A New Year’s meditation

NEW Year’s Day, of course, liturgically coincides with the

Solemnity of the divine maternity of our Lady. We should be reminded

that we have to make ourselves new again spiritually and morally under

the guidance of the Mother of God and our Mother also.

          Every New Year may make us a year older, but spiritually and

morally, it should make us younger until we reach that point that we

will forever be new and young, as we head toward our goal of eternity,

where everything is new, where there will be no more past nor future.

That’s where time is swallowed up by the eternal present.

          It would be nice that with all our human ways of celebrating

the New Year’s Day, we would also be aware that we have to celebrate

it liturgically, that is, going to Christ, now recently born, who will

do everything to teach, sanctify and lead us to heaven, our definitive

home. Let’s not to get distracted by our human way of celebrating the

New Year’s Day.

          And the Church wants us to start the new year with Mary, the

Mother of God because she is the Mother of Christ, and she is also our

Mother, because Christ gave her to us as our mother too. “Behold your

mother,” (Jn 19,27) Christ told the apostle John who at that moment

represented the whole of humanity.

          It is good to be mindful of this truth of our faith because

Mary our Mother is the best companion we can have in going through our

earthly pilgrimage toward God, toward heaven.

          Being the mother of Christ, she is the one closest to God,

the first link between God and us, since with her ‘Fiat” (Be it done

to me) she became the instrument of making God become man in Christ

through the Holy Spirit.

          In a sense, we can say that for us to get to God in Christ

through the Holy Spirit, we have to go to Mary. She is the bridge we

can use to go to Christ. Thus, we have this famous expression, “Ad

Iesum per Mariam.” (To Jesus through Mary)

          We really should develop a deep and abiding devotion to

Mary. Like St. John who, after being told by the dying Christ to

behold his mother (Mary), took her to his home and cared for her,

(cfr. Jn 19,27) we too should do the same.

          We have to be truly Marian to be truly Christian. That’s

part of God’s will for us. We cannot go to Christ, we cannot

understand him properly and cooperate with him in our redemption, if

we do not go to Mary.

          On our part, we just have to make sure that we take care of

our spiritual and moral life since it is through them that we are

enabled to receive God’s grace that is the sole principle of eternity.

Everything else in our life should get its life and purpose from our

spiritual and moral dimensions of our life.

          We need to deepen our faith in God’s love for us, which

should be shown in deeds. It’s in this way that we can participate in

Christ’s victory over sin and death with his resurrection to eternal

life. That victory will always make us new as St. Paul once affirmed:

          “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has

passed away. Behold, all things are made new.” (2 Cor 5,17) In another

passage, St. Paul said: “For we are buried together with him by

baptism into death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory

of the Father, so we also may walk in the newness of life.” (Rom 6,4)

          We need to learn the ways of this “newness of life” offered

by Christ through his passion, death and resurrection or the Paschal

mystery that summarizes everything that he did and said to save us.

All things to all men

THESE are words of St. Paul. The complete quote goes this

way: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a

slave to everyone, to win as many people possible. To the Jews I

became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became

like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as

to win those under the law.

          “To those not having the law I became like one not having

the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s

law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became

weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by

all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of

the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Cor 9,19-23)

          Tremendous words, indeed! They can scare us, considering

what would be involved to put these words into action. But we have to

take these words to heart. They vividly describe what should be our

attitude towards everyone if we are to be consistent with our

Christian identity.

          Yes, we have to be all things to all men, including those

who are very different from us, those whose views, positions,

lifestyles, ideologies, beliefs, etc. are incompatible with ours. This

is what is to be truly Christian. If we fail in this test, we cannot

really consider ourselves as authentically Christian.

          Christ said it very clearly to us already. It might be good

to remit here again the relevant words of Christ: “Love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for

those who mistreat you.

          “If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other

also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him.

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to

you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to

you.

          “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who

are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that…

          “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them

without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be

great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind

to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is

merciful.” (Lk 6,27-36)

          There you are! Christ tells us how we should deal with those

who are different or are in conflict with us. Christ did not only tell

us this principle, but lived it out himself. He allowed himself to be

crucified even if it was clear he was blameless. To top it all, he

offered forgiveness to those who crucified him and even found excuses

for them. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are

doing.” (Lk 23,34)

          It’s really time to make drastic changes in our attitudes

and ways of dealing with everyone, especially those who are different

from us or even opposed to us. To be sure, we need nothing less than

God’s grace for this, than our vital identification with Christ

himself to such an extent that we truly become “another Christ.”

          But everyday, we have to see to it that we are developing

the appropriate attitudes, skills and virtues. We have to be

broad-minded, patient, willing to suffer all kinds of pain from the

physical to the moral and spiritual. This is the only way we can echo

St. Paul’s words of becoming “all things to all men.”

