Give without expecting any return

CHRIST somehow makes us to understand that we have to learn to give ourselves to others without expecting any return by telling a host who invited him to invite those who would be unable to return the invitation. (cfr. Lk 14,12-14) 

 “When you hold a lunch or a dinner,” he said, “do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relative or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

 It’s not that we should not care for our friends and relatives, since Christ told us to love everyone. But we should give special or preferential treatment to those who are in greater need, for this would clearly show the kind of charity we are living, the charity that would merit to “be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

 In this regard, we have to exert special effort because given our wounded human condition, prone to fall into self-indulgence and the like, we always tend to invite and to deal only with those who can give us some worldly honor, glory and pleasure. And we can do this in a most subtle ways by appearing as if we are being very magnanimous when, in fact, we are indulging on our pride, vanity and conceit. 

 To be able to live by this indication, we should make sure that whatever we do should be done with utmost rectitude of intention. That means that everything should be done for the glory of God. As a Latin maxim would put it, “Deo omnis gloria!” 

 St. Paul expressed it this way: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) Such motive never undermines our true joy. On the contrary, it heightens our joy and sense of fulfilment, and affirms our true dignity. We have to be wary of the deceptive thought that giving glory to God in all that we do detracts from our true joy. 

 We have to give all the glory to God because being the Creator, God is the standard for everything. And more than the standard, he is, in fact, the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself. 

 Nothing is good, true and beautiful, nothing is fair and just, nothing is perfect if it is not done with God and for God. In short, we need to refer all our acts to God. We have to make this affirmation very clear in our mind and do everything to make that ideal a reality. 

 And so, a lot depends on our intention, because our intention is the very expression of 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. 

 We need to realize then that we have to take 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.

Zacchaeus and divine mercy

THE story of Zacchaeus in the gospel (cfr. Lk 19,1-10) gives us the precious lesson that despite our sinfulness we should never hesitate to go to God, asking for mercy and willing to do atonement and reparation for whatever damage our sins may cause. 

 We should feel reassured that God would be most welcoming to us and, in fact, would be most happy to have us back with him. We should never be afraid nor ashamed to return to him. We obviously would have some kind of fear to go to him, but we should overcome it as quickly as possible. 

 The story of Zacchaeus also shows us that despite the sinfulness of man, there is always in his heart of hearts a natural attraction to God, albeit often diluted with negative elements. Again, we should just try our best to overcome those elements and let that natural attraction dominate. 

 We should be quick to acknowledge our sinfulness and everything related to it so that, at least, we can start asking for forgiveness and developing the corresponding proper attitudes and virtues. 

 There is no use denying this obvious fact of life. As St. Paul quoted the Scriptures: “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God…For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Rom 3,10-11.23) St. John reiterated the same point in his first letter: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1,8) 

 The sad fact that we have today is that many people are losing and have lost the sense of sin. Any idea they have about sin is strictly limited to their own very subjective view of what is bad and wrong. And this usually has no, or hardly any, relation to the articulated will and commandments of God. We have to correct this danger and learn to have a living relationship with God, unafraid to approach him. 

 Just the same, we should see to it that God’s mercy should not spoil us. Our Christian faith tells us that God’s love for us is eternal. It’s a love that goes all the way to showing mercy for us in the form of his Son becoming man and taking up all the sins of men by dying on the cross. No greater love can there be other than this love of God for us. 

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

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

 We just have to make sure that we do not get spoiled by that love, because even if God’s love and mercy is eternal, his justice is never sacrificed. His mercy and justice always go together, in proportions, if we have to speak in human terms, that are just right.

Apostolate an effect of prayer

ON the Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude, celebrated on October 28, we are presented with the gospel episode where Christ spent the whole night praying in a mountain and when done, he proceeded to choose his twelve apostles. (cfr. Lk 6,12-16) 

 Somehow, we can make the conclusion that the choice of the apostles which was meant to cooperate and continue the work of redemption with Christ, that is, to carry out the essential task of doing apostolate all throughout time, must be the fruit of his prayer. 

 Christ must be telling us that for us to discern the need to do apostolate, let alone, to be effective and fruitful in it, we should also pray. Only then can we get the same spirit that drove Christ to go all the way of offering his life for the salvation of mankind. 

