The willingness to suffer

IF we really want to truly love, we should be willing to suffer for the others out of love for God and for all souls. We need to realize that the willingness to suffer is the ultimate proof that our love is genuine. Love should not just be matter of goodwill, of benevolence, of doing some good to others. It has to go all the way to an eagerness to suffer for the others. 

 This is what Christ has done for us and has commanded us to do. Being both God and man, Christ should be seen by us as the epitome of true love which is the very essence of God that is also meant for us since we are supposed to be God’s image and likeness. 

 In showing us that love where the willingness to suffer is highlighted, St. Paul made this description of Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. 

 “Rather, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2,5-8) 

 We have to be willing to suffer the way Christ suffered for all of us. That is what true love is. No wonder that Christ himself said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,13) 

 No wonder also that as St. Peter said in his first Letter, “He (Christ) did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” (2,23) We have to learn to restrain our urge to make revenge whenever we are offended in some way by others. 

 It is this willingness to suffer that would show how, like Christ, we can go all the way to giving ourselves completely to everyone, irrespective of how they are. That is also why Christ commanded us, as an integral component of true love, that we even love our enemies. 

 In true love, the lover goes all the way to identifying himself with the beloved with the view of giving the beloved what is objectively good for both of the lover and the beloved. There is a kind of unification between the two that is based on what is objectively good for both. 

 We have to train ourselves to develop this kind of love. And we can use the usual conditions, concerns and circumstances in our daily dealings with others to develop that kind of love. Whenever some differences and conflicts occur among ourselves, we should be willing to suffer for the others, bearing their burdens, even if we also try to sort out and settle these differences and conflicts as peacefully and charitably as possible. 

 This willingness to suffer should be an active thing, not a passive one, waiting for suffering to come. We have to look for the opportunities to suffer. That would be a real proof that we are truly in love. What is more, such attitude would help us in protecting ourselves from temptations, sins and all other forms of evil!

Beware of the excesses of idealism

TO pursue ideals is always good. In fact, we have to encourage everyone to do so. It would show in some way that we are driven with love, with a desire to do good. That would be the best condition for us to be in. It would keep us from falling into lukewarmness, complacency and laziness. And, to be sure, we would be productive and fruitful that way. We fulfill God’s will for us. 

 Just the same, we have to be aware of the dangers that this attitude can also occasion. And that happens when we become too idealistic that we fail to be realistic. We get too attached to the ideal that we avoid considering the bare realities on the ground. 

 In a sense we fall into the excesses of idealism. That’s when we tend to build some kind of ivory tower, enclosing ourselves in our own ideas, theories and doctrines that, while useful to a certain extent, always need to be adapted properly to the objective situation or issue at hand. 

 That’s when we become armchair players in the drama of life, not realizing that ideas, theories and doctrines are no cold, frozen things, but are meant to dynamic, subject always to some development, deepening, and evolution. 

 What is worse is that when our ideals are not attained precisely because they are badly applied and adapted to the realities on the ground, then we can either fall into a deep state of disappointment and depression or into the other extreme of forcing the ideal by using violence and even terrorism. 

 Both can be a consequence of perfectionism brought about when we are too idealistic. Sad to say, we are actually seeing both cases taking place in the world today. 

 Another danger of idealism is the common tendency to make people associate themselves only with those who hold the same ideas as they have. This is not just a matter of having the legitimate specialization that all of us have, but rather of becoming a closed group that is unmindful of the objective needs of the others. Thus, we can have the anomaly of elitism. 

 It’s a subtle form of self-indulgence that can make people unaware of their failure to serve the real and objective needs of others because of the badly-based self-esteem they have due to their erroneous sense of idealism. In other words, they will not serve others if they fail to meet the standards and criteria of their idealism. 

 We have to be most careful with these dangers of idealism. What we should rather do is to be always mindful, thoughtful and eager to know, love and serve the others in their objective needs. In a sense, we have to get dirty with them, because no matter how sublime our human dignity is, we cannot deny that we always have weaknesses, failures and sins. 

 We have to understand that the road to our proper human and Christian perfection, which is to be like God as God wants us to be, is by truly serving others in their needs. 

 Of course, we have to see to it that our serving them should be oriented in the end to the glorification of God, and not just the meeting of some human, natural and temporal needs. But we have to do it by considering them in their objective condition and circumstances in life, no matter how difficult.

The season of Advent

WE have to learn to live the season of Advent properly. To do so, we have to know what Advent is really all about, and what our duties and responsibilities are toward it. We have to overcome our tendency to take these things for granted, just going through the motions of doing what more or less is expected of us in this period of the liturgical year. 

 Since Advent is the beginning of another liturgical year, we have to understand then that this season implies that we have to learn how to begin again well in the context of the liturgy. What is presumed is that we have a global picture of our life. 

 We ought to know the different constitutive elements of our life here on earth as well as their relations among each other. We have to distinguish as well as relate the different dimensions of our life, like the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the natural and the supernatural, the mundane and the sacred, the theory and the praxis, piety and morals, work and prayer, etc. 

 With Advent, we are reminded that it is Christ who enables us to get this global picture, since he is the very pattern of God’s creation, and especially of us, as well as our savior after we messed up God’s original creation through our sin. And in the liturgy, especially in the Holy Eucharist, we have Christ directly intervening in our lives, both personally and collectively. 

 Advent tries to arouse in us this longing for Christ who should not be just a historical character buried in the past. He is God who lives in eternity and thus is also living even up to now. He is always a contemporary of everyone of us, irrespective of what era we pass through this world. 

 This is a truth of our faith, a spiritual and supernatural reality that we have to learn how to be aware of constantly and how to correspond to properly. We have to come up with certain practices to make this awareness a living reality every day. 

 Aside from arousing in us a longing for Christ whose birth we will celebrate this Christmas and whose second coming we should be expecting at the end of time, Advent should also arouse in us a sense of nostalgia in the sense that we be aware that we come from God, that we begin our life with him. 