The Holy Family and ours

WITH the Feast of the Holy Family, we should take time to

examine how our own families conform to the model family of the Holy

Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We should never take this occasion

and duty for granted. Our families, like each one of us, are still a

work a progress. They are still on their way to their perfection as

exemplified by the life of love within the Holy Family.

          We cannot deny that the world and the families in general

are drifting toward godlessness. Right now, we are witnessing a more

aggressive type of secular humanism, that is, a humanism that excludes

God and that only depends on some human consensus, however it is

derived.

          Many of our public officials are now espousing their own

theories and ideas, based more on what is practical and popular,

rather than on what our faith teaches us. They believe more in these

theories than in the doctrine of our faith, and sometimes put

them—their theories and the faith—in direct contrast.

          We now have to grapple with the many manifestations of

practical atheism, like relativism, materialism, commercialism,

hedonism, agnosticism, etc. We have to be familiar with their causes

and symptoms, their reasons and other factors that give some life to

them. More importantly, we have to know the appropriate weapons to use

for the combat.

          Definitely we cannot be blind to the many challenges and

difficulties that the contemporary family faces. The number of broken

and dysfunctional families is increasing. Its nature, purpose and

requirements are getting vaguer and vaguer to many people, especially

the young.

          Many developments today, while offering some good, are also

creating havoc on the family because they are not understood well nor

assimilated properly to the needs of the family. There’s so much

concern for the economic viability of the family at the expense of

taking care of its spiritual and moral vitality which is more

important.

          The main challenge now is for parents to educate their

children properly. Precisely as parents they have the primary duty to

bring up their children properly. And this responsibility is not only

in the material aspects, like feeding and clothing, but more in the

spiritual and moral aspects that in the end are a matter of education

and formation.

          That’s why parents should first of all realize very deeply

that they need a good and ongoing human and spiritual formation. Let’s

remember that this aspect of formation serves as the foundation for

any education and training parents give to their children.

  

          The practical aspects of learning can only be truly

effective if they rest on a good, solid and consistent human and

spiritual formation. Obviously, the basic human and spiritual values

and virtues are learned by giving the children the appropriate basic

responsibilities, like greeting or kissing parents to instill the

virtue of respect, doing some household chores to inculcate the idea

of responsibility and concern for others, etc.

          Parents should also realize that to create a proper and

conducive atmosphere of learning, they should try to create and keep

an atmosphere of peace and cordiality at home. Since there will always

be differences and conflicts, not to mention, mistakes and failures,

parents should know how to handle these events without compromising

that air of peace and cordiality at home.

          Also very important for parents to carry out is to introduce

their children as early as practicable to a life of piety. The

rudiments of prayer and faith should be planted in the children as

early as possible. This is a very important aspect that should not be

regarded as only secondary in the priorities of what to teach the

children.

          In dealing with their children, parents should try their

best to put themselves in the level of their children. Friendship,

affection and intimacy should be fostered, such that there is trusting

openness between parents and children, even if the right to privacy is

also respected and, in fact, promoted.

Treasure in vessels of clay

THE expression comes from St Paul’s second letter to the

Corinthians (4,7). It is meant to remind us that all of us, and

particularly those who have been gifted with special graces and

charisms, have a God-given treasure that is kept in delicate

containers, that is, ourselves in all our weak and fragile condition.

          Therefore we need to be most careful about this predicament

in our life. This means that we always have to be with God who gives

us all the strength that we need to be faithful and generous with his

gift to us. On our own, this gift would just go to waste. We have to

struggle always to be with him, since we tend to separate ourselves

from him. And with him, in spite of all the trials, we can manage to

survive.

          The complete passage goes this way: “We have this treasure

in vessels of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God

and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;

perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck

down, but not destroyed.” (7-9)

          These words of St. Paul acquire current relevance these days

as we hear about that sad piece of news that in the US, an estimated

300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1000 children

since the 1940s, according to a grand jury report that accused senior

church officials of systematically covering up complaints.

          We need to realize that the higher or the greater or the

more special the gift of God is given to us, the more responsible, the

more watchful, the more prudent we ought to be in keeping it.

          We really have to remind ourselves constantly that no matter

how confident we are of our strength, physical, moral or spiritual, we

still have feet of clay.

          In the Book of Daniel, we are told of a statue whose head

was made of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and

thighs of brass, its legs of iron. All impressive! But its feet were,

sadly, part iron and part clay. (cfr 2,32-33)

          It took only one small stone that struck it at its feet to

bring the whole statue crumbling down. It’s an image of how we are—we

can be majestic in many aspects, but we’ll always have these feet of

clay, our Achilles’ heel.

          We should always be on guard, distancing ourselves from

temptations and occasions of sins, purifying our intentions always so

as to ward off unwelcome thoughts and desires, ever developing an

authentic spirit of penance to cleanse and strengthen ourselves as we

go through the adventure of life.