 If we really have a good prayer, one where we truly have an intimate encounter with God, we for sure would 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. 

 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. 

 Yes, if our prayer is real and done out of love, we will always come out of it burning with the zeal of love. We have to be wary of the danger to fall easily into complacency, lukewarmness, mediocrity. We should always be on the lookout for these perils. 

 We need to fill our mind and heart with love, and all that love brings—goodness, patience, understanding and compassion, mercy, gratuitous acts of service, generosity and magnanimity. 

 Yes, there’s effort involved here. Great, tremendous effort, in fact. But all this stands first of all on the ‘terra firma’ that is God’s grace, which is always given to us in abundance if we care to ask and receive it. Nothing human, no matter how well done, would prosper unless it is infused also with God’s grace. 

 We have to be wary of conforming ourselves, whether openly or subtly, intentionally or mindlessly, to worldly ways, to mere social trends, or to some inertia generated merely physically, hormonally, economically, politically, culturally, historically, etc. 

 We need to be most aware and sensitive to these dangers which are so common as to be part of what we call normal in life. Let’s train ourselves to smell out their symptoms and their approaches as soon as they arise. And then be quick to resist them. 

 May we always feel the urge to do apostolate in any given situation!

Focused and passionate

THAT’S how we should try to be. Away with being aimless and sluggish. Right from beginning of the day and all throughout the day, we should try to know where we are going, keenly aware of the ultimate purpose of our life, and pursuing it with great passion and energy, not getting distracted or lost in the many technicalities along the way. 

 We are reminded of this ideal in that gospel episode where some Pharisees told Christ to go away since Herod wanted to kill him. (cfr. Lk 13,31-35) His response was quick and sharp. “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.’” (Lk 13,32) 

 We should try our best that right from the beginning of the day we should be clear about what the real purpose of our life is, knowing how to plan out our day so that we would know how to organize and rally the different parts, objectives, concerns, etc. of our life to the ultimate goal of our life, which is none other than our sanctification and the responsibility of doing apostolate that always goes with it. 

 We have to have recourse to certain practices that would sustain such focus and passion. Obviously, we have to make several pit stops along the way to recover and refresh our proper bearing and outlook. 

 At any given moment, we should feel the urge to pursue our ultimate goal, quick to correct whatever would distract us from that focus. This does not mean that we end up always tense and rigid. On the contrary, if we have the right understanding of what our ultimate goal is, we also would know how to be natural in our actuations and to exude an attractive air around us. 

 We should know how to relate the things of this world to our ultimate heavenly and eternal goal. We should know how to avoid getting stranded, stuck or entangled with the things of this world, with all the technicalities of our earthly affairs, with all kinds of distractions that the world is now full of. 

 Everything in our earthly life, whether good or bad in human terms, can and should be related to God. Everything can be an occasion, a path and a means to know, love and serve God and others. Let’s remember that God created and designed the whole world in such a way that everything can and should lead us to him. 

 Relating everything to God is an art and skill that we need to learn and master. And for that ideal to become real, effective and operative, we certainly have to develop our spiritual life that would involve many things. 

 For one, we have to learn how to pray. Of course, we have to be convinced first of all of the indispensability and practicability of prayer in our life. We have to know, for example, why we have to pray, what the purposes and kinds of prayer are, etc. 

 We have to develop the discipline and habit of praying. The problem we have now is that many people do not know how to pray, or that they don’t even care to pray. Thus, they put themselves at the mercy of mere feelings and the erratic forces of the world. 

 Then we have to deepen our knowledge of the doctrine of our faith so we can be more familiar and hopefully become more able to carry out God’s will. Let’s remember that God revealed himself completely to us through Christ, and that revelation is not only historical but also existential.

Avoid the so-called “good life”

THIS indication can easily be attributed to Christ himself who once said: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” (Lk 13,24) 

 These words came as a response to his disciples’ question whether only a few would be saved. The disciples must have felt overwhelmed when Christ described how the Kingdom of God is like and what would be needed to enter it. (cfr. Lk 13,18-21) 

 Christ was trying to be realistic about our human condition here on earth, marked as it is by our penchant for the so-called “good life,” where we like to drown ourselves in all sorts of material comfort and luxuries. Such life is definitely a matter of self-indulgence, the antithesis of love which we are supposed to live since we are the image and likeness of God whose very essence is love as shown, lived and shared with us by Christ. 