 We have to understand that our life here on earth is just a test, to see if what God wants of us is also what we want for ourselves. And the test is in the way we handle our earthly conditions. For this, God has already given us the means and the power, but it is up to us to take them up or not. 

 To be sure, God has given us his very own Son, Jesus Christ, who is made alive in us through the Holy Spirit, and actualized through the many means and instrumentalities made available in the Church. We have no reason to be afraid, nor to worry, nor to think that our life is just one aimless venture that can be engaged just in any way we want. 

 It’s important that the awareness of God as our beginning and end, with Christ as the way, truth and life, is always vivid in us!

Bridges and walls, unity in diversity

WE are meant to love everyone, even including our enemies. Christ said so. He even offered forgiveness to those who crucified him. And that’s simply because, irrespective of how we are individually and among each other, we are all brothers and sisters, children of God who loves us all the way, without counting the cost, as Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Fratelli tutti” (All brothers), reminds us strongly. 

 That is why we have to do all so that we can show and live that love in reality, in actual time, and not just in good intentions and nice words, which we are notorious in. For this we have to be open and friendly with everyone, caring and eager to help in any way we can with everyone. For this, of course, we have to be willing to make sacrifices, because definitely it will require of us a lot of effort, discipline and self-denial. 

 In that papal encyclical, we are encouraged to always be like the Good Samaritan with everyone, especially with those in great difficulty, like the robbery victim in that gospel parable. (cfr. Lk 10,25-37) We should try our best to avoid being the other characters in that parable who avoided helping the miserable victim by the roadside. 

 Of course, we all know that we want to be a Good Samaritan with everybody, though we also know that there are times—in fact, many times—that we fail to be so for a number of reasons, both valid and invalid. We also know that we don’t want to be those other characters in the parable, though we can’t help but sometimes and even many times, we fall to be like them, again for a number of reasons, both valid and not. 

 It cannot be denied that for us to become true and genuine brothers and sisters to each other, with a love that channels the universal love of God in us, a long, tortuous process is involved. 

 We should just help one another in developing such spirit of fraternity and social friendship that the encyclical is espousing. It will take time and a lot of effort and sacrifice, and so we should just be patient with one another without letting up in our effort. 

 Just the same, we should not be too idealistic as to think that there will come a time in this world when everything will be in perfect harmony. Such state of affairs will only happen in heaven. 

 While here on earth, we will always have to contend with many imperfections. In fact, we are told that some of the signs that the end of the world is coming are the persecutions and growing conflicts among ourselves, even involving those close to us. (cfr Lk 21,7-12) 

 Yes, we want to practice universal charity, to build an open world without borders, to be welcoming, protective, promoting and integrating migrants as the encyclical strongly recommends, but we cannot help but be concerned about certain requirements of screening, selection and possible rejection. 

 We cannot be naïve in this life that is always a mixture of good and evil. And for all the inclusivity of charity that we want to practice, the exclusivity of truth and the requirements of justice cannot be neglected. 

 We can build bridges, but we also need walls. And our unity of love is always respectful of the diversity among us.

Our best condition

IT’S definitely when we are vitally identified with Christ. That’s when we can have our best condition in life. Let’s remember that Christ is the pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity. He is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. We should do everything to keep that identification effective always as much as possible. 

 Of course, human as we are, we often fall short of that ideal, either intentionally or unintentionally. But that should not stop us from trying again and again, as often as necessary, to achieve that condition because that is what is truly proper to us. 

 To be sure, this is not something quixotic, improbable or impossible. Christ has done everything, including making himself immediately available to us in a tangible way especially in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, to make that identification happen. 

 We should just do our part, strengthening our faith, developing the necessary acts of piety that would make our relationship with Christ an abidingly living one, growing in the virtues to increasingly liken ourselves with Christ, learning to fight against our weaknesses, temptations and sin, etc. 

 We have to know Christ as best that we can. His life, his words and deeds, all a guide for us, are all recorded in the gospels. But to know him truly well, we, of course, have to be guided by the Church Magisterium who has been given a perpetual authority to properly teach and interpret Christ’s words and who keeps the living Tradition that tells us how Christ’s words ought to be understood. 

 That’s because if we would just interpret the gospels and the whole of the Bible on our own, we most likely would understand things differently, if not erroneously. That’s because the language of the Bible and the gospels have nuances that our current languages and ways of expressing and understanding cannot capture. 

 If we would just be guided by the Bible with our own selves as the ultimate teacher and interpreter, we cannot resolve the many apparent contradictions that the Bible contains. 

 How can we reconcile, for example, Christ’s command to love everyone, even our enemies, when on another occasion he told us to “hate” father, mother and even our own life if we want to follow him? How can we reconcile God’s commandment to love and honor our parents with the fact that on another occasion Christ seemed to disparage his own mother by saying “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” (cfr Mt 12,46-50) 

 We definitely have to take Christ’s words and actuations always considering the living Tradition in the Church, and not just any tradition, plus the Church Magisterium. Thus, we are told that to get to the authenticity of our Christian faith, we of course have to study the Bible, especially the gospels, but together with the Tradition as preserved by the Church, and the Church Magisterium that has been empowered by Christ to teach with infallibility in spite of the weaknesses of the men involved in that office. 

 Anyway, what is truly important to realize is that for us to be in the best condition in our life here on earth, we have to identify ourselves with the authentic Christ, because there can be many false Christs, if not the Antichrists.

The challenge of journalism today

WE cannot deny the very important and crucial role journalism plays in our life. It is supposed to bring us relevant pieces of news and information daily or in some regular fashion. 

 Journalism exerts tremendous influence in forming and shaping public opinion which is always a very dynamic thing, marked by many different and even conflicting views. It definitely is a necessity in any given society, let alone, the whole world. That is why it has to be practiced with a lot of care and sensitivity. 

