God’s providence and our needs and limitations

IF there’s anything we can learn from that beautiful gospel episode of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (cfr. Mt 15,29-37), it surely is that God will always provide for our needs and limitations. He will, in fact, do everything to snatch us from the worst evil that can happen to us through the most effective and wise redemptive work of Christ. 

 God always provides for our needs. He is a very compassionate God who cannot tolerate to see people suffer. That gospel story has a very happy, uplifting ending. 

 And yet, if I may, we can ask the question—that if God is that compassionate and generous, then why is there so much suffering, poverty and misery around? It would even look like God is completely indifferent to this sad condition worldwide. It would look like many people are left to rot in their miserable condition. 

 The answer, of course, is that, yes, God is always compassionate. He cannot tolerate seeing people suffer. He will always provide for all our needs. He even went to the extent of becoming man in Christ who had to offer his life to attain the greatest need of mankind—our salvation. With that supreme act of compassion and generosity freely done, what other need do we have that would not be taken care of by God? 

 The truth is that God has provided us with everything. From our life with all its natural endowments to the air and water, to the abundant food from plants and animals and other resources, he has given them all for us to use and to live with the dignity of being children of God. 

 The problem is that we do not know how to manage them, how to care and help one another. There is so much indifference and self-indulgence, the germs that would develop into a worldwide pandemic of social injustice and inequality. 

 And when we are faced with our limitations and a state of helplessness, we should just be ready for them and know not only how to deal with them but also how to derive something good from them. In these instances of the hard predicaments, for example, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems. 

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross. 

 Let’s always remember that God, in his ineffable ways, can also talk to us through these crosses. In fact, he can convey precious messages and lessons through them. It would be good that we have a theological attitude toward them, and be wary of our tendency to react to them in a purely human way, based only on our senses and feelings and on worldly trends. 

 In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted.

A Christian is always an apostle

WE need to realize this more widely and deeply. If we want to follow Christ, if we truly consider ourselves as real Christians and not Christians in name only, we have to be like Christ, holy and with the burning desire to save all men. Thus, we ought to make sanctity and apostolate the most important, ultimate and abiding goal of our life. 

 We are reminded of this truth about ourselves on the feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle (November 30), where Christ simply would pass by some men and then tell them to follow him. (cfr. Mt 4,18-22) And, wonder of wonders, the persons called would just follow him too without asking any question, willing to leave everything behind. 

 I guess the only plausible explanation to that phenomenon is that Christ had all the right to do so, and the person called also had the duty to respond accordingly, because in the final analysis, all of us are actually meant to be an apostle. That is to say, to be some kind of ambassador, a representative of Christ on earth. 

 At bottom, the answer is because we are supposed to be like Christ, another Christ, if not Christ himself (“alter Christus,” and even “ipse Christus”). All of us are patterned after Christ, and so we cannot avoid being involved in the mission of Christ which is the salvation of all mankind. Obviously, this business of making ourselves like Christ, involved in apostolic work, would require a process and would involve several stages. 

 But we have to realize that we are all meant to be apostles of Christ with the lifelong concern for doing apostolate, taking advantage of all the occasions and situations in life. Vatican II spells it out very clearly. “The Christian vocation is by its very nature a vocation to the apostolate.” (Apostolicam actuositatem, 2) So, anyone who wants to be truly consistent to his Christian identity and calling should realize ever deeply that he is called to help others get closer to God. This is what apostolate is all about. 

 This duty actually springs first of all from our nature. We are not only individual persons. We are also a social being. Our sociability is not an optional feature. It is part of our essence, violating which would be equivalent to violating our very own nature. 

 We can never live alone. We need to be with others. And more, we need to care for one another. We have to be responsible for one another. And while this caring and loving starts with the most immediate material human needs like food, clothing, etc., it has to go all the way to the spiritual and more important needs of ours. 

 That’s why we need to practice affection, compassion, understanding, patience and mercy with everyone. We have to understand though that all these can only take place if they spring and tend towards God, “the source of all good things” for us. 

 We need to be familiar with this Christian duty. We have to do apostolate, and we need to see to it that the zeal for it is always nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree. 

 We just have to be trusting of God’s will and ways, no matter how hard and impossible they may appear to us, and that we have to develop an apostolic concern that is universal in scope, unafraid of the sacrifices involved.

The faith of the centurion

REMEMBER that beautiful gospel episode of a centurion whose faith was praised by Christ? (cfr. Mt 8,5-11) He asked Christ to cure his sick servant and did not want to bother him by going to his place. “Only say the word, and my servant will be healed,” he said. 

 So impressed was Christ by this expression of faith that he could not help but also say, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” And the servant was healed. 

 That story should teach us the precious lesson that we should not hesitate to go to Christ to ask for some special and even urgent and big favor, no matter how unworthy we feel we are. We should never doubt Christ’s ever-ready response to attend to our needs. He is always all there for us! We are always special to Christ, even if we have committed some sins. Never forget that he came to save and not to condemn. 

 We just have to take care of our faith. We cannot deny that in our life we will always be hounded by all sorts of problems and troubles. But Christ always offers us a way to deal with them properly and gainfully. Yes, with him, we can even take advantage of these problems and troubles. 

 We need to understand that as the very beginning of our life with God, our life in the Spirit which is a supernatural life more than just a natural life, our Christian faith has to be taken care of, nourished and developed to full maturity. 

 We need to be more aware of this duty and develop the appropriate attitude and skill to carry out this responsibility effectively. We have to go beyond mere good intentions or being merely theoretical in order to be truly practical and vitally engaged with this obligation. 

 There is certainly a need to know the content of our faith. We have to study and meditate on the gospel, the catechism and other sources. We have to be attentive to the teachings of the Church magisterium who is empowered and guaranteed by Christ to teach the faith with authority and with infallibility. 

 We need to see to it that our thinking and reasoning, our intentions, words and deeds, should be guided by faith more than just by our reason, much less by our common sense alone. These latter sources of knowledge cannot capture the whole of reality, most especially the spiritual and supernatural aspects of reality. 

 We should be eager to ask for more faith, and to make many acts of faith. This is a fundamental attitude to have. Let’s follow the example of the apostles who said: “Lord, increase our faith.” (Lk 17,5) Also the father of a possessed boy who said: “I do believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.” (Mk 9,24) 

 Let’s also remember that to grow in faith we have to be willing to exert a lot of effort and to make sacrifices. We have to understand that with faith we are dealing with spiritual and supernatural realities that do not come easy when we simply rely on our senses and feelings. Discipline and self-denial are required. 