 This Christ-given indication is not about cultivating a dark, gloomy life here on earth, since true Christian life is always a happy and joyful life, marked by faith, hope and charity in all the situations of our life, whether good or bad humanly speaking. It is about being realistic about our human condition and about how to orient it to its proper end. 

 Yes, there is a great need for us to declare an unrelenting war against our self-indulgence which has become a very formidable problem we all have. This has always been a problem to us, but these days it is much more so. 

 With the many new wonderful things that can instantly give us convenience, comfort, pleasure and satisfaction, many of us are trapped into the very sticky web of obsessions, addictions and the many other forms of self-indulgence that feed on our weaknesses, like lust, pride, conceit, gluttony, unhinged curiosities, envy, etc., etc. 

 We just have to give a cursory look around to see how bad this problem is. Many people are just looking at their cellphones most of the time. There are reports saying that many young people often forget their meals and lose sleep because of what they do in the Internet. It’s clear they are terribly hooked there and it seems it’s now next to the impossible to get them out of there. 

 As a result, many duties and responsibilities are left unattended. Disorder and chaos are fast gaining ground as priorities are skewed. Superficiality has now become a mainstream lifestyle, reinforcing the trend toward consumerism, materialism and what Pope Francis refers to as the “throw-away culture” where ethical and moral considerations are ignored or even flouted, i.e., regarded with contempt. In short, God is thrown out of their lives. 

 Yes, many people are now living in their own world, detached from the realities of life. Their spiritual and social life, their relation with God and with others are now all but non-existent. At best, they give only appearances of these unavoidable aspects of life, enough to meet at least certain external expectations. 

 We have to react to this unfolding and disturbing reality with drastic measures. We have to do this with coordinated efforts, involving as many of us as possible. Let us recover our true bearing that in the end is rooted on the spiritual and supernatural, on our intimate relation with God that should translate into our increasingly intimate relation with everybody else.

Love makes little things great

MAKE no mistake about it. As long as things are done with love, no matter how small, ordinary and mundane they are, they can be transformed into something great, even to the extent of acquiring a supernatural, divine value. Indeed, the greatness of divine life offered to us can be found and developed in the little, ordinary things that comprise the major part of our earthly life. 

 This after hearing clearly what Christ said: “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.'” (Lk 13,18-19) 

 Reiterating the same idea, he continued to say: “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Lk 13,20-21) 

Yes, heaven can be reached and experienced to a certain extent even while here on earth when we do things with love, that is, when we offer them to God who loves us first and expects us to love him in return. The secret is to join in the dynamic of divine love that God offers us, as shown to us and shared with us by Christ himself. 

 We have to be most wary of our common tendency to do things just to meet our own interests and to satisfy our own personal desires that have nothing to do with God or making God only as a prop, a disguise. In other words, when we would fall and get trapped in our own world of self-indulgence. 

 We might appear to be doing good, but unless they are done with true love, with true self-giving that is inspired by God’s love and that leads us to it as well, that good is at best only apparent. At its worst, they are a danger, a sweet poison. Sooner or later, the bad effects and consequences of that apparent good would appear. We would get spoiled, we hardly can go the distance, we would be prone to hypocrisy. 

 We really need to continually rectify and purify our intention in whatever we do. We should see to it that we do them with true love, never afraid of whatever cost and sacrifices may be involved, knowing that doing things with true love will always give us joy, peace and perseverance. We are never short-changed when things are done with love. 

 Of course, doing things with true love would require effort and sacrifice, especially considering our weakened and wounded condition here on earth. It would require sincerity in all our actions, always guarded against the tendency to project certain appearances and images without the proper substance and spirit of love. 

 Given the many developments of our times that can easily lend themselves to the dangers of hypocrisy, inconsistency and the like, we have to continually examine our conscience to see if we are still driven by true love or are falling already into the clutches of hypocrisy, etc. 

 We can always know that we are motivated by true love because we would always feel happy and secure, and always motivated and zealous even if we encounter problems and difficulties along the way. That’s when we can already have some traces at least of the Kingdom of God here on earth.

