Bigger problem, stronger hope, greater grace

WE should always remember this comforting triad. Where we encounter big problems in life, let’s react with stronger hope, and expect some extraordinary grace, favor and mercy from God, our Father. 

 This truth of our faith is somehow dramatized in that gospel story where Christ was confronted with a man so possessed by a legion of devils that “no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.” (cfr. Mk 5,1-20) 

 That gospel story somehow demonstrates what can happen to us individually or collectively as a society. If we are not careful, we can allow the devil to enter and possess us. And things can get worse when, God forbid, a demonic infestation can occur. 

 We should always be wary of the devils and be ready to handle them properly. They exist. And their only purpose of their existence is to do evil, to go against God and to everyone and everything that God loves. They were originally good angels who rebelled against God upon their creation. 

 Being pure spirits and therefore are free and intelligent beings, the devils misused their intelligence and freedom by choosing to replace God upon their creation. That choice has plunged them, being pure spirits, into an irreversible eternal state of enmity against God and against everything else that comes from God and is still with God. 

 Many if not all the temptations that come our way originate or are being orchestrated by devils. The proper attitude we should have when temptations come is to reject these temptations immediately, never giving them a chance to advance in their plot by dialoguing with them, and to go to God immediately. 

 Let’s remember that when temptations come, it is because we have let down our guard. It means that our union with God has loosened, if not completely broken, often without even our noticing it. 

 Thus, when temptations come, we really should intensify our prayers and hope in God’s merciful providence, since only with God can we resist them. We should also submit our body to some severe discipline because when tempted the body easily falls and drags our spirit with it. 

 We have to reassure ourselves, based on what Christ has promised and has actually done for us, that there can be no crisis that is too big for the grace of God to handle. 

 We have to remember that nothing happens in this life without at least the knowledge and tolerance of God. And if God allows some really bad things to happen, it is because a greater good can always be derived from them. 

 We just have to put ourselves in God’s side to tackle whatever crisis plagues us. That is the real challenge we have to face. And just like what Christ did and continues to do to redeem us, we have to follow the formula he once spelled out: deny ourselves, carry the cross and then follow him. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 If we are willing to do that, then we can even gain a lot more than what we appear to lose and to suffer. In other words, we can say that the bigger, the more serious the problem is, the bigger, plentier and stronger also would the grace God will give us. So, let us just be game and do our part of the bargain. 

 It’s not easy, of course. But neither is it impossible. If we consider God’s abundant grace, even the impossible can be possible for us. 

Fighting against familiarity

THIS is a common danger against which we have to be duly guarded. It can happen to us anytime, especially when we already have lived a life of piety for a number of years. If we are not careful, this danger can creep in because we may not realize that our piety has been corrupted by complacency and routine. It’s a piety in appearance only, but not in substance. 

 “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Lk 4,24) This was Christ’s indictment against the people of his own place who, instead of being amazed and thankful for having among them not only a very special person but the very son of God, found Christ too much for them, and were in fact scandalized by him. 

 This is what familiarity is all about and what it produces. As an adage would put it, familiarity breeds contempt. It is the state of getting too accustomed to God and to his goodness such that we would not feel the urge anymore to thank and praise him for everything that we have and enjoy, since all these things come from him. 

 Familiarity can come because we simply would let our senses, feelings and our other ways of purely human estimation to guide us, rather than our faith, and its necessary companions of hope and charity that should come with God’s grace for which we should always ask. 

 We have to be more aware of this danger of familiarity and install the necessary defenses against it. More than that, we have to aggressively cultivate the art of always being amazed at God and at all his works. That should be the proper state for us to be in. 

 We have to understand, though, that this abiding state of amazement that we should try to develop is not a matter simply of sensations. Of course, it would be good if we can always feel amazed and in awe. But given the limitations of our bodily organism, we cannot expect that to happen all the time. 

 For this amazement to happen, we should always feel the need to renew and purify our love for God and others. That’s simply because of the tension between our nature and our supernatural goal, not to mention our present wounded human condition that is prone to temptations and sin and to all kinds of weaknesses. We unavoidably have to contend with these conditions in our earthly life. 

 In other words, we have to learn how to live in the mysteries involved in the supernatural life of God in which we are meant to share, even while we are still here in this world. 

 The task we have is how to correspond to this tremendous reality of living our life within the whole mystery of God’s life. Many of us still think that we are quite by ourselves, and the decision to relate ourselves with God and others is purely optional. 

 No, sir. Our relationship with God, while an option—in fact, a fundamental option—is never optional, something we can feel quite free to have or not to have. We would be incomplete without God. 

 We need to be more aware of this marvelous truth. And from there, to start the lifelong journey of conforming our life to that of God, overcoming first our initial human awkwardness in the face of our supernatural goal, and then developing the virtues that little by little resemble us with God.

The little things as a way to God

MAKE no mistake about this. The little, ordinary things of our daily life can and should be pathways to reach and be with God. This truth of our Christian faith has been amply proclaimed by Christ in many of the parables he used to describe how the kingdom of God is. 

 “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how,” he said (Mk 4,26-27), practically telling us that the heaven can be reached through the daily routine we have. 

 Still more, he said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God…it is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” (Mk 4,31-32) 

 We have to be strongly reminded that God is everywhere and is always intervening in our lives. He is actually directing our life toward himself, since that is will for us, as it is for all his creation. He is never absent in our life, even in our worst moments. He is always solicitous of our needs, giving us light and strength, and showering us with his love that also teaches us how to suffer the unavoidable troubles we will have in this life. 

 The challenge for us is how to correspond properly to this truth of our faith, to this reality of our life. Again, we cannot overemphasize our need to spend time to develop a contemplative spirit even while immersed in our worldly affairs, so that we can always be in God’s presence and know how to correspond to his abiding interventions. 

 And so, we can be sure that Christ is always in our daily routine and in the little, ordinary things of our daily life. We have to learn how to perceive the divine in the mundane. We have to learn to find Christ in the little things which comprise most of our day, if not of our whole life. 

 Let’s always remember that Christ is God made man. As God, he is involved in our creation, in our getting into existence. As such, since it’s existence that is involved in creation, he cannot withdraw from us, since by doing so would be like God withdrawing from our existence. Since we obviously exist, ergo, he is in and with us by the very fact of our existence. 

 As God and man, he is our redeemer, the one who, in a manner of speaking, would re-do or re-create us after our original state of humanity has been damaged by our sin. 