 Of course, faith can take root deeply in our life if we don’t just study it, but also act on it. Our faith should be converted into action, into life itself!

Advent time for planning and strategizing

IT’S the season of Advent again, opening a new liturgical year. There can be many things that can come to mind with this season of Advent. For one, it’s a time of expecting and preparing for the birth of Christ on Christmas. That is in the short run. In the long run, it is also a time of expecting and preparing for the second and glorious coming of Christ, the Parousia. 

 Advent also means that since it marks the beginning of another liturgical year, we need to re-enliven our sense of making a new beginning in our spiritual life that is the very foundation of our whole life, since it is what relates us to God, our Father and Creator, our be-all and end-all, as well as to everybody else. There, therefore, is a great need to make some serious and effective plans and strategies to pursue that most important goal of our life. 

 We have to remember that our life here on earth is like a divine project that has a beginning and an end, and a very concrete purpose. But it’s a project that we also take active part in, since as an intelligent and free creature of God capable of knowing and loving God and others, we are meant to knowingly and lovingly correspond to God’s plans for us individually and collectively. We are not passive materials in this project. 

 And this divine project takes the form of a yearly cycle, what we call as the liturgical year, where the working of the whole economy of salvation that God has for us, takes place. God’s interventions in our life are actually constant and abiding. 

 This yearly cycle of the divine project is meant to prepare us for our ultimate eternal destination. It would be good if we make ourselves most aware of this truth of our faith, so that we know what we ought to do in this earthly life of ours. 

 For this, a prayer that can be helpful is the Glory Be, where we find the words, “As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.” Let’s put our mind and heart into these words if only to remind ourselves strongly that we need to have a good sense of continuity and consistency between our beginning and end, between the past, present and future, and between time and eternity. 

 Let us foster the awareness of this basic truth about ourselves and about our life here on earth. We need to encourage everyone to have a clear and strong sense of purpose, and to know how to pursue it given our human condition and all the means that God has given us. 

 We therefore cannot overemphasize this basic need of ours to make plans and strategies. If we have to develop ourselves as we should, if we have to be truly productive and fruitful, if we have to take advantage of everything in life, whether good or bad, to attain our ultimate goal, then we have to plan and strategize our moves. 

 Making plans and strategies may require some time and effort, but it’s an investment that is all worth it. The little time and effort required can actually multiply our time and make our efforts more productive at the end of the day. It’s like the little rudder that St. James talked about in his letter. (cfr. 3,4) Our plans and strategies can have the power to accomplish great things, like a little rudder giving direction to a big boat.

What really is God’s word?

“HEAVEN and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21,33) 

 With these words of Christ, we should feel the need to know what exactly is God’s word. Why will it not pass away? 

 The simple answer is that God’s word is not just an idea, a doctrine, an ideology. It’s not just a strategy, a culture or a lifestyle. Of course, God’s word involves all these, but unless we understand God’s word as Christ himself, the God who became man to reveal to us all that we need to know, all that we need to do to be God’s image and likeness as God wants us to be, we will miss the real essence and character of God’s word. 

 We have to realize that the word of God cannot be separated from God himself. That’s because God is so perfect as to be in absolute simplicity. As such, God has no parts, no aspects, no quality or property that are distinct from his very being. His word and his being are just one. There is no distinction at all in him. 

 Of course, from our point of view, we cannot help but to describe God according to our own terms and ways that cannot help but make distinctions between the essence of a being and its properties and qualities. But in himself, God does not have distinction between his essence and the properties that we attribute to him. 

 Of course, this is a mystery, a supernatural truth that our reason cannot fully fathom. That is why we need to have a strong faith to be able to accept this truth. And once we accept by faith the absolute unity between God and his word, then we will realize that reading and meditating on the gospel is actually having a living encounter with God through Christ. 

 Thus, St. Jerome, a father of the Church, once said that to read the Scripture is to converse with God—“If you pray, you speak with the Spouse. If you read, it is he who speaks to you,” he said. 

 Only when we realize that God’s word is Christ himself and that reading it is like having an encounter with Christ can God’s word truly be as the Letter to the Hebrews described it: “Alive and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (4,12) 

 Of course, we have to be that good, rich soil referred to in that parable for God’s word to take root in us and be fruitful. Otherwise, no matter how powerfully effective God’s word is, if the reader of that word does not have the right condition, that word would have no effect. It would fail to produce fruit, “thirty, sixty and even a hundredfold,” as Christ assured us. 

 That means that we should handle the word of God with great faith and piety. We should not just treat it as some literary or historical or cultural reading. We have to realize that we are listening to Christ and that what we hear from him should be taken very seriously. 

 That means that we have to involve our whole being when reading God’s word. It should not just be an intellectual affair, though we have to make full use of our intelligence and all our other faculties when reading and meditating on it.

Some eschatological considerations

WE should not be surprised that as we end the liturgical year, the readings of the Mass these days focus on the end times. They are not meant to scare us but rather to encourage us to be properly prepared and to really lock our attention on what are truly essential in our life. This is when we have to make what we can refer to as some eschatological considerations. 

 We have to examine ourselves on how prepared we are to meet our death, which some saints have affectionately called as “Sister Death,” because if we go by our Christian faith, death is actually just a transition from our earthly life of being created and redeemed by God to our definitive eternal life with God who wants to share his life with us, we being his image and likeness, his children. 

 Talking about proper preparation, we have to realize that this is none other our spiritual preparedness. It is what gives us the full picture of our life and destiny, opening ourselves to a supernatural life with God. We are no mere creatures of nature. We have been made in the image and likeness of God, elevated to be children of his in Christ. 

 Our spiritual preparedness takes us to a higher ground, giving us a glimpse of what is beyond our human horizons and natural limits. This is not to mention the corrections it will make to our inadequate if not erroneous understanding of our life here on earth. 

 It affords us an apocalyptic worldview, because it unveils and reveals, which is what apocalypse means, the true meaning and purpose of our life. In other words, with this kind of preparedness, anything can happen in the world, and we can still manage to come out safe and sound, in the ultimate sense of the words. 

 As a consequence of pursuing our spiritual preparation, we need to learn how we can relate our earthly and temporal concerns to our ultimate spiritual and supernatural goal. In short, we have to know how to connect time with eternity. 

 We have to overcome our narrow-mindedness or blindness with respect to the spiritual and supernatural goal of our life, because no matter how much we ignore it, we cannot deny the fact that the full dimensions of our life go beyond the temporal, the material and natural. We are also meant for the eternal, spiritual and supernatural. 