 Given its fast-moving and delicate character, it behooves everyone engaged in it to really find the proper spirit that should animate his journalism. It should not just be at the mercy of first impressions, knee-jerk reactions, off-the-cuff comments or shooting from the hips. It requires a lot of study and research. 

 Neither should journalism be at the mercy of mere common sense and the possession of some so-called facts and data. These things, while having their legitimate value, can hardly capture the whole or global significance of any event that journalism is supposed to report on. 

 Facts and data need to be carefully verified. And more than that, they need to have the motives, reason, if not the spirit behind them probed thoroughly. Just citing facts and data is not a standard of objectivity, and much less, of fairness. A lot more than merely presenting them is required. 

 We need to realize that facts and data are not purely inert things that would simply tell us the whole truth. They spring from our human condition that would necessarily involve spiritual and even supernatural realities. Thus, they depend also on how we select them, how we present them, how we understand them, etc. Given this condition, facts and data can indeed come up with a great variety of consequences. 

 And neither should journalism be inspired merely by some ideological mindset. Again, ideologies can offer some help in analyzing and explaining certain events. But they do not and cannot capture the whole significance of the things reported. 

 Sad to say, because of this ideological flavoring of today’s journalism, we end up very divided and confused, as people become too partisan, biased and with deep prejudices. News items and commentaries can give out completely different and contradicting reports and views. 

 As a result, we are now fragmented into liberals or conservatives, progressives or traditional, capitalist, socialist or communist, etc. We do not anymore would know which is right. And this, of course, is no good news for all of us! 

 There is now a crying need for everyone engaged in journalism to return to God, to have a good, healthy relation with God, for only then can journalism be in its best condition. It’s amazing that this fundamental requirement for journalism, as in any other human endeavor, is often flouted by so-called professional and veteran journalists. 

 With God as the beginning and end of journalism, one would know how to be a good journalist, having a clear understanding of what his contribution to the common good is, what means, resources and possibilities he can make use of, as well as the limitations he has to contend with. 

 He would present things with great tact and delicacy. He would avoid absolutizing what only has a relative value, dogmatizing what only is an opinion, etc. In the end, he should do journalism such that God is brought to the people in the different issues of the times.

Developing the liturgical life

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King followed by that of the first Sunday of Advent, we are marking both the end of a liturgical year and the beginning of another one. Such celebrations should make us more aware of the significance of liturgy in our life and need to develop in each one of us what we may call as our liturgical life. 

 Liturgy as defined and described in our Catechism is the celebration of the Christian mystery that refers to the wonderful truth of our faith that Christ continues to accomplish his redemptive work with all throughout time. 

 In it, we are made to be aware that Christ’s work of redemption which culminated in his passion, death and resurrection, and made present in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, is not just a historical event, but one that continues to take place everytime the liturgy is celebrated. 

 In it, we are made to participate in Christ’s continuing work of redemption of us in the most effective way, since our redemption, while it is mainly the work and the mission of Christ, is also one where we are expected to correspond, to do our part. 

 In the liturgy, we work out our own salvation together with Christ and with everybody else who participate in it. Our salvation is not just Christ’s work. And much less, is it just our own work. It has to be both together, Christ and us, properly understood. 

 That is to say, that our redemption is first of all Christ’s work to which he gives himself completely, before it is also our work to which we also have to give ourselves completely. 

 We also have to understand that in the liturgy it is not just an affair between Christ and us, individually, but rather one between Christ and us, both individually and collectively. 

 To have the liturgical mind or to live the liturgical life means that we should not be concerned only about our personal relation and correspondence to Christ’s redemptive action on us, taken individually or personally, but rather we also have to be concerned about everybody’s relation and correspondence to Christ’s continuing redemptive action. 

 In other words, in the liturgy we should be concerned about our duty to care and love one another which we show through our spirit of fraternity among ourselves and our concern for a continuing apostolate. This duty should not be held only theoretically, intellectually and spiritually. It should be carried out in practice all the time. 

 Thus, everytime we participate in the liturgy, especially in the Holy Eucharist, the urge to do apostolate should be felt, otherwise, we would just be converting the liturgy into nothing other than going through some rites, prayers, gestures that would actually mean nothing or would just be appearances, if it is not accompanied by that urge to do apostolate. 

 We need to appreciate this particular aspect of the liturgical life which should not be confined only to attendance at Mass and other liturgical celebrations or the reception of holy communion. The liturgical life behooves us to reach out to everybody, living to the utmost degree that we can the spirit of fraternity and love for everyone. The liturgy should feed this urge to reach out to everyone and to love.

Celebrating Christ the King

THIS should be a big celebration, the culmination of all liturgical celebrations we have had for the whole liturgical year which ends precisely with the Solemnity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. 

The occasion should remind us that what we begin we should end well, that ending well ultimately means making Christ our king, the “all in all” in us, the be-all and end-all of our life, and that the way to achieve it is to learn to love the way Christ has loved us and continues to love us. 

 Learning the art of ending things in general well is not a matter of solving all our problems and perfectly achieving all the earthly goals we have set for ourselves. That will never happen. When we die, there will still be unfinished businesses, let alone, problems unsolved, challenges not yet tackled. 

 Rather, ending things well is a matter of reconciling ourselves with God and with everybody else. Thus, everyday, before we go to bed, we should make sure that we ask forgiveness from God for any weakness, fault or sin we may have committed during the day, as well as asking forgiveness from anyone whom we may have wronged in some way. 

 We should also be forgiving of anyone who may also have done us some wrong. That way, we would be at peace with everyone as we take our daily rest at night that should somehow be an image of our eternal rest with God in heaven for all eternity. Yes, we should be doing this even if there are still things to be done, fixed and improved. This is how we should end the day until the end of our life comes. 

