Believe in Christ

“IF you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (Jn 5,46-47) 

With these words, it’s like Christ is begging that we believe in him, for he truly is our savior, the very pattern of our humanity, our everything, in fact! It’s like he is trying to identify himself to us and how we need him. He should be the very center of our life. 

 We should therefore develop the instinct of always looking for Christ, making him alive in our life and patterning our life after his. This business of always looking for Christ is a basic duty of ours, a grave responsibility, in fact. 

We have to understand that without him, we would just be on our own, relying simply on our own light and powers that, no matter how excellent, can never accomplish our real ultimate need of our own salvation, our own perfection as a person and as a child of God. 

We need to look for Christ so we can find him, and in finding him, we can start to love and serve him which is what we are expected to do to be ‘another Christ.’ This has basis on what Christ himself said: “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you…” (Mt 7,7) 

 And finding him means that we make Christ alive in our life. He is not just a historical figure. Let’s remember that before he went up to heaven, he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who would bring to us everything that Christ did and said. More than that, the Holy Spirit brings Christ alive in us. 

We just have to exercise our faith to the hilt. With it we enter into a reality that goes beyond what we simply can see and touch and understand. With it we can feel at home even with the mysteries which, by the way, abound in our life since we are not confined only to the sensible and material realities. Our world includes the spiritual and the supernatural. 

But we also have to realize that with Christ, it is not enough just to know him. We also have to love him. With Christ, to know him truly is to love him also. In fact, we cannot say we really know him unless we love him too. 

 With him, these two spiritual operations of ours merge into a unity, although they have different directions. In knowing, the object known is in the knower. It has an inward movement. The knower possesses the known object. 

 In loving, the lover is in the beloved. It has an outward movement. It is the beloved that possesses the lover. The lover gets identified with the beloved. The lover becomes what he loves. 

In knowing, the knower abstracts things from his object of interest and keeps them to himself. In loving, the lover gives himself to the beloved. In a sense, the lover loses himself in the beloved. 

Of course, there are many things that we know but which we do not have to love, or even that we should not love. We can know a lot of evils, but we should never love them. If anything at all, our knowledge of them is just for the sake of prudence, so we can truly be with Christ and become “another Christ” as we should be.

Christ, perfect God, perfect man

“AMEN, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.” (Jn 5,19-20) 

 With these words, Christ is affirming that Christ is God just as the Father to whom he is referring in those words is God. We should have no doubt about the divinity of Christ, falling into some heresy that would consider Christ otherwise. 

 But not only is Christ God. He is also man who acts as a perfect mediator between God and man. He is the perfect bridge between God and man, because he is both God and man, “perfectus Deus, perfectus homo.” This truth of our faith can somehow be gleaned from the following words of his: 

 “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.” (Jn 5,23-24) 

 All these truths of our faith simply tell us that we are truly children of God, made in his image and likeness, meant to share his very own life. In short, how God is should also be how we ought to be. It’s a most basic truth about ourselves that we should never forget or take for granted. On that truth depend all the other things in our life. 

 The necessary corollary to this truth is that we should try our best, with God’s grace, of course, to be like Christ who offers us precisely to be “the truth, the way and the life.” The way to be like God is to identify ourselves as perfectly as possible with Christ. We have to try our best to assume the very identity of Christ. 

 There’s no doubt about it. We are meant to assume the identity of Christ, because he is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. We can only be as we ought to be when we assume Christ’s identity. That is to say, when Christ and us become one. 

 A fantasy? A gratuitous exaggeration? Would we not fall into some grave presumption here or some psychological disorder? Such reactions, of course, are understandable. As they say, we are only human (sapagkat kami’y tao lamang), and so we can never aspire to be like Christ, much less, to be Christ himself. 

 But Christ himself said so in so many words. “He who hears you hears me,” he said, “and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who reject me rejects him who sent me.” (Lk 10,16) Though spoken directly to his apostles, such words can also be addressed to all of us. 

 More than that, his ardent prayer before he entered into his passion and death was that we be one with him and he is one with his Father. “…that all of them may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us…that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity…” (Jn 17,21.23) 

 We need to process this tremendous truth of our faith slowly.

God and our laws

“IT is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” (Jn 5,10) So said some Jews to a a sick man cured by Christ. This kind of accusation was common in the times of Christ and a reflection of the general mindset of the Jews then whose understanding of the law was still to be purified and perfected. 

 We need to understand that our laws, both in the civil and especially in the ecclesiastical sphere, should be animated by the spirit of God who knows all things and keeps everything in its proper order. We should not just make our laws, interpret and apply them to specific cases by basing them only on our own estimation of things, inspired only by some cultural, historical, political, social, economic or some ideological ethos. 

 We need to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. It should be God, his laws and ways that should animate the way we make laws as well as the way we apply and live them. After all, being the Creator of all things, he is the one who establishes what is truly good and evil. 

 And the will, laws and ways of God are revealed to us in full by Christ. That is why at one point Christ said to the Pharisees and scribes regarding the proper interpretation of the Sabbath law that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man (Christ) is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mk 2,27-28) 

 So it is Christ who can guide us as to the content and intent of our laws. He is the one who can interpret our laws properly. He is the one that would give our laws their proper spirit, which in the end is the spirit of charity that summarizes and perfects all virtues and values. 

 Without Christ, our laws would unavoidably become rigid and harsh in certain instances. They would tend to absolutize certain things that actually should only have relative value. They would hardly recognize their limits, and so would find it hard to accept exceptions. 

 Without Christ, our laws would only lead us to the path of self-righteousness that will always be accompanied by the ways of hypocrisy. They can tend to rationalize things that actually are against God’s laws and our own objective good. 

 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 purpose, 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. 

 We need to remind ourselves that God’s law is in fact the foundation, the inspiration and the perfection of our human laws.

We need faith for miracles to happen

GIVEN the precarious and wounded condition of our human life, plus the fact that we are meant to live a supernatural life, one that is simply beyond our human powers to attain without the help of God’s grace, we have to understand that many times we need to ask for miracles, those extraordinary interventions we ask of God for the simple reason that we would just find ourselves in some situations to be helpless and hopeless. 