 As such, since we all need to be redeemed at all times, he neither can withdraw from us, since by doing so would be like this God-and-man, Jesus Christ, withdrawing from our redemption. Since we need to be redeemed always, Christ is also always with us. He actually cannot help but redeem us, because of his great love for us. 

 We need to be more aware of this reality about ourselves, since we often do not realize it, dominated as we are with the merely material and sensible realities and with what is the here-and-now and what is immediately felt. We many times fail to go beyond this level.

Giving our all

THIS, I believe, is what Christ is telling us when he said, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?...The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (cfr. Mk 4,21-25) 

 Of course, with due consideration to the necessity of prudence, discretion and naturalness in our earthly affairs, we should realize that we have to give our all in serving God and everybody else. That is the law that should govern our whole life. It can only mean that we are truly motivated by love which in the end is the very essence and purpose of our humanity, if we are to become God’s image and likeness as we are meant to be. 

 Let’s remember Christ’s words that encourage us to be generous, “Without cost you have received. Without cost you are to give.” (Mt 10,8) If we put these words into deeds, we would be reflecting the very love and life of God who has given us everything, including the Son to become man as an expiation for all our sins. We should not be afraid to give our all to God and to others, regardless of the sacrifices that would be involved. 

 Thus, in Christ’s commissioning of his disciples that should include all of us, his believers and followers, he encourages us not to worry so much about what to have or what to bring. “Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.” 

 We need to develop a keen sense of generosity and self-giving that is also a result of detachment. Let’s never forget that whatever we have comes from God who wants us to work for the common good. Thus, we hear St. Paul saying, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4,7) Whatever we have should be shared with others—of course, in a certain way proper to God’s moral law for us. 

 We have been reminded of this need to cultivate generosity in the gospel. “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions,” Christ said. (Lk 12,15) 

 We are told not to lay up treasures for oneself but rather to be rich toward God, that is, to be generous with God and with everybody else. Avarice, hoarding, simply pursuing our self-interest and personal welfare are actually inhuman, let alone, unchristian. 

 It’s also good for us to remember that there is such a thing as “universal destination of earthly goods.” That’s an official part of our Christian doctrine. “In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits. The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race.” (CCC 2402) 

 If we are truly generous and prudent persons, we would always be mindful and thoughtful of the others. We would try our best to know what others need, and not just wait for these needs to come to our attention. We would always be thinking, planning and strategizing so that the requirements of social justice, solidarity and charity are met.

The parable of the sower

WHAT lessons does the parable of the sower (cfr. Mk 4,1-20) teach us? I suppose there are many. But one of them, for sure, is that we have to be prudent in our efforts to do a lot of good in our life, and that this virtue of prudence in the end is a matter of carefully listening and following the will of God. 

 That, in a sense, is the formula for a prodigious harvest at the end of our life, a harvest that goes beyond our natural limits, since it is a harvest that can give us some supernatural reward, nothing less than being united with God for all eternity in heaven! 

 We have to be clear about what is to be and to do good. Nowadays, we have all sorts of ideas about what are be considered good that in the end are actually not or at best a good that does not go all the way. Being and doing good is nothing other than being with God and doing the will of God. (cfr. James 1,17; Ps 16,2) 

 We should make the necessary effort to know God’s will thoroughly and abidingly, and to do that will as promptly as possible. We have to understand that to be with God is to do his will. To be part of God’s family is to do his will. (cfr. Mt 12,50) 

 To be sure, this will require periods of study of our Christian faith, and the many other practices of piety that can truly help us to be in God’s presence all throughout the day even as we immerse in our mundane and temporal affairs. Such effort should give rise to many virtues, and prudence should be one of them. 

 In that parable of the sower, we are told about the many grounds the seed, which represents the word and the will of God, fell. We have to see to it that that seed falls on the proper ground which means that we, first of all, should put ourselves in the proper if not the best condition to follow God’s will. 

 We have to be wary of the danger of being carried away by some worldly forces, both the good and the bad ones, the favorable and the unfavorable ones, that would take us away from God. 

 And in the world today, this danger is not only present in a passive way, but is active in affecting us. We should try our best not to be swept away by them, confused and lost. And again, this is a matter of being with God, strengthening our faith, hope and charity. 

 In this regard we cannot overemphasize the need to spend time for prayer and contemplation in a way that would help us keep a deeply spiritual and supernatural bearing. God should be the center and focus of our life. Everything that happens in our life should be referred to him, no matter how they seem to be technical and temporal in nature only. 

 We should never forget that God is in everything and that everything has to be referred to him. Yes, even the devil and all forms of evil should be referred to God, because only then can we deal with them properly. 

 With this kind of prudence, we can expect, as the parable explains, a prodigious fruitfulness and harvest at the end of our life that leads us to our eternal life with God in heaven.

The conversion of St. Paul

JANUARY 25 is marked liturgically as the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, one of the very dramatic stories in the history of the Church. It reminds of many things, among them that no matter how much of a sinner and an enemy of God one is, there is always hope. 

 In fact, there seems to be some correlation between a big sinner and a great apostle, once conversion occurs, somehow validating that philosophical principle that if the corruption of the best is the worst, then the conversion of the worst is also the best. 

 Yes, there is hope, because God never abandons us. He will do everything to save us. Remember what the gospel says: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” (Jn 3,17) We know how Christ offered his life as a ransom or expiation for our sins. There is always hope. 

 And the conversion story of St. Paul has been replicated in the lives of many people, some of them canonized as saints already. One such case is that of St. Augustine. 

 One interesting detail of the conversion story is that part where Paul, then called Saul, heard a voice that said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 22,7) 

 Those words expose a lot of very interesting implications. One is that since Paul was persecuting the early Christians, we can then conclude that that voice, which must be the voice of Christ from heaven, is telling us that persecuting Christians or persecuting the Church is persecuting Christ himself. 

 Another implication could be that each Christian is actually “another Christ,” for after all we are all patterned after Christ since our faith tells us that we have been created in the image and likeness of God, and Christ is that perfect image and likeness of God, the very Word of God who reveals God to us. 

 That is why this feast is also associated with the pursuit for Christian unity since it reminds us that we are meant to be all Christians, to be one Church founded by Christ. That there is division among Christians, let alone, the non-Christians, is not in keeping with God’s plan for the whole of humanity. 

 Of course, this Christian unity is not uniformity. There can be some variety, but insofar as faith, the sacraments, the governing and teaching hierarchy are concerned, there should be unity, not diversity. 

 This Christian unity starts with each one’s unity of life based on one’s vital identification and unity with Christ. This definitely requires of us a continuing conversion and growth in our spiritual life, in our relationship with God and with everybody else. 