 We have to remind ourselves that in the end it is Christ who will fix everything. Ours is simply to go along with his will and ways as best that we can, knowing that our best can never be enough or that our best can always be made better. 

 Now, if we want Christ to be our everything, our king in the fullest sense of the word, then we should follow as closely possible the new or the last commandment that he told us. It’s the commandment that summarizes all the other previous commandments told to us. And that is to love one another as he, Christ, has loved us and continues to do so. 

 It’s a love that knows no bounds, that always takes the initiative. It’s freely given even if it is not properly reciprocated. We should see to it that everything that we do here on earth, or that we get involved in, no matter how mundane, technical, insignificant humanly speaking, should redound to the development and growth of love that is a participation of the love Christ himself has lived and commanded us to have. 

 And that can mean, as we are reminded in the gospel of the Solemnity of Christ the King, that we truly reach out to the poor, those in the peripheries, and even those who may be in the mainstream of society but who are unlovable because of how they are and of what they have done. This is the love that is expected of us and that would resemble us with Christ. We have to go all the way to loving even the enemies, as Christ himself has told us. This is how we can truly make Christ our King!

Order amid the clutter around

IT’S often a virtue that is taken for granted. We tend to go through our day guided solely by instincts and what we consider as “what comes naturally.” We tend to think on our feet, which may be effective from time to time, but definitely not all the time. We like to act with spontaneity, regarding following a schedule as being rigid. 

 We need to realize that this virtue is a necessity for us. There are just so many things to deal with and we have to know their proper priorities. Not everything has the same value. We may be involved in all kinds of aspects of life, but there are priorities. We obviously have to give priority to the spiritual over the material, the supernatural over the natural, prayer over our work, family over our social activities, etc. 

With all the rapid pace of the developments and the multiplying number of things grabbing our attention today, we really need to get hold of a stable foundation, something that offers an anchor or at least a rudder to maneuver ourselves with some sense of direction and purpose along the strong and confusing currents that mark our life today. 

 That is why we cannot overemphasize the need for the virtue of order that would give us the proper priorities that should guide our sense of direction and purpose. We have to concretize that virtue of order by specifying plans, strategies and structures that would make things clear to us as to what is most important and necessary in life, what should come first before anything else. 

 We have already been warned by Christ that what is most important is that we be saints, that we be as God wants us to be—his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 It is often said that when one is very orderly and focused on things, he most likely will fail to consider other things that may be more important. He becomes a rigid, one-track-minded person. 

 Of course, there is some truth to that observation, especially when the persons concerned precisely are too orderly and too focused that they become compulsively controlling of things and therefore end up blind to other considerations that may objectively be more important than what they are handling at the moment. 

Sad to say, we have many cases like this nowadays. This may be due to the increasing complexity and complications of our life and the growing clutter not only of material things but also and especially of moral issues and concerns. As a consequence, many people react in that way as their means to cope with the situation. 

 But if order and focus are lived properly, they actually favor flexibility and creativity, and they can lead one to be more broad-minded, more objective and more able to tackle what is truly important to us. And the proper way to develop and live order and focus is to inspire them with love for God and others. 

 When the sense of order and focus is motivated by love of God and others, and empowered by God’s grace, then it can be developed and lived calmly and with greater sensitivity to the objective reality of things in their proper hierarchy as willed by God who knows everything and sets the ultimate standard of things.

To be with God is always feasible

WE need to constantly remember that we are nothing without God. God is everything to us. We should never dare to think that we can be on our own, relying simply on our own human powers, no matter how good they are according to some human and worldly standards. 

 God is always with us. Being our creator, he does not only put us into existence, but also maintains us all throughout our existence. He is at the very core of our life which, to be sure, is not only an animal life, but rather a human life, endowed with an immortal soul. We are meant for an eternal life. Our death is only a transition to our definitive life in eternity either in heaven or in hell. 

 We should do everything to correspond properly to this basic truth about ourselves. We have to consciously live our life with God always, and that is not only possible but also highly feasible, if we only do our part. 

 We have to learn to live by faith, making many acts of faith during the day so that we would always be aware of our constant need for God. In fact, God begs us to do so. “My child, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,” he says in the Book of Proverbs. (23,26) 

 God offers us everything that we need in whatever situation or predicament we may be in, be it good or bad according to our human terms. And what he provides is always attuned to our ultimate end which is to bring us to a definitive union with him in heaven for all eternity. What he gives does not only have a temporal value, but always an eternal one, one that will always work for our eternal salvation. 

 God’s love for us never ends. Even if we stray from him, he like the Good Shepherd will always look for us, eager to give us mercy. Let’s just hope that we on our part would not play hard to find. 

 We really need to make it something like an instinct to be with God. The first thing that we should do during the day, right after waking up, should be to address God, offering the whole day that is beginning and promising to spend it always with him. Of course, we have to find the appropriate means to make this happen, knowing our limitations and weaknesses in this regard. 

 We have to boost our sense of divine filiation, that abiding awareness that we are children of God, and not just of our parent, our country or whatever. Like a child to his father, we should feel a certain confidence and healthy familiarity and intimacy with God, as well as sharply aware of how we can uphold that ineffable dignity. 

 All throughout the day, we may have to make some pauses to remind ourselves of this most fundamental truth about ourselves, given our tendency to take God for granted. We have to sharpen our skills in recognizing God’s presence and his continuing interventions in everything that we do or that we get involved in. 

 To be sure, God is not someone who makes himself hard to find. He’s everywhere, and besides that, he is always in love with us. And we can always be with him also!

Closing the gap

WE have to acknowledge this lifelong predicament of ours and do our best to do something about it. There will always be a gap between our intentions and our deeds, our words and action, our desires and our capabilities, the theory and the practice, the principle and the performance, our beliefs and their fulfillment, our plans and the results, etc. 