          We need to realize that the higher or greater or more

special the gift of God is given to us, the more attractive we would

be to the enemies of God. We would become a favorite target of the

many demons around. They will do everything to bring us down.

          We need to remember that the only way to handle this

predicament is to be vitally united with Christ. This means that like

Christ and with Christ, we should be willing to suffer and to die,

that is, to die to our sins and weaknesses so that we can also

resurrect with him, so that we can have the final victory.

          St. Paul explains it this way: “We always carry around in

our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be

revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over

to the death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in

our mortal body.” (2 Cor 4,10-11)

          We all need to understand these words well, internalizing

and assimilating them into our system!

Christmas and our rebirth

CHRISTMAS is, of course, about the birth of our Lord, Jesus

Christ. It is such a beautiful event that, thanks to God, we still

like to romanticize to the hilt. But no matter how much romance and

fantasy we put in there, we know that we actually can never fully

fathom the tremendous wonder that this event brings about, since the

whole thing is a mystery.

          Christmas is about God’s great and overwhelming love for us.

It is about God who by becoming man adapts himself to us to recover

our lost dignity as his image and likeness, adopted children of his,

meant to share in his very life and nature. It is about God lowering

himself to raise us up to where he wants us to be. It is a completely

gratuitous love that we should also learn to develop in ourselves.

          Pope Francis recently has written about how wonderful it

would be if we continue to put the nativity scene in our homes and in

many other places. In it, he explained the symbolism attached to the

different characters and elements we like to put in the crèche. He is

encouraging us to do our prayer and meditation in front of the crèche.

          It might be good to go through that document and transmit

its message vigorously to a world that is showing signs of losing its

religious moorings. We cannot deny that with our world becoming more

and more technology-immersed, somehow the attractiveness of the

mystery of Christmas is undermined. We have to counter this trend.

          Yes, with the rapid technological development today, people,

especially the young, tend to be overly immersed in the earthly,

material and temporal things in our life, at the expense of the

spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life. They tend to be

more self-oriented rather than others-oriented which is what is ideal

for us, since we are meant for loving.

          To counter this tendency, we have to be with Christ. And

Christmas is a very good occasion to achieve that ideal. Christmas

should mean to us as Christ wanting to be born in us, so that we that

we can be born again into the life of grace, into the very life of

Christ, which we lost through our sin, both the original and the

personal.

  

          Christmas is a time of rebirth, of another conversion so

that our identification with Christ, the pattern of our humanity and

savior of our damaged humanity, becomes ever tighter. We have to

realize ever more deeply that we need to be reborn. We have to do

whatever is needed to make this need felt sharply by us. We cannot

deny that today’s conditions seem to desensitize us of this most basic

need of ours.

          Precisely for his purpose, Christ made himself so easily

available to us that he makes himself not only present to us up to

now, but to give himself to us completely especially in the sacrament

of the Holy Eucharist.

          To be reborn in Christ, who is our “way, truth and life,” to

be “alter Christus” if not “ipse Christus” (another Christ, Christ

himself) as we ought to be, is not a pipe dream. Christ is all there

for the taking.

          And as St. Paul also asserted, “Christ himself gave the

apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to

equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may

be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge

of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of

the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4,11-13)

          Let us learn to feel at home with this tremendous truth

about ourselves and start to do something to conform our life to this

truth of our faith!

        Merry Christmas to one and all!

The danger of self-righteousness

THIS is the irony of ironies. That is when one earnestly

pursues the path of holiness and does practically everything to be

good and holy, and yet ends up the opposite of what he wants.

          This is the danger self-righteousness. That’s when one

practically has the trappings of goodness and holiness and yet misses

the real root of righteousness who is God. It can be so self-deceiving

that one becomes fully convinced he is righteous.

          This was well personified by the Pharisees, scribes and

other elders during the time of Christ. They preferred to stick to

their own ideas of goodness and holiness, their own laws and

traditions, and went all the way not only to be suspicious of Christ,

always finding fault in him, but also to finally crucify him.

          If one is truly righteous with a righteousness that is a

participation of the righteousness of God, then he should include in

his idea of goodness and holiness the essential virtues of humility,

compassion and mercy.

          He should have the love that God manifested in Christ, the

God made man to offer us the way, truth and the real life meant for

us. And that love includes love of one’s enemies. It’s a love that can

go all the way to offer one’s life not only for his friends but also

for his enemies.

          Yes, it’s true that Christ said that that there can be no

greater love than when a man lays down his life for his friends. (cfr.

Jn 15,13) But St. Paul said that “God proves his love for us in this:

while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5,8)

          In other words, even if we consider ourselves enemies of God

because of our sins, God continues to love us. For God, we are all his

friends, his beloved, no matter what the circumstances are.