 That is also why this pursuit for Christian unity involves the effort to carry out the indispensable mission to do apostolate that should be universal in scope, in spite of the incredible impossibility of that pursuit, what with all the sacrifices, trials and challenges that will be involved. 

 Let’s make as our own that most ardent prayer of Christ before he entered into his passion and death. “I pray…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us…” (Jn 17,20-21) Christ prayed that we be “consummati in unum,” that we be completely one. 

 Have a meaningful celebration of the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul!

Our unity amid diversity

THERE’S that funny part in the gospel where some leading Jews were accusing Christ of being “possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3,22) 

 Christ, of course, saw the blatant contradiction of their reasoning. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” he said. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand,” he continued. (Mk 3,24-26) 

 We have to realize more deeply that the very principle of truth, unity, freedom, charity and everything that is good and proper to us can only be God. Only with him, can we have them even amid our unavoidable differences, diversity and conflicts. 

 We have to be wary of the possibility of being driven by unbelief, if not by hatred against God, that would surely lead us to fall into self-contradictions. Clearly, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, his reasoning can go off the rails, and even the simplest of logic is thrown out. 

 We need to do everything to always strengthen our belief in God, the very cause, origin and pattern of unity amid the vast and increasing diversity and variety of elements we can have in this world. 

 Nowadays, we are seeing the intriguing phenomenon of asserting what is right and moral as wrong and immoral, and vice-versa. What is clearly an expression of true freedom is now called slavery, and vice-versa. What should clearly be considered as taboo is now regarded as a human right. The forms of self-contradictions go on and on. 

 To correct this situation or, at least, to deal properly with it, we need to take care and strengthen our belief and our charity. We cannot take this duty for granted, especially now when the world is sinking in confusion and error as it distances itself farther from God. 

 We have to realize that truth does not only make us free, as the gospel tells us. (cfr. Jn 8,32) The truth that comes from God also makes us live charity and unity among ourselves, even amid our severe differences and conflicts. 

 In fact, with this truth, we can manage to take advantage of our differences and conflicts, since a lot of good can actually be derived from them, even if we are not exempted from being pained and mortified by them. 

 Our differences and conflicts can actually occasion genuine love and many other virtues to develop and grow. They can purify us, smoothing out the rough edges of our personality, and fine-tuning our views, opinions and preferences. 

 They can give rise to the development of patience and compassion, and the pursuit for the truth and justice is guaranteed to be more authentic even if it is also arduous. 

 They can actually expand our world of knowledge and understanding, and trigger the dynamics of a more meaningful unity among ourselves, not in spite of but rather because of our differences and conflicts. The unity we are speaking of here is not uniformity, but one that is richly nuanced and capable of accommodating everyone. 

 Most importantly, they can give a tremendous growth in our spiritual life, freeing us from being at the mercy of our personal, earthly and temporal conditions. They contribute greatly in our effort to make ourselves more and more like Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity.

Living and proclaiming the gospel

IN the beginning of the gospel of St. Luke, we are told about how the evangelist took a most careful effort to compile the events of Christ’s words, deeds and life itself so as to assure us of the certainty of the teachings that come from Christ and from our Christian faith. (cfr. Lk 1,1-4) 

 This should make us realize how important it is for us to have a proper attitude and understanding toward the gospel, or simply the word of God, which is a living word, and not just some historical word. As such, we should realize our need to know it thoroughly, and apply it to our lives and spread it widely, since it is meant for everyone. 

 We cannot exaggerate how important the word of God is! As the Letter to the Hebrew would put it, “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any doubled-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (4,12) 

 What then should be our attitude toward the word of God as recorded in the gospel? I would say that basically it should be the same attitude that we have toward God himself. And the reason is this—since God is absolute simplicity with no division, parts or distinction in his being, his word must be his being, his whole divine substance himself. 

 We, on our part, make some distinction between God in his being and in his word because that is how we understand things in general. We need to distinguish and analyze things, breaking them into parts, before we can arrive at the whole, integral picture. 

 In fact, in the Trinitarian nature of God, the Second Person whom we refer as the Son, is described also as the very Word of God, the Divine Word, who is God himself insofar as he perfectly and fully knows himself and all his creation. So, God’s word is God himself! 

 The word of God which now comes to us with some human and natural instrumentalities through the Gospel or the Sacred Scripture together with Tradition and the Church Magisterium, should be regarded in that light. 

 Its primary purpose is to bring us back to God. And so more than just giving us some helpful worldly knowledge, it gives us the ultimate spiritual knowledge we need to return to God. 

 We need to live the word of God if we are serious in corresponding to what God wants us to be—that is, that we be his image and likeness, that we be “another Christ.” I suppose it would greatly help if we develop the habit of reading and meditating on the gospel everyday, convinced that it is indispensable to us. Otherwise, we would just be at the mercy of our human and worldly wisdom, which if not inspired by God’s word cannot go far before it brings us to some trouble that can even be disguised as something good. 

 We also have to realize that proclaiming the gospel is one central duty of every follower of Christ. After all, our Lord told his disciples just before ascending into heaven: “Go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16,15) 

 Though addressed directly to his disciples, we have to understand that these words are meant also, in varying degrees and ways, to all of us, members of Christ’s mystical body, his Church. We should feel the unfading urgency of this command from Christ.

Adaptive and consistent amid the new and the old

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” (Mk 2,22) 

 With these words of Christ, we are somehow reminded that we have to learn how to blend the new things and the old ones, the innovative and the traditional that we unavoidably encounter in our life. 

 Yes, we also have to learn how to be adaptive to all the varying situations in our life while observing a certain consistency, so we do not get confused and lost, and would still be on track to pursue our ultimate goal in life. 

 We need to know how to blend the traditional and the innovative, the old and the new, the absolute and the relative, the more or less stable culture and the appropriate passing fads. 

 Given the naked reality on the ground, we need to examine and question the status quo of our life many times, since we tend to do well at the beginning of any endeavor, then start to deteriorate as we go along, until we end up badly. 

 This has always been our lot and we should not be surprised by it anymore. And much less should we feel helpless about it, since there are many things we can do to renew ourselves continually, neutralizing the bad effects of our complacency, if not taking advantage of it to produce a greater virtue. 

 This latter case can happen if we have the proper faith and attitude. As St. Paul would put it, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12,10) With Christ, death itself can give rise to our resurrection to eternal life, our final victory. 

 Among the things that we can do to counter our tendency to get accustomed to things and to fall victim to the desensitizing effect of complacency, routine and lukewarmness are the daily effort to make a good examination of conscience, a monthly recourse to a day of recollection, and a yearly spiritual exercise called a closed retreat. 