The limits of our human laws

IN the gospel, many are the instances where Christ had to correct the leading Jews at that time for their too strict and too literal interpretation of their laws. (cfr. Lk 13,10-17) These Jews acted as if they had the exclusive possession of what is right, moral and legal just by citing their laws. Obviously, they themselves could not follow those laws to the letter. And Christ pointed that out to them. 

 We obviously need to craft laws to guide our life in common. But we need to understand that since these laws are human laws, they cannot capture everything involved in man’s life that can also involve spiritual, let alone, supernatural realities. Even in the level of our ordinary human affairs, complicated situations can take place that can go beyond the purview of our legal system. Depicting justice as a blindfolded woman with a weighing scale tells us a lot about this predicament. 

 We should be wary of our tendency to fall into legalism, formalism and political correctness. Thus, Christ bewailed this common danger among the leading Jews by saying, “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Lk 11,42-44) 

 We should always be on guard against all these forms of inconsistency, always rectifying our intentions and also regularly editing our life, much like what writers do with their work before they are submitted for publication. That way, we can monitor how things are going and can have the chance to make appropriate corrections, improvements, revisions, etc. 

 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 have to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc. 

 While these things have their legitimate role to play in our legal and judicial systems, we have to understand that they cannot be the primary and ultimate bases. 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.

Prayer and humility

THAT gospel episode where Christ talked about the difference between the prayer of the Pharisee and the publican (cfr. Lk 18,9-14) clearly shows us that for our prayer to be effective, we have to be humble, acknowledging our sinfulness, our defects and weaknesses. We should be wary of our tendency to approach God feeling proud of whatever good we have done. 

 With God, we have no reason at all to show off whatever good we have done, for everything good comes from him. He knows them already, and for sure is happy with that fact. What we have to do instead is to feel the great need we have of him since we cannot deny that despite all the good things we have done, we continue to have defects and weaknesses, if not all kinds of sin themselves. 

 Let’s remember what St. James in his Letter said in this regard: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (4,6) With the current tendency in our culture to fall into virtue signaling, we really need to do some extra effort to remain humble and simple, always feeling the need for God, for forgiveness and for more grace. 

 One source defines virtue signaling as “the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.” 

 Another source puts it as “a pejorative neologism for the conspicuous and disingenuous expression of moral values with the intent to enhance one’s own image.” Still another source describes it as taking “a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral one is than everybody else.” 

 This is not to develop in us a gloomy and negative self-esteem. Rather the contrary. It is to be realistic about ourselves that would enable us to know more objectively both the good and bad aspects of our life. If we have a realistic and healthy self-esteem, we would know how to approach God properly in prayer, since we would be both thankful to him for the good things we have, and begging for mercy for the bad things. 

 The acknowledgement of the negative things in our life before God does not undercut the value of the good things we have done. Such acknowledgement would in fact reinforce the merits of those good things. Thus, it is always worthwhile to remain humble in our prayer in the way the publican prayed. 

 Let’s just be always guarded against our tendency to crow about our achievements. Given the present environment and culture, such tendency is being promoted and encouraged. That is why it is always recommendable that whatever good we do, we do it while passing unnoticed. We should avoid fishing for praises. We should always hide and disappear so that only God shines and is glorified in whatever good we do. 

 In this regard, we to be most careful in handling our intentions. They play a strategic role in our life, for how and where we direct them would determine whether we want to be with God or simply with our own selves. 

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

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

Judging with God always

SINCE we are made to judge because we are gifted with intelligence and will, we should realize that we can only judge properly when we do it with God always. We should be wary of our tendency to judge simply on our own, relying only on our own powers. 

 This truth about ourselves can be gleaned from that gospel episode when Christ castigated some leading Jews in his time, calling them hypocrites for they knew how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky, yet did not know how to interpret the present time. (cfr. Lk 12,54-59) 

 We should have no doubt about our capacity to judge with God always. Our spiritual powers of intelligence and will, plus the grace of God, would enable us to go beyond what we can only sense and understand with our reason alone. With our spiritual powers and God’s grace, we can judge according to the faith, hope and charity that God shares with us. 

 We should just be more aware that everything we do, starting with our thoughts, judgments and reasonings, should be done with God. Only then would we know and judge things properly. We have to develop the appropriate discipline because we cannot deny that we have a strong tendency to simply judge and do things on our own. 