 They are part of our human condition. They are unavoidable. We should not be surprised nor overly worried by them. We should avoid getting sad, frustrated and, much less, depressed by them. These would just make things worse. 

 If anything at all, they should spur us to more action, fuel our hope, and after doing all that we can, we should just leave everything in the hands of God. A certain sense of trust and abandonment in God’s providence is always necessary. 

 For this to take place, it’s important that we humble ourselves, because it is pride that will surely lead us to reactions and conditions that are not good to us. Humility enables us to see things objectively, especially about ourselves, since it far easier to see others than to see ourselves. 

 When we are truly humble, we would have a keen self-knowledge. We would have a good idea of our own strengths and our limitations, and thus, we would know how to play around with those given conditions, coming up with the appropriate strategies. 

 When we are truly humble, God’s grace and everything that he gives to guide us in our earthly sojourn would have, in a manner of speaking, an easier way of entering our life, shaping and directing it, amid life’s confusing conditions and drama, to its proper end. 

 When we are truly humble, it would be easier for us to always feel our need for God. We would not be deceived by the thought that we can do things solely on our own, especially when we know we have some excellent talents and privileged status in life. 

 True humility will always make us thankful to God and to everybody else, irrespective of who or how they are to us, and thus, we would always feel united with them, avoiding thinking that we are alone. It makes us live in effective communion with everybody, starting with God. 

 True humility would also make us thankful for everything that can happen to us, including the negative ones, since it would remind us that everything happens for a purpose, and that with God all things would work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 It is humility that will keep us going and on course in our earthly journey toward heaven. Our successes and victories would not stop us by spoiling us. Neither would our failures and defeats prevent us from proceeding. Humility would simply encourage us to move on, always keeping a sporting spirit. 

 When we feel down, frustrated and disappointed, true humility would teach us how to react properly. And that is to go to God, or rather to make our union with God stronger and more intimate, convinced that what we cannot complete and perfect, it is God who will do it for us. What is impossible for us to attain, he will make it possible in his own way. 

 I believe that is the secret of how to close the gap between our intention and our deeds, our words and our actions, etc.

Let’s never say enough

IF we truly love God and everybody else, with a love that is nothing less than a participation of the love God has for us and as commanded by Christ to us, then we will never say enough in our self-giving. 

 Even if such attitude would already seem to be going beyond common sense, our reason and other human and worldly standards that we usually use to measure our love, we would still go on giving ourselves, never saying enough. We would just give and give, even if we seem to consume ourselves till death. 

 This is, of course, an overwhelming prospect, but that is what true love is. It is some kind of madness that knows no limits. It is given without measure, without cost, without any calculation. 

 And even if such total self-giving is not reciprocated, it would still go on loving. It is purely gratuitous. Even more, even if it is not only unreciprocated but is also violently resisted and rejected, it would still go on loving. 

 Obviously, if we are to rely only on our own powers, there is no way we can have this kind of self-giving. This can only take place if we are truly identified with Christ, if we have his grace and are corresponding to it with all that we have got. 

 It’s only in this condition that that we can go beyond the limits of our natural self and above the usual drama in life. We of course have our limitations, physical, mental, emotional, etc. And yet, as long as we are truly with Christ, we can still manage to give ourselves unstintingly. The spiritual and supernatural in us through Christ would enable us to give ourselves despite our natural limitations and worldly conditions.  

That is why Christ commanded us to love even our enemies, to offer the other cheek when we are slapped in the one cheek. That’s because true love does not count the cost. Let’s remember that Christ in loving us assumed all our sins and conquered them by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. He even asked the Father to forgive those who crucified him. 

 This is the paradigm of love which we have to pursue in our daily life with all its concerns, varying circumstances, trials, etc. It’s a love that unavoidably involves suffering, self-denial, the carrying of the cross. It’s a love that should culminate in the way Christ culminated his love for us in obedience to the will of the Father—through his passion and death that would lead to his resurrection, the final victory. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to say enough because we might think that we have already done or given enough of ourselves. People around us may even tell us so. 

 But that is a very dangerous attitude to have, since it has no other way but to lead us to self-satisfaction, to complacency and spiritual lukewarmness. It would give an opening to more serious predicaments of pride and conceit, vanity, lust, sloth, etc. Hypocrisy will surely enter into our system. And instead of always being mindful and thoughtful of others, we would just be thinking of our own selves, our own interests. 

 And a good way to check if we are not really saying enough in our self-giving is to see to it that we always experience self-denial, sacrifice and suffering in our self-giving.

Our ultimate identification with Christ

SINCE we have been created in the image and likeness of God, we have to remember that as much as possible, we should identify ourselves with Christ who as the Son of God is the perfect image God has of his own self and thus the pattern of our humanity, and as the Son of God who became man due to our sin, he is the redeemer of our humanity that is wounded, weakened or damaged by our sin. 

 It’s a truth of faith that we should be most aware of in an abiding way to which we should try our best to do our part in conforming ourselves to that pattern. That’s because as intelligent and free beings, our identification with the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity is not something automatic. It requires our knowing and willing correspondence. 

 That’s when we can say of ourselves that we would be truly loving, capturing the very essence of God who is love. As St. John said in his letter, “Deus caritas est. God is love.” (cfr. 1 Jn 4,7-8) Our correspondence to God’s love by following his will is what would comprise our love, since love is repaid with love. 

 While it’s true that we cannot help but love in different ways, shapes and forms, we can also say that we are already identifying ourselves with Christ in some degree. Everytime we express love for some people and things, we are already identifying ourselves with Christ. 

 We should just make sure that our love is the love that truly comes from God as shown, lived and commanded to us by Christ himself. And how did Christ love us and continues to do so? Ultimately by offering his life on the cross. 

 And not contented with that, he perpetuates this life-offering of his by making it a sacrament, such that everytime that sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, is celebrated, that ultimate expression of love is actualized and made available to us. 