 In fact, in the world today, we can detect an increasing number of predicaments that often reduce us to helplessness. This can be brought about by the new technologies that, while giving us a lot of advantages, can also cause great harm. Yes, these new technologies are a double-edged sword. 

 This truth about our need for faith for miracles to happen was illustrated many times in the gospel where all sorts of people approached Christ asking for some miracles. In the gospel of St. John (4,43-54) for example, we are given that episode of a royal official who begged Christ to heal his ill son. And the main factor that made that miracle to take place was the faith that official had. 

 “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe,” Christ said. But the royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” And since that official believed, his son was cured. 

 We have to have a strong faith for miracles to happen. If we have this kind of faith, we know that we always need to go to Christ, like those many helpless characters in the gospel who approached him for a cure. In other words, we cannot anymore rely on our human natural and human powers alone to handle our extraordinary predicaments. We have to beg for miracles! 

 Miracles are certainly part of what God has made available for our problems. When St. Paul said: “God will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it,” (1 Cor 10,13) he must have included this extraordinary recourse to miracles as one of God’s ways for us to endure any temptation or predicament. 

 And so let us go to Christ like the blind man Bartimaeus (Mk 10,46-52), the woman with the flow of blood (Mk 5,25), the 10 lepers (Lk 17,11-19), the man born blind (Jn 9,1-12), the man possessed by a legion of devils (Mk 5,1-10), and many others. Let’s go to him without delay, without hesitation. 

 We can also help others go to Christ if they themselves cannot do it, like what the father of a possessed boy did (Mk 9,17-24), those who brought a paralytic to Christ (Mk 2,4), the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Lk 7,1-10), etc. We can do a lot of good to others if we do this. 

 What is important is that we approach Christ with deep faith. In those miraculous cures Christ did, he always referred to the great faith of those who asked for those miracles. 

 Let us humble ourselves so that that faith can grow and show itself in deeds, like intense prayers and sacrifice. Remember what Christ told his disciples why they could not cure an epileptic boy. It was because of their little faith. (cfr. Mt 17,20)

God will always forgive us

NEVER doubt this truth of our Christian faith. As illustrated in that beautiful parable of the prodigal son (cfr. Lk 15,11-32), God is always ready to forgive us, no matter what sin we commit. All we have to do is just to go back to him in repentance, just like what the prodigal son did. 

 In life, anything can happen. We try to do what is good, but sometimes our idea of what is good can actually be bad. We just have to remember that even in our worst possible scenario, we can always count on God’s ever-ready mercy as long as we decide to come home to him. 

 We should always strengthen our faith in God’s mercy and compassion. Of course. We should also try not to abuse God’s goodness, even if we know that despite our best efforts we may end up abusing it just the same. But whatever happens, we should come home. Just come home to our Father God. That’s what matters in the end. 

 We need to strengthen our spirit of divine filiation—that God is our father who is all merciful and compassionate, who is all willing to do anything for us just to get us back to him. He knows that even if he has made us to be his image and likeness, that dignity often spoils us, and so we get into trouble. 

 This truth about our divine filiation is worth reiterating. It is what truly grounds us to the foundation of our life and nature, giving us the meaning and purpose of our existence. It’s a source of joy, confidence and serenity. It tells us what our filial rights and duties are. 

 More importantly, it tells us who we are and gives us an abiding sense that we are never alone, or worse, just on our own. It fills us with the conviction that we are children of God, that no matter what happens, God will always be with us and for us unless we reject him. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to think that we are just on our own. That would be an attitude that can be suggested only by the devil who will always tell lies. Sad to say, many people are succumbing to this trick of the devil. That’s why many now fall into some deep despair when misfortune comes their way. They feel there’s no one else to run to anymore. We should do everything to strengthen our spirit of divine filiation. 

 Let’s always remember that God “takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they return from their ways and live.” (Ez 33,11) And as shown by Christ, God does not wait for man to turn back to him. He takes the initiative to reach out to us, sinners. 

 In all the miracles that he performed, Christ was more interested in forgiving the sins of those involved than in healing them of their infirmities and predicaments. His love and compassion went beyond the concern for the bodily health of those characters. He focused more on their spiritual recovery. 

 We have to see to it that in proclaiming the gospel to the others, in our effort to present Christ to the others, we should not simply talk about the strictness of God’s demands and expectations from us, the high standard that he is setting for us. This will scare people more than attract them to Christ. We should always include God’s mercy in all our preaching and counseling.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

MARCH 25 is, of course, the liturgical celebration of the Annunciation of the Lord, that very significant event in the history of all mankind when the Son of God became man in the virginal womb of Mary who with her ‘Fiat’ (Be it done) reversed the disobedience of our first parents to allow God’s work of human redemption. 

 It’s a solemnity that celebrates God’s great and tremendous love for man in spite of all our sins. And that’s simply because in spite of all the mess we make, we continue to be children of God, his image and likeness, meant to share in his very own divine life forever. 

 It’s important that we meditate on this very fundamental truth of our Christian faith so that we can also be inspired by the same love that God has for us. We are meant for love, but the real love that comes from God and not just our own invention. That love has to be repaid also by our love. That’s when we actually attain our human perfection. 

 Let’s remember that God can never forget us, a truth that was already articulated well in the Book of Isaiah: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she would have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” (49,15) 

 We have to pound this truth of our faith constantly into our head and heart, so we can feel at home with it. Our problem is that we often take God’s love for granted and thus trivialize the dignity that we have, and suffer the consequences that actually can and should be avoided. We can either abuse this love or doubt it. 

 We may feel awkward about this truth, since we seldom, if ever, expect much less experience a love such as this. We often consider such love as madness, or impossible to take place, etc. But this is the love God is offering us and is asking us also to have. 

 This tremendous love of God to us through Christ was once described vividly by St. Paul. Let’s listen to him slowly: 

 “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man—though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5,6-8) 

 The secret to correspond to this love of God for us is to imitate Mary’s response of ‘Fiat’ to God’s will for her. Her obedience to the divine designs for man somehow started the healing of the disobedience of our first parents that plunged all of us into a life and a world of sin. 

