Benefits from crises

THIS has always been the lesson learned many times in the

past. Whatever controversy and crisis assailing the Church somehow

leads it to the purification of its human elements and the

clarification of certain issues. There can be no problem so big as to

destroy or weaken it. It is assured of the guarantee of Christ who

said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”(Mt 16,18)

  

            What we have to do when controversies and crises of one

sort or another erupt is to pray a lot, offer a lot of sacrifices,

have recourse to the sacraments, and then study the issues well, come

up with some plans and strategies to see how to practically handle

these problems.

  

            Yes, we have to use all the spiritual and supernatural

means available, without sparing the human means. But we should always

remain calm and confident, never giving in to passion, anger,

bitterness and the like that would only make things worse. We can

still be forceful and clear without getting too emotional in going

through these controversies.

  

            No doubt, there will be suffering involved, and sometimes

it can be very severe. We just have to be prepared for this

unavoidable thing. As long as we remain faithful to God, doing our

best to be close and intimate with him, we know, as St. Paul assured

us, that everything will work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

  

            We have to learn to be very patient and optimistic,

because things can take a lot of time before they can be properly

resolved. And we should see to it that we never loosen our grip on

charity, especially with those who we are quite sure are in error. We

should be quick to forgive and to remove any trace of resentments and

grudges as we try to sort out things.

  

            Christ never abandons us nor his Church, but he will

neither prevent us from suffering because that is the way we can

attain our salvation, given our wounded condition. Let’s just be game

about this earthly setting of ours, and try our best to be quick to

unite whatever suffering we experience with the suffering of Christ so

that ours can attain a redemptive value.

  

            Let’s take comfort in the many examples found in the Bible

of how God can derive good from evil. This is how the Catechism (312)

puts it:

  

            “In time we can discover that God in his almighty

providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a

moral evil, caused by his creature: ‘It was not you,’ said Joseph to

his brother, ‘who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me, but

God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be

kept alive.’

  

            “From the greatest moral evil ever committed—the rejection

and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men—God, by

his grace that ‘abounded all the more,’ brought the greatest of goods:

the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil

never becomes a good.”

   

            In our discussions and exchanges of views, let us see to

it that we all remain courteous to everyone, even if we feel we are

already talking to the devil. That’s because losing that element of

charity would resemble us more with the devil than with God. Yes, we

can speak our mind as much as we can, but always with charity.

  

            We have to be very careful in this regard. If we review

the episode of the temptation of Christ by the devil, Christ treated

the devil kindly even if he was strong and clear about the temptation.

  

            In fact, Christ gave harsher treatment to the

self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, and even called Peter ‘Satan’

when Peter tried to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem to meet his

final act of redeeming us.