 We have to realize then that our ultimate identification with Christ takes place when we participate as actively as possible in the life-offering of Christ on the cross through the many trials, challenges, difficulties, etc. that we can encounter in our earthly life. 

 We have to prepare ourselves and organize our life in such a way that we can say that we are following this paradigm given to us by Christ. Our identification with Christ gets tighter and more intimate to the extent that we are willing and are actually offering our life to God through our love, dedication, service, help and a long etcetera that we can give to the others. 

 Thus, we should be looking for opportunities to serve and make sacrifices for the others. We have to overcome the thinking that if we are lucky in this life, we would be freed from suffering and sacrifices. If we truly want to identify ourselves with Christ, we would look for opportunities to suffer, make sacrifices and even die for the others. 

 That may sound crazy if looked upon only from the point of view of our human reasoning and estimation. But if viewed with faith and lived with the grace of God, such prospect would, in fact, look most attractive to us, since that’s where we are one with Christ in the best way.

Unification and integration in life

NO doubt we have to learn how to contend with the different and even competing and conflicting elements in our life. We have our personal life as well as our family, professional, social, economic, and political life. There are things that need our immediate attention, and yet they should not derail us from our long-term and ultimate goal. There’s a lot more. 

 We have to deal with many variables in life, and yet we should never forget the constants. We need to give due attention to both the incidentals and the essentials, giving them their proper ranking. There are things that are pressing and that have to be attended to right away, but these should not compromise what is truly precious in our life. 

 This is not to mention that in our life, we have to unify and integrate the different dimensions of our life—the material and the spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, the mundane and the sacred, etc. 

 Yes, we also have our ups and downs in life, successes and defeats, moments of grace and light as well as those of sin and darkness, and we should be ready to react properly to them. 

 Indeed, things can be very confusing, and we can seriously doubt if we can ever manage to cope. We may choose to take it easy, or to react merely by instinct. But I believe we can be more responsible than that. 

The secret is, of course, to go to Christ, to identify ourselves vitally with him. He is the principle of unity and integration in our life. He provides us with the power and the wisdom to put the different things in our life in their proper order. 

 Let’s remember that in his priestly prayer just before his passion and death, Christ asked the Father that all of us, and everything about us, be one as he is one with the Father. “That they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you,” he pleaded. (Jn 17,21) 

 Toward this end, Christ opened himself to all possible situations that man can get into, including to be like sin even if he did not commit any sin at all, (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), if only to show us how to properly handle these possible situations and predicaments. 

 Definitely, with him we have to learn how to suffer, since suffering would be unavoidable if we want to unify and integrate the different things in life. He somehow would teach us what and when to drop certain things to accommodate the more essential ones. 

 We really should try to conform our mind, heart, our will and ways with those of Christ, otherwise we would find ourselves suffering unnecessarily as we have to force ourselves to detach from things that need to be dropped. 

 This, obviously, will require us to know more about Christ, meditating on his words and deeds, on his whole life and example. More than just knowing him, we have to love him, since that is how we make ourselves one with him. 

 To be sure, in learning how to unify and integrate everything into a meaningful and redemptive whole, we will commit mistakes and there will be times when we can say, no, to Christ. Let’s just hope that we can learn precious lessons from our mistakes, and that we can immediately repent and convert from our disobedience. 

 Christ is always patient and merciful. He not only would give us a second chance, but rather as many chances as we need!

Devotion to St. Michael

I BELIEVE this is a devotion that is most relevant these days, especially to the youth and others who are practically under the spell of evil spirits. With their most subtle tricks and irresistible temptations, these evil spirits wreak havoc mainly on the soul of people, on their mind and heart, before they inflict big harm on their bodies. 

 Of course, any devotion to saints is always helpful, but this one to St. Michael has that distinctive benefit of helping us in our constant struggle against the enemies of our soul, especially the devil. With St. Michael, we can feel confident that we can manage to handle the challenges thrown on us by the devil. 

 St. Paul already warned us that “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6,12) 

 And we are told that these evil spirits, precisely because they are spirits, are smarter than us since their ways of knowing and attacking us are in the instant, intuitive mode while our ways of knowing and protecting ourselves require some discursive processing which not only requires time and effort but also is prone to mistakes and failures, given our weakened condition. 

 We have to realize more sharply that the new developments we are having these days, which we usually tout as clear signs of progress, like in the area of technology, the internet and the new, convenient and powerful gadgets we have, would require a more sophisticated level of prudence on our part, since the many good things they give also bring with them many bad things. 

 Otherwise, there is no way but for us to be easily intoxicated by all the convenience and comfort they give that would eventually lead us to be tempted and to fall into ways contrary to God’s will and plan for us. That has always been the case since the days of Adam and Eve. 

 But let’s remember that St. Michael led the fight and conquered these spirits who, instead of following God as any creature of his should do, chose not only to ignore him but rather to go against him and anybody else who opt to follow God. We have to remember that we have a great and most effective ally in St. Michael who can easily channel God’s power and strength to us. 

 It would be good if we are always aware of the presence and the constant availability of the help St. Michael can give us. That way, we can feel more confident in tackling the wiles and the temptations of the devil. We should have frequent recourse to him, perhaps saying the prayer addressed to him that goes this way: 

 "Saint Michael the Archangel, / defend us in battle. / Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; / May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; / And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, / by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits / who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen." 

 We can say this prayer especially during the time of temptation, before going to bed, and quite often all throughout the day. The good effect is assured.

The upside of our suffering

WE all need to be reminded that all our suffering has a positive and favorable aspect. It’s not all entirely bad and negative, though in itself it will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, there is something in it that can give us a greater good. We may refer to this advantageous aspect of suffering as the happy Good News or Gospel of Suffering. 