 And the way to do that is simply to live as fully as possible, in the richness of their practical implications, those divine gifts of faith, hope and charity. All the other human virtues and values that we pursue in our life here on earth should be animated by these theological virtues. 

 It is through these gifts of faith, hope and charity that we get connected with God who actually always intervenes in our life since he is still creating and redeeming us. We are still a work in progress. We are not yet a finished product. Our correspondence to God’s abiding interventions in our life is through these virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is how we can connect our time with the eternity of God. 

 The fact that we can think and reason out, wish and desire, choose or not, love or not, are clear indications that we are not meant only for the here and now, the tangible and the worldly. We go beyond them.

Endure, persevere with faith and hope

GIVEN the fact that we have already been warned by Christ that the world will end badly and that in our life, we will always have some trouble, (cfr. Lk 21,12-19) we should be properly prepared for this condition in our life by learning how to suffer with faith, hope and optimism, how to endure and persevere in the drama of our life. 

 We have to remember that if Christ could not help but had to offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the world in general would take a different path? Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn 15,20) But let’s always keep in mind his assurance, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33) 

 Let’s just have to learn how to suffer, always with Christ, that is, with faith, hope and optimism, convinced that all these troubles will always be for the good. It would also help a lot if we maintain a sporting spirit in life with a good and healthy sense of humor. 

 To be sure, we can manage to find joy in suffering only if we identify ourselves with Christ. With Christ, suffering becomes an act of selfless love that can take on anything. Only in him can we find joy and meaning in suffering. With him, suffering loses its purely negative and painful character, and assumes the happy salvific character. 

 We need to process this truth of our faith thoroughly, always asking for God’s grace and training all our powers and faculties to adapt to this reality. That’s why Christ told us clearly that if we want to follow him, we simply have to deny ourselves, carry the cross and follow him. There’s no other formula, given our wounded human condition. 

 This self-denial and carrying of Christ’s cross will enable us to see that suffering is obviously the consequence of all our sins—ours and those of others. Embracing suffering the way Christ embraced his cross unites our suffering with that of Christ. 

 For us to have this conviction, we really need to deepen and strengthen our faith which will lead us to have an unwavering hope that despite whatever, everything would just turn out right. 

 With faith and hope, we can manage to endure anything and to persevere, because as St. Paul told us once: “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1,6) 

 The Pauline words somehow tell us that the secret of perseverance is our strong faith in God, in his omnipotent and merciful providence that can always make do with whatever situation we may find ourselves in any given moment. 

 We have to see to it that we keep that faith alive and burning. And to make that faith vibrant, we need to keep ourselves always in love. It’s love that keeps our faith going. It should be a love that goes beyond good intentions, sweet words and nice feelings. It has to be expressed in deeds. 

 One clear manifestation of an operative love that nourishes our faith that in turn enables us to persevere and to be faithful to the end is the practice of a daily examination of conscience. Such practice will help us to be always vigilant and properly focused and directed.

Be always ready for eternity

IF we have to have integrity in our Christian life, we should realize that we are meant for eternal life with God in heaven. We therefore should be always prepared for it, ready also to leave everything behind in this world which is meant only as a means and pathway in our journey toward our ultimate destination. While we have to immerse ourselves in the things of this world, we should not allow ourselves to get entangled with them. 

 We are somehow reminded of all these truths of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ somehow described some terrible things that would happen just before end of the world. (cfr. Lk 21,5-11) 

 “The days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” he said. And he added, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” 

 So, we are actually amply warned about what to expect as the end of time approaches. We just have to be ready and prepared for our definitive eternal life with God in heaven. In a sense, we should always be eternity-ready, prepared to leave everything behind, avoiding unnecessary complications due to some undue attachments and entanglements we can have with the things of this world. 

 In this regard, we should always realize that of all the things that we have to take care of, it should be our spiritual life, our relation with God and with others that should be given precedence always. We should try to see to it that our spiritual life is vibrant and healthy, fruitful and productive, seeing to it that it enjoys the highest level of Christian integrity that we, with God’s grace, can attain. 

 We should not be afraid to be aware always of this truth about death, the end of the world and our duty to reach the goal of eternal life. That awareness should not be regarded as some kind of sword of Damocles. Such awareness would actually make us most realistic about our life here on earth, helping us to be very discerning of the many things in our life, so we would know what to think, judge and do, avoiding getting lost in our earthly sojourn. 

 Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life. 

 We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity. 

 Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy even if we feel we are having a good time in our life.

Christian poverty, generosity, self-giving

THAT gospel story of the poor widow giving her two small coins into the temple treasury (cfr. Lk 21,1-4) once again reminds us about how true Christian poverty leads to generosity and total self-giving which is the very essence of love that in turn is the very essence of God, as St. John says it so explicitly, “Deus caritas est.” (1 Jn 4,16) 

 One lesson we can learn from that episode is that generosity is not a matter of how much we give but rather of total detachment from the things of this world so that our heart can only be for God. We therefore have to be wary of our strong, if often subtle, attachment to the things of this world such that our heart would at best be a divided heart, which is actually an impossibility. 

 We have to learn to let go of our possessions, our preferences, our opinions, etc., until we can say that we are letting go of our whole selves so as to give everything to God. 

 This is what generosity is all about. Instead of feeling emptied, we feel filled with peace and joy. No earthly happening can add or diminish that peace and joy. It’s a peace and joy that can only be the effect of having God with us. As St. Teresa once said, “Solo Dios basta,” with God we have enough. 

 Christian poverty is never a state of misery and pure suffering and privation, even if in human eyes it can be seen that way. It is always motivated by love of God and neighbor, and is filled with all goodness, generosity and magnanimity. 

 It is a spirit of total self-giving that goes beyond any effort at quantification and measure. It’s never a matter of how much we give and keep. It’s purely a matter of total self-giving that identifies us with God of whom we are supposed to be his image and likeness. 

 We have to learn to develop and live this true spirit of Christian poverty which first of all would need God’s grace which we have to constantly beg and, of course, to exert our all-out effort. We have to learn to continually conquer our tendency to be improperly attached to earthly things, even as we know that the things of this world are also important, but only as means, never as ends in themselves. 

 Yes, we have to continually rectify our intentions and give ourselves concrete standards, criteria and goals to guide us in the way we use the things of this world while living true Christian poverty. 

 We have to learn how to live Christian poverty while using the things of this world. While it’s true that Christ told the rich young man, and us, to “sell everything and give to the poor…and come, follow me,” (Mk 10,21), we need to understand that the Christian spirit of poverty and detachment does not prevent us from having the things of this world, like money. 