          In fact, if we study closely the life of Christ, he shows

greater love, attention and concern for those who are far from him

than for those who are already with him. This is what we can gather in

the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. He

is only harsh with those who were self-righteous who, because of their

status, should know better but acted wrongly.

          A self-righteous person is a proud person, always feeling

superior to others. He is afflicted with the disorder called

perfectionism. He makes himself his own god, his own definer of what

is good and bad, moral and immoral. He can hardly stand people who are

not like him. They can know a lot, but unfortunately that knowledge

puffs them up rather than makes them more charitable.

          Their disorder of perfectionism usually makes them very

strict and fastidious, somehow betraying the scrupulous kind of

conscience that they have. Because of that, they often become

narrow-minded and rigid in their ways.

          The self-righteous persons are prone to make rash judgments

and end up bitter and irritable. It would be no wonder that they feel

isolated like an island detached from the continent, and any show of

sociability is simply just that, a show, an act, a performance, devoid

of the proper substance and spirit.

          They can profess ardent if not fanatical belief in Christ,

but a Christ without the cross. They simply focus on what they

consider as the exclusivity of truth without the inclusivity of

charity. They prefer ideas and values over persons in their concrete

conditions with all their charms as well as their warts.

          They usually follow a certain game plan, otherwise things

are not considered right. They are closed-minded and have low level of

tolerance when plans are changed or unforeseen events happen. They

abhor surprises. Because of all this, they often end up anxious since

they know they cannot control everything.

Chilling out before contradictions

THAT amusing episode about St. Joseph thinking of quietly

separating from Our Lady because he found her already with child in

her womb before they lived together (cfr. 1,18-25) is a good lesson

and reminder that we just have to chill out when faced with some

contradictions in life.

  

            In any case, worrying and plunging ourselves in

discouragement and sadness would not help us any. It would simply make

things worse instead, putting us in a position that is prone to more

dangers. We have to remember that sadness is always an ally of our

enemy.

  

            We need to remember that everything is under God’s

control. If some bad things happen to us, it must be because there is

a reason and a purpose behind it. We need to see the bigger picture

that God provides us through our faith, hope and charity. We should

not be guided simply by our own estimation of things. We have to go to

God.

  

            If we are lucky like St. Joseph, we might be privileged to

have an angel explain things to us in a dream. But even if we are not,

as is usually the case since extraordinary means are rare and the

ordinary means to know the truth are plenty, we should just go to God

asking for light, strength and comfort. That should be our instinctive

reaction.

  

            Ideally, we should not be weighed down by any worry since

God takes care of everything. Some Bible passages reassure us of this

truth. “So do not fear,” the Book of Isaiah says, “for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help

you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (1,10)

  

            And St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians says, “Do

not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and

petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the

peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (4,6-7)

  

            Still, from the Psalms, we have these reassuring words:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is

the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” (27,1)

  

            Of course, we also have to do our part in resolving our

predicaments. Yes, we may worry a bit, but it should not be for long.

We may have to suffer a bit, but again, it should not be overdone. If

referred and united with Christ’s suffering, ours would strike us to

be meaningful, purifying, redemptive, etc. We would end up loving

suffering.

  

            Let’s remember that as long as we are with God, as long as

we believe and love him, everything will always work out for the good.

(cfr. Rom 8,28) He knows how to derive good from evil, since

everything depends on him, he being the Creator of all things. No

matter how a creature goes against him, that creature cannot overcome

him.

  

            We need to channel and assimilate this wonderful truth of

our faith into our emotional and psychological systems which are where

our useless worrying takes place.

  

            In fact, in these aspects of our life, what should reign

or dominate always are the sentiments of joy and peace. Otherwise, we

can say that our life is not as it should be. If it is not a happy

life, then it is not the ideal human life, much less a life of a child

of God.

  

            Yes, we should try to know and understand why some

contradictions happen in our life. Many times, that is possible. But

there can be times when no matter how much we try to understand

things, we still fail. That’s when we simply have to trust in God’s

omnipotent and merciful providence.

  

            In the meantime, we should just chill out and focus on

what we are supposed to do in any given moment.

When we feel helpless in our prayer

FEELING helpless in our prayer can come to us anytime. We

can experience such dryness that we would not feel the slightest need

for God nor the need to pray, to go and talk to him. Many times, we

would not know how to relate some situations of our life to God—like

our current concerns, problems, challenges, or just our usual work,

duties and responsibilities. We also can be hounded by distractions

and temptations.

  

            This is the time to act like those gospel characters—the

blind, the lame, the paralytic, the leper, etc.—who did their best to

get close to Christ, begging for help. “Lord, have pity on us,” they

would say. And Christ always attended to them. There were even times

when without being asked, Christ would offer his help.

  

            We should avoid allowing ourselves to drift away from God

when we feel empty in our prayer because without him, our condition

would just go from bad to worse. We should never waver from our belief

that we are meant to be with God always. So, even if we do not feel

any attraction to him in what is supposed to be our moment of prayer,

we should just persist.