 That “Fiat” is the best example of obedience that man as a creature can have in relation to the will of God, our Creator and Father. It perfectly echoes in a mysteriously anticipative way also Christ’s obedience to the will of his Father—“If it is your will, let this cup pass by me, but not my will but yours be done.” 

 Mary’s “Fiat” is the perfect model of how our will ought to be conformed to God’s will. We have to be reminded that by the very nature of our will, the very seat of our freedom, our will is supposed to be in synch with the will of its Creator. That’s when we enter into the dynamics of God’s love.

Pursuing unity amid our differences

“WHOEVER is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Lk 11,23) With these words, Christ tells us clearly where the basis for our unity and equality amid our unavoidable differences and conflicts can be found. Yes, it’s with him, and only with him. 

 No matter how right we may be in something, no matter how strongly convinced we are that we are in the truth, if we are not with Christ, then we would not know how to deal with others with charity, which in the end is what truly builds up unity and equality among ourselves. 

 Yes, it’s the charity that St. Paul describes as “patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated. Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil. Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth. Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.” (1 Cor 13:4-7) 

 Yes, it’s the charity that enables us to bear the burdens of each other and thus fulfil the law of Christ. (cfr. Gal 6,2) It’s the charity that is willing to suffer for the others, and can consider as our real treasures here on earth the following conditions: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonor, poverty, loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison… 

 It’s the charity that considers sacrifice as its way, that welcomes any cross that can come our way, that is detached from passing opinions and views, and willing to suffer for the truth, no matter how unfair that would be. It’s the charity that knows how to love enemies and to be ever merciful and magnanimous, how to be “all things to all men,” (1 Cor 9,22) irrespective of how the others are. 

 Our pursuit for unity and equality amid our differences and conflicts can only be achieved if we have this charity that is based on our living union with God as shown in obeying the truths he revealed to us about ourselves and living them with God’s spirit, that is, with charity. Again, truth and charity should always go together for either one to be authentic, not fake or plastic. Otherwise, we would have a flying elephant. 

 Our problem is that we often get contented only with our own ideas, ideologies, laws and some consensus to achieve this ideal. Do you think these would be enough? Unity and equality among men and women, for example, just cannot be achieved simply with our human means. We can say, “tell it to the Marines,” when one would dare to affirm so. 

 Imagine when we have to consider the complexities of pursuing social justice and of respecting and loving each other in our political differences that can become bitter, what with all the bullies and trolls around, the shameless virtue signaling and gaslighting, etc., that people like to use. 

 Though our human doctrine, ideologies and laws have a role to play, they are nothing if they are not inspired or infused with the living spirit of God, who is the source of all unity and equality. This should be made clear to everyone. 

 We would just be giving appearances, many times deceptive appearances, of unity and equality, when things are not done in the context of a living relation with God. The Trinitarian nature of God—three persons in one God, equal in dignity and in eternal relation with one another—is the pattern of the unity and equality proper to us.

Our perfection is in living God’s will

“WHOEVER breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5,19) 

 With these words of our Lord, we are clearly told that we have to be eager to know and to live God’s will and commandments. That’s where our perfection can be found. That’s how we can truly become God’s image and likeness as he wants us to be. And he gives us all the means. It’s just for us to avail of them. 

 There’s no question that it’s going to be difficult, given the way we are. But it’s never impossible. As long as we open ourselves to God’s will and ways, we can hack it in spite of our natural limitations, not to mention our weaknesses and mistakes. 

 Living by God’s will is what is most important to us. It’s not just following our will which is, of course, indispensable to us. Otherwise, we would be undermining our very own freedom and our humanity itself. Whatever we do is done because we want it. It should be a fruit of our freedom. 

 But what is most important is to conform our will to God’s will, which is even more indispensable to us. Otherwise, we sooner or later would destroy our freedom and our humanity itself, since God is the very author and the very lawgiver of our freedom and our humanity. 

 This is a basic truth that we need to spread around more widely and abidingly, since it is steadily and even systematically being forgotten and, nowadays, even contradicted in many instances. We need to inculcate this truth to children as early as when they can understand and appreciate it. Then let’s give them the example of how it is lived. 

 God’s will is the source of everything in the universe. The whole of creation in all its existence, unity, truth, goodness and beauty starts from God’s will and is maintained by it. The entire range and scope of reality—be it material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, temporal or eternal—is “contained” there, not only theoretically but in vivo. 

 The task of looking, knowing and loving the divine will, therefore, has to be made more known by us, because we tend to simply have a superficial knowledge of God, restricting him to some sentimental considerations or to some images we form of him in our mind. Hardly would we get to know what he wants us to do in any given moment, if we are mainly guided by sentimental considerations and visual or conceptual images of him. 

 Getting to know and do God’s will is what actually would comprise the very substance of our relationship with him. That’s simply because that is what love is all about, what it entails, which is the very essence of God, as St. John affirmed (Deus caritas est). Love is deeds and not just sweet words or feelings. Real love is deeds done to correspond to God’s will for us. 

 We need to develop the proper attitude toward God’s will. We should first be aware that there’s such thing as God’s will, and not just God’s image. We should cultivate the desire to know, love and obey it until we can make as our own Christ’s very attitude toward his Father’s will, “Not my will, but yours be done,” and Mary’s words, “Be it done to me according to your word.”

Mercy makes us God-like

“LORD, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Mt 18,21-22) 

 With those words, Christ clearly tells us to be always merciful of everybody. Such attitude would truly make us like God as we are supposed to be. God forgives everyone, or at least offers it to everyone, including those who are openly opposed to him. It’s up to us to receive that divine offer. 

 If need be, we have to make a shout-out of this word of forgiveness if only for everyone to follow this clear commandment of Christ: “Forgive and you shall be forgiven.” (Lk 6,37) He reiterated this injunction when he said: “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.” (Mt 6,14-15) 

 It’s clear therefore that we can only be forgiven if we also forgive others. This injunction is meant for everyone, and not only for a few whom we may consider to be religiously inclined. That’s why when asked how many times we should forgive, he said not only seven times, but seventy times seven, meaning always. 