 These are good occasions to look more closely into how our spiritual and moral life has been faring, and to see, in a manner of speaking, what parts of our spiritual and moral life need to be cleaned up, oiled, or perhaps changed, revised or reengineered to adapt to changing circumstances. 

 We need to sharpen our desire to do these things because given our weaknesses, we usually do not like to do them. We should not forget that we like to enjoy more than to exert effort. Laziness and comfort-seeking is a legacy of our fallen nature. 

 These exercises can actually bring us to an indescribable sense of adventure, since we will realize sooner or later that there are many new things that are truly helpful to us and are waiting for us to discover. These new things would give us the sensation that we are flowing with the times, not stuck at a certain corner of time or a certain mold of culture. 

 We will soon discover that we have many more potentials that are just waiting to be tapped. These exercises help us in unleashing these potentials and putting them to optimal use and effectiveness for our own good and the good of all, and all for the glory of God.

Taking our apostolic mission seriously

THAT gospel episode of Christ choosing his apostles practically randomly (cfr. Mk 3,13-19) can remind us of many things. First is that we are actually all apostles since if we are to be “another Christ” as we should, we cannot help but get involved in the continuing redemptive work of Christ. 

 Another consideration would be that to be truly apostolic, we should have the same attitude of Christ to serve and not to be served, without counting the cost, effort and sacrifice that it will involve. This is the pure language of love that can go all the way even to the extent of offering one’s life for the others. 

 We have to do everything to acquire, develop and enrich this attitude in ourselves and among ourselves, inspiring and inculcating it in others as much as we can, for it is what is truly proper of us all. 

 With God’s grace, we have to exert effort to overcome the understandable awkwardness and tension involved in blending the natural and the supernatural aspects of this affair, as well as the expected resistance we can give, due to the effects of our natural limitations and weakness, and our sins. 

 We can make use of our daily events to cultivate this attitude. For example, as soon as we wake up from sleep in the morning, perhaps the first thing we have to do is address ourselves to God and say “Serviam” (I will serve). It’s the most logical thing to do, given who God is and who we are in relation to him. 

 And “Serviam” is a beautiful aspiration that can immediately put us in the proper frame of mind for the day. It nullifies Satan’s “Non serviam” and our tendency to do our own will instead of God’s, which is what sin, in essence, is all about. 

 And as we go through our day, let’s see to it that everything we do is done as a service to God and to others. Let’s not do them merely out of self-interest or self-satisfaction. That kind of attitude is highly poisonous to us, ruinous to our duty to love. Sooner or later, we will find ourselves completely engulfed by self-centeredness. 

 For us to be able to do things as service of love to God and to others, we have to continually rectify our intentions. We should be quick to react when we notice that our intentions and motivations are already invaded by self-interest. 

 It’s not that we cannot and should not care about ourselves or pursue interests that are beneficial to us. We can and, in fact, should. But all that should be done as a function of the love of God, for what is truly good for us is when what we do, either for us or for others, is inspired by the love of God. Otherwise, it would be harmful to us. 

 It is God’s love that gives us what is truly good to all of us. Our own approximations of love that are not inspired by God’s love can only go so far, and most likely will end up harming more than helping us. 

 In the practical side, we have to make daily apostolic plans, setting goals, identifying persons to deal with, setting up occasions for a deeper apostolic work. It definitely pays if we sharpen our skills in friendship, because only when we are truly friends with others that we can win their confidence.

Let’s go viral and trending

LIKE Christ, we should try to attract as many people as possible in order to lead them to Christ. In a sense, we should be like today’s influencers in the media and the cyberworld who with their gimmicks manage to go viral and trending with whatever messages they want to convey. 

 Of course, we should do this with the proper rectitude of intention, which is that everything should be done for the glory of God and to truly help people in their spiritual life and in their relation with God and with everybody else. We have to rid ourselves of any ulterior motive. 

 In the gospel, we can see how Christ managed to attract many people mainly due to his tremendous power of preaching and the miracles he made. But in all these, he always warned the people not to make him known. He did all the wonderful things trying his best to pass unnoticed. This can be observed, for example, in the gospel of Mark, chapter 3, verses 7 to 12. 

 We need to realize more deeply that we are meant to have a universal sense of apostolate, of helping lead people back to God. Let’s always keep in mind that mandate Christ gave to his apostles before he ascended into heaven. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28,19-20) 

 It’s a mandate that is actually meant for all the disciples of Christ and believers of God. We have to have a universal sense of apostolate. As one saint would put it, of 100 souls we should be interested in 100. 

 For this purpose, we cannot exaggerate the need for us to master the teachings of Christ, the doctrine of our Christian faith. Of course, we can only achieve that if we make the effort to identify ourselves more closely with Christ, who is not only a historical character, but a living person who continues to guide us and to share his power with us. 

 We also have to learn how to adapt our language to the mentality of the people, always taking note of their culture, their temperament, and all the other conditionings that describe them. Let’s remember that the Christian faith is full of mysteries that certainly are over our head, and the challenge is for us to know how to make them appreciated, loved and lived. Obviously, we always need to beg for God’s grace for this purpose. 

 But we have to know how to convey the supernatural truths of our faith in a human and attractive way, without compromising the integrity of these truths. We should always be monitoring the developments of the world as we go along, so that we would know how to present the Christian doctrine in a way that flows with the wavelength of the people today, especially the young. 

 This is when we can try to use appropriate memes and other catchy slogans, so popular these days. With rectitude of intention, let’s not be shy from making our evangelization to go viral and trending. 

 Again, in all of these, we should never forget that the first means we have to use are the spiritual and supernatural ones: prayer, sacrifices, recourse to the sacraments, continuing study of doctrine and formation, etc.

The self-righteous tend to be fault-finders

THIS observation is clearly illustrated many times in the gospel. Many of the leading Jews in the times of Christ did not believe in Christ, and their idea of what is right and wrong was simply very subjective, held with a certain consensus among themselves. As a consequence, they always found fault in Christ and in his disciples for what they considered as violations to the law as they understood it. (cfr. Mk 3,1-6) 

 We have to be most wary of this spiritual anomaly that can come to us anytime. It usually takes advantage of our natural inclination to seek the truth, the good and the beautiful in life—in short, what is right—and corrupts that inclination because it is not properly rooted on the ultimate source of righteousness who is God himself. It’s so blinding that it can even assume the appearance of holiness. 