  

            Let’s remember what Christ reassured us. “Ask and it will

be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be

opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and

to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Mt 7,7-8)

  

            Yes, we really just have to persist. This is the

expression and the power of faith, especially when everything else in

our natural powers—our intelligence, will, memory, imagination,

feelings, emotions and passions—fail.

   

            We should just humble ourselves to trust in the providence

of God so that we can still go on even if we feel dry and are in the

dark.

   

            A great man of prayer and a teacher of prayer himself, St.

Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, had these tips to say about

how to handle those instances when we find ourselves helpless in our

prayer.

  

            -“Slowly. Consider what you are saying, to whom it is

being said and by whom. For that hurried talk, without time for

reflection, is just empty noise. And with St. Teresa, I will tell you

that, however much you work your lips, I do not call it prayer.” (The

Way, 82)

  

            -“You say that you don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in

the presence of God, and once you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how

to pray!’ rest assured that you have begun to do so. (TW 90)

  

            -“You write: ‘To pray is to talk with God. But about

what?’ About what? About Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes

and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of

thanksgiving and petitions: and Love and reparation. In a word: to get

to know him and to get to know yourself: ‘to get acquainted!’” (TW 91)

   

            -“‘Et in meditatione mea exardescit ignis. And in my

meditation a fire shall flame out.’ That is why you go to pray: to

become a bonfire, a living flame giving heat and light. So, when you

are not able to go on, when you feel that your fire is dying out, if

you cannot throw on it sweet-smelling logs, throw on the branches and

twigs of short vocal prayers and ejaculations, to keep the bonfire

burning. And you will not have wasted your time.” (TW 92)

  

-“You don’t know what to say to our Lord in your prayer. You can’t

think of anything, and yet you would like to consult him on many

things. Look: make some notes during the day of whatever you want to

consider in the presence of God. And then take these notes with you to

pray.” (TW 97)

When the body drags the spirit

WE should always be wary of the usual conflict between our

body and soul, and be ready to resolve it as quickly as possible so

that the ideal unity of life can be achieved even as we go through the

different situations of our life.

  

            Christ already warned us about this. “The spirit is

willing, but the flesh is weak,” he told the 3 disciples who were with

him in his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, advising them to always

“watch and pray.” (cfr. Mt 26,41)

   

            St. Paul described this conflict very graphically when he

said: “I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my

members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me

captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (Rom 7,22-23)

  

            For this, we have to learn how to monitor the condition of

both our body and soul as we go through the different events of day.

It’s a skill worth learning, especially because it is basic and

indispensable in our effort to effectively attend to the real purpose

of our life here on earth—our sanctification. Holiness is not only an

affair of our spiritual soul. It also integrally involves our body.

  

            It’s ironic that many of us know a lot of practical

skills, but we miss out on this one which is more important than any

of them. We need to see to it that since we are supposed to be a unity

of body and soul, both constituent elements of our humanity should

work in synch with each other, and ultimately be animated by the real

and original source of life, unity and beauty, and that is none other

than God.

  

            When the body is tired, bored, stressed, hungry, sick,

etc., we should know what to do with it to make it properly animated

in spite of those conditions which can give an opening for temptations

to come and eventually dominate.

  

            This is where, as Christ himself said, that we have to

learn to “watch and pray.” We should not allow the miseries of the

body drag our soul to the same condition. The ideal condition is that

even if the body finds itself in its weaknesses, it should still be

properly connected with God through prayer, sacrifice, recourse to the

sacraments, exercise of the virtues.

  

            The whole idea is that we should avoid becoming a carnal

man rather than a spiritual man as described by St. Paul. (cfr. 1 Cor

2,14-16) For this, we should see to it that as we go through the

different events of the day and as our body goes through all kinds of

conditions, the proper spiritual animation of our body is not lost.

  

            Practically speaking, this should translate into making

the effort that right at the beginning of the day, our spiritual and

supernatural bearing should already be made strong and firm through

some exercises like saying some vocal prayers, doing some mental

prayer or meditation, doing some devotions, etc.

   

            And such bearing should be nourished and reinforced with

some acts of piety all throughout the day. When we notice that our

body is tired, bored or stressed, then we should intensify our prayers

and spirit of mortification to prevent it from falling prey to the

blind urges of the body that can seek rest and compensation in ways

that are not proper to our dignity as persons and children of God.

  

            We cannot deny that when a tired body, for example, is not

properly inspired by the spirit of love of God and others, it will

seek its rest and recreation, its desire for reward and compensation

in ways that are not healthy and even sinful. It can indulge in

overeating, oversleeping, if not fall into the vices of drinks, drugs,

gambling, pornography, sex, etc.