 This should be very clear to all of us. We have to be merciful ourselves, because God who is our Father is merciful. Christ himself said it openly: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6,36) 

 In the Holy Bible, numerous references to the mercy of God are made. His mercy is forever, is eternal. He is rich in mercy. He is slow to anger, quick to forgive. We have to forgive others not only seven times, but seventy times seven. This obviously alludes to the biblical passage that even a just man falls seven times in a day. 

 When Christ was asked to teach his disciples how to pray, he gave them the now-famous “Our Father” that includes, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

 More importantly, he offered forgiveness for those who crucified him. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” These are words that are meant not only for those who participated directly in his crucifixion, but also for all of us. 

 We have to remember that as one psalm puts it is when we are merciful as God is merciful that we would attain the fullness of redemption. Psalm 130,7 tells us where we can find this guaranteed mercy and fullness of redemption. It is with God who has deigned to become man and to assume all our sins, rendering death to them with his own death on the cross, and conquering them with his resurrection. 

 We should have no doubt whatsoever that on the part of God, everything is already given to us so we can be what we ought to be—children of God, sharers of God’s life. Any doubt in this regard can only come from the devil. 

 Whatever happens in our life, as long as we are open to God’s will and ways, even if that openness is unarticulated, God’s mercy will always have the last word. Our redemption is assured. God’s will is clearly for our redemption, though we, free as we are, can reject that divine will.

Beware of the problem of over-familiarity

“AMEN, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Lk 4,24) With these words, Christ is telling us to be wary of our usual tendency to take the very important things related to God, our faith, our spiritual life, for granted. Especially these days when we are bombarded with a lot of distractions, we need to be doubly guarded to avoid falling into this anomaly of over-familiarity. 

 That’s when we can give an appearance of piety when there is hardly anything in it, because we may just be going through the motions of praying and availing of the sacraments, and still we fail to be in touch with God and to show that fact with our deeds. 

 Over-familiarity is a common and usual danger to all of us. It is due to the limitations of our human condition that can lead us to take many things, even the important ones, for granted. 

 Instead of seeing God in everything and be amazed and excited about it, we only see the externals and go through some routine that usually has the bad trait of deadening our sensibilities, if not our faith, then our hope and charity. 

 We need to see to it that no matter how we are physically, emotionally or otherwise, we have to be spiritually and morally amazed at God in all situations of our life. This is always possible, though it may require some effort, even heroic, extraordinary effort sometimes. 

 It would be good if we develop the attitude of simply having to begin and begin again in our spiritual life, not allowing whatever difficulty and challenge we have to tackle to dominate us. Neither falling into anger, bitterness, self-pity and sadness, nor just drifting into familiarity, complacency and routine could properly handle those difficulties and challenges. 

 What we need to do is to continue, without let up, having to begin and begin again. This is a practical law of life that we should apply in our daily affairs. Let’s not get too sentimental and wait for some strong inspiration before we move. With a simple act of the will, let’s just do it—that of having to begin and begin again. 

 We have to be more aware of this danger of over-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 simply not a matter 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. 

 The ideal abiding state of amazement is more a matter of conviction, of something spiritual, moral and supernatural. It should be the result of grace that is corresponded to generously and heroically by us. 

 It is a state of amazement that sooner or later, of course, will have some external manifestations like an aura of serenity and confidence even in the midst of great trials and suffering. It will most likely show itself in the lilt in one’s voice, optimism in his reactions to events, a smile, a warm word of praise and encouragement to others, etc.

We are expected to be fruitful

“SIR, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” 

 With these words from the Gospel of St. Luke (cfr. Lk 13,1-9), we are reminded that we have to be fruitful not only materially but most especially spiritually. And that fruitfulness is a result of a continuing process of conversion and sanctification. 

 Earlier in that gospel, Christ said that unless there is repentance and conversion, we will all perish. And he illustrated this message further when upon seeing a fig tree that for three years was still not bearing fruit, he threatened to have it cut down. That was when the gardener pleaded to give the tree one more chance. 

 Let’s be frank about ourselves. We are all sinners! No matter how much we try to be good and holy—and to a certain extent, we can actually manage to achieve that ideal—we can still find ourselves falling into sin, if not big ones, then small ones, which can actually be more dangerous since we can tend to take them for granted, until we get used to them and would not feel anymore the need for repentance and conversion. 

 We have to understand that conversion is a continuing affair for all of us in this life. We can never say, if we have to follow by what our Christian faith tells us, that we are so good as to need conversion no more. 

 We are all sinners, St. John said. And even the just man, as the Bible said, falls seven times in a day. 

 Besides, it is this sense of continuing conversion that would really ensure us that whatever we do, whatever would happen to us, including our failures and defeats, would redound to what is truly good for the parties concerned and for everybody else in general. 

 That’s because conversion brings us and everything that we have done in life to a reconciliation with God, from whom we come and to whom we go. 

 Only when we are continually showing repentance over our sins and go through the process of conversion can we go on with our sanctification that has no other effect than to bear fruits of goodness all over the place. 

 Sanctification is and should be our main business in this life, our constant concern all throughout. And that’s simply because at the end of the day, at the end of our life, that is what truly matters. Everything else is meant only as a means, an occasion or a reason for pursuing this ultimate goal of ours. 

 St. Paul said it clearly: “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thes 4,3) St. Peter echoed the same sentiment: “Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” (1 Pt 1,15-16) 

 Christ, of course, repeatedly told us about this. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5,48) And this ideal can be attained, not only after our death, but even now, as we cruise through this vale of tears of ours, because Christ does it with us and for us. 

 It’s when we sanctify ourselves that we can meet God’s expectation for us to be fruitful!

Gratitude connects us always with God

THE parable about the ungrateful tenants (cfr. Mt 21:33-43,45-46) somehow reminds us about the importance of being thankful by reciprocating what we receive from God and from others. It keeps our relation with them alive and vibrant. Taking this duty for granted would actually alienate us from them, and thus suffer the consequences. 

 It's really for our own good. To be thankful to God for all his blessings to us, including especially his mercy, and to everyone is really for our own benefit rather than for any good we can give to them. 

 God does not need anything from us. What he wants is that 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 heart that is not thankful is an isolated heart. It’s a lonely heart that thinks it can live and do things simply by itself, in violation of our nature and what we actually feel deep in our hearts. It has no other way but to be unhappy. 

 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. 

 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. 