 Most prone to this illness are those with some special endowments in life, be it intelligence, talents, wealth, fame, power, health, beauty, etc. When all these gifts are not clearly grounded and oriented toward God, the source of all righteousness, the problem starts. 

 This is the irony of ironies because one can earnestly pursue the path of holiness and does practically everything to be good and holy, and yet ends up the opposite of what is intended. That’s when one practically has the trappings of goodness and holiness and yet misses the real root of righteousness who is God. 

 Nowadays, there is so much surge of self-righteousness, such that the source of what is good and evil, fair and unfair, human and inhuman is not anymore God the Creator, but us. The distinction is not anymore made by God, but by us. We are now in the world of pure subjectivism. 

 Everything is now based on our views and opinions, our preferences and current understanding of things. If we can manage to have some kind of consensus, then that’s it! We can now consider as good what actually is inherently bad, and we make a world of make-believe that sooner or later will burst. 

 People now follow their own light, a very beguiling and unreliable light. They have forgotten what Christ said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8,12) 

 Because it is an understanding of righteousness that is not based on God, it is lived and pursued also without charity. It is always accompanied by the tendency to be fault-finders, negative and critical thinkers, etc. It tends to generate contention and division in society. 

 We should always be wary of this common tendency of ours, and fight it everytime traces of it start to appear. This, of course, will require a lot of humility among us, so we can always feel the need to refer things to God rather than considering them solely according to our criteria and standards. 

 We have to understand that since God, being the Creator, is the standard of everything, we should regard him as the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself. 

 Thus, to combat this tendency to be self-righteous that would lead us to be fault-finders, etc., we really need to develop an abiding and intimate relation with God!

Fighting legalism and formalism

WE need to be keenly aware of these common dangers and do everything to protect ourselves from them and to fight them, since they will always be around, given our human condition here on earth. 

 The secret again is to be in vital union with Christ, referring everything to him, especially our legal and judicial systems, and the ways we make, interpret and apply our laws. 

 Christ clarified this point in so many words when he told the Pharisees who questioned him about why his disciples were doing something that was forbidden in the sabbath, that “the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (cfr. Mk 2,23-28) 

 We have to understand that all our laws should be based on what is known as the natural law that in the end is a participation of the divine eternal law of God, our Creator and the first and ultimate lawgiver. 

 And that part of natural law that is specific to man is called the natural moral law that would recognize, as its first principle, God as our Creator and source and end of all laws. It is the law that would lead us to be God’s image and likeness, and children of his, sharers of his divine life. 

 A legal system not clearly based on this fundamental principle about laws would already be a system that is defective ab initio. A legal system that is based only on some human consensus would put the spirit of the law in full subservience to the letter of that law. 

 This kind of legal system is what is referred to as legal positivism. This means that the laws are valid not because they are rooted in moral or natural law, but because they are enacted by some human authority and are accepted by society as such. 

 Thus, this system makes us the first and ultimate lawgiver. It is as if we make ourselves our own God, our own creator, an absurd assumption to make. It is as if we are so capable of knowing everything about man that we can legislate everything about him, that is, about us. 

 But even if a legal system recognizes God as the source and end of all laws, it is still highly characterized by our human condition. The articulation of the law in its letter has to be constantly animated by the spirit of that law that in the end is the spirit of God. 

 Thus, we need to put God at the center of the process of making our laws, interpreting them and applying them. We have to understand that our human laws are meant to lead us to our ultimate goal which is none other than to be with God, to be holy as God is holy, etc. 

 Irrespective of their immediate temporal purposes, our laws should lead us little by little to become God’s image and likeness as we are meant to be. They in the end should serve the fundamental religious purpose of our life. That should always be the constant purpose of our laws. 

 All the other objectives of our laws, let alone their technical requirements, serve only as an occasion, a reason or motive for this ultimate purpose. Setting aside this ultimate purpose would empty our laws of their real legitimacy, making them rife for all kinds of manipulations and maneuverings by some shrewd men who may enjoy some power at a given moment.

Humility amid greatness

IF there’s one precious lesson we can learn from our devotion to the Sto. Nino, it should be about how we should be humble even if we know we have the greatest dignity among God’s creatures. Such humility would truly liken us to Christ who is our everything in life, since he is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 Christ illustrates this point as he presents himself as a child dressed as a king in the image of the Sto. Nino. Yes, Christ’s humility would prevent us from getting spoiled by all the wonderful endowments God has given us—his grace, our intelligence and will, our freedom, our talents, etc. When we are truly humble, we would never feel entitled. In fact, what we would rather be most conscious about would be our duty to serve. 

 More than that, when we have the humility of Christ, we would be willing to suffer and die for the sins of men in general. We would be willing, like Christ, to be the expiation for sins. 

 Such humility would always help us realize that we need to be in constant conversation with Christ, referring everything to him, asking him for the answers to our questions, clarifications to the many issues we have to grapple with in life, strength for our weaknesses and temptations, contrition and conversion after our falls, etc. 

 We should do everything to keep this state of humility alive in us all the time. We know very well how easy it is for us to take this virtue for granted. We have to realize more vividly how vulnerable we are to the ways of pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, desire for power and domination, etc. Humility keeps us guarded against these dangers. 

 And when we happen to receive praises and honors from others because of our good works, let’s keep our feet firmly stuck to the ground, not allowing ourselves to be intoxicated. We should not allow these praises and honors to go to our head and cast some evil spell over us. 

 Instead, we have to thank God profusely. All praises and honors belong to him. What we should realize also is that those praises and honors given to us are actually a sign that we have to give ourselves more to God and to others. Our sense of duty and responsibility should become sharper. 

 Those praises and honors that we receive are actually some kind of a test to see if we would still remain with God or we would now choose ourselves as our own god. We have to know how to pass that test, and so we need to really grow and deepen our humility. 

 We should never feel sad because we have chosen to deny ourselves to grow in humility amid the praises and honors. That self-denial is actually a big opening for the grace of God to come to us. That realization should make us very happy with a joy that would keep us simple, not proud and complicated. 

 We have to learn not to get spoiled by whatever praises and honors would come our way. Instead, let these honors trigger the urge to deepen our humility, to enrich our gratitude to God and to others, and to sharpen our sense of duty and responsibility. 

 What a beautiful world we would contribute to build up if we remain humble amid great honors!

Faith, miracles and our salvation

BECAUSE they could not get close to Christ, they opened the roof above Christ and lowered a paralytic so he can be before Christ to ask for a cure. (cfr. Mk 2,1-12) 

 What a wonderful scene that shows how a strong faith is needed to be able to get some extraordinary interventions from Christ. Christ, of course, always takes care of us, mostly in our ordinary, daily affairs and conditions, but in some special occasions, we may have to show great faith to also receive some special favors from him. 