Waivable protocols

IN reaching out to those who are still far from the

Church, those who are even hostile to it, those in the peripheries,

etc., as we should, following the example and command of Christ, a

most basic and commonsensical principle to follow is that we avoid

using the same standards and criteria, the same protocols that those

who are already very much in the Church follow.

  

            It’s like in the family where you have grown-up children

and a little child and a little baby. We treat them differently. We

expect the little child and the little baby to make some mess and we

would just clean it up, while giving them some training appropriate to

their condition. Even among the grown-up children, you can have those

who are healthy and sick, strong and weak, etc., and we treat them

according to how they are.

  

            There obviously are common things that have to be observed

by all, and these are what we call the essentials. In the end, the

ultimate essential is love, the love that comes from God, a love that

can adapt itself to any situation, because as St. Paul said in his

Letter to the Romans, “love is the fulfillment of the law.” (13,10)

  

            The other things, like the protocols about how to pray,

how to make sacrifice, how to attend Mass, etc., can be waived if the

conditions warrant and even require it. We have to be discerning and

prudent in applying the protocols to different kinds of people.

  

            We have to contend with a great variety of differences

among the people, and we should just have to learn to deal with that

reality. Among the most obvious things that we need to do is to have

constant monitoring of these differences and constantly studying as

well how these differences can be handled accordingly.

  

            The differences can come in terms of age, culture,

profession, social and economic status, intelligence level,

temperament, ideology, political preference, etc. It’s about time that

these differences are closely monitored and regularly inventoried,

with appropriate plans and strategies of how to deal with them

properly.

   

            We cannot and should not absolutize what only has relative

value. And vice-versa, of course. We should not relativize what has

absolute and permanent value, no matter what the conditions and

situations on the ground are.

  

            As already said many times, what is of absolute value,

what is truly and ultimately essential, what is non-negotiable, is

love, a love that comes from Christ. And if we look at how Christ

showed and lived out that love, we can say that he did away with many

of the legalisms and human traditions of the elders at that time to

reach out to those who were the lost sheep, the lost coin and the

prodigal son.

   

            Imagine what he did to show this love. Being God, he

became man. His first 30 years of hidden life were spent just like how

everybody else spent their time—working and doing the usual duties.

Even in his public life, he led a simple and austere life despite the

preaching and the wonderful miracles that he performed.

  

            In the end, he allowed himself to suffer all kinds of

indignities all the way to being crucified just to assume all our sins

and reopen the gates of heaven for all of us. St. Paul said that he

was made like sin without committing sin just to save us. (cfr. 2 Cor

5,21)

  

            It’s love more than merely following some laws, customs

and traditional practices that matters. He, of course, subjected

himself to these laws and traditions, but when the demands of love

transcend the scope of these laws and traditions, he simply did what

he had to do out of love, even if he ended misunderstood, persecuted

and ultimately executed.

  

            This example of love of Christ is what we have to follow

when we try to obey his command that we love one another as he himself

has loved us.

Evil can’t stand on its own

THAT’S one thing we should always bear in mind whenever we

are assailed by evil in any form it may come. It always has to refer

to something true and good which it tries to twist, distort or

outrightly deny. It cannot stand on its own. It offers nothing new,

nothing original.

             Knowing that fact gives us the effective way to deal with

it, so we avoid falling for it. What we have to do is to refer

ourselves to the truth and to the source of all goodness who is God.

   

            This was how Christ dealt with the devil who tried to

tempt him. (cfr. Mt 4,1-11) In that episode in Christ’s life, the

devil quoted passages of Scripture to lure Christ to go into the

devil’s will and ways. But those passages were all twisted and

distorted to suit the devil’s interest. Christ, of course, knew this

and quickly clarified things to him. Eventually, the devil left Christ

in peace.

  

            This episode clearly shows us that it is the truth that

will make us free. (cfr. Jn 8,32) It is our intimate relation with the

God, the source of all goodness, who will protect us from the very

subtle tricks and wiles of the devil.

  

            To defend ourselves from evil that will always hound us in

our earthly life, we need to really know the truth well and to always

keep in touch with God, never allowing ourselves to stay far from him.

In this regard, we can never overemphasize our need.

  

            Let us examine ourselves if indeed we have the truth that

is already revealed in full by Christ, authoritatively taught by

Church, and given witness to by the saints and the holy men and women

through the ages, deeply embedded in our mind and heart.

  

            For this, we indeed need to spend time everyday to read,

study and meditate on the gospel that contains the life and teaching

of Christ, our Master. In doing so, we have to involve all our

faculties—our mind and heart, the intelligence, will and emotions and

passions, our imagination and memory.

  

            We have to see to it that through our constant meditation

of the gospel, the life of Christ becomes so clear to us that Christ

becomes alive in us, and we become not only more familiar with his

word and example but also truly enamoured by it, so much so that the

truth revealed by Christ becomes the living principle that enlightens

our life and shapes our reactions to all the events of our life.