 We have to make sure that thanksgiving comes pouring out from our hearts everyday. In the Gospel of St. John, there’s a little expression that can serve as a spur for us to be thankful, words Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman: “If you only knew what God is offering…” (4,10) 

 It might be worthwhile to remember these words, if not to say it often during the day, to remind us about God’s loving providence over us. To be sure, he continues to intervene in our life. He can never be detached from us, indifferent to our needs. 

 This is our problem. We tend to take all the goodness of God for granted. We are notoriously short-sighted and narrow-minded. We hardly consider anything beyond what our senses can perceive, what our intelligence can understand. We fail to be guided by faith that allows us to see the spiritual and supernatural reality of our life. 

 We have to see to it that everyday, we are conscious that we are always thanking God and others. In fact, we need to continue lifting our heart in thanksgiving all throughout the day, as a Latin phrase beautifully puts it: “Ut in gratiarum semper actione maneamus.” (May we always be giving thanks.)

Be truly poor to be truly rich

“THERE was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores…” (Lk 16,19-20) 

 With this parable, Christ is telling us about the problem of the rich and the blessedness of the poor. As the parable unfolded, both died and the poor man was carried to the bosom of Abraham while the rich man was buried in the netherworld, tormented. 

 We have to be wary of the big problem of the rich. Christ spelled it out when he said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mt 19,24) 

 The big problem of the rich, in short, is his attachment to his wealth such that he cannot give himself fully to God. He may give the appearance that he is giving a lot, but if it is not the whole of himself, then it is not total self-giving which God deserves and expects from each one of us. 

 Let us always remember that God wants the whole of ourselves. He wants our entire heart, not a divided heart. He wants to be everything to us, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. He wants to be given priority over everything else, including our own life. 

 This is not selfishness on his part, an act of ego-tripping. It is simply in recognition of the basic truth that everything, including our life, comes from him and also belongs to him. We have no right whatsoever to expropriate as our own what actually comes and belongs to God. 

 We need to remind ourselves constantly that even if we can say we are the owners of great wealth, resources, talents, power, fame, and indeed of our whole life, we actually are at best only stewards who have to give account to the absolute owner of all these things that we possess. 

 We have to continually fight against the tendency and the constant temptation to think that all these things are simply our own, that we are their absolute owners. This is not going to be easy, of course, because even within ourselves we have the villain that will always push us to think that way. 

 To be truly poor in order to be truly rich means that even if we are in possession of great wealth and all that, and yes, we use them and to a certain extent, enjoy them, we should be entirely detached from them so that our love for God is never compromised or diluted even if it is just a bit. 

 To be sure, a certain detachment from the things of this world and even from people is required of us if we want to be a true and effective disciple of Christ—and to be like Christ as we should. 

 He himself said it quite clearly: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-17) 

 Let’s be reassured of what Christ promised us if we observe the proper priorities in our life. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29)

The true value of suffering

“BEHOLD, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Mt 20,18-19) 

 With these words, we have to understand that like Christ we have to learn to suffer, to see the redemptive value of suffering. We have to realize that in this life of ours in this world, we can never avoid suffering in one form or another. 

 Suffering is part of our human condition that is wounded by sin and all sorts of weaknesses and our natural human limitations, and the fact that we are meant to live a supernatural life which we can never attain unless we are truly with God, and the fact is, we seldom are truly with God. We can only be completely suffering-free when we are with God in heaven. 

 But we are given a way of how to handle our suffering properly, to the extent of converting our suffering as a way to our own salvation and eternal happiness. And that is always to follow the example of Christ as he went through all the suffering in his redemptive life here on earth. 

 We have to be willing to suffer the way Christ suffered for all of us. That way, we attain the true essence of our humanity which is love, channeling the love of God for us in us. 

No wonder then that Christ himself said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,13) No wonder also that as St. Peter said in his first Letter, “He (Christ) did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” (2,23) We have to learn to restrain our urge to make revenge whenever we are offended in some way by others. 

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

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

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

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

The crucial role played by humility

“WHOEVER exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt 23,12) With these words, Christ wants us always to be humble since humility is a basic virtue that guarantees our adherence to the truth. It enables us to be consistent in our life, with our intentions, words and deeds in agreement. 

 Earlier in this particular part of the gospel, Christ complained about the hypocrisy of the leading Jews of his time. “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice,” he said. (Mt 23,2-3) 

 And he continued, “They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen.” 

 These words perfectly describe a common anomaly called hypocrisy. We should really work on our need for humility that can only lead us to be transparent and sincere, and to build up and keep our integrity of life. 

 We cannot deny that many are the elements nowadays that can undermine that need for humility. Signs and even clear structures of the absence of humility can only lead us to hypocrisy, deceit, corruption and the like. Sad to say, they seem to be the mainstream culture today. 

 Consider again what benefits a good sense of a humility-inspired transparency can give us. It will help us develop and sustain our integrity in life. It means that everything that we do is good, that is, morally good. Of course, this sense of transparency can only take root when it is based on our faith in God who sets all the laws in our life, and therefore, all that is good for us. 

 We have to realize more deeply that before God, nothing can be hidden. We therefore have to adapt a lifestyle that would make us do everything in his presence. In fact, we are not simply meant to do things in his presence. It is more to do everything for God’s glory. Thus, when we do things without God in mind, let us be warned that we are already doing things wrongly. 

 We should not base our sense of transparency on human, natural and worldly criteria alone. These latter standards do not capture all the good proper to us. At best, they may just be silent about the finer nuances and consequences of what is generally good for us. We have to remember that many mysteries shroud our understanding of things. 

 But what is bad nowadays is that our human laws and worldly standards have started to go against God’s will. This, of course, can be due to our limitations in truly understanding God’s law. But it can also be due to our sinfulness and malice. Nowadays, I believe it is the latter that has led us to make laws that are openly against God’s law. We need to do something drastic about this predicament. 

 These laws can only mean the absence of humility. They only show how we can be proud and vain, how we can think that we can be simply on our own and that we do not have any need of God anymore. We need to be truly guarded against this danger. 

We need to be humble to keep ourselves in the loop of truth and charity.