 But, yes, we need to be careful that our having the things of this world does not undermine our love for God. If ever, the things of this world should be pursued and used for the sole purpose of loving God and everybody else. We are not angels. We are not pure spirits. We need things to live and survive, and to give glory to God and to help everybody else.

The Solemnity of Christ the King

THIS Solemnity marks the end of a liturgical year, somehow reminding us that as long as we are still in this temporal world, we have to go through a cycle of beginning and ending, until we spin off to the world of eternity where our definitive life and home is. 

 With this ending of the liturgical year, we are reminded that we are presented year after year with the whole life and mystery of Christ who is actually everything to us, for he is our “way, the truth and the life.” We are given a chance not only to know him, but also to love and serve him, which is what is most important to us, the ultimate purpose of our life. 

 Many things come to mind when we try to consider the significance of the solemnity of Christ the King. Christ is our King because in the first place we come from him and we belong to him in the strictest sense of the words “come” and “belong.” 

 As God the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, Christ is the very pattern of our humanity, which happens to be the masterpiece of his creation. As God who became man, he is our Savior who redeemed us after we spoiled our original creation. How Christ is should also be how we should be. We are supposed to be “alter Christus,” if not “ipse Christus.” That is actually our radical identity. 

 There could therefore be no greater king than him. His kingship is not merely political or social. His kingship penetrates the very core of our being and covers the whole range of our humanity in all its aspects, conditions and circumstances. His kingship rules us in our entirety, both body and soul. And He is king to each one of us individually as well as to all of us collectively. 

 His kingdom is already with us. That’s why at one time, Christ said: “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Lk 17,21) At the same time, it is still to be perfected in some other time, place or, better said, state of life. Thus, he also said: “My kingship is not of this world.” (Jn 18,36) 

 The Solemnity of Christ the King should also remind us that whatever we begin in life we should also 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 well the things in general 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 have to make sure that we end the day with Christ always, and not just with some work accomplished and achieved. That’s how we would really make Christ our King!

On anger and preaching

WE cannot deny that there are moments when we find ourselves angry, or even when we need to be angry. We just have to learn how to handle this emotion that in itself is neither good or bad. It depends on how we do it. 

 In this regard, it might be good to take a look again at that occasion when Christ got angry with those who turned the temple area into a marketplace. (cfr. Lk 19,45-48) We can also take this occasion to realize how we, especially priests, ought to preach so that like Christ in this gospel episode, we can attract people to our words. 

 As noted in that occasion, people were hanging to Christ’s words such that those who wanted to put Christ to death could not carry out their plan. 

 Yes, anger is one of our God-given emotions, locked into our nature as persons. It has its legitimate use. But precisely because of our precarious human condition here on earth, we have to be wary of it. In fact, anger is also considered one of the capital sins, along with pride, envy, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, that can beget many other sins. 

 If ever we have to be angry, let’s try our best to be angry in the spirit of Christ who showed anger over the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes, and over those who turned the temple area into a market place. Christ’s anger is what is called righteous anger, one that is done always in charity and in the truth, and not just due to opinions and biases. It’s an anger that is meant to correct, purify, heal. 

 Besides, Christ’s anger is only momentary. It does not last long. As a psalm would put it, “his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (30,5) He is slow to anger, and quick to forgive. 

 We really have to learn how to hold our horses, especially when we feel provoked or incited. We have to lengthen our patience, our capacity to suffer. We have to broaden our mind so we can we can quickly and easily capture the more important things in a given issue rather than react immediately to things that are only incidental to that issue. 

 With respect to preaching, we have to understand that it is a task entrusted to his apostles and shared by all of us in different ways. The clergy take a leading role in this affair. It’s a serious business that involves our whole being, and not just our talents and powers. 

 Obviously, to carry out this mission, we need to know our Lord and his teachings. We have to go to him and read the Gospel. Reading and meditating on it should be a regular practice for us, a habit meant to keep us in touch with him. 

 Thus, every time we read the Gospel, we have to understand by our faith that we are engaging with our Lord in an actual and living way. We are listening to him, and somehow seeing him. We can use our imagination to make ourselves as one more character in any scene depicted by the Gospel. 

 For this, we need to look for the appropriate time and place. We have to be wary of our tendency to be dominated by a lifestyle of activism and pragmatism that would blunt our need for recollection and immersion in the life of Christ.

Expect the world to end badly

THIS is, of course, not meant to scare us nor to have a pessimistic view of life. Rather it is to be realistic, given the way we are and the way the world in general is, what with all our limitations and defects, even if we cannot deny that we are also full of good potentials. 

 Christ already warned us about this. “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you, they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you…” (Lk 19,42-44) 

 We have to learn to prepare for this eventuality. If Christ, who is God made man and who is our Redeemer, could not help but had to offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the world in general would take a different path? 

 Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn 15,20) So we have to expect to have the same fate as Christ. And that means that we have to prepare for the worst scenario. The world will end badly. That’s already a given, a truth of our faith. 

 What we have to do is to always have a proper focus in life. Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, what with all we can devour in the social media, videos, etc., we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life. 

 We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity. 

 Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy even if we feel we are having a good time in our life. 

 This fundamental truth about ourselves should be proclaimed time and time again because we are notorious for taking it for granted, if not for violating it. We have to remind everyone that we have to take the necessary steps for us to be aware of this truth and to live according to it. 

 Obviously, what is truly helpful in this regard is that everyone learns really how to pray, how to engage God in a continuing conversation, or at least to have an abiding awareness of his presence and interventions in our life. 

 That is why prayer is indispensable in our life. It is what would make us aware of who we really are, what the real purpose of our life on earth is, how we ought to behave in the different situations and circumstances of our life. It is what would help us to refer everything to God, what would keep us in the proper focus.

God cannot be outdone in generosity

THAT’S right! The more generous we are with God and with others, the more generous God will be with us. This is just a simple law of ‘we reap what we sow.’ We usually sow just a seed, but with the generosity with which we take care of that seed, we are bound to get a lot of fruit. 

 This truth of our faith is highlighted in that gospel parable about a nobleman who went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship, leaving his ten servants with ten gold coins with the instruction to engage in trade until he returns. (cfr. Lk 19,11-28) 

 He was happy with those who carried out the instruction and gave them charge of big cities. “Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities,” he said. He punished the servant who did nothing with the gold coin. 