 This truth of our Christian faith was shown in all the miraculous cures narrated in the gospel. The blind men, the lame, the lepers, etc. were cured because of their strong faith. That strong faith may be shown in a very open way, as usually narrated in the gospel, but it can also be shown in a quiet and hidden way, as in the case of the woman suffering from an issue of blood. (cfr. Lk 8,43-48) 

 Yes, faith is needed for miracles to happen. We have to be clear about this point. For miracles to happen, especially the most important one which is our own salvation that involves the forgiveness of our sins, faith is needed. This was dramatized in that gospel episode where Christ was presented with a paralytic lying on a stretcher. 

 “When Jesus saw their faith,” the gospel narrates, “he said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.’” Christ said this before he went to cure the man of his paralysis. He cured the man to prove to the unbelieving Jews that he was truly the Redeemer, and as such can do extraordinary cures. And he cured the man precisely because of their faith, that is, their belief that Christ was truly the expected Redeemer. 

 Nowadays, many people claim that miracles do not happen anymore. They say miracles only took place in the distant past, the time of the gospel when Christ went around in the land of Judea and Galilee. But now, miracles are considered obsolete, if not an anomaly. 

 This is like saying that Christ, the son of God who became man, has ceased intervening in our lives, that he was purely a historical man, subject to time and space, and that after death, he is simply no more, completely wrapped in the spiritual world, if ever that exists, and that he has no immediate and tangible impact on our lives. 

 We have to be clear about this point. Christ is always around and is actively intervening in our lives, directing and leading us to our proper end, in spite of our very erratic ways. He can never be indifferent to us, and is willing to suffer and die for us just to save us. Precisely he came as an expiation for our sins. He is the one who pays for our sins. All we have to do is just to try to go along with him in the best way we can. 

 So, we have to be clear about the truth that miracles are meant more to forgive our sins and for our salvation rather than just curing an ailment, and that we have to be wary of our tendency to be disbelieving. 

 To address this tendency of ours to be disbelieving, we have to be humble to be able to receive what is told to us by faith. We have to realize that our life, being a life with God and therefore is supernatural, needs to be lived by faith more than just by our reason alone.

Passing unnoticed and purity of intention

IN the gospel, Christ shows us how he always tried to pass unnoticed while doing a lot of good. In one instance, he told a leper whose leprosy he cleansed miraculously, not to tell anybody about the cure but only to the priest. (cfr. Mk 1,40-45) The cleansed leper, of course, could not help it but proclaim to the four winds what happened to him. 

 That episode is teaching us that if we want to be truly Christian, we have to do a lot of good, with God’s help and our all-out effort, doing it without attracting unnecessary attention. It can only show how our intentions are pure, that is to say, that what we do is simply to give glory to God from whom all good things come, and not to ourselves. 

 Why did Christ behave in that way? I believe the answer lies in the fact that Christ wants to be known both as God and man, and as our Redeemer, not out of idle curiosity or for merely practical purposes, but really out of faith. 

 Our usual problem is that our belief in Christ is often corrupted by merely human motives. It’s not faith, but some mixture of idle curiosity and other practical purposes that make us follow him. 

 And when these idle curiosity and practical purposes would already have their fill, or worse, are not met as expected, then that belief in Christ falls apart. The apostles themselves were not exempt from this phenomenon. Many times, Christ would lament over their lack of faith. 

 Same with the crowd. Those who welcomed him at his entry to Jerusalem were also those who shouted, “Crucify him” a little later. 

 Christ wants us to approach him with faith. He wants us to consider the spiritual and supernatural character of his life that should also be reflected in ours. He does not want us to get stuck with his merely material, natural and human aspects. 

 By learning how to pass unnoticed while doing a lot of good certainly would show how pure our intentions would be. Yes, we have to be most careful in handling our intentions. They play a strategic role in our life, for how and where we direct them would determine whether we want to be with God or simply with our own selves. 

 Our intentions express who and where in the end we want to be. Do we choose God, or do we simply choose ourselves, or the world in general? It’s actually a choice between good and evil. 

 Even if we are not aware, or refuse to be aware, of this choice, which is usually the case, the choice between God and us, between good and evil is always made with every human act we do. 

 We need to realize then that we have to take utmost care of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God. 

 We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it, since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge. We are urged to be most sincere in directing our intentions properly. 

 We can easily fall into hypocrisy and deception, doing what can appear good externally but is not internally, since we could refuse giving glory to God, which is the proper intention to have, and instead feed and stir our vanity, pride, greed, lust, etc.

Preaching and dealing with devils

WE somehow have to get involved in these things if we are to truly follow Christ. In the gospel, that is what Christ was doing. (cfr. Mk 1,29-39) “He went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee,” the gospel narrates. 

 Yes, we have to help spread far and wide the saving and living word of God. That is really important and indispensable if we are to keep our Christianity alive. We have to realize more deeply that preaching the Word of God is a task entrusted to his apostles and shared by all of us in different ways. 

 First we need to examine our understanding and attitude toward God’s word, especially the Gospel. On this basic understanding would depend what we do with the Gospel and how we handle it. 

 Do we really know the true nature of the Gospel? Or do we take it as just one more book, perhaps with certain importance, but definitely not as the living word of God, in spite of its human dimensions? 

 The Gospel is actually the living proclamation of Christ as the Emmanuel, that is, God with us. This is an on-going affair that did not stop with the death of Christ. Christ lives with us up to now, and continues to do things with us. 

 All these affirmations are captured in the last lines of the Gospel of St. Matthew where our Lord said: 

 “Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them…. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (28,19-20) 

 Our Catechism tells us that “We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus’ life and his mysteries and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole Church” (521) 

 We also have to learn how to deal with the devils. They are always around, ever scheming and plotting against us in many, many ways, and often in a manner that is so subtle that we may not even notice him. As St. Peter would put in his first letter: “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” (5,8) 

 We should never consider the devil as a myth, or as some kind of literary device only to highlight a point in the drama of our life. He is as real as you and me. Our problem is that we think lightly or, worse, falsely of him. And so we become completely unprepared to deal with his antics. 

 But in spite of that unfortunate fact of life, we should remember that the devil cannot do anything against us unless allowed by God. And if allowed, it is because God in his mysterious providence can always draw a greater good from any evil the devil may cause in us. 