Judging and being merciful

“BE merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged…For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Lk 9,36-38)

 We need to process these words of Christ slowly if only to conform ourselves to them, something that given our human condition is most likely very difficult if not impossible for us to do. 

 More than processing them slowly, we first have to pray, asking for grace, for definitely the possibility of us following this divine indication can only take place if we have God’s grace. If we simply depend on our good intentions and best human effort, forget it! We can never give life to these words. 

 We have to understand that our ability to forgive and to judge properly can only take place when we are with God. For this we have to follow as closely as possible the example of Christ who, out of love for us and in spite of our grave sins, was and continues to be willing to bear our sins and to offer forgiveness. 

 We have to remember that if we truly have to be ‘another Christ’ as we ought to be, we have to know how to be merciful the way Christ, the fullness of God’s revelation to us, was and continues to be merciful to all of us. 

 And how was Christ merciful to all of us? First of all, being the son of God, he emptied himself to become man. That way, he already adapted himself to our wounded, sinful condition. He identified himself with us so that we would have a way to identify ourselves with him. He preached the truth about God and about ourselves. 

 He gave preferential attention to the sick, that is, the sinners. He was always ready to forgive, his mercy and compassion having no limits—“not only seven times, but seventy times seven times.” (Mt 18,22) He taught about loving the enemy and lived it. He did not mind all the insults and mockeries that were poured on him just to accomplish his mission of saving us. 

 And in the end, he assumed all our sins without committing sin by dying on the cross. In that way, he dealt death to all our sins, and with his resurrection he offered us a way for our own salvation and reconciliation with our Father God. He was thoroughly magnanimous. 

 And so, we just have to learn to forgive and move on. This is what we should do if ever we become a victim of some offense by someone. We should be quick to forgive and then move on, focused on doing what we are supposed to do. We should avoid getting stuck with the offense, wallowing in anguish, complaints and hatred, and keeping resentments, grudges and desires for revenge. 

 Let’s remember that all of us have sins that need to be forgiven also. And as Christ said it clearly, we can only be forgiven if we also forgive others. “If you will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offenses,” he said. “But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses.” (Mt 6,14-15) 

 We have to develop the proper attitude in this particular issue because, truth to tell, we cannot avoid being offended by others just as neither can we avoid offending others also. That’s part of our human condition here on earth.

Significance of Christ’s transfiguration

THE gospel of the 2nd Sunday of Lent brings us to that wonderful event in the life of the apostles when some of them witnessed that amazing transfiguration of Christ. “While he (Christ) was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” (Lk 9,28) 

 We may wonder why such event took place. A number of reasons can be given. One, for example, may be that Christ wanted to reassure the apostles that everything would be all right even if they too would be witnessing the horrible passion and death of Christ on the cross. 

 But another reason could be to remind ourselves that we too are truly meant to share in the glory of Christ. We too are meant for a supernatural life for which we have to try to develop a certain taste for it and a way to keep it alive even while we are immersed in our earthly life. 

 We therefore have to learn to develop our spiritual and supernatural bearing, since this is what is proper to us. As persons with intelligence and will, we cannot help but have a spiritual character in our life. With these natural endowments, we are meant to enter into the spiritual world of ideas and rationality, of cognition and love that goes beyond the material and sensible aspect of our life. 

 And as children of God, created in God’s image and likeness, we are meant to enter into an intimate relation with him, which cannot be other than supernatural, since God is beyond our nature. This is always possible since God gives us his grace, and we, on our part, with our spiritual endowment of intelligence and will, are enabled to be elevated to the supernatural order of God when we correspond to God’s grace. 

 This basic truth of our life should always be on our mind, and should animate all our thoughts, words and deeds. We need to pause from time to time to allow this truth to take hold of our mind and heart, and of our life, in general, using the appropriate means. 

 That is why we need to spend time praying and meditating on the truths of our faith, so that this spiritual and supernatural bearing that we should aim at having can take root and develop. And all throughout the day, we have to have recourse to certain practices that not only would remind us of this truth, but would also help us live it. 

 As children of God, we are actually being conformed to Christ who is the Son of God who became man so that we may have a way to becoming like God, as God wants us to be. 

 We cannot overemphasize this wonderful truth of our faith about ourselves. This is what our Catechism says about this point: “The Word (the son of God) became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature.’ ‘For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.’ 

 “‘For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.’ ‘The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.’” (460)

The real righteousness

“UNLESS your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5,20) With these words, Christ is telling us how our righteousness should be. And that is that we have to have the righteousness that truly comes from God. It should not be like that of the scribes and Pharisees which is aptly described as self-righteousness, one that is based on one’s ideas of righteousness alone. 

 And what is the difference between the real righteousness and the wrong one? Christ described it this way: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. 

 “And whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.” (Mt 5,21-24) 

 The real righteousness that channels the very righteousness of God as shown and lived by Christ always has a refinement that goes beyond our human standards. It’s definitely a refinement that is first of all an effect of God’s grace. It’s something supernatural that purifies and elevates our natural sense of righteousness. 

 If we study closely the life and example of Christ, we can see that the righteousness he is showing us is one where there is some kind of preferential concern for those who are in error or are lost spiritually and morally. This Christian attitude can be adduced from the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep. Christ fraternized more with the sinners, precisely because he came not to condemn the world but to save. 

 Fraternizing with sinners is what we all have to cultivate in ourselves also. We have to replicate 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. 

 This capacity to fraternize with sinners is first of all a gift from God which we have to take care of and develop. It’s meant to mature us and to involve us in the continuing work of redemption of Christ. It’s not meant, of course, to dilute the teachings of Christ and the very essence of goodness and true holiness. 

 We need to train ourselves in this department because we obviously have to contend with tremendous difficulties that we have to learn to surmount. We will always have our biases and preferences and other natural and human conditionings that, if not handled well, can be divisive elements in our life. 

 But if we closely follow Christ, if we pray and let ourselves be led by our faith more than by our feelings, we can manage to consider everyone worthy of our attention, concern and love. Even those who, from under different criteria and standards, we consider as sinners, enemies, unlovable, etc., can command our care, concern and love!