 Later on, he told the servants that the gold coin of the servant who did nothing with it be given to the one who gained ten more with his trading. When the other servants commented that this productive servant already had ten gold coins, the nobleman who personifies God said: “To everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” 

 All this only show that we are meant to be fruitful and productive with what God has given us and that we would be receiving more graces and blessings the more fruitful and productive we are with all the gifts God has given us. 

 Everyday, we should be keenly aware that we need to be fruitful and productive. That’s simply because even from the beginning of our creation in Adam and Eve, this has always been God’s will for us. 

 “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,” (Gen 1,28) God told our first parents, clearly outlining his mandate to them. It’s a mandate that continues to be repeated up to now. 

 That should be fair enough. If one is given a lot of gifts, blessings, privileges, opportunities, etc, then a lot should also be expected of him. Christ himself said so. “Much will be required of the persons entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Lk 12,48) 

 He reiterates the same idea a number of times in the parable of the talents, the parable of the seed, the tenants in the vineyard, and the different images he taught about the Kingdom of God. Even on the basis of common sense alone, that idea should be a given. 

 We have always been taught to trade with our talents, to make the most of what is given and entrusted to us, to be generous in the way we spend our life. Our life here on earth, after all, is a test of love, the real love, which is love for God and others, and never just self-love. 

 We have been repeatedly assured that if we are generous with God and with others, we will also be the object of a greater generosity from God and from others as well. 

 Christ said so. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) Yes, God cannot be outdone in generosity.

Let’s always be compassionate and merciful

THAT beautiful gospel story of Zacchaeus, the rich but short chief tax collector who was privileged to have Christ stay in his house, (cfr Lk 19,1-10) teaches us precious lessons about why and how we should be friendly, compassionate and merciful with everyone, irrespective of whether they are rich or poor, saintly or sinful. 

 Our Christian faith tells us that God’s love for us is eternal. It’s a love that goes all the way to showing mercy for us in the form of his Son becoming man and taking up all the sins of men by dying on the cross. No greater love can there be other than this love of God for us. 

 St. Paul drives home this point when he said in his Letter to the Romans: “He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how has he not also, with him, given us all things?” (8,32) 

 That’s why, in spite of our proclivity to sin and make a mess of our own lives, we can always have reason to be hopeful, because God never gives up on us. The problem is that we can give up on him and go our own desperate ways which we try to sweeten with all sorts of defense mechanisms. 

 While we should try to be most aware of our sinfulness, we should also try to strengthen our conviction about God’s mercy. That we are sinful is not hard to see. We see our weaknesses and vulnerabilities quite openly. Temptations are also abundant. 

 We should try our best to fight and cope with them as best that we can, using all the means that Christ himself and the Church now are giving us. We have a very precious treasure in fragile vessels of clay. (cfr. 2 Cor 4,7) We may have a lot of talents and other brilliant endowments, but let’s never forget that we have feet of clay. 

 This realization should make us most careful and ever vigilant, and should elicit in us great desires to follow Christ as closely as possible and to learn the art and skills of spiritual combat to tackle the unavoidable weaknesses, temptations and falls we will have in life. 

 On top of all this, and since our best efforts may still be found wanting, let’s never forget the abundant and ever-ready mercy of God whenever we find ourselves in the worst scenarios in life. 

 We have to continually check on our attitude towards others because today’s dominant culture is filled precisely by the viruses of self-righteousness, that feeling that we are superior to others, and that would prevent us from being compassionate and merciful with everyone. We have to do constant battle against that culture. 

 That’s why we need to douse immediately any flame of pride and egoism that can come to us anytime. We have to learn to understand others, to accept them as they are, warts and all, while praying and doing whatever we can to help them. It’s not for us to judge their motives which will always be a mystery to us. 

 We should not fall into the trap of putting justice and mercy in conflict. Both have to go together. Their distinction does not mean they are opposed to each other. Any appearance of conflict is only apparent. 

 But obviously the way to blend them together is to follow the example of Christ, and not just to rely on our own lights, no matter how brilliant these lights may appear.

Praying with the fervor of a living faith

THAT gospel episode of the blind man who, upon learning that it was Christ passing by, sprang to his feet and screamed to beg Christ to heal him of his blindness (cfr. Lk 18,35-43) teaches us a great lesson of how to pray with the fervor of a living faith. 

 Yes, we need to pray without ceasing, as St. Paul told us in his First Letter to the Thessalonians. (5,16) To keep our spiritual life alive, to make it survive all trials in life, let alone, to make it work effectively and grow healthily, we need to pray without letup. We need to pray especially when we find ourselves in some urgent or persistent needs. 

 What food is to our biological life, prayer is to our spiritual life. Prayer is like the breathing and the very beating of the heart of our life with God and with others. It is the primary and abiding link we have with God and with everybody else. Without it, we would simply isolate ourselves. 

 In short, we can say that while God is objectively with us, since he is present everywhere, we have to make sure that on our part, we should also be subjectively with him. Precisely, St. Augustine once complained about this problem of God being with us while we are not with him. We need to correspond to this objective reality of our unbreakable and intimate relation with God. 

 Our need to pray is like our need to breathe. It should be non-stop, since it is indispensable in our union with God our Creator, who keeps us alive and healthy in our spiritual life. Again, let’s bring back a basic truth—without God we are nothing! 

 But for our prayer to be most pleasing to God, it has to come from the fervor of a living faith. Thus, we need to take care of our faith. 

 Faith is a tremendous gift from God who starts to share with us what he has, what he knows about himself and about ourselves. It gives us the global picture of reality, covering both the temporal and the eternal, the material and the spiritual, the natural and supernatural dimensions of our life. 

 It is what gives permanent value to our passing concerns, the ultimate, constant and unifying standard to all the variables of our life. The perishable things of life can attain an imperishable quality when infused with faith. What is merely earthly and mundane can have a sanctifying effect when done with faith. 

 By its very dynamics, it fuels our hope and prepares us for a life of charity which is how our life ought to be. It is also nourished and is the effect of charity, indicating to us that faith is organically united to charity, the very essence of God in whose image and likeness we are. 

 It is faith that lets us enter into the spiritual and supernatural world. It brings us to share in God’s wisdom and power. Remember those stirring words of Christ: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from there, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you.” ((Mt 17,20) 

 Without faith, in spite of our keenest intelligence, we will miss much of the more important aspects of our life as we would only be restricted to the here and now, the material and the temporal.

Preparing for the end times

THIS is just to be realistic. It’s not meant to scare us or to be a killjoy or a wet blanket in our life. Not only do we all die. There is also the end of time itself. Our earthly existence is just a sojourn, a training and testing ground before we enter into our definitive life for all eternity, hopefully in heaven with our Father and Creator God. 