 Our pains and suffering are always the result of sin, ours and those of the others. They are the necessary consequence of our separation, whether temporary or permanent, from God from whom all good things come. (cfr. Ps 16,2; James 1,17) We may not be the direct cause of our own suffering, but in this world, we cannot escape the effects of sin, and so we must be ready for them just the same. 

 We have to remind ourselves that we are not meant to suffer. Our original as well as our ideal definitive state in heaven excludes suffering. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were in the state of original justice, where everything was in order and in harmony. No pain and suffering touched them, until they fell into sin. 

 And as the Book of Revelation would put it, in our definitive state of life in heaven “He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (21,4) 

 In this life, we have to expect and be prepared for the unavoidable pain and suffering. And this means that whether we are guilty or not of our pains and suffering, all we have to do is to go immediately to Christ who shows us how to handle our pains and suffering and who is ready to forgive us if ever we are guilty of suffering. 

 It’s true that God is always offended by our sin, and will somehow show his anger and disappointment to us. But let’s never forget that with him, anger would only be for a moment, while his mercy is forever. (cfr. Ps 30,5) 

 There is really no reason for us to be afraid or ashamed to go back to him. He may give us a little ‘scolding’ but he will always forgive us and bring us back to his good graces. We should not delay in going back to him, nor make ourselves hard to find, since God, like a good father, will always look for us when we stray, as portrayed in the parable of the lost sheep. (cfr. Lk 15,4-7) 

 In the meantime, let us develop the practice of meditating on the passion and death of Christ, for in there is the template of how we have to bear our pains and suffering, and eventually our death. All we have to do is to ask for forgiveness for sins in general, whether ours or those of the others. 

 In this way, we can join Christ in his redemptive passion and death on the cross. And like Christ, we can convert our pains and suffering into a means of our salvation. And while they continue to have their unavoidable effects on us, we know that they now have a redemptive meaning and function, they can help purify and strengthen us in our faith and in our over-all way of life. 

 Somehow they become bearable, and we can afford to remain calm and with a certain degree of joy. They lose their purely negative aspect and instead acquire a most welcome one. 

 It’s with this faith that we lose any fear for suffering, and would even look forward to any opportunity to suffer since we would already know that suffering with Christ would have so many wonderful effects now and in the hereafter!

When friendship is tested

I SUPPOSE everyone wants to have friends. It’s kind of difficult to imagine a person who does not like to have friends, since we in general are wired to be always in relation with others, and that relation, which can take many forms, is basically achieved through friendship. 

 There is an old Roman definition of friendship that expresses it this way: “idem velle, idem nolle,” which roughly means, “the same desires or likes, the same dislikes.” In other words, friends are supposed to have such a union of wills that they would like the same things and would dislike the same things also. 

 It’s a good definition, except that it has to be taken in its proper context. And that context is what God likes and dislikes. In other words, the union of wills should first begin with the union of our will and God’s will. 

 The union of wills should not just be based on our own personal wills. Otherwise, we would end up being merely subjective in our own likes and dislikes, and the moment we disagree in something, then we would cease to be friends. 

 That would not be the friendship proper to us as persons and, most especially, as children of God. That would be caricaturizing friendship, distorting it or giving an appearance of it without the real essence of it, something that, sad to say, is quite common these days. Thus, even among so-called today’s friends, there is a lot of backbiting, backstabbing, treachery, deception and hypocrisy. 

 We need to see to it that we like what God likes, and we dislike what God dislikes. And what God likes and dislikes are shown in his commandments and are concretely personified in the life and example of Christ. 

 And what does God like and dislike as shown and taught to us by Christ? We are told that we have to love our neighbor, which means everyone, including those who give us troubles, those who may be regarded as our enemies. 

 Thus, Christ told us, nay, commanded us to love even our enemies. (cfr. Mt 5,44) He always tried to reach out to the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son, to the irritation of the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes of his time. 

 Christ was willing to assume all the sins of men by going through his passion and death on the cross. Besides, he offered forgiveness to those who crucified him. We have to be ready to go through this process of real love and friendship because this is the very paradigm of love and friendship. 

 That is why Christ told us that if we are not willing to detach ourselves from earthly things, including those who are close to us like our parents, children, and even our life, if we are not willing to deny ourselves and carry our cross, we would not be his disciples. We would not be true friends and lovers of God and of everyone and everything else in this world. 

 You can just imagine what training, formation and discipline we have to go through to follow this teaching and example of Christ, to be able to be true friends and lovers of God and of everyone else! 

While things can look overwhelming, we know that God is willing to give us the necessary grace. All that is needed is for us to correspond to that grace.

Beware of the apparent good

THIS is something we have to be most discerning and careful about. We have to realize that there is such thing as an apparent good, which actually is not good but can look and smell like it is. We should do our best that we go always for the authentic good. 

 And the authentic good can only come from God. The authentic good can only be obtained when everything that we do is done with God and for God. Thus, in that episode of a ruler asking Christ how he could gain the eternal life, Christ said that good can only be one, and that definitely is God. 

 Here is how that episode went. “A certan ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good, except God alone.’” (Lk 18,18-19) 

And Christ proceeded by saying that to gain eternal life, one has to follow the commandments of God. That is what truly is good—when we obey God’s commandments. Yes, we can do some good, but more of following our own will rather than the will of God, and that is not the true good. 

 Of course, Christ went further because the ruler still insisted on what else he could do since he appeared to be already following God’s commandments and yet he felt it was not enough. So Christ told him: “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Lk 18,22) 

 In those last words of Christ above, we have the real substance of what true good is. It is to detach ourselves from everything even if continue to have things since we need them, so that our heart can only be given to God alone and be filled with God’s love and everything about God, which includes loving everybody else the way Christ loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34-35) 

 We should be wary of our strong tendency to depend solely on our own idea of what is good. There may be some coincidence of our own idea of what is good and what the true good is, but this coincidence cannot pass the test of time, the test of the different situations in life. There is bound to be some inconsistency. 