Praying without ceasing

“Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” (Mt 7,7-8) 

 The words of Christ are very clear. We are asked to persevere in prayer since no matter how things look bad and hopeless, God always will love us and will take care of us. “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?” (Mt 7,11) 

 We should never doubt the effectiveness of our sincere prayer even if initially it may appear as if we have been ignored if not rebuffed. God would never fail to take care of us—but of course in his own way, which is actually what is best for us. His way may not be what we want, but definitely it would be what is best for us! 

 How important therefore it is to be persistent and persevering in our prayer, for which a strong faith is needed. We have to remind ourselves of these reassuring words of St. Paul that tell us that no matter how things develop, we can be sure of God’s will to put things in their proper end. “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. 

 The examination of conscience is a very helpful tool in our effort to be faithful and persevering in our earthly pilgrimage toward our eternal goal. There we make a proper closure to our day as we enter our daily rest at night. 

 The examination of conscience is a wonderful moment of ending everything with God everyday. After all, God is everything to us, and we should realize that we need to be with him at the end of the day, no matter how we were during the day. 

 It’s a practice that we have to deliberately cultivate, since it is often not felt and perceived by the senses, or by the body in general, but rather by the spirit, by our mind and heart enlightened by faith. It’s a practice that is often ignored and even rejected by many worldly concerns, trends, fashions, ideologies and political systems. 

 If we keep this practice of examining our conscience regularly and properly, we can manage to keep our faith and love for God going irrespective of how things go in our life.

Strengthening our faith thru constant conversion

“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” (Lk 11,29) With these words of Christ, we are somehow asked to develop a strong faith by going through continuing conversion all throughout our life. 

 We should be concerned about this matter. Our faith should not remain only in the theoretical, intellectual level. It has to be a functioning one, giving shape and direction in all our thoughts and intentions, our words and deeds. In fact, it should shape our whole life. 

 The ideal is that we feel it immediately. Indeed, it should be like an instinct such that whatever we think, say or do, or whenever we have to react to something, it is our faith that should guide us. 

 We have to understand that it is our faith that gives us the global picture of things, since it is God’s gift to us, a gratuitous sharing of what God knows about himself and about the whole of creation. It is meant for our own good, for us to live out our true dignity as children of God, meant to live a supernatural life with God. 

 It is a kind of knowledge that will lead us to our eternal life. It will make us relate everything in our earthly life, both the good and the bad, to this ultimate goal in life which is to be in heaven with God, a state that is supernatural. But it is a divine gift that we need to take care of. It is like a seed that has to grow until it becomes a big tree and bears fruit. 

 For this, we really need to have a living contact with Christ who is the fullness of God’s revelation to us. He is the substance, the content and the spirit of our faith. So, the first thing that we have to do is to look for him always in whatever thing we are thinking, saying or doing. 

 We have to realize then that for our faith to grow ever strong, we need conversion always. Given the temper of the times that would desensitize us strongly of this need, we really have to remind ourselves constantly that we need conversion all the time in our life, and then come out with a practical, doable plan to respond to that need. 

 This is simply due to our very precarious condition in life. No matter how good, pious and saintly we think we are, we cannot deny that in this life we will always be assailed by the enemies of God and of our soul. 

 We have our weakened flesh to contend with, in the first place. Then the world around us is full of temptations. And the devil will always be scheming for our downfall, setting up traps everywhere for us. 

 As the Book of Job would put it, “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (7,1) We have to get over the myth that in this life we can achieve a stable state of sanctity and that therefore we do not need to struggle anymore. 

 The opposite is quite true. The closer we get to God and the more determined we are in seeking holiness, the more vicious and deceptive would also be the temptations to block us in our way. At best, whatever state of holiness we can achieve in this life will always be tenuous. We need conversion always!

Beware of presumption and self-righteousness

YES, we have to be most wary of these two spiritual anomalies that can easily come to us. In that gospel episode where Christ talked about the last judgment, he told the goats—the evil men—that precisely they had these anomalies. 

 “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,” Christ said. “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me. 

 “Then they will answer and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs? He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” (Mt 25,41-45) 

 We know that the anomaly of presumption leads us to think that since God is always merciful, compassionate and understanding, then we can do just about anything. We would immediately rationalize that God will always understand and forgive us of our sins that we could have avoided. 

 In fact, we would think that we have some kind of license to sin, since God is always merciful. A presumptuous person is usually a reckless, over-confident person. He is deaf and blind to the possibility of divine retribution. He most likely has a lax conscience. 

 We need to wage to lifelong interior or ascetical struggle, since in this life we have to contend with all sorts of enemies of God and of our soul. 

 As long as we struggle interiorly, there is spiritual life, the very wellspring that produces the living water for our river of life. As long as we struggle interiorly, we can be assured of our fidelity to whatever commitment we have entered into. Interior struggle is essential and indispensable in our life. 

 We also should be most wary of the spiritual anomaly of self-righteousness. 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. 

 This was well personified by the Pharisees, scribes and other elders during the time of Christ. They preferred to stick to their own ideas of goodness and holiness, their own laws and traditions, and went all the way not only to be suspicious of Christ, always finding fault in him, but also to finally crucify him. 

 A passage from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans can serve as a graphic description of this sad phenomenon. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools,” (1,22) he said.

Always be sincere in prayer

WE have to be wary of the danger to turn our prayer into mere babble of words. Christ pointed this out when he said: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” (Mt 6,7) 

 To be sincere in our prayers, we need to review the crucial relationship between God and our capacity to stick to the truth or to be sincere. Nowadays, with the plethora of data and information, we have to remind ourselves constantly that truthfulness or sincerity is not a matter of simply conforming these data and pieces of information to our own designs. We need to process these raw data to leaven them with the love of God and submit them to God’s will. 

 To put it bluntly, we can only be in the truth when we are with God. Outside of him, let’s wish ourselves sheer luck, because the most likely thing to happen is to slip from the truth. It´s like chasing the wind. For all the excitement and advantages a Godless pursuit of truth gives, everything will just turn out to be vanity. 

 And so, prayer is a must. It’s what vitally, existentially unites us with God. Without it, we will just be on our own, an easy prey to our own weaknesses, let alone, the temptations around. 

