we can still obey God’s will as long as we also take the

necessary means provided by Christ and now made available in the

Church. These are mainly the sacraments.

            Humanly speaking, we should just have that sporting

attitude of having to begin and begin again, seeing to it that we get

up every time we fall. That way, we will continue on our way to

fulfilling God’s ultimate will for us, that is, that we fully become

his image and likeness, vitally sharing in his life and nature.

            That’s the definitive state of our life, our true ultimate home!

From death to a new eternal life

WE should never be afraid of death. Though it obviously is

not something good, since ultimately it is a consequence of sin, death

somehow has become a gateway to our new, eternal life with God, a life

of bliss and complete identification with God who wants us to be his

image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his nature and life.

            This is made possible because death has been redeemed by

Christ with his own death and resurrection. Its sting has been

removed. Its victory and dominion over us has been crushed. It has

been converted as the final means for us to gain the definitive life

meant for us. In short, with Christ and with him only, we can transit

from death to our new life.

            We should not worry if as we approach the end of our

earthly life, there will still be many things to be done, problems to

be solved, challenges to be tackled. We are not expected to do and

solve all of them. We will always die with some unfinished businesses

still hanging.

            But Christ will take care of all that. What is impossible

with us is always possible with him. He has shown this by accepting

all the sins of man with his passion and death on the cross, and

conquering sin and death itself with his resurrection.

            We can say that Christ was not able to solve all the human

problems that we have. What he did in the end was simply to assume all

these problems, including our sins, by offering his life on the cross

as payment or ransom, then he conquered sin and death with his

resurrection.

            In other words, our redemption or the completion of our

creation as image and likeness of God is first of all a fruit of

divine power and not of our own effort, though we are expected to do

what we can to cooperate.

            We know that our cooperation can only go so far. But at

least, as long as our cooperation is done with faith, trust and love

for God, then God’s divine power can work wonders in us. He can

transform us into his image and likeness.

            This truth is somehow affirmed when St. Paul said in his

first letter to the Corinthians: “When all things are under his

(Christ’s) authority, the Son (Christ) will put himself under God’s

authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things,

will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.” (15,28)

            Another translation of that passage expresses it more

vividly: “…the Son himself will be made subject to him who put all

things under him, so that God may be all in all.”

            So what we have to understand is that while we do what we

can and we do them as best as we can, we should not worry so much if

our best efforts cannot solve all our problems due to our sins. It can

only prove that the damage due to our sin, which is an offense not

only against ourselves but first of all is against God, is beyond our

nature to repair. It can only be repaired by God himself with our

cooperation.

            That is why we can consider ourselves as our own

co-redeemer, with Christ understood as the sole redeemer. Our role as

co-redeemer does not compromise in any way the truth that Christ is

the sole redeemer of mankind. But Christ somehow involves us in the

work of redemption precisely because we are supposed to be like him

who is the pattern of our humanity.

            We have to see to it that whatever situation we may be in,

especially when we have problems, we should identify ourselves with

Christ, because it is only through him that everything is resolved.

Even our death, our biggest unsolvable problem, will be solved!

Relevance of Christ’s passion today

ESPECIALLY during these days of Holy Week, it would be

very good if we can pause and meditate more deeply on the passion and

death of Christ. To be sure, it will be an exercise that will be most

profitable to us. In fact, it is indispensable.

            Why? Simply because the passion and death of Christ

contains the ultimate reason and the way we can properly handle our

current human condition, hounded as it is by weaknesses and

temptations and wounded by sin, and convert that condition into our

means of salvation.

            The big problem we have to overcome with regard to this

matter is the ignorance, indifference, if not the total unbelief, many

of us have toward the importance, indispensability and relevance of

Christ’s passion in our life.

            It is in Christ’s passion that we are shown how our

attitude and reaction should be when we are made inevitably to suffer

in any form. Christ shows us how to suffer and eventually die, and

turn these negative things into the gateway to our salvation, to our

definitive eternal life with God, from whom we came and to whom we

belong.

            Let’s remember that we are meant to share the very life of

God, since he wants us to be his image and likeness, children of his.

We need to level up in our understanding of our human dignity and

extricate ourselves from the grip of merely worldly goals, no matter

how exciting and profitable they are. We are not meant for merely

earthly life. We are simply journeying here toward our definitive

home, heaven.

            It would be good if we can do certain exercises so that

the spirit behind Christ’s passion and death on the cross can inspire

us and become also our own. Perhaps, we can do the Via Crucis, spend

time before the image of crucified Christ or the ‘Santo Entierro,’

view films and dramatizations of Christ’s passion and death, etc.

            We need to understand that accepting all the sufferings in

this life the way Christ accepted all the indignities, mockeries and

insults and finally death on the cross, is the way to our salvation,

not only ours personally, but of all mankind collectively.

            It is when we have this spirit when we can truly say that

we are effectively identifying ourselves with Christ who is not only

the pattern of our humanity but also the savior of our damaged

humanity. We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus,’ another Christ.

            Our meditations of the passion and death of Christ should

result one way or another in our willingness to suffer. Can we say,

for example, that we are now more ready to accept all kinds of

humiliations and bodily suffering, instead of complaining and wanting

to make revenge?

            We should come out with some concrete steps and strategies

to develop the same attitude and reaction Christ had when he went

through his passion and death. Can we say that we are getting more

magnanimous, approaching the supreme magnanimity of Christ? Or are we

still wallowing in some form of victim complex when we suffer?

            To be sure, this willingness to suffer is never a form of

foolishness, though in the eyes of the world it may look that way. It

is rather a way of making ourselves more and more like Christ,

assuming his redemptive mentality and purpose in life.

            We need to reassure ourselves regarding this point. To

suffer with Christ is the way to our true joy, to our salvation and

total fulfilment as man and a child of God. We need to fight the many

forms of worldly but false ideals of what true human happiness and

perfection is. Sad to say, there are many of them and they have

charmed and seduced so many people.

            We need to do something about this. And one way is to

start by meditating on the passion and death of Christ these days.