  

            In other words, we should always have presence of God,

constantly referring things to him who never abandons us even if we

feel otherwise. He is always by our side and is definitely for us

whenever we have to grapple with evil as when we are tempted.

  

            To handle evil in our life, it is not enough just to

ignore and dismiss it outright. Such attitude would only embolden the

evil one to trick us with ever more sophisticated temptations until it

becomes almost impossible for us to resist them.

   

            What we have to do is to expose the lie of that evil so

that it will depart from us on its own. This was what happened when

Christ was tempted. Christ simply exposed the lie, the clever twisting

and distorting of the Scriptural passages, and the devil eventually

left him.

  

            This attitude and reaction validate what we are told when

we are tempted: that God does not allow us to be tempted more than we

can bear, but with the temptation would also give us the grace to deal

with it properly. (cfr. 1 Cor 10,13)

  

            With the way things are now in the world, with evil and

temptations holding sway over a great majority of the people,

especially the young, there is need to encourage everyone to know the

truth well and to be with God always mainly through prayer.

  

Constructive always, never destructive

WE cannot deny that in our life we will always have to face

challenges and difficulties, resolve certain issues, go through the

unavoidable differences and conflicts among ourselves, etc. We should

see to it that in all this, we always maintain a positive, hopeful and

constructive attitude rather than get carried away by all kinds of

negativities, just complaining, whining and fault-finding along the

way.

  

          We have to be wary of our emotions and passions that, once

triggered without the guidance of reason and much less of our faith,

hope and charity, can go ballistic, just inflicting harm all around.

We have to learn how to control and regulate our anger and temper, and

practice patience. Feeling provoked for any reason does not mean we

are entitled to get mad.

  

          The secret is, of course, to identify ourselves with Christ

who, as St. Paul said, will always strengthen us such that we can do

all things. (cfr. Phil 4,13) We can echo St. Paul’s words: “I have

learned to be content in whatever state I am: how to be abased, how to

abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full

and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” (Phil 4,11-12)

  

          We need to process these words so that they will always be

with us especially when we are severely tried and sharply provoked by

some problem or issue. Other similar passages from the gospel are

helpful, like Christ’s words about never to get anxious, as recorded

in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

  

          “Do not be anxious about your life,” he said, “what you will

eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at

the birds of the air—they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value

than they?...” (6,25-26)

            Again, the idea is for us to identify ourselves with Christ,

to have his mind, his attitude toward anything in life. It is for us

to have his spirit which he actually shares with us gratuitously, but

to which we have to correspond.

  

          He gives us the bigger and complete picture of things,

reassuring us that everything will just be ok. He has taken care of

everything. With him, with his love and grace, we can bear and conquer

all things.

  

          Obviously, we, like Christ, have to be ready to suffer also.

He has said this very clearly. “If anyone would come after me, he must

deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mt 16,24)

  

          We should really need to discipline ourselves, especially

our emotions and passions, and, of course, our attitude, so that

instead of just giving a knee-jerk reaction to the challenges, issues,

problems and difficulties we meet in our life, usually expressed with

an outburst of anger, we can easily get to see the reassuring bigger

picture always painted by Christ.

  

          We have to teach ourselves to be patient, and rather than

just being restrained and moderate in our reactions, let us rev up our

optimistic and cheerful selves, knowing that each challenge and

difficulty brings with it some grace of God and some precious lessons

for us to learn.

  

          We should not allow ourselves to be guided only by our

emotions and feelings, and not even by our more intelligent estimation

of things. We have to be guided by faith, hope and charity. This is

how we can see and react to things the way Christ sees and reacts to

them.

  

          Yes, we have every reason to be positive and constructive in

our attitude even in the midst of the gloomiest situation we can find

ourselves in. Just be with Christ. That’s the secret!

Priests are overworked, isolated, etc.

A NEWS item recently from the US reported that many

American priests are stressed out, burned out due to the load they

carry, and that many of them feel isolated. To top it all, they are

assailed now by a lot of scandals ranging from financial mismanagement

and sexual abuses.

  

            My immediate reaction to this item is, of course, to pray

for them. Let us hope that both the concerned Church authorities and

the priests themselves would find some effective solutions to these

problems.

  

            I also felt that there must be some relation between these

problems of overwork and isolation, and the consequent scandals that

now stain the image of priests in the US. When one is tired,

exhausted, feeling isolated and uncared for, I believe we have a

terrible mix that makes one most susceptible to all kinds of anomalies

and disorders.

  

            What also came to my mind is that more or less the same

problems beset many of our local priests also. At least the few I know

complain about having so much work that they can hardly cope and that

they want to have someone who can listen to them and share their

plight. They want to vent out some bad air that is compressing in

their heart.

  

            These problems are always a challenge to the Church

authorities who should come up and animate appropriate programs,

structures and networks. More than these, they should find ways of how

to go to the personal level of each of the priests in their care.