 When tempted by the devil we should avoid getting sad, because sadness makes the devil happy. We are meant to be happy, not only from time to time, but all time. Impossible? Of course, it will be impossible if we rely mainly if not solely on our own powers. But that’s not supposed to be. We are meant to be with God and to rely mainly on his powers. That way, we can always manage to be at peace and happy, which is what is ideal for all of us.

Christ-centered education

CHRIST entered a synagogue and started to teach, and the people were astonished at his teaching since he taught with authority, unlike how their other teachers were teaching. (cfr. Mk 1,21-28) This gospel episode somehow reminds us about the qualities of a good teacher and also about the real goal of education. 

 I suppose among the first things that come to mind when we think of how a good and ideal teacher should be are that he is competent, does continuing study and research on his subject, prepares his classes well, delivers them fluently, keeps good relation with his students and colleagues, submits grades punctually, etc. 

 Those are indeed excellent qualities but they are not enough. In fact, they simply are peripherals and can be dangerous and counterproductive if they are not inspired by the proper spirit of love. Without the latter, the other qualities would be at the mercy of other spirits not proper to us. 

 These otherwise good qualities would simply be conditioned and dependent on purely human desires and intentions that, no matter how well-founded, will always bear the marks of human frailties and vulnerabilities, and later of self-interest if not sheer malice. 

 Having the proper spirit is fundamental and indispensable for a teacher to be a good one. He should not only be a master of the subject he teaches, but he also should manage to inspire love for God and for others through that subject. 

 That is the proper spirit to have. A good teacher manages to relate the things he teaches, no matter how technical and mundane, to God and to others. He should inspire the students to love God and others more through the things he teaches. 

 We should never forget the real and ultimate purpose of education which is none other than for us to be another Christ. After all, he is the very pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. If education is for us to achieve the fullness of our humanity, we should not look at anything, no matter how lofty and useful, other than at Christ. 

 St. Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, describes it this way: “His (Christ’s) gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...” (4,11-13) 

 Yes, education is not simply about acquiring some worldly knowledge and skills. It’s about achieving this “mature manhood” St. Paul was talking about, a mature manhood that is “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” 

 Obviously, knowledge and skills are important and are, in fact, indispensable. But they have to be oriented toward the ultimate goal of education which is the pursuit for the fullness of Christ in us. 

 We have to be wary of the strong, almost irresistible temptation to downgrade the purpose of education to simply achieving some worldly values like wealth, honor, popularity, efficiency, etc. These worldly goals, if not related to the ultimate goal, can very well be sweet poisons that can corrupt the process of education. 

 Thus, the ultimate goal of education is when we learn to deal in an abiding way with the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of God, who will remind us of everything Christ taught us and will lead us to the complete truth and would tell us of things to come.

Developing the apostolic spirit

ONE clear sign that we are truly Christians is when we have an abiding apostolic concern. It can only mean that we are sharing in the very mission of Christ who came here to save all men. And that’s what being an apostle is. We have to realize then that we all have an apostolic vocation. Yes, everyone is called to be apostle in whatever circumstance he may be in. 

 Have you ever wondered why Christ appeared to just choose his apostles at random? He would just pass by a certain place, and upon seeing someone, he would just say, “Come, follow me.” And wonder of wonders, the person called would just follow him without any question. In fact, it is said that the person called would just leave everything behind (“relictis omnibus”). 

 I guess the only plausible answer to that question 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. 

 We have to process this basic truth of faith about ourselves, channeling and assimilating it into our very consciousness and instincts, because we often take this essential aspect of our identity for granted. 

 Especially now, with all the absorbing and riveting things around, we tend to forget that we should always have an apostolic concern that we ought to pursue with utmost zeal. Without this apostolic concern, we would be distorting if not betraying our human and Christian identity. 

 We have to be apostolic because that is how we are by our very nature. With our intelligence and will and all our other faculties, powers and endowments we have, we are meant and enabled to enter into relation with others, with everybody else, in fact. 

 It should be a relation marked by love, by concern, by desire to help and be helped, to lead and be led to what is our good in all its levels and aspects, until we all reach the ultimate good who is God. 

 We can always do apostolate in any situation, whether we are working or resting, at home or in the office, doing business or politics, etc. In fact, everything in our life should have an apostolic end. More than that, these situations would lack their real value if they fail to attend to the apostolic possibilities they contain. 

 Our call to holiness will always involve our duty to be apostolic. Sanctity and apostolate cannot be separated. This is simply because to be with Christ, to be another Christ as we ought to be, we have to be involved in Christ’s continuing work of redemption. Our sanctification cannot be deprived of its apostolic dimension. 

 We have to realize ever more deeply that to feel this urge to be an apostle and to do apostolate all the time, we have to be vitally united and identified with Christ. We cannot overemphasize the need for us to truly pray and meditate on Christ’s life and teaching so that we can acquire the very mind and heart of Christ, his very desire and spirit.

The significance of Christ’s baptism

WHY did Christ have to be baptized? Even John the Baptist was surprised when Christ went to him asking to be baptized. But Christ insisted that he be baptized. 

 The simple answer, of course, is because by doing so would give us the sacrament of baptism that would enable us to be united with Christ in the spirit. Let’s always remember that our life is not anymore just our own. It becomes life with Christ who remains present, available and actively continuing his redemptive work and dispensing its merits to us in the sacramental economy that starts with our own baptism. 

 With baptism, we open ourselves to the possibility of receiving all the other sacraments that fully satisfy our spiritual needs with the view of attaining our salvation and our eternal life with God our Father, the ultimate goal meant for us. 

 We have to understand then that our life has to revolve around the sacraments that serve to build it up and make it Christ’s life as well. As the Catechism puts it, all the sacraments form one organic whole, and they “touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life.” (1210) 

 We need to understand that our life with Christ is not only a human and natural life. It is a supernatural life, gratuitously given to us. But we need to be properly receptive to it. Thus, we need to develop an appetite for it. 

 We need to make this point clear because I have the strong feeling that we as Christians in general do not realize this. And if we do, we do not know how to go about it. At best, what we usually do is simply to avail ourselves of some Christian practices, more out of compliance, without realizing how those practices should have their effect in us. In other words, we can generally call ourselves as Christians by name only, but not the authentic ones. 

 Developing the supernatural life is simply a matter of identifying ourselves vitally or existentially with Christ who is God who became man to save us. His humanity is united to his divinity so that we can, through his humanity, find “the way, the truth and the life” of God. In other words, that we can have the supernatural life of and with God as we are meant to have. 

 We have to remember that with God becoming man, he identifies himself with us in all possible conditions we can be in, including in our state of sin, and he offers us a way of how to deal with these conditions to recover our dignity as children of God. 

