Dirtied but not contaminated

WE have to be ready for this very-likely-to-happen

phenomenon. We can get dirtied in life, what with all the trials,

temptations, weaknesses, etc. that we have to unavoidably contend

with. But let’s see to it that we do not get contaminated,

compromising what is truly essential in our life.

            Yes, we can expect to get dirty in life. But let’s hope

that it will just be on the outside, not on the inside; that it be

superficial, not profound; that it be in the incidentals in life, not

the essential; that it be in the optional, not the necessary in life.

            Again, the secret to achieve this ideal is to be with

Christ who got dirtied himself but never contaminated by compromising

his redemptive mission here on earth. Christ bore all the sins of men,

past, present and future, by going through the most agonizing passion

and death of his on the cross, but he never wavered on his love for us

by carrying out the will of the Father to the end.

            He conquered all this with his resurrection, a classic

case of how the victim became the victor. St. Paul put it so

eloquently when he said: “God made him (Christ) who had no sin to be

sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(2 Cor 5,21) Yes, Christ absorbed all the dirt of our sin without

committing sin, if only to save us, to recover our dignity as God’s

children, image and likeness of his.

            From this consideration, we should learn the precious

lesson of truly identifying ourselves with Christ so that we would

know how to convert our sufferings, our falls and sins into the very

means of our own salvation, of our true joy.

            That is why we can never overemphasize the need for us to

simply be sport and game in life, knowing that there will be fouls

committed along the way. But the spirit to go on with life, intent on

winning the race, should be kept alive.

            We should not be too delicate and sensitive in all the

possible difficulties and humiliations we can encounter in life.

Remember that episode of the Syrophoenician woman who asked Christ to

expel the devil possessing her daughter. (cfr. Mk 7,24-30)

            She was at first rejected by Christ who even referred to

her as a dog. “The children should be fed first, because it is not

fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs,” Christ

said to her. (v.27)

            But she did not relent. She did not feel offended.

Instead, she reasoned out, “Yes, sir, but little dogs under the table

eat the scraps from the children.” (v.28) This response from the woman

simply melted Christ’s heart and led to the instant cure of her

daughter.

            In our life, we can encounter humiliations from the hands

of others, humiliations that God allows to happen. But if we have a

strong faith, we would just go on being faithful to him, and he, for

sure, will do much more than just to make up for the humiliations he

allows us to suffer. God cannot be outdone in generosity.

            When we feel initially rebuffed not only from others but

even from God, we should not waver in our love and fidelity to God and

to everybody else. Evil should never be responded with evil.

            Rather, evil should always be responded with good, no

matter how unreasonable that behavior would seem to us. That’s because

that is simply how evil is overcome. When we respond to evil with

evil, we would create a greater evil. And so it stands to reason that,

as one saint put it, evil should be drowned with an abundance of good.

            So let’s just be ready to get dirty in life, but never

allowing ourselves to be contaminated by it.