 With God, we can aim to become persons of sound judgment. It’s an ideal whose importance, relevance and urgency are increasing these days, given the complicating conditions we are getting into. 

 That’s actually an understatement. We know that to be a prudent man or a person of sound judgment is essential to us, considering our nature and dignity, plus the growing scope of the responsibilities we are acquiring nowadays. 

 Not only do we have to contend with the multiplying pressures and conditionings on our personal, family and professional life. Not only do we have to grapple with the confusing ramifications of our social, economic and political life, sorting them out as best that we could. 

 With escalating insistence, we need to learn how to integrate the material with the spiritual dimension of our life, the here and now with the eternal and supernatural destiny meant for us. 

 We have to know how to live by faith, hope and charity, the essence of our supernatural life with God, in the middle of our daily activities and concerns, and in the pursuit of our temporal affairs, be it in business, politics, education, culture, sports, etc. 

 This necessity demands of us to be nothing less than persons of sound judgment. We have to overcome our tendency to be guided mainly by instincts, emotions, moods, fashions, and some sophisticated philosophies and ideologies that, while offering many good elements, actually lead us away from our proper end. 

 Remember what Christ himself said: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul.” (Mt 16,26) And so, even as we do our best in resolving whatever challenges and problems we have in our temporal affairs, we should not forget the “only one thing necessary” in our life, relating and subordinating everything else to it. 

 In this regard, we have to help one another develop the proper attitude and skills to be persons of sound judgment. Obviously, the older and the more educated ones, the more mature and experienced persons and those with clear natural and supernatural gifts pertinent to this concern should lead the way.

We have to be on fire

“I HAVE come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” (Lk 12,49-50) 

 Words of Christ that clearly show how driven he was in carrying out his mission, which is the salvation of all men. If we have to be like Christ as we should, since we are actually patterned after him, then we should also develop the same zeal in pursuing the real and ultimate purpose of our life—the salvation of our soul and those of the others. 

 This obviously will take a long process, let alone, a truly arduous one. But we should set our mind and heart to achieve that ideal. This is the ideal condition for us. Even if we are endowed only with the most phlegmatic and melancholic temperaments, something must be burning inside our heart that cannot help but burst into a flame, a flame of love, of self-giving, of serving without expecting any return. If it is not yet there, then let’s enkindle it. 

 The secret again is always that vital identification with Christ. If we are truly in love, with the love of God who is the source, pattern and end of love, we cannot help but, like Christ, be always energized, driven and zealous, no matter what the cost. Of course, this condition, this requirement is quite tough to meet, but if we would just try, and try again as often as necessary, certainly the ideal effect would just come about. 

 What can always help is that we avoid getting imprisoned in our own world and allow ourselves to simply be at the mercy of the state of our physical, emotional and mental condition. With our spiritual faculties of intelligence and will, plus of course God’s grace that will always be made abundantly available, we can transcend beyond these constraining elements. 

 So, we just have to use everything within our power to attain that ideal state of being always on the go, dynamic, eager to serve and to do things for everyone. We may have our limitations, and we can commit mistakes, yet we cannot deny that everything is already given for us to be how we should be in our earthly life. And that is to be like Christ, whose only desire is to love all of us all the way to even offering his life for us. 

 For this, we have to continually fight against our tendency to be trapped by the many conditionings in our life. Yes, they exist, we cannot avoid them, and we are affected by them. But we need not be forever limited by them. With our effort, plus God’s grace, we know that we can go beyond them. 

 We should be ready to detach ourselves from things and persons who can stand in the way of pursuing that goal. Thus, Christ said: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father…(Lk 12, 51-53) 

 Let’s be convinced that that is the formula to follow, and to identify ourselves with Christ.

The need for constant vigilance and accounting

CHRIST reminded us about this need of ours when he said: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Lk 12,39-40) 

 We have to be keenly aware that our life here on earth is a testing ground God uses to see if what he wants us to be is also what we ourselves would want to be. God wants us to be his image and likeness, to be sharers of his divine life and nature, thus, he gave us our spiritual powers of intelligence and will so we can know him and love him, and want to be one with him. Besides, he gives us his grace, so we can attain the supernatural level of his life and nature. 