 Very vulnerable to the temptation to distort the truth and to fall into the tricks of hypocrisy and pretension are persons endowed and favored with all sorts of talents, intelligence, position, power and who may already have attained a good level of sanctity. That’s because their situation attracts all sorts of temptations. 

 We have to be more aware of this phenomenon and able to handle it. Even Christ himself was tempted by the devil to deviate from his Father’s will. And the devil employed the subtlest of tricks, even quoting Scripture, to bend Christ to the devil’s will. The devil will always reserve the worst strategy to those who dare to get close to God. 

 Thus, those of us who try our best to follow God should not be surprised when the most “irresistible” temptations come to us not only from time to time, but even persistently. We somehow should expect this thing to happen, and be ready for it. 

 One gauge that can tell us that we have a good prayer, one where we truly have an intimate encounter with God, is when we come out of it burning with zeal for love and concern for the others. Somehow we would catch the fire behind these words of Christ: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Lk 12,49) 

 Yes, real prayer has that effect. If, on the contrary, we come out of it just thinking of our own selves, or worse, feeling low and dry, then we are not actually praying. Prayer will always sharpen our mindfulness and thoughtfulness of the others. We would be willing to suffer for them, helping them bear their burdens. 

 Prayer is by definition an act of love. And love in turn is always self-perpetuating. It never stops giving itself to God. As St. Francis de Sales would put it, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” 

 And because of our love for God, then our prayer which is an act of love for God will always lead us to love others. That is always the trajectory of a true, love-inspired prayer. Its vertical aspect never leaves behind the horizontal aspect.

How to deal with temptations

IT’S intriguing to note that Christ allowed himself to be tempted by the devil. (cfr. Lk 4,1-13) Although we can presume that the devil would have no chance to succeed in his effort, Christ must have allowed this event to happen to teach us how to deal with temptations which are unavoidable in our life. 

 Given our human condition, and especially when we enjoy some privileges and other special endowments, we have to realize that we would be a favorite target of the schemes of the devil. We need to be prepared for this lifelong condition of ours. 

 Whatever good thing we have in life has to be handled most delicately, with great humility. In other words, it always has to be related to God from whom all power and authority on earth comes. (cfr. Rom 13,1) It should be exercised always with God in mind and in heart. Otherwise, there is no way for it to go other than to be abused. Let’s remember that the only thing we are capable of doing without God is to sin. 

 To know how to exercise whatever power and authority we have according to God’s will and mind, all we have to do is to look at Christ, imitate him and unite ourselves to him. 

 Christ, who is the origin and seat of all power, exercises that power with great humility, with justice, charity and mercy. His attitude toward his power is expressed in these words of his: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20,28) That is the attitude we ought to have toward any power we have. Only then can we exercise our power properly. 

 We should never forget that only with God can we properly deal with our own weaknesses, and the many temptations and sins around. Only with him can we manage to resist the devil himself. Without him, we are easy prey, a sitting duck. Our earnest desire should be how we can be with God always, our union with him as strong and vibrant as ever. 

 Let’s not forget that if our first parents, still in their state of original justice and therefore in theory should have been in close union with God, managed to sin, how much more us who are already born with original sin and whose lives here on earth will always be hounded by all forms of evil! 

 In the case of our first parents, we know that in spite of their very good condition, there was a moment when they failed in the proper exercise of their God-given freedom and chose to listen to the devil rather than to remain faithful to God. And so they fell. 

 We have to understand that without God, the proper exercise of our freedom would be out on a limb, and it would just be a matter of time before we fall into sin. It is that automatic. We would have no sufficient defenses against our real enemies. We may even think that our enemies are our friends and allies. 

 We should never forget that our freedom is a very intoxicating endowment God has given us. It should only be exercised with God as its beginning and end. Otherwise, we will only misuse and abuse it and lead us to sin. We should constantly make the effort to choose God instead of what we simply like by ourselves.

Our source of joy

“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” (Mt 9,15) That’s taken from the gospel of Friday after Ash Wednesday. It’s Christ’s response when he was asked why his disciples do not fast as often as those of the Pharisees. This gospel reminds us that as long as we are with God, with Christ, we have every reason to be joyful, despite whatever. 

 Of course, given our human condition here on earth, there always are times when we need to fast if only to sharpen our closeness with God who can appear far from us, not so much because of him who is always with us, but because of us who can fail to discern his presence in our lives. That’s when fasting would be very recommendable for us. 

 But we should not be detracted from the fact that a Christian life is always a joyful life. That’s how a genuine Christian life can be described. If we only know the true face of Christianity, we would have no other conclusion to make than to be convinced that Christian life is the most beautiful and joyful life. 

 We would be overcome, overwhelmed and beside ourselves with joy. We should do everything to achieve that kind of life that God himself is actively offering us together with the appropriate means. A psalm describes this phenomenon this way: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.” (Ps 66,1) And the reason is simple and clear. 

 Out of sheer, gratuitous love, God created us, and even went all the way to making us, among all his creatures together with the angels, his image and likeness, children of his, meant to share in his very life. 

 And even if that image and likeness of God was damaged because of our sin, he continues to love us by sending the Son who became man like us to save us. He may have been angered because of our sin and disobedience, but in the end, it was his mercy that prevailed and continues to prevail. 

 Yes, Christian life is a happy life. In spite of its tremendous share of suffering, pain and self-denial, it is a joyful life that knows precisely how to tackle these humanly unpleasant events and convert them, in fact, into the very reason for cheerfulness. 

 The joy deriving simply from our physical well-being and other merely human reasons has no way to handle the unavoidable disappointments and other forms of failure and defeat that we can have in life. 

 Christian joy has deeper roots and can weather not only the test of time, but also the test of any difficulty and challenge. It can cover the whole range of human situations and is oriented toward an infinite end. 

 We need to do everything to cultivate this Christian cheerfulness, making use first of all of the ordinary daily events to craft it, and to reinforce, purify and renew it. We don’t have to wait for some extraordinary events to occasion the development of this integral aspect of Christian life. 

 That’s why we need to be aware of the need to be happy in any situation we can be in, and especially in those that tend to remove joy from us. For this, we have to be ready with our theological reasoning, and train our mind, heart, senses and everything else of our humanity to conform to the truth and reality presented to us by our faith.