 We need to develop a good and healthy sense of our life’s end, which is our death that can come to us anytime, as well as the end of time itself. If we follow our Christian faith, we know that there is nothing to be afraid or anxious about in these truths of our faith. 

 We would know what truly is the purpose of our life here and of our earthly existence in general. We also would know that we have all the means to pursue that purpose properly. We are somehow reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ talked about the end of the world. (cfr. Mk 13,24-32) 

 But, yes, we have to develop a good and healthy sense of how to end our life well, properly prepared to meet Christ in our particular judgment as well as in our general judgment during Christ’s second coming. 

 Having a good sense of the end gives us a global picture of our life that spans from time to eternity, and sheds light on the present. It guides us. It gives us a sense of confidence and security. It reassures us that we are on the right track, that we are doing well. 

 The sense of the end motivates us to make plans always, to be thoughtful and anticipative of things. It also teaches us a sense of order and priority. It motivates us to set goals, make schedules and the prudent use of time. Ultimately, it helps us to distinguish between the essential and the non-essential in our life. 

 A person who does not have a sense of the end is obviously an anomaly. He tends to be lazy and prone to his personal weaknesses, to drift off aimlessly and lose control of his life. Such person is usually called a bum, a tramp or a vagrant. 

 In this regard, we have to learn to look forward to the second coming of Christ. That’s when Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, will come again to make the final judgment on all of us, establishing the definitive and eternal Kingdom of God that is meant for us. Obviously, we have to prepare ourselves for it. 

 This truth of our faith was implied when some leading Jews once asked Christ when the Kingdom of God would come. To which, Christ answered that “the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” (cfr. Lk 17,20-25) 

 This attitude of waiting, expecting and making the proper preparation for the second coming of Christ should be learned by all of us. And we can do that by strengthening our belief that Christ is actually already with us. He is everywhere, around us and inside us. We just have to develop the habit of looking for him in order to find him. Only with Christ, can we be properly prepared to face him in the final general judgment during his second coming.

Let’s have proper focus in life

CONSIDERING that our life here on earth offers us a lot of things and options, plus the fact that we of course enjoy freedom, we need to be reminded that we have to learn how to have proper focus in life, especially because we have a lot of distractions in our world. 

 Also we should be ready to leave everything behind when God finally calls us. And, yes, we also have to know how to exercise our freedom properly for a certain law governs it. It just cannot be used in any which way. That would not be freedom, but rather its abuse. 

 All these are somehow implied in that gospel episode where Christ lamented about the loose lifestyle of some people then. “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man,” he said. “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Lk 17,26-27) 

 To have the proper focus in life is a big challenge today. At the moment, we can see a disturbing development involving many people, especially the young. A big segment of the people is getting addicted to games and the many other novelties played out in the Internet and in the new technologies. 

 They are now getting more self-centered and self-absorbed, prone to idleness, laziness and comfort and pleasure seeking. God and their relationship to others are all but blotted out of their consciousness. 

 We now have the huge challenge of how to make God the be-all-and-end-all of our life. We need to present Christ’s words in this regard in a way that would be attractive to the people of today with their peculiar sensitivity and culture. Let’s remember that Christ himself did everything to adapt himself to us to carry out his redemptive mission. 

 How can we present, for example, the following words of Christ to the people of today without scaring them: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you?” (Mt 6,33) 

 We need to understand that our life here on earth is only a training and testing ground God gives us to see if what he wants us to be is also what we would like ourselves to be. We should be ready to leave everything behind when God finally calls us to himself to render account of what he has given us. 

 Yes, to leave everything behind has been more than amply taught and commanded by Christ himself. For example, to the rich young man who wanted to be perfect, Christ told him in no unclear terms, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Mt 19,21) These words obviously would give us the impression that we should possess nothing. 

 In another instance, Christ specifies what is required to be worthy of him. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10,37) 

 We also need to understand that the proper exercise of our freedom is when we use our freedom to do the will of God for us. That’s the law, and no other, that governs our freedom.

Looking forward to Christ’s second coming

WE have to learn to look forward to the second coming of Christ. That’s when Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, will come again to make the final judgment on all of us, establishing the definitive and eternal Kingdom of God that is meant for us. Obviously, we have to prepare ourselves for it. 

 This truth of our faith was implied when some leading Jews once asked Christ when the Kingdom of God would come. To which, Christ answered that “the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” (cfr. Lk 17,20-25) 

 This attitude of waiting, expecting and making the proper preparation for the second coming of Christ should be learned by all of us. And we can do that by strengthening our belief that Christ is actually already with us. He is everywhere, around us and inside us. We just have to develop the habit of looking for him in order to find him. 

 Christ is already with us since he is the God who became man, identifying himself with us in all our conditions, even making himself like sin, the worst condition that we can be in, even if he himself has not committed sin. (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21) Yes, he identified himself with us so that we also can have a way of identifying ourselves with him. 

 We should develop the yearning, the longing, the passionate desire to look for Christ, so we may find him; and in finding him we may learn to love him; and in loving him, we get to identify ourselves with him. 

 And Christ is present everywhere. We have to learn to look for him and find him in the little ordinary things of our life—in our respective homes and communities, in our work, in the things that we use and handle, etc. We actually do not need to go far and to do extraordinary things to find him. 

 And most especially, Christ is present in the sacraments, especially in the Holy Eucharist. That is why we are encouraged by the Church to have frequent recourse to Holy Mass and Holy Communion. 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to go eschatological, for which we have to know what it means and how we can acquire its sense. It’s a necessity in our life, since it gives a bigger, if not complete picture of our life. It enables us to go beyond the here and now to enter into the world beyond death. 

 Eschatology is that part of theology concerned with death, judgment and the final destination of the soul and humanity itself, that is, heaven or hell, or the so-called the Last Things. It may sound scary at first, but it actually is very helpful. We just have to make the necessary adjustments in our attitude toward it. 

 So, it’s a part of theology and not a merely empirical science. We need to have inputs of faith which actually play a directing role in the study. We cannot simply rely on so-called observable data, material or sociological, that by definition cannot fathom the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life. 

 It shows us that how we live our earthly life has eternal effects in our afterlife. We have to learn how to live our earthly life with the view of our eternal and supernatural destination.

Let’s be grateful always

THAT gospel episode about the 10 lepers who were cleansed of their leprosy (cfr. Lk 17,11-19) reminds us that God always expects us to be thankful to him. To be sure, it’s not because God just wants to be thanked always for the many favors he gives us. It is more for our own benefit. 