  

            The care for priests should step out of the impersonal

bureaucratic mold. The relation between bishops and priests and among

priests should be fraternal and friendly. If this atmosphere is

missing, something drastic and immediate should be done to resolve it.

  

            One idea in this direction could be the promotion of

priestly societies that would foster priestly fraternity that is

vivified by a particular charism or spirituality. All priests should

be encouraged to join these societies. These societies can help

eliminate or at least minimize that dangerous situation where priests

would feel isolated and uncared for.

  

            The practice of spiritual direction, confession or just

friendly chats where issues, problems and difficulties are brought out

should be constantly encouraged. It cannot be denied that many of the

priests have the tendency to keep to themselves, not wanting to open

up to anyone.

  

            In that way, they do not become transparent which is a

condition the enemies of God and of our soul like so much. Priests

should learn to be brutally sincere about the condition of their

spiritual and priestly life. They have to call a spade a spade. Hiding

things that are significant in priestly life would be like keeping a

pact with the devil.

  

            It is when priests have spiritual direction, confession or

chat with a friend that they can be better helped in their life of

prayers and sacrifice, so indispensable in priestly life and ministry.

It is undebatable that when a priest’s life of prayer and sacrifice is

not in order, his priestly life and ministry will simply collapse

sooner or later.

  

            In spiritual direction, confession or chats, priestly

problems and issues can be better sorted out and given appropriate

solutions, suggestions and action.

              I know that dioceses hold for their ongoing formation for

priests regular annual retreats and monthly days of recollection.

These means of formation are always good, except that many priests

attend them mainly for compliance purposes.

  

            Hardly anything about spiritual conversion or growth and

enrichment is achieved. How to have the proper effects of these means

of formation is indeed a great challenge for everyone! But no matter

how daunting the challenge is, both Church authorities and priests

themselves should just persist in finding the appropriate solutions.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception and us

OF course, this is the biggest privilege given to a human

person. Mary, of all people, was exempted from original sin from her

conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, and remained

immaculate, unstained by any sin all throughout her earthly life.

  

            The basis for this dogma is, first of all, the general

acceptance of this belief in the early Christians. Of course, the

Church authorities had to come up with the theological basis for this

dogma and succeeded in doing so.

  

            In the gospel, Mary was addressed by Archangel Gabriel

during the Annunciation that she was “full of grace.” That assertion

from a most reliable messenger of God can already tell us that Mary

was not lacking in grace even from the moment of her conception.

  

            We have to remember that original sin is not a sin that a

person commits. It is rather a state of being conceived and born

without God’s grace as we were meant to be in the original design of

God before the sin of our first parents. With this dogma of the

Immaculate Conception, we affirm our belief that Mary was conceived

and born already in the state of grace.

  

            Besides, as the one chosen from all eternity to be the

mother of the Son of God who had to become man, it is but fair to

presume that she must be filled with grace from the beginning without

any stain of sin. Also it can be presumed that the inclination to sin

that is associated with anyone who lacks grace was not with her all

throughout her life.

  

            The question to ask now is whether in the whole lifetime

of Mary, she was exempted from the usual condition of man where

temptations, sin and all sorts of evil abound, and if she could manage

to remain immaculate all throughout her life.

  

            I believe the answer to this question is, No to the first,

and Yes to the second conjecture. Like Christ, with whom she was so

identified that no one else could attain a better identification, she

had to grapple with all the temptations, sins and evil in the world.

  

            We can even say that next to Christ, she it was who was

exposed and tried by all the dirt in a world that is alienated from

God. And still she remained immaculate, sinless!

  

            How could she manage?

            Again, I believe that it was her perfect identification

with Christ that enabled her to remain immaculate all throughout her

life. She reflected in a perfect way the love that Christ showed to

all of us and commanded us to emulate.

  

            It was this love that both exposed her to all the evils in

this world and protected her from all of them. It is the love that we

have to learn to develop ourselves, with God’s grace and our effort.

  

            We may not be immaculate like Our Lady, but we can always

try to follow her, since by following her, we ultimately follow

Christ. She is actually the shortest, easiest and surest way for us to

be with Christ and to be like him, unafraid of all the evils in the

world and bold enough to conquer all of them.

  

            We cannot overemphasize the relevance of having a strong,

deep devotion to Our Lady. We should not take it for granted, since

Christ himself, before he died on the cross, gave her to us as our

mother through St. John. Remember some of the last words of Christ:

“Woman, behold your son! Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your

mother!’” (Jn 19,26-27)

  

            May we have this love that can embolden us to reach out to

those who are lost, unafraid of the effort and the dirt that may be

involved in doing so. If we want to at least minimize our sinfulness

and work more in reaching out to the others, we have to learn to have

the real love, the one Christ and Mary are showing us.