 This means that we should have the very mind of God, as St. Paul said of himself. (cfr. 1 Cor 2,16) That is why he said, “Be imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ.” (1 Cor 11,1) It is in having the mind of Christ that we share in the spirit of Christ, and thus become like Christ. Yes, we are meant to be “another Christ, if not Christ himself” (alter Christus, ipse Christus) who is actually the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 And this mind or spirit of Christ has been revealed to us quite clearly through his teachings and example, or through everything that he has given us and is now kept, taught with divine authority and guarantee, in spite of the weaknesses of men, in the Church.

Training in compassion

THAT gospel episode where a man full of leprosy begged Christ to make him clean (cfr. Lk 5,12-16) teaches us the lesson that like Christ we should try our best to be quick in showing compassion to everyone, especially to those in great and urgent need. For this, we have to train ourselves in the art and virtue of compassion which is a matter of entering into the very lives and drama of the others with the spirit of Christ. 

 If we really want to be “another Christ,” we should be quick to show compassion to others who are in need of one thing or another. This is typical of Christ. Wherever he went, though he had to convey difficult and hard-to-understand messages to the people, since these messages were mainly spiritual and supernatural in character, he never neglected their more immediate human needs. 

 His heart always flowed with compassion, quick to notice the needs of others and to respond to them. And all this in all simplicity, telling the beneficiaries who were so bursting with gratitude that they wanted to broadcast what they received to the whole world, to keep quiet instead. 

 It’s an example that we should all try to imitate. One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of always thinking of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help. 

 It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about. We just have to learn to be tough to take on whatever effort is needed. We have to learn to be all things to all men. 

 Compassion starts in the heart, in our thoughts and desires. In this level, there is no limit in what we can do. Obviously, when we try to translate these prayers, thoughts and desires into action and material things, we can be greatly limited. But insofar as prayers and sacrifices are involved, the possibilities are unlimited. 

 We need to examine ourselves more deeply to see if indeed we are always thinking, praying and wishing others well. We have to be wary of our tendency to let our thoughts and desired be dictated only by self-interest, usually done in a most subtle but effective way. For this, we have to do regular examination of conscience. 

 Compassion should not be exclusively associated with the sweet and tender moments of pity, sympathy and empathy. It demands sacrifice and self-denial which we should be willing to give. 

 For this, we have to be willing to complicate our life. There surely will be some need for adjustments in our attitudes, in the way we understand things and view different kinds of people. We have to hone up our skills at versatility, which should not only be a matter of theatric performance but rather that of genuine love for God and for souls. 

 We have to learn how to flow with the times whose developments are getting more rapid and more varied. We should learn to be very discerning, knowing how to identify and derive anything good that is in any person, situation, ideology, etc., but knowing also their defects, errors, limitations so as not to be trapped by them.

Giving witness to our faith in public

CHRIST went to a synagogue, unrolled the scroll, read some passages and proclaimed that what he just read was fulfilled in him upon the audience’s hearing. And the people were amazed at the gracious words Christ spoke. (cfr. Lk 4,14-22) 

 That gospel episode somehow reminds us that like Christ, we too should proclaim our faith as revealed in the gospel first with our own life, words and deeds, before we can proclaim it to everybody else with a certain eloquence and effectiveness. 

 We have to realize more deeply that we need to live our faith also in our public life. Our faith is not supposed to be only private and personal, since our life in public is an integral and unavoidable part of our life, and there has to be certain consistency of our faith in our private and public life. 

 But we have to realize also that some prudence and discretion in this matter is required. And that’s because we have to make sure that our faith avoids getting entangled in temporal affairs and matters of opinion where a plurality of views should be respected. Besides, our faith tells us that we cannot solve all our problems here on earth, and that the final judgment belongs to God and not to us. 

 We have to expect some differences, conflicts and disagreements among ourselves. We have to expect to be misunderstood and to suffer, even up to death, since Christ already showed us how these possibilities can also happen to us as it happened to him who was the perfect embodiment of the Christian faith. 

 Christ, for example, did not engage in partisan politics although he knew very well the ugly shenanigans of the leaders of that time. He, of course, proclaimed what was right and wrong, did some corrections and even scoldings, especially among those close to him, the apostles. In all these, what was clear was that everything was done with charity which is an indispensable partner of faith. Without charity, faith cannot fly. 

 But, yes, we have to proclaim our faith in public, in season and out of season, as St. Paul once said. Especially these days when delicate moral issues need to be resolved very clearly: abortion, confusion about sexual identity and human nature, disconnection of science and technology from morality, lack of respect for freedom of conscience, questionable educational thrusts in schools, etc. 

 Faith and religion are always involved in these issues. While these issues have to be considered under many aspects, we have to understand that the considerations of faith and religion, being so basic in us, should be given priority. 

 It’s in our faith and religion that the fundamental and ultimate meaning of these issues are given. It’s where our ultimate common good is determined. The practical, the legal, the social, cultural and historical aspects have to somehow defer to them. 

 Contrary to some views, being consistent to one’s faith and religion in public office does not make him a fanatic, a fundamentalist or detached from reality. Quite the opposite is true. 

 Certainly, they have to do this task properly, knowing which part of the issues are open to opinion and therefore can change, and which are of the nature of the eternal truth, that should not be changed. 

 They have to master the art of dialogue, knowing how to argue in defense especially of the uncompromisable part of the issues with forcefulness, flexibility and naturalness. This is where their leadership can truly be shown.

Our fears, failures and sense of abandonment

THAT rather amusing gospel story of the apostles frozen with fear when they were in the middle of a raging sea and saw a figure that later turned out to be Christ walking on the water (cfr. Mk 6,45-52) tells us what to do with our unavoidable fears and failures. We need to develop a healthy sense of abandonment in the ever solicitous providence of God over our life. 

 To be sure, Christ never fails us, though, again, his ways may not be what we expect or even want. What we have to do is to develop the habit of always referring everything to God, especially when we find ourselves in situations of fear and helplessness. He is always there for us. 

 We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair. 

 With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have. 

 A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith. 

 In this life, we need to acquire a good, healthy sporting spirit, because life is actually like a game. Yes, life is like a game. We set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we are primed to win and we do our best, but losses can come, and yet, we just have to move on. 

 Woe to us when we get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in a hanging narrative, when a comma, a colon or semi-colon would have sufficed. 

 We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 An indispensable ingredient of this healthy sporting spirit is the sense of acceptance and abandonment that we need to deliberately cultivate. This does not come automatically, as if it’s part of our genes. We have to develop them.