 God does not need anything from us. What he wants is that by being thankful to him, we learn to be with him always since we are his children, created in his image and likeness. He wants to share his life with us. God loses nothing if we choose not to be with him. But without him, we are the ones who would lose everything. 

 A thankful heart will never be alone and sad. It recognizes the many blessings and good things that it continues to receive. And it knows where they come from, and also for what purpose they are given. It will always be happy heart. 

 To be grateful is a necessity for us. It does us a lot of good. It keeps alive the reality that we depend on God and others for everything. It strengthens our intimacy with him, and our awareness that whatever happens in our life, God is always in control. 

 It makes us keenly aware of the all-powerful and merciful providence of God. With that providence, we would know that even the dark, negative things in life have meaning and purpose. They, at least, give excitement and beauty in life, because life, without these elements and when it only has all things bright and rosy, would be boring. 

 It keeps us humble and simple, otherwise we start inventing things and distorting reality. It keeps our feet on the ground even as we let our mind and heart soar to high heavens. 

 Gratitude forms an essential part of our relation with God. It is the adequate response we give upon seeing the continuous attention and care God gives us. It makes us stick to the reality of our life. It keeps us from inventing a world unhinged from its Creator and from others. 

 In short, it keeps us to be with God, which is what is proper to us. To be ungrateful can only make the many good things God has given us to turn sour and dangerous. It will only be a matter of time before these blessings would spoil us. 

 To be always grateful should be a basic attitude to have. It corresponds to the radical reality that we all depend on God for everything, and in a relative way, also on others. We have to be wary of the many things that can undermine this truth. 

 Let’s hope that we can take this business of being always grateful seriously. Let’s not allow any opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to pass. And let’s see to it that we do it sincerely, coming from the heart, avoiding the pitfall of doing it mechanically. 

 For this, we need to train our heart to be truly thankful, quick to realize its basis and purpose. For sure, we would be making a very beautiful world if we manage to be consistently grateful. We would have an environment that is healthy and vibrant, quite immunized to the evils of this world. 

 We would know how to be at home with God while we explore the world!

On anger and our love for the Church

THAT gospel episode where Christ drove away those who converted the temple area into a market place (cfr. Jn 2,13-22) reminds us of what is known as righteous anger and of our duty to love the Church, not only as a physical building but most especially as the very People of God, the very Mystical Body of Christ of whom we are members. 

 Yes, there is such thing as righteous anger which we have to understand well since it is a very delicate emotion or passion that can easily turn bad if we are not careful. Remember St. Paul saying, “Be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” (Eph 4,26) 

 Anger is one of our God-given emotions, locked into our nature as persons. It has its legitimate use. But precisely because of our precarious human condition here on earth, we have to be wary of it. In fact, anger is also considered one of the capital sins, along with pride, envy, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, that can beget many other sins.

 If ever we have to be angry, let’s try our best to be angry in the spirit of Christ who showed anger over the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes, and over those who turned the temple area into a market place. Christ’s anger is what is called righteous anger, one that is done always in charity and in the truth, and not just due to opinions and biases. It’s an anger that is meant to correct, purify, heal. 

 Besides, Christ’s anger is only momentary. It does not last long. As a psalm would put it, “his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (30,5) He is slow to anger, and quick to forgive. We need to have a strong grip over this particular emotion. 

 But more importantly, the gospel episode referred to here reminds us that we should develop a great love for the Church not only in her physical dimension as in her buildings and all the materials used in her liturgical celebration, which is already a tall order, but more so in her real essence as the very Mystical Body of Christ and the very People of God. 

 We need to be more conscious and skillful in our Christian duty to love the Church. This cannot be taken for granted anymore, especially these days when the world is developing in a very rapid pace that often leaves behind our spiritual and religious responsibilities. 

 The Church is nothing other than the people of the God, gathered together at the cost of his own life on the cross by Christ. This is because we from the beginning are meant to be God’s people, members of his family, partakers of his divine life. 

 We have to understand that this gathering of the people of God is not achieved merely by some political, social or economic maneuverings. It is a gathering that is described as “communion,” where our heart and mind work in sync with the mind and will of God. 

 It is a communion where the love of God for us is corresponded to by our love for him. And this is done not only individually by each one of us, but also collectively, all of us together in an organic way. Thus, we need to help one another in this common, universal concern.

Scandals and the duty to give good example

IN the gospel, Christ told us clearly that scandals cannot be avoided in this world. “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur,” he said. “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Lk 17,1-2) 

 We need to be prepared to properly handle this unavoidable condition in our life. We should try our best not to scandalize others. Instead, we should do all we can to give good example and edify others. And since we cannot avoid scandals, we should learn how to toughen ourselves so as not to be scandalized by them. Instead, we should see how we can correct and help those who cause scandals. 

 We have to be most careful about the danger of scandal, both in its active and passive aspects, since this danger is now rampant. In fact, we can say that the danger has become part of the world culture, promoted not only by individuals, but also by big and powerful institutions like the media, and in the fields of politics, business, entertainment, sports, etc. 

 For this, we truly need to have the very love that God has for all of us. It’s a love that is not scandalized by anything. It, of course, continues to maintain that what is wrong is wrong, what is sinful and evil is sinful and evil. It does not compromise the truth of things. 

 But that fact should not take away one’s love for the person who happens to be wrong not only in some matters of opinion but also in some very serious matters, like matters of faith, hope and charity. 

 It’s a love that clearly shows one is with God and is following the new commandment Christ gave us—that we love one another as he himself has loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34) It’s a love that was clearly described by St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (13,7) 

 To avoid scandalizing others, we should focus more on giving good example. That way, we would be most sensitive to our duty not to scandalize others. We would be aware that we are following Christ’s command and will, and not just pursuing our own agenda in life. 

 Let us hope that we can echo sincerely in our heart what St. Paul once said: “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11,1) This should be the motive and the attitude we have in desiring to give good example to others. It is to imitate Christ, to have his mind, to identify ourselves with his will and ways. 

 Everyday, we have to come out with a concrete plan to fulfill this duty of giving good example to others. It may just be as little as smiling, or reacting calmly when some disappointment comes our way, or saying something nice about somebody whose faults and mistakes are obvious, or showing compassion to those in difficulty and offering mercy to those who may have done us wrong, etc. 

 Part of our sense of accountability at the end of the day should be to present to God in our examination of conscience the concrete things we have done to give good example to others.