 Just like what happened to the leading Jews of the time of Christ. They were so fastidious about what is good, what is proper, what is ideal. But in the end, they missed the real thing, and often their deeds did not match with their words. 

 Thus, Christ denounced them with some strong words. “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees,” Christ said, “sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” (Mt 23,2-3) 

 When we manage to do what is truly good, it is done usually with humility, with rectitude of intention, without fanfare, conceit or virtue-signaling. It channels Christ’s example and attitude of simply wanting to serve and not to be served. (cfr. Mt 20,28) It is the opposite when one simply does an apparent good. They are there mainly for appearance, for show, etc. 

 Thus, Christ faulted the Pharisees, saying that “everything they do is done for people to see: they make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces…” (Mt 23,5-7) 

 To be able to do the true good, we indeed need some training and discipline. We have to learn to follow what Christ clearly said—that we deny ourselves, carry the cross and follow him! (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 

Where to find our strength

TO go directly to the point, we can only find our true strength in Christ. There’s no other—no, not in some drugs, therapy, physical stamina, genes, etc. These things only give, at best, some temporary relief. They don’t last for long, and they don’t work all the time. 

 This was affirmed by St. Paul and has been proven right in the lives of many saints and holy men and women through the ages. “I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound,” St. Paul said. “I am accustomed to any and every situation—to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,12-13) 

 Thus, St. Paul once said: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.” (2 Cor 4,8-9) 

 And the martyrs were not afraid to face death for the sake of Christ. The saints and the holy men and women also managed to do what they had to do despite tremendous difficulties because of their living union with Christ. 

 We have to see to it that we go to Christ for our need of strength—physical, mental and emotional, moral and spiritual. We should not delay. We should not hesitate. Only with him can we bear all things, can we find meaning in everything, including the darkest and heaviest predicament we may find ourselves in. 

 We have to develop the proper habit of going immediately to Christ whenever there is anything that bothers us in some way or that makes us worry. Especially these days, with the uncertainties and problems brought about by the Covid pandemic, we need to sharpen this practice of going immediately to Christ. 

Nowadays, many people are threatened with depression and other mental illnesses and emotional disorders. It’s a pity that these things are happening when what can help them in these situations is readily available. 

 Part of the problem is the thinking that these cases of depression and other mental and emotional disorders are mainly due to their biological proneness. It’s in their genes, it’s a hereditary thing, we sometimes hear. 

 But while it’s true that some people are more vulnerable to these problems because of their natural constitution, we should not deny the truth that it is the spiritual and supernatural that can resolve whatever natural weaknesses people may have. 

 It is the recourse to the spiritual and supernatural means, the effort to effectively bring Christ to people’s lives that can make the difference. It’s true that we have to take care of the natural means, but we should never set aside the spiritual and supernatural means. 

 Let’s always remember what Christ himself said in this regard. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11,28-29) 

 With him, as he has reassured us, whatever yoke and burden we carry would be easy and light. Yes, we would not be exempted from suffering, but with Christ, we can always find meaning and even joy in suffering. In fact, if we truly would be with him, we would look forward to suffering, knowing that such suffering would have tremendous redemptive effect on all of us. 

 We need to understand strength from the point of view of faith. It should be a theological strength more than anything else that would make full use of what is natural in us but would also have recourse to the spiritual and supernatural sources of strength and power. 

 And this recourse to the spiritual and supernatural is not difficult at all, because all we have to do is to call on Christ and he will be there immediately!

Blending inclusive charity and exclusive truth

THIS is the challenge we all have to face if we truly want to follow Christ. We have to try our best to know how to blend the inclusivity of charity and the exclusivity of truth. 

 We know that charity has a universal coverage, such that we are even commanded to love our enemies. It’s very inclusive. But truth always sets boundaries between what is true and real, and what is false and fake. It’s quite exclusive. 

 Blending charity and truth definitely is no easy task to carry out. It also involves the issue of how to blend mercy and justice. But difficult or impossible as they seem to be, we just have to do them, because they, in the end, are what are truly proper to us as persons and children of God. 

 We just have to live with the reality that what is simply expected of us is to try our best to approximate the ideal blend. That blend will never be perfect in this world, in the sense that it would not need any more perfection. It will always be in a condition of ongoing perfectibility. 

 In the end, it will be God, as shown and revealed to us by Christ, who will make things perfect. Ours is simply to go along with God’s ways as best that we could. On our own, we cannot, and we are not expected, to perfect the blend between charity and truth. The mysteries and the intangibles involved in this task of blending charity and truth, mercy and justice, are just too much for us to handle perfectly. 

 But that impossibility of achieving the perfect blend should not stop us from trying. We just have to be willing to go through what Christ went through in saving us. He preached the truth about everything, he did a lot of wonderful things, but in the end, he had to assume all the sins of men by suffering and dying on the cross, and all the while offering forgiveness to everyone, including those who crucified him. 

 Christ in consummating his redemptive work did not leave a perfect world. The world continues to have its imperfection, and but it now has the capability of being perfected. And that capability is given to us by Christ himself, if we truly follow him and identify ourselves with him. 

 Thus, we have to learn how to be magnanimous, patient, strong, etc. We should not be easily scandalized by sin, even those committed by people whom we consider to know better. We have to learn how to suffer. And we have to convince ourselves that it is only with Christ that we can blend the inclusive charity and the exclusive truth, the magnanimity of mercy and the fairness of justice. 

 We also have to realize that only in Christ can we properly make, understand and apply our human laws. It is only with him that charity blends with truth in a dynamic and not frozen, static way. Only with him can mercy and justice be achieved. In other words, for us to properly blend charity and truth, mercy and justice, it is not enough to be intellectually prepared and with significant experience in the field to boot. It is indispensable that we live a genuine piety where our relationship with Christ is intimate, deep and strong.