 Every event in our life is actually an occasion to test us if we also would like to be like him. Thus, he gave us his commandments to guide us. Much more than that, he gave us Christ himself, “the way, the truth and the life,” so we would know how to be with God given our wounded condition. 

 We need to be always vigilant and do abiding accounting of how we are doing, given this original and ultimate condition and purpose of our earthly life. Since God has made us stewards of our own life, we need to learn how to manage the many resources entrusted to us so that we can be fruitful and productive in this life. Let’s remember that God will always ask us to account for what he has given us. 

 Among these resources, our time occupies a prominent and crucial place and plays a strategic role. It has been said that time is very precious because once it has passed, it can never be recovered. Some saints have regarded time not only as a treasure but also as glory, depending on how it is used. 

 We have to be really good in managing our time, being clear about the proper motives, priorities and standards in the use of time. The motives should be none other than love of God and others. The priorities should always be God first, then others, then ourselves. 

 And we should all have an abiding concern for accounting everything that we are and that we have. We just cannot go on with our life as if we are not answerable to anybody, especially to God, from whom we all come and to whom we all belong. 

 This is an indispensable part of our life, an unrelinquishable duty to perform. Our problem is that many still are ignorant of this duty, and of those who already know about this, the tendency is to take it for granted or to do it badly or to avoid it if given the chance. 

 We need to find a way of instilling this duty in everyone, starting with oneself and then encouraging others to do the same, in the context of the families, schools, parishes, offices, etc. 

 We have to be most aware of where we come from, what dignity and status we are given, what duties and responsibilities are entrusted to us, etc. And let’s remember that we need to handle them properly.

Effective evangelization demands all from us

THAT should be clear to us, considering what Christ told his 72 disciples. “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few,” he said. “So, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.” (Lk 10,2-4) 

 We should not worry about the material aspects of our duty to evangelize. While we truly need some material means for evangelization, we know that as long as we do our part also, God will always provide for all our needs, especially in this duty of ours to evangelize. 

 We need to have trusting attitude toward God’s powerful providence. “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” (Mt 6,26) 

 With these words, Christ clearly tells us to be trusting of God’s ever wise and merciful Providence. He will provide everything that we need, especially the one that matters most to us. We may experience some privations, some losses, etc., but if we stick with God, we know that everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 We should just focus our attention to this task of evangelization, which is not only a matter of transmitting some doctrine but rather that of transmitting to people the very life and spirit of Christ. 

 We need to be most aware of our duty to evangelize, to do apostolate, seeing to it that for it is always nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree. 

 Before ascending into heaven, Christ told his apostles: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” (Mt 28,18-19) 

 While addressed directly to his apostles, these words are meant for all those who want to follow Christ. To do apostolate is part of a Christian’s duty. It’s part of a Christian’s identity. A Christian is always an apostle. No one is excused from it. 

 We have to understand that these parting words of Christ represent his culminating and ultimate desire for our redemption. We can say that all he did in his earthly life—his preaching, doing miracles, his dying—get somehow summarized in this one great desire of God. 

 That’s because the divine work of human redemption continues. It cannot stop. This time though, it is done with our cooperation, since if we are incorporated into him through baptism and in the Spirit, we can’t avoid getting involved in God’s plans and actions. 

 The realization of this crucial aspect of our Christian life gives meaning and perspective to our whole life and everything contained in it. It puts our life in the right orbit. 

 Our life can’t simply be a life in pursuit of personal sanctity without doing apostolate. These two go together inseparably, mutually affecting each other to put us in the right track in our life. 

 We should give everything to this duty to evangelize, always trusting in God’s providence, assuming always a sporting and adventurous outlook that would greatly facilitate the carrying out of this duty.

Be rich in what matters to God

THAT’S what Christ told someone who asked him to settle the inheritance issue that person had with his brother. (cfr. Lk 12,13-21) A very common phenomenon these days, sad to say. Siblings can go into bitter quarrels and complicated litigations just because of the inheritance question. 

 Christ responded by saying that he was not appointed to be the judge or arbitrator of such matters. And he proceeded by giving the crowd a warning that they should be guarded against the danger of greed. “Though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions,” he said. 

 He then told a story that concluded with the lesson that what matters most is that we