A most recommended prayer

THE Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin Elizabeth, celebrated on May 31, brings us to that wonderful prayer of the “Magnificat,” the response of our Lady after her cousin praised her to high heavens, describing her as the most blessed among women. (cfr. Lk 1,39-56) 

 It’s a prayer that we should try our best to also make as our own, for it expresses what our heart and soul should regard us the most important in our life. It’s the most ideal condition for us to be in. It shows what and who should attract us the most. We should repeat the words of the Magnificat daily, and, in fact, often during the day. 

We should repeat them from the heart, especially when we encounter difficulties and failures in life, because they remind us that God never fails to bless us. Yes, we should always feel blessed even amidst our problems and mistakes. 

 Feeling blessed is important and indispensable to us. Without it, we would be putting ourselves in great danger as we would simply stand on an unstable ground, totally dependent on the shifting world of chance, luck and fortune. 

 When these latter mundane and temporal values are missing, we cannot help but feel doomed, our life losing meaning and purpose, and our activities would simply become means to pass the time. Nothing more and beyond! 

 To be able to assume the spirit of the Magnificat, we should try our best to adapt the attitude of Mary. She was most humble and most docile. She asked for a clarification when she was told that she was going to become the Mother of the Son of God, but it was not out of doubt and lack of faith. It was simply to make her cooperation with God’s will and ways most complete. 

 When we are truly humble like Our Lady, we would know who should attract us most. Definitely, it should be God and none other. Better said, if we make God the source and cause of all our attraction, of all our joy and pleasures, of what ultimately gives us perfect satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment, all the other things can attract us and give us joy in the proper way, always respecting our true dignity as persons and as children of God. 

 Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to merely have a fake kind of joy, pleasure and satisfaction that can only lead us to bigger dangers. We really have to train ourselves to make God and to make following his will and ways the constant source and cause of our attraction and joy. 

 For this, we first of all should ask for God’s grace which is actually given to us in abundance. And from there, let’s go through some systematic plan of life that will nourish and strengthen our constant and intimate relationship with God, a relationship that should involve our entire self—body and soul, feelings, emotions and passions down to our very instincts, as well as our mind and heart. 

 It should be a plan that should obviously include prayer in all its forms—vocal, liturgical, ejaculatory, mental, contemplative, etc. Our life of prayer should be such that even when we are immersed in the things of the world due to our work and our temporal duties, we would still be aware of God’s presence, and it is doing God’s will that should always motivate us.

Another problem, another chance to grow

“I HAVE told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn 16,33) 

 What very reassuring words of Christ for us! That’s why no matter what happens in our life, even if we are drowning with all sorts of problems and troubles, we should remain at peace and confident, since Christ has taken care of everything. 

 Instead, we should sport that have-a-go attitude that would lead us to even take advantage of these situations, to derive something good from them, in order to grow in our humanity and our Christian life, etc. 

 Remember St. Paul’s words to the Romans: “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (8,28) Yes, even our limitations, our mistakes, our defeats in life, if referred to God, can lead us to something good. These actually are great opportunities to learn new things, to grow and strengthen our virtues, etc. 

 Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross. 

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

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

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. If we truly have a deep faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, everything will be taken care of and some good can always be derived even from our mistakes and failures. God always has the last word. He always wins. We just have to make sure we are with him in all situations of our life. 

 When we are faced with our limitations, let’s just be game and sport about them, and try our best—with the help of God’s grace, of course—to try to go beyond our limits. There is always that possibility since we are not purely a material and natural being, but also a spiritual being capable of entering the supernatural order. With God’s grace, we can go beyond what our nature can only give. 

 As an old love song would put, let’s have that attitude that whenever we are faced with difficulties, we should be convinced that we can overcome them. And when it is something impossible for us to do, let us also convince ourselves that it may just need a little more time to get it. 

 The fact is, Christ is always around. He allows some negative things to happen in our life to derive a greater good for us!

Our Lord’s Ascension and us

WITH the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, celebrated this year on May 29, we are reminded of our inherent desire for heaven and of how we can actualize that desire mainly through the carrying out of our ordinary duties here on earth, especially by taking care of the little things. 

 Despite our weaknesses, mistakes, sins, etc., we have in our heart of hearts an inherent desire for heaven. As the Catechism would put it, “This desire (for happiness) is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it.” (1718) 

 This truth of our faith is illustrated in that gospel episode where a rich young man approached Christ, asking what he had to do to gain eternal life. (cfr. Mk 10,17-27) As that gospel story unfolded, Christ told him first to follow the commandments, and when the young man said that he had observed all those, Christ then told him to “sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 

 Well, we know how the young man reacted to that response of Christ. It was a sad ending, precisely because the young man found it hard and was unwilling to follow what Christ told him. That’s when Christ said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!...It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” 

 We have to realize that to meet our inherent desire for eternal happiness, for heaven, we need to free ourselves from any attachments to earthly things, even as we use them and even enjoy them in our earthly affairs. The things of this world should be a means for us to be with God. They should not be a competitor with God. 

 But the main way we can always have a sense and a zeal for heaven while immersed in the things of this world is when we know how to offer the ordinary little daily duties, involving little things, to God always. 

 Make no mistake about this. The little, ordinary things of our daily life can and should be pathways to reach heaven and be with God while here on earth. 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 need to realize in an abiding way that Christ is always with us through the Holy Spirit, and with him, no matter how things go in this life, we already would have a taste of heaven which is actually meant for us!

Let’s just be sport in life

“SO you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” (Jn 16,22) 

 With these words, Christ is reassuring us that everything will be all right even if in this life we will always have problems and troubles. He will take care of everything. Ours is simply to try our best to be with him in the ups and downs of our life. And so we should just be sport in our life. 

 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. 

 Besides, life involves a till-death struggle against all sorts of enemies, starting with our own treacherous self, the ever-seductive world, and most of all, the spiritual enemies who certainly are more powerful than us. 

 Finally, life involves pursuing a goal that is much greater, yes, infinitely greater than ourselves. We should not be a bad sport who gives up easily without even trying, or who surrenders in the middle of an exciting and suspenseful game. 

