Expect to get dirty

IF we have to be practical in this life, exerting effort to

attend and resolve all our issues and challenges, not to mention, to

be truly being faithful and consistent to the living Christ who

continues to be with us in the Holy Spirit, then we need to be tough,

creative and flexible, and willing to get dirty without compromising

what is essential.

   

          And what is essential is simply to be with Christ who was

willing to go through all the mess of our redemption. He was willing

not only to get dirty, but also to offer his life on the cross for us.

If we truly follow him, we cannot expect to experience anything less.

          He himself said that if we want to follow him, we have to be ready not

only to deny ourselves, but also to carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24)

   

          But Christ has reassured us that “in this world you will

have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

So let’s just strengthen our faith in Christ, enliven our piety, and

be sport.

  

          Pope Francis has been warning us that we should be ready to

get dirty if we truly want to reach out to those who are far from

Christ and his Church, those who are lost, those in the peripheries,

those who so far have been neglected or inadequately attended to by

the Church.

  

          That Synod on the Amazon that stirred a lot of controversy

was one way he was using to tackle that challenge of reaching out. The

issues, problems, challenges there are definitely complex and

complicated. They just have to be faced, and the Church just has to

find new ways since the status quo is clearly not working.

  

          And in this task of finding new ways and new paths, there

definitely is great need for discernment of what the Holy Spirit, who

guides us all, is telling us. Definitely this is not an easy task.

This is where we can get dirty, where we can be thrown into confusion

and even commit some errors. But again, God is on top and is in

control. We just have to sharpen our skill of discernment that

requires genuine sanctity from us.

  

          We should not be afraid to tackle the pagan practices that

can be found in certain parts of the world, and to engage in a

dialogue with the different ideologies that can even be openly opposed

to Christ and his Church. We have to reach out to everybody the way

they are and see what things we can do to bring Christ to them and

vice-versa.

  

          What we have to avoid is to ignore them, to be aloof and

indifferent to them, and much less, to consign them already to the

definitive category of the lost and the hopelessly irredeemable. That

would not be Christian.

  

          Let us remember that Christ is alive through the Holy Spirit

and continues to redeem us in ways that are appropriate to the

circumstances of the times, place and people. While we already have

articulated a lot of his will and ways, we can never presume that we

have everything already mastered. That would straitjacket Christ into

our own ideas and our legalisms, much like what the Pharisees of old

did.

  

          There is need for constant discernment, which does not mean

that we completely do away with what we already managed to define as

God’s will and ways. And to be truly discerning, we should earnestly

look for Christ, always asking for the light of the Holy Spirit. In

other words, let’s be truly holy, always working on our

sanctification, since that’s the only way we can listen clearly what

the Holy Spirit is prompting us.

  

          Our problem today is that many people want an easy, fast and

fantasy-like trouble-free kind of life, and are afraid even of the

word, sanctification.