Be most generous without feeling entitled

THIS is what Christ is telling us and is doing so with his own example. Being God, he emptied himself to become man and to bear all the sins of men by dying on the cross, all for the purpose of saving mankind. (cfr. Phil 2,7) 

 He reiterated this point when he lamented about the domineering sense of entitlement of some of the leading Jews of his time while praising the poor widow who put all that she had into the temple treasury. (cfr. Mk 12,38-44) 

 While it’s true that we obviously are entitled to our rights, we should not feel entitled to privileges and favors that are above our rights and needs. If they come and we cannot avoid them, then let’s be thankful. 

 But let’s be reminded that these privileges, favors and blessings are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. 

 We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. 

 We should banish this temptation as soon as it makes its appearance felt in us. On the contrary, we should follow the example of Christ who, in spite of who he was, just wanted to serve. 

 Remember what Christ said once: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Mt 6,1) 

 We need to acquire the mentality of a servant which is actually the mentality of Christ himself. Let us readjust our human standards to conform to what is actually proper to us as taught and lived by Christ. We usually look down on the status of servants. This has to change! We should be convinced that by becoming a servant we would be making ourselves like Christ. Let’s say NO to entitlements. 

 In the meantime, let’s learn the precious lesson Christ wants to impart to us in that episode where he praised the poor widow who gave two small coins to the temple treasury more than the rich ones who put a lot of money. 

 The lesson to learn is that generosity is not a matter of how much we give but rather of total detachment from the things of this world so that our heart can only be for God. We therefore have to be wary of our strong, if often subtle, attachment to the things of this world such that our heart would at best be a divided heart, which is actually an impossibility. 

 That’s because in our relation with God, there is no middle ground. It is either we are with him completely or not at all. We have to overcome that strong tendency to think that we can be partly with God and partly with our own selves, even if we can say that we are giving God 99% of what we have and keep only 1% for us. 

 We have to give all. In fact, with God we have to give our very own selves, and not only things, not only some possessions. Remember Christ telling us that we have to love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37)

The dishonest steward and the world’s unavoidable evils

ONCE again the parable of the dishonest steward (cfr. Lk 16,1-8) presents to us some intriguing questions and issues that we have to try to resolve and reconcile with our Christian faith and morals. 

 We can ask if God, who must have been personified in some way by the rich man in the parable, is just ok with some cheating, with being dishonest, with being calculating as leverage for one’s personal gain and interest. 

 Remember that the conclusion of the parable was that the master praised his dishonest steward for his ‘cleverness,’ saying that the “people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light.” (Lk 16,8) 

 I suppose what the parable is trying to tell and teach us is that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual. 

 This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance in human justice may be regarded as a saving grace in God’s eyes. 

 We may have to handle dirt in our life and deal with situations that are fraught with moral irregularities, but as long as we do not compromise what is essential, which is love that comes from God as shown by Christ who became like sin without committing sin (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), then things will just turn out ok. 

 We have to learn to distinguish between what is a tolerable cooperation in evil and an intolerable one. With the former, we should feel the obligation to do whatever we can to clean up what is evil in a given situation, system or structure. 

 So, we have to be ready to properly live this unavoidable condition of our life here where evil and its increasingly powerful structures are sprouting around like mushrooms. 

 Some of these immoral structures are already large and well-entrenched in our culture and systems like the old acacia trees that we still see around. They really pose as a tremendous challenge to anyone who wishes to be consistent with his Christian life. 

 For sure, the attitude to take toward this unavoidable reality is not to escape from this muddled world. We would be like fish out of water that way. Yes, we might be able to flee from the mud, but then we would die instantly if we are taken out of our proper place. 

 Neither should our attitude be of just indiscriminately accepting what comes or what is around. We are supposed to be the lord and master of this world in the name of God whose best creature and children we are. And so, we just have to do some discerning, some purifying and some struggling. It cannot be helped. 

 Christ himself said, “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.” (Mt 10,16) It’s quite a combination to attain. But if we have faith in God and follow what is taught us, we can make it. Truth is we have been provided with more than enough to be able to reach this ideal.

The lost sheep and the lost coin

THE parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (cfr. Lk 15,1-10) remind us that instead of distancing ourselves from those who are in error or even who are in some conflict with ourselves, or with whom we have serious differences, we should rather give them some special attention, concern and care. That is what Christ wants to impart in us through these parables, and we should just try our best to learn and live it with God’s grace. 

 Like Christ, we should have the same love for everybody, irrespective of how they are with us. They can even be our enemies. Thus, Christ himself told us very clearly that we should love our enemies. (cfr. 5,44) This is the kind of love that is the very essence of God and that is also meant for us. It has a universal scope even if it never compromises the truth. It can prefer to suffer and die for the truth. 

 On our part, we just have to learn to adapt our mind and heart to this kind of love that God through Christ in the Holy Spirit is actually sharing with us. We have to develop a certain compassion for the lost sheep and know how, like Christ, we can fraternize with those in error spiritually and morally, or at least with those wrapped up with all sorts of weaknesses. 

 If we are truly Christian, we should have a true and abiding compassion toward everyone, especially the poor and the needy. But we have to understand that compassion should have a universal coverage. It should not be limited to the sentimental aspects of things, nor to relieving the economic and material needs of people alone. It lets us enter and get involved in the life drama of the others. 

 It should cover the whole range of human needs in their proper order of importance, foremost of which is our need for God. We have to learn to distinguish between the pressing and precious needs of man, and to cope with the tension that sometimes arises in our effort to put these two kinds of needs together. 

 The material needs of man may be pressing and urgent, but these should not detract us from giving priority attention to the precious spiritual needs of man to relate himself with God and others in true love, irrespective of whether he is rich or poor, a prince or a pauper. 

 It’s true that looking after the pressing material needs of people can already be an overwhelming task. This should not be attended to on an ad hoc basis only, giving dole-outs and temporary relief. This has to be given stable and effective solutions, like creating jobs, enabling poor people to find work through education and continuing training, especially considering that the world economy is rapidly evolving, etc. 

 But over and above this concern is the care of the more important necessity of man—his spiritual life, his relation with God that should be developed according to God’s love and concern for everyone, and thus, his relation with everybody else. Christ himself gave more importance to forgiving sins than to curing the paralytic. (cfr Mk 2,1-12) 

 We have to learn how to fraternize with everyone, especially replicating Christ’s attitude towards sinners, who actually are all of us—of course, in varying degrees. We have to give special attention to the lost sheep and to the lost coin. We have to open all possible avenues to be in touch with all sinners.