 We therefore have to develop a strong spiritual sportsmanship in the tenor expressed in some words of St. Paul: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” (1 Cor 9,24) 

 Aside from a strong sense of self-discipline and submitting ourselves in a continuing training program, 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. 

 We have to be sport and adventurous in facing the different conditions of our life. And it would greatly help if we too can have an abiding sense of humor. Otherwise, we would just fall into states of sadness, pessimism and despair which actually are unnecessary and are avoidable. 

 This we can do if first of all we have a strong and deep faith in God, our Creator and Father. If we have that faith, we know that God holds everything in order through his providence. He takes care of everything, irrespective of how things go. Ours is simply to relate everything to him and to go back to him everytime we go astray especially at the end of the day. 

 When we have this sporting and adventurous spirit, we, of course, would like to play to win and to get as much enjoyment as possible. We would give our best shot. But we also know that this is not going to happen all the time. There will be times when we lose in a game or when we get lost in our adventure. But regardless of how things go, we can always go back to God as we should, and everything would just be all right. 

 Thus, whether we win or lose in a game, succeed or fail in our adventures and projects, we can still manage to have fun and, more importantly, to learn precious lessons, as in, we get to know more about ourselves and others, about our strengths and weaknesses, about the virtues we need to develop and grow, etc.

Joy in the cross

“AMEN, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” (Jn 16,20) 

 With these words, Christ is telling us not to be afraid of whatever evil, in any of its forms, that we would unavoidably have in this life. In other words, the cross will always be with us. But as long as we tackle that cross together with Christ, that cross will in fact be a source of joy and peace for us, for it is through it that we would attain our own salvation and that of many others. 

 We, therefore, have to learn to lose any fear of the cross. That instinct of ours to be afraid and to flee from the cross has to be reversed, and made into an instinct of love for the cross. 

 This may take time and effort, this may require a lot of thinking and discipline, this may involve some drastic and even painful adjustments in our understanding of things, but it is all worthwhile to do so. 

 When we lose the fear of the cross and develop the love for it instead, we would have the proper light to guide us in our life here on earth. Not only that, we can have the invincible peace and joy that is proper to us as persons and as children of God. 

 Thus, it is important that we have a proper understanding about the phenomenon of evil and suffering in this world. And that proper understanding comes from our Christian faith. 

 In the Catechism, we are told that God permits evil to happen because he respects the freedom of men and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it. (cfr. CCC 311) The Catechism further tells us regarding this point that: 

 “In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: ‘It was not you,’ said Joseph to his brothers, ‘who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.’ 

 “From the greatest moral evil ever committed—the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men—God, by his grace that ‘abounded all the more,’ brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption…” (CCC 312) 

 Again it’s good to be theological in our understanding of the cross because the mere human attitude toward the cross can never fathom the crucial and indispensable significance the cross of Christ possesses. 

 Christ’s cross, which Christ himself told us to carry (cfr. Mt 16,24), converts that tree of death that led to the downfall of our pristine humanity in Adam and Eve into a tree of life that brings us back again to God, our Father and Creator. 

 It is this cross that assumes all the sins of men and destroys them. It is this cross that reopens the gates of heaven to us after it was closed due to our sins. We need to engrave these theological truths of the cross so we can be guided properly. 

 Only then would we find joy in the cross. It becomes our way to our greatest joy—our own salvation and reconciliation with God and that of the others!

Christ reveals how Trinitarian mystery works

SOMEHOW the gospel of Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter, taken from the Gospel of St. John 16,12-15, shows us how Christ talks about the Trinitarian mystery that has the most important relevance in our lives. 

 And that’s because Christ is made alive and present in us through the Holy Spirit and that what Christ does to us is entirely what the Father wants for us. In other words, it is the whole Blessed Trinity, the three persons in one God, who is intervening in our lives. 

 This is how the gospel goes: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” 

 As we can easily glean from this gospel, we are given how the Trinitarian God works in relation to us and how there is complete unity and harmony among the three persons. 

 We should never doubt about God’s constant interventions in our lives. We should never doubt that Christ continues to be with us through the Holy Spirit and what he does is to bring to us the will of the Father, which is that of making us to be God’s “image and likeness.” 

 On our part, we just have to learn how to deal with the three persons. The unity among the three persons is due to the eternal knowing and loving that drives the very being of God. The Father cannot be without the Son and the Holy Spirit. The same with the Son and the Holy Spirit—they cannot be without the other persons. 

 Trying to fathom this mystery will obviously be overwhelming, but let’s hope that the unfathomability of this mystery draws us closer to it rather than drives us away from it. We should try to move on with our life, always being in awe with this mystery. 

 Let’s make this mystery the abiding impetus to our endless knowing and loving in this world that involves our relation with God and with everybody else. It’s the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that shows us how to know and love. 

 Like the Father, we should be full of goodness, doing things with total gratuity. Like the Son, we should try to do good perfectly in the truth, since he provides us with the best pattern of the things we do, including the way of restoring them in case they get damaged. Like the Holy Spirit, we should persevere in doing good all the way to the end, sanctifying everything that we touch. 

 There can be many other considerations we can derive from considering the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. We have to spend time meditating on it, always asking for God’s grace so we can be enlightened and enabled to pursue what we can realize. 

 We need to realize more deeply that by dealing with each person of the Blessed Trinity, we would have a more complete understanding of how our life ought to be.

Living the life in the Spirit

GIVEN the fact or the basic truth of faith about ourselves that our life is a life with God, and therefore, is not only natural and human life, but is also a supernatural life, we have to realize more deeply and abidingly that our life ought to be a life in the Spirit. 

 In other words, that our life should be animated first of all with the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God that makes us children of God in Christ, that makes us “alter Christus” (another Christ). It should not be a life animated simply by natural elements and principles. 

 Let’s remember that before he went up to heaven, Christ told his disciples: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him…I will not leave you orphans…” (Jn 14,16-18) 

 We should let these words of Christ sink deep in our consciousness and form the conviction that whatever happens in our life, God in the Spirit will always be with us. We have to reinforce this conviction constantly both in good times and especially in bad times. We are never alone! God is always around! 

 We have to feel very much at home with this very wonderful reality and start to correspond to it as we ought. We have to go beyond our earthly dimensions and enter into the more fascinating world of the spiritual and the supernatural. 

 This does not mean that we escape from our earthly reality to be in the spiritual and supernatural reality. No. It means that while being deeply immersed in our mundane conditions, we also have to learn to go beyond them to be with God. This is what the word ‘transcendence’ means. 

 To be sure, we are enabled to do that, because of our intelligence and will. These are powerful faculties that would enable us to know and to love, and eventually to enter in the lives of others and ultimately to be with God. 

 And one secret that we can use to develop this life in the Spirit is precisely to give some spiritual and religious consideration or meaning to every act we do and to every situation, condition and circumstance we can find ourselves in. 

 We need to develop the proper attitude, skill and habit of giving spiritual and supernatural considerations to everything that we think about, say and do, so that we can really say that we would always be with God. That is the ideal that we should try to actualize. 

 One way among many other ways of doing this is to make use of the psalms which are inspired words that express the proper spiritual and supernatural attitude and reaction we ought to have to anything that occurs in our life. 

 Of course, we have to study and meditate on the psalms well so that we can internalize their real meaning and imbibe the spirit behind the words. We have to know the psalms that are relevant to every act we do and to every situation we can find ourselves in. 

 But more importantly, we are always given the grace so that our capacity to be with God is actualized. It’s not enough that we are enabled to know and love God. That potency has to be put into act with the grace of God who gives it to us in abundance.

The reason for our hope

AS we approach the end of the Easter season when we celebrate the truth of our faith that Christ is alive and has gained victory over sin and death, we are reminded of the presence and crucial role of the Holy Spirit who continues Christ’s presence and redemptive work in us till the end of time. 

 “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,” Christ said, “he will testify to me.” (Jn 15,26) With these words, Christ was reassuring his apostles, and us, that he would continue to be with us, despite his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. 

 Later on, he warned his apostles, and us, that we should not worry even as we continue to have troubles and suffering in this world, since as long as we are with him, everything would be taken care of. 

 “I have told you this so that you may not fall away,” he said. “They will expel you from the synagogues. In fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.” (Jn 16,1-2) 

 Given the fact that our condition on earth is that of a pilgrim, we should be strong in this virtue of hope that would enable us to be always on the move toward our ultimate, spiritual and supernatural goal without unnecessarily getting entangled with our human and temporal affairs, let alone, our unavoidable troubles here on earth. 

 Hope is first of all not just a virtue that we produce, cultivate or keep ourselves. It is first of all a gift from God, given to us in abundance. It is the gift of Christ himself who, by the Holy Spirit, is made present in us through his words, his sacraments, his Church. All we have to do is to correspond to this wonderful reality as vigorously as possible. 

 That is why we need to be most mindful of the truths of our faith, giving time to meditate on them and to make them sink in our very consciousness. We have to be wary of our tendency to be carried away by our earthly concerns, no matter how legitimate they are. For again, as the gospel would say, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk 8,36) 

 It’s important that just like in that management style called MBO (Management by objective), we have to have a clear vision of our ultimate goal and make it the strongest desire of our life, so that we avoid getting entangled unnecessarily with the ups and downs and the drama of life.

 This, of course, will require some significant effort, because especially nowadays people are getting too hooked in their earthly, temporal affairs. Hope gives one the conviction that God has the last word, goodness has the last say. It reassures everyone that it is all worthwhile to suffer a little or a lot in life as long as one does not lose sight of his eternal goal. 

 Hope gives one a deep sense of peace and joy, and an abiding sense of confidence, regardless of how things play out in one’s life, since life always has more to offer than what we can expect or handle. 

 When we seem to be overwhelmed by trials, challenges, tasks, pressures that can come anytime, I believe the attitude to have and the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the hands of God.

We always need the Holy Spirit

THAT’S right! If we want to understand Christ’s words properly, let alone, to live by them, we always need the help of the Holy Spirit who actually is constantly intervening in our lives. We just have to train ourselves how to recognize his voice and follow it as promptly as possible. 

 Christ himself said it very clearly. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (Jn 14,26) 

 We have to understand that the Holy Spirit perpetuates the presence and redemptive action of Christ all throughout time, with all the drama, vagaries, ups and downs that we men make in our earthly sojourn. 

 It has been prophesied that God will pour out his Spirit upon all men. The Holy Spirit is intended for all of us. We are all meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But this divine will obviously has to contend with the way we receive and do things, and that is, that we take to this reality in stages involving a whole range of human means of teaching, evangelizing, etc. 

 We need the Holy Spirit because only in him can we truly recognize Christ. Only in him will we be able to have Christ in our life, to remember all his words and even to develop them to adapt them to our current needs and situations. 

 Only in him can we see things properly. Especially these days when truth, justice and charity have become very slippery, and people are left confounded and vulnerable to fall into scepticism and cynicism, we need to be in the Holy Spirit to be able to sort things out properly and avoid the mess. 

 I am amused to note that in today’s political debates, a growing awareness is felt by more and more people that myths and lies, with shreds of truths and facts cleverly inserted, are exchanged. They talk about a surge of fake news. It’s not anymore about what the truth is. It’s more about who is followed more. 

 This is what happens when we are not in the Holy Spirit and we rely only on our human resources that sooner or later will be twisted and exploited to suit personal or partisan interests, and not anymore the common good. 

 We need the Holy Spirit to be able to read the signs of the times properly. The world is getting very complicated, and we definitely need the Holy Spirit to guide us. We cannot rely anymore on our politicians and other leaders. We, including politicians and especially them, actually always need the Holy Spirit. 

 The Holy Spirit acts on each one of us in different ways but always for the common good. St. Cyril has this to say about how the Holy Spirit comes to us: 

 “The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden, for he is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as he approaches. 

 “The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to enlighten the mind first of the one who receives him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.”

True love described

CHRIST said it very clearly. He who is not only the fullness of the revelation of God but is also the embodiment of what true love is said: “Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,12-13) 

 Somehow those words tell us that true love can only have a universal scope. We can note that he simply said to “love one another as I love you” without further qualification. 

 And immediately after those words, he described what is to be his friend that gives us an idea about what the essence of friendship is. “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (Jn 15,14) Thus, friendship is all about doing Christ’s commands. It’s not so much about having common likes and dislikes with others, or some other criteria or standards. 

 If our love is true, that is, it is a love that is a vital participation of Christ’s love for all of us, then it is open to anything. That love would remain steadfast and would continue to grow and to be creative irrespective of how it is received by the object of such love. 

 It can be received well or not, it can be reciprocated generously or be betrayed. Regardless of the fate it falls into, that love will remain faithful. Thus, St. Paul once said: “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Tim 2,13) 

 This basic truth about true love should be known and appreciated by everyone of us, and especially those who are into some commitments, like married people and those with special vocations. They have to pattern their love and sense of commitment after Christ’s love that has as its objects the Father and all of us. 

 Christ was and is open to anything because of pure love. This is the kind of love that we should try our best to cultivate in ourselves too. It’s purely gratuitous, and even more, it will do everything to recover the beloved even if the latter not only not corresponds to that love but also betrays and goes against that love. It’s a love that is willing to bear the sins, mistakes and offenses of the others, and even willing to offer one’s life for them. 

 We can only do this if we are true friends of Christ, that is, persons who obey Christ’s commands. It’s this friendship with Christ that would enable us to be friendly with everybody else regardless of how the others are. 

 As one saint said it, we should be willing to go to the very gates of hell, without entering it, of course, if only to save a soul. This obviously would require of us to be tough and clear about the real goal to reach, and yet flexible and adaptable to any person and to any condition. 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to fraternize with sinners. 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 is what true love is all about. It may not be all sweet according to our human standards. But it is what is truly proper to us!

Let’s always feel God’s constant love for us

“AS the Father loves me, so I also love you.” (Jn 15,9) Words of Christ that are worth engraving indelibly in our mind and heart. They clearly show us how much God loves us. Imagine, the love that God the Father lavishes on God the Son is the same love that is also lavished on us! 

 This truth of our faith should drive us crazy as well as move us to learn to love God in return and to love everybody else with the same love God has for all of us. And Christ gives us the secret of how we can have such love that, according to him, will give us our complete joy. (cfr. Jn 15,11) 

 And that is to keep God’s commandments. “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,” he said, “just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” (Jn 15,10) 

 Given the way love is understood by many of us, we need to learn to distinguish between what is genuine love and fake love, between what is objectively good and evil and what may just be our own ideas of them that do not conform to the truth. 

 Nowadays, the ability to distinguish these essential elements in our life is most needed since we are in very complicated times and many people, especially the young, the so-called millennials, are unfortunately thrown into deep confusion and ignorance. Some people have even described such sad phenomenon as invincibly irremediable. 

 But I believe there’s always hope and that we can still manage to get to the truth. And so, the first thing that we can say with regard to this issue is that to distinguish between truth and falsehood, between good and evil, between genuine love and fake love, we need to have a close, intimate relationship with God. 

 After all, he is the creator of all things, the first and ultimate lawgiver, the very foundation of reality. Without him, we go out on a limb, and expose ourselves to many dangers. Not that with him, we are free of dangers. In fact, with him, we will always be hounded by temptations from inside us and outside us. But at least with him, we are sure of the path we are taking, and the choice we will be making. 

 Our love, to be true, can only flow from God who is love himself. And that love is shown to us and is made available to us by Christ who commanded us precisely to love one another as he himself has loved us. (cfr Jn 13,34) 

 This love that comes from God through Christ in the Holy Spirit will always be in the truth, will always be consistent irrespective of our conditions and circumstances, will always know how to adapt itself to different situations without getting lost. 

 And given our human condition that is prone to confusion and error, we should realize that we need to always renew and purify our love. 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 temptation and sin and to all kinds of weaknesses. We unavoidably contend with these conditions in our earthly life. 

 We can always start with good intentions and the best of our efforts in anything that we do. But if we do not constantly renew and purify our love for God and neighbour that should inspire all our actions, we simply cannot go the distance.

The vine and the branches

ONCE again, we are reminded in the gospel of Wednesday of the 5th Week of Easter that Christ is the vine and we are the branches. In short, we need to be united to Christ if we want to continue living and bearing fruit as befits our dignity as children of God, created in his image and likeness and meant to share his divine life. (cfr. Jn 15,1-8) 

 Yes, only in and with Christ can we have the real principle of unity and fruitfulness amid the varying conditions in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize this basic truth about ourselves. 

 This, of course, is a truth of faith, not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in Christ. 

 It’s a phenomenon that can call to mind two contrasting dramatic stories in the Bible. One is the story of the Tower of Babel, and the other is the story of Pentecost. 

 In the episode of the Tower of Babel, those who survived the flood have multiplied and have gotten so intoxicated by their powers and good fortune that they now want to reach heaven by their own efforts alone, by building a tower. 

 God intervenes, as he always does in our life, and confounds them by making them speak different languages so that they would not understand each other anymore. The project ends in total failure, and new troubles emerge for the people. 

 The story of Pentecost offers a counterpoint. We have different people speaking different languages. But since they believe in God, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is how they get to understand each other. 

 They are not made into a uniformed mass. The differences are respected and even fostered. And yet there is unity among them, with a certain focus of attention that is a result of such unity. 

 We have to reiterate the truth that we need Christ who is our “way, truth and life” with God to have a solid, genuine unity of life and an unwavering focus even in the midst of so many things in our life. 

 Christ himself expressed this ardent desire very clearly when just before his passion, death and resurrection he prayed that we become “perfectly one” (“consummati in unum,” in Latin) and we be one with him (“utu num sint”). 

 We have to realize that the redemptive mission of Christ was meant to make us one with him, living members of his mystical body which is now referred to as the Church. 

It’s a unity that not merely a result of some natural forces, achieved social, cultural or political laws, but a unity of spirit, of mind and heart, much like the unity that exists between the God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It’s a unity that is the fruit of God’s grace that is corresponded to generously by us. Insofar as God is concerned, all the means are given for us to be united and fruitful with him. What is needed is our generous correspondence to his will and ways. 

 Strengthening our unity with Christ insures us that we would be on the right track toward the goal proper to us, that we would be effective in what we are doing, and healthy and resistant to anything that can weaken us or lead us astray.

Despite whatever, we will always have peace

THAT’S right. Whatever be the situation and condition of our life, we can still manage to have peace. Why? Because Christ himself reassured us of it. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” he said. (Jn 14,27) 

 If we truly have faith in Christ, we know that those words are no mere bluff. They are not fake news as are common nowadays. Those words enjoy eternal veracity. It’s important that we believe them fully since we need them as we go through our unavoidable challenges, trials, difficulties, etc., in life. 

 The peace that Christ gives us is one that the world cannot give, just as what he said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (Jn 14,27) 

 Of course, with that Christ-given peace comes joy also. The two always go together. They cannot be separated, although their expressions may not tally with the worldly standards of joy and peace. 

 The joy and peace that comes from Christ is first of all a grace from God and is always a fruit of a continuing spiritual battle to keep God’s love burning in us. 

It’s a joy and peace that is compatible with the cross, with all forms of suffering. It is not afraid of suffering which also has an important role to play in our life and in the redemption of mankind. It’s a joy and peace that comes as a consequence of faith and a growing identification with Christ who bore all the sins of men and the evils of this world and conquered them with his resurrection. In short, it’s a joy and peace that expresses guaranteed victory even if at the moment we are still fighting and suffering. It’s an all-weather kind of joy and peace. 

 We need to examine ourselves to see if we have such joy and peace. It is actually offered to us for free. It’s all there for the taking. We just have to find a way of having and keeping it. 

 And one important way of doing so is to learn to pray, since prayer is our basic way of connecting with God that hopefully would lead us to a growing identification with him as we are meant to be. Remember that we are God’s image and likeness. With God’s grace we are supposed to do our part, free beings as we are, in realizing this divine plan for us. 

 We should never depart from this peace of Christ. All our efforts to come up with an estimation of peace for our personal health or for social, economic or political well-being, should always be inspired by this peace Christ gives us. It cannot be any other way. 

 Christ is the prince of peace. He knows how to tackle any and all causes of trouble, conflict and war. He meets them head-on, not escaping from them, and in fact converts these causes of evil and war into paths to goodness and human redemption. 

 We know that Christ warned us about this intriguing figure of the “ruler of the world” who will surely give us trouble. (cfr Jn 14,30) But he said: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

Christ’s word and the Holy Spirit

WE need to see the intimate relation and connection between Christ’s word and our need to be with God. Also we need to realize the role of the Holy Spirit in this business of how to understand, obey and live Christ’s word so we can be with God.   

Somehow these words of Christ are telling us to consider these points. In the gospel of St. John, he clearly said: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.” (14,23-24) 

 Later on, Christ said, referring to the role of the Holy Spirit in this duty: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (14,26) 

 We have to realize that Christ is the fullness of the revelation of God to us. He himself told us that he is “the way, the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father except through him.” 

 In other words, Christ has given us everything that we need to know and to live in order to attain our ultimate goal of our own salvation, our ideal state of being God’s image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life, as he wants us to be. 

 But we also know that while the word of Christ is already given to us, we need to understand properly what the word of Christ is. That word is in the gospels, and in the doctrine now taught with Christ-given authority and guarantee to Church. 

 We have to understand that Christ’s word channels to us the very life of God to us. It’s not just an ordinary human word that can give us a lot of human knowledge. It is a word that can lead us to our eternal life with God. 

 We need to develop the proper attitude toward the word of Christ. Is there faith and piety when we read and meditate on the gospel, for example? Do we realize that with faith and piety, whenever we read the gospel it is like listening to Christ himself? 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to be so seduced by our worldly cultures and systems that we fail to discern Christ when we meditate on the gospels and even when we develop our philosophies and ideologies. 

 We need to realize also that since Christ’s word is a divine word more than a merely human word, it would contain supernatural truths and mysteries that our reason unaided by faith, by grace and by the Holy Spirit, cannot capture and appreciate. Much less, would we be able to live by that word. 

 Thus, we need to be in constant touch with the Holy Spirit who is actually and constantly intervening in our life. As Christ said, he is the one who will teach and remind us of everything that Christ said. He is the one who will enable us not only to understand and appreciate Christ’s word, but also to live it. 

 How important therefore it is to be aware of the role of the Holy Spirit in our life and to learn how to deal with him!

The distinctive mark of a true Christian

CHRIST said it very clearly. “This is how all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another,” he said. (Jn 13,35) And in another instance, he described how this love for one another should be. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” (Jn 15,12) 

 Let’s make no mistake about how this love should be. It definitely has a universal scope, such that even our enemies would be objects of our love. It’s a love that is inclusive despite our unavoidable differences and conflicts. It’s a love that, as St. Paul would describe it, “is patient and kind, does not envy or boast, not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Cor 13,2-8) 

 And the secret is to learn to see Christ in everyone, including those with whom we may have serious differences or are in conflict, no matter how deformed the image of Christ they bear. We have to go beyond seeing others in a purely human way without, of course, neglecting the human and natural in us. 

 In short, we have to see others in a spiritual way, within the framework of faith, hope and charity. Otherwise we cannot avoid getting entangled in our limited and conflict-prone earthly condition. And no amount of human justice and humanitarianism can fully resolve this predicament. 

 Thus, we need to develop and hone our skills of looking at others beyond the merely physical, social, economic, cultural or political way. While these aspects are always to be considered, we should not be trapped by them. 

 There are many reasons for this. First would be that we are all brothers and sisters, created by God in his image and likeness, and made children of his through his grace. 

 In spite of our differences—race, culture, beliefs, etc.—we are meant to care and love one another. Thus, our Lord told us to “love your neighbour as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34) 

 And how did Christ love us? By becoming man and assuming all our sinfulness, dying to it to give us a new life in him. His love was for everyone, and especially for those who were weak and handicapped not so much in the physical sense as in the moral sense. 

 It’s a love that is inclusive in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts in the areas of lifestyles, cultures, ideologies, opinions, preferences and even in beliefs, spiritualities and morals. 

 This is the inclusivity of charity that goes together with the exclusivity of truth. Working this combination out will always be, of course, a work in progress, with prudence and fortitude playing an important role in the process. Let’s just take it easy and be cool and calm as we also seriously undertake the lifelong task of combining this inclusivity of charity with the exclusivity of truth. 

 We need to remember that we always have to contend with our natural human limitations, not to mention the more subtle effects and consequences of sin, ours and those of others. We should not be too surprised and worried about this given condition in our life. We just have to do something about it.

How do we live our life with Christ?

THE gospel of Friday of the 4th Week of Easter has that interesting passage where Christ tells in no unclear terms: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14,6) 

 What should immediately come to mind is the thought of how we can be with Christ such that he and us can just be one, he in us and we in him, and thus, enabling us to be with our Father God who wants us to be with him, since we are his image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life. 

 It’s a tough challenge, of course, but we are assured by Christ himself that all the means for this purpose have been given to us. If we would just use our Christian faith to the hilt, we know that we are not only given things as means to reach God. We are given Christ himself. 

 Perhaps, the problem we have is that we allow our faith to go in a passive, mute and remote mode. We need to activate it and put it in its loudest and most immediate condition in our life. 

 In this regard, we should realize that we would need to pray, giving it always priority such that all our activities are somehow turned into prayer, even while we are working or resting and going through all sorts of situations and predicaments in life. In other words, that we should make ourselves authentic contemplative souls who not only are aware of Christ’s presence everywhere but also are actively following him. 

 We have to understand that we will always need him, like a child will always need his father, except that in our relation with Christ, we can never outgrow that dependence on him, while a child can outgrow his dependence on his father, and will in fact, after a time, be the one to take care of his father. 

 Not so with us with respect to our dependence on Christ. In fact, the older we get and the more knowledge and experience we gain, the more dependent we ought to be on Christ. And that’s simply because our growth in stature, knowledge and experience will always lead us to more complicated situations that would need more guidance from Christ. 

 We cannot deny that we tend to lose our innocence, our goodness the more knowledge and experience we gain. We tend to fall into pride and vanity, to be self-seeking and self-absorbed the more we progress in life. 

 We have to remember that Christ has always something to say about anything in our life, be it good or bad, a victory or a defeat, a cause for joy or for sadness. Yes, even in the most mundane and technical things, and in the most social and political issues, Christ has something to say. Let’s never think that there is something in our life where Christ is irrelevant or is not needed. 

 It’s important that we be with him always. We may not understand or catch everything that he is showing us, but as long as we are with him, things will just turn out right. As St. Paul would put it: 

 “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8,28)

A call to be a faithful servant

“AMEN, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him….Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” (cfr. Jn 13-16-20) 

 These are words of Christ as narrated in the gospel for Thursday of the 4th Week of Easter that for this year falls on May 12. These words are Christ’s call for us to be his most faithful servant and messengers. 

 We have to understand that only with him and in him can we be so faithful a servant and messenger that anyone who would receive us automatically receive Christ and the one who sent Christ to us, God the Father. 

 As a consequence, we can only be faithful to Christ if we continually look for him and trust in the working of divine providence. This looking for Christ should be like an instinct, a constant behavior of ours. We have to look for him, 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) We need to do our part in a relationship that is actually initiated by Christ himself. He loves us first before we can love him in return. (cfr. 1 Jn 4,19) 

 If we don’t yet have this habit of looking for Christ, then it’s time that we start cultivating it and making it a guiding, directing principle of our daily life. We have to exercise our faith, overcome the usual initial awkwardness that we experience, and continue finding ways and means to look for Christ in every moment of the day, especially in our work, and even in our rest. 

 “Come to me,” “Follow me,” are some of the open invitations Christ is giving us. He continues to issue such invitations. We should not be afraid to go to him and follow him. We have to discover the most wonderful reality that only in Christ can we have our true joy, our genuine peace, our ultimate solution to whatever problem we have. 

 To be faithful servants and messengers of Christ, we just have to be ready for wherever divine providence would take us. We have to be open to it all the time. Even as we make our plans and pursue them truly as our own, we should not forget that nothing in our life is actually outside the providence of God who can adapt himself to us, even in our worst situations and predicaments, and still lead us to himself. 

 The only thing to remember is that God is always around and is actually intervening and directing our life to him. That is part of his omnipotence which he exercises both from all eternity and in time since our creation and all the way to the end of time. 

 We should see to it that whatever we think, say or do, it is Christ who should be the principle, the substance and the end. That’s how true fidelity looks! Christ should the be-all and end-all of everything in our life. He should be the one that others see and hear from us!

Can we truly be “another Christ”?

INCREDIBLE as it may sound, we truly have been created by God to be like him, patterned after his son who became man, Christ, so that we would have “the way, the truth and the life” to attain our ultimate goal of sharing the very life of God. 

 That’s how God wants us to be and we, on our part, should also want it for ourselves. And the means to attain that goal have been given to us abundantly. That, in fact, is the gist of the readings of these days of Easter where Christ acts as if trying his best to convince us that we should not only go to him but rather to be like him. 

 “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me,” he said. “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.” (Jn 12,44-46) 

 We need to realize that we are meant to assume the identity of Christ. And that is not a gratuitous, baseless assertion, much less, a fiction or a fantasy. It is founded on a fundamental truth of our faith that we have been created by God in his own image and likeness. 

 And this truth of faith has been vividly shown to us, since it is acted out in the whole history and economy of salvation that culminated in Christ offering his life and his very own self as the Bread of Life so we can have the eternal life with him, and so that he and us can be one even while we are still on earth, though in an ongoing and not in definitive state yet. 

 But we have to arrive at that point where we can make St. Paul’s words as our own too: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” (Gal 2,20) 

 We just have to learn to set aside whatever difficulty or awkwardness we may have in dealing with this basic truth of faith about ourselves. We have to try our best to know Christ and to adapt his very own mind and will, his own ways, behavior and reactions to whatever situation we may find ourselves in. 

 What is also clear is that Christ is actually already living with us. He is in us as the pattern and perfecter of our humanity, and the savior of our damaged humanity. We just have to learn to live with Christ. He is never far or indifferent to us. Even in our miserable and wounded condition, he continues to be with us, helping us with greater solicitude. It’s rather us who tend to ignore and contradict him. 

 And Christ gave us a concrete way of how we can be with him, or how he and us can be one. And that is simply to follow the new commandment that he gave us: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, that as I have loved you, you also love one another.” (Jn 13,34) It is that simple, albeit also quite challenging. 

 But with God’s grace, we can hack it. We just have to persist in following that commandment no matter what it takes!

Why it’s difficult to believe in Christ

“HOW long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (Jn 10,24) 

 Perhaps we too can ask the same question. In spite of what we already know about Christ, we may still be harboring doubts as to whether Christ is really the one he presents himself to be. 

 I believe the simple answer is that to believe in Christ requires the grace of God. If we just rely on our human faculties, like our intelligence and common sense, we would actually not go very far. At a certain point, we would start to entertain doubts about who Christ really is. 

 And that is also simply because Christ, while truly a man, is first of all divine. He is a supernatural being. In fact, he is the Supreme Being who has no beginning and no end. While we can know him through his words and deeds as recorded in the gospel, he will always remain a mystery still to us. He overwhelms our capacity to know him. 

 With him, what we have to do is to believe first before we can start to understand him more deeply. With him, we need to have faith first before the operations of our intelligence and our other faculties do their thing. 

 Thus, both St. Augustine and St. Anselm enunciated the proper way to understand and believe in Christ. “Credo ut intellegam” (I believe that I might understand) was what they were saying. They made an appeal to follow first our faith before we start to use our intelligence. Or better said, we have to make our reasoning be inspired by our faith first. 

 We therefore have to see to it that we develop an operative faith. Our faith should not remain only in the theoretical, intellectual level. It has to be a functioning one, giving shape and direction in 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. 

 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 whatever we may be thinking, saying or doing. Never mind if we do not understand him fully. We should just follow him!

The Good Shepherd and the sacrificial lamb

IF we are truly to be like Christ, we also have to be a good shepherd to the others as well as a sacrificial lamb for the others. Not only that. We also need to be both a shepherd and a sheep, one that takes care of others as well as one to be taken care of. Finally, we have to form ourselves as one sheepfold of Christ. 

 All these farm or pastoral images in the gospel remind us of these truths of our faith about ourselves in our relation with God and with everybody else. Let’s keep these precious truths vivid in our mind if only to conform our life—our thoughts, words and deeds, our desires and intentions, etc.—to them. 

 Conformed to Christ, we have to be both sheep and shepherd, both to be guided and to guide, following the same process of receiving and giving that characterizes our whole earthly life. 

 As good shepherd, Christ lays down his life for his sheep. He is willing to be the sacrificial lamb. He contrasts himself to the hireling. The latter “sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.” 

 As members of the Church founded by Christ, we form one sheepfold whose door is Christ himself. We are a flock taken care of by Christ as the good shepherd, and we also take care of one another. Yes, we are also a shepherd to each other, being so in the name of Christ. 

 We have to understand that we ought to develop a keen sense of the pastoral. We both have to learn and to teach, to be led and to lead, to be offered like the sacrificial lamb and to be the offerer himself. 

 We have to understand that this sense of the pastoral involves all of us, and not just the priests and bishops. It’s for the clergy, the laity and the religious. We all take part in the continuing mission of Christ and of the Church, which is the salvation of man, though in different ways. 

 As sheep and lamb, we have to try our best to learn everything about our faith and to live it to the full. Christ has given us everything already that we need to know. He has given us all the means we need to be who we ought to be—nothing less than to be “another Christ.” 

 To be very realistic in life, we have to be ready and eager to become a sacrificial lamb. This is not bad news. This is Good News. To be a sacrificial lamb actually has a very wonderful significance. Our Christian faith tells us that given who and what we are, we have been taught right from the beginning of humanity, that we need to offer a sacrifice as a way of expressing and affirming the truth that we come from God and we also belong to him. 

 God, our Father and Creator, has been the one who teaches us about this duty. He has also equipped us in our nature so that we can comply with this duty that only shows the intimate relation we have with God. In short, God, who is love, has been teaching us, who are his image and likeness, how to love. 

 This whole business of offering sacrifices is actually the language of love. It acts out the dynamics of love which is that of mutual self-giving between the lover and the beloved. Each party becomes both lover and beloved in the ideal state of love.

Let’s learn to recognize the voice of Christ

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” (Jn 10,27-28) 

 What reassuring words of Christ that also contain a duty that we have to carry out faithfully! If we truly want to be with Christ as we should, we have to learn to recognize his voice, since he is actually always intervening in our life. We have to be the sheep that hears Christ’s voice all the time. 

 And we can effectively carry out this duty if we have that attitude of always looking for Christ in everything that we do. In fact, Christ himself said that we seek first the kingdom of God, and not to worry so much about our temporal and worldly needs, because all these will also be provided by him as long as we look for Christ first. 

 This looking for Christ should be our basic attitude that should guide us daily and give shape to our day. Our life should be characterized by an attitude of looking forward, of watching and expecting, clarifying and pursuing our intentions, and being ever hopeful. 

 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. 

 We need to actively purify our intentions, since we have to contend with many spoilers in this regard these days. In fact, we just have to look around and see how openly opposed many people are of directing their intentions to God. 

 To them, intentions are strictly personal and confidential matters that others do not have any right to meddle. While there is a certain truth to this claim, we have to remind ourselves that our intentions too are subject to God’s moral law for us. 

 Our intentions can only have at their core the love of God, the giving of glory to God. As St. Paul once indicated, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) 

 We therefore 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 be 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.

The implication of Christ as Bread of Life

IT caused great astonishment when Christ told his disciples that he was the Bread of Life that they have to eat. “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” was their immediate response. (Jn 6,52) 

 And so, Christ had to explain what he meant. Only then, he said, would they gain eternal life and be in union with him as they ought to be. But what was also implied in this gospel episode was that just as Christ gave himself to his disciples as the Bread of Life to be eaten, so should we be some kind of Bread of Life to be given to everybody else. 

 In other words, like Christ we have to give ourselves completely to the others. It’s not just a matter of giving much of ourselves to the others. It is to give ourselves totally to the others. 

 This should be the mindset we have to develop if we truly want to be like Christ as we should, Christ who is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 This task and duty will definitely take our whole life here on earth to develop. And it would surely involve always rectifying our intentions such that whatever we do we do it always for the glory of God. We do it with Christ, in Christ and for Christ. 

 Yes, we cannot overemphasize this truth of our faith about ourselves. Christ and us are supposed to be one. Christ, for his part, already identifies himself with each one of us. We should correspond by identifying ourselves with him too. Let’s never forget that how Christ was and is should also be how we should be. 

 We have to realize that this duty is meant to be acted out not only from time to time, but rather all the time. It has to be a moment-to-moment affair. To be sure, it will involve a gradual process, but we should start it as soon as possible. 

 What can truly help is to take care first of our faith, studying closely the life and example of Christ who did nothing other than to do the will of his Father. That should always be our attitude. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to fall to some forms of self-indulgence that can come to us in very subtle ways, because we can trick ourselves into thinking that we are ok just because we are doing a lot of things when what actually is happening is simply indulging on our own interests. 

 Thus, we always need to rectify our intentions. We have to see to it that everything that we do is for us to look, find and serve Christ, carrying out his will and not ours simply. Better said, we have to make our will conform completely to the will of God as shown to us by Christ. 

 And if we are truly doing the will of God, then like Christ, we should always be concerned about the salvation of all men, starting with our own selves. We just have to be more wary of the danger of self-indulgence which is a constant threat, especially these days when good and evil are so mixed up that we would mostly likely be left confused and easily taken by sweet poisons that today’s new things readily offer.

Christ and our life in the world

AS we all know, Christ makes himself the Bread of Life that gives us the true divine life even as we traverse in this world that is full of evil. It’s a life that knows how to unify the different elements in our life, the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the local and the global, the good things and the bad things in this world, etc. 

 To be sure, it is not simply a matter of receiving the Bread of Life in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist that would enable us to live the life that is proper to us as children of God who are his image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life here on earth. 

 It is a matter of transforming ourselves into “alter Christus,” which is both a matter of God’s grace which we receive especially through the sacraments and also our all-out effort to follow Christ, giving a whole mind and heart to him. 

 Let’s hope that insofar as things depend on us, we can truly say at the end of each day that because of our efforts, we are becoming more and more like Christ. This should be the ultimate criterion to use to see if we are truly progressing in our life everyday or not. 

 When we truly are like Christ, we would know how to be friends of everyone regardless of who they are. Our friendship and love for others assumes a universal scope to such an extent that we consider as our friends those who may consider us as their enemies. 

 In other words, we have to learn how to be friends with everyone regardless of how they are, because only then can we help them to attain the ultimate goal common to all of us. We also have to learn how to deal with any situation, no matter how difficult and ugly, not so much in physical terms as in the spiritual and moral. If we are truly Christian, we would have his desire “not to condemn the world but to save.” (cfr. Jn 3,17) 

 As one saint said it, we should be willing to go to the very gates of hell, without entering it, of course, if only to save a soul. This obviously would require of us to be tough and clear about the real goal to reach, and yet flexible and adaptable to any person and to any condition. Let’s hope that we can echo St. Paul words: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor 9,22) 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to fraternize with sinners. 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 everyone, including 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.

To Jesus through Mary

REMEMBER that beautiful gospel episode about the wedding in Cana. (cfr. Jn 2,1-11) Mary, very much a woman who always sees details often missed by men, noticed that the celebration was running out of wine, and so she asked her son to do something about it. Though initially denied, she still went on to tell the stewards to do whatsoever Jesus would tell them. And the first miracle happened. Water became high quality wine. 

 This gospel episode somehow reminds us that if we would just have a bit of common sense, we would know that it is always wise to go to Mary in order to get to Christ. As a saint once said, Mary is the shortest, surest and safest way to be with Christ. 

 Let’s see to it that our devotion to her grows. And if it is practically dormant if not dead, then let’s stir it up to life again. She is important to us. In fact, she is indispensable to us. She cannot be treated as an optional feature in our spiritual life, nor something decorative or appendical only. 

 While she is not God and, therefore, not to be accorded with the worship that is only due to God (latria), she rightly deserves to be given the highest form of veneration (hyperdulia) among all the saints who are already with God in heaven. 

 She never undermines our relationship with God. If anything, all she does is to bring us to God and to help us fulfill the will of God. Thus, in that episode of the wedding at Cana where she noticed that the hosts were running out of wine, she told the servants, “Do whatever he (Christ) tells you.” (Jn 2,5) 

 She is a mother to us. In fact, she fulfills the perfection of motherhood because she conceived the Son of God in her womb, thereby making herself, in a mysterious sense, the mother of God (Mater Dei), since Jesus is not only man, but is, first of all, God. 

 And since Christ is the “prototype” of the redeemed humanity, she, being the mother of Christ, can rightly be called the mother of all humanity that has been redeemed by Christ. 

 The secret of developing a deep devotion to Mary is in our imitation of her readiness to say, “Fiat,” (Be it done) to whatever God tells us through our faith. With that word, we unite ourselves with God and become members of God’s family. Let’s remember what Christ said about this point: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12,50) 

 Let’s develop the habit of quickly saying “Fiat” or “Amen” to whatever our faith tells us. This way, we would be imitating Mary and would bring us immediately to Christ who is our everything. 

 Let us develop the instinct of bringing Our Lady wherever we are. To be with her is to be with Christ, to be sure. For this, let us soften our heart to welcome and accommodate her, and develop an intimate mother-and-child relationship with her. With her we can never outgrow our condition as a little child who always needs his mother. 

 Let’s develop a certain fondness for her by availing of some human means that are used for this purpose. These can be developing the habit of looking affectionately at her pictures, saying something nice to her, saying the rosary and explore the different mysteries of Christ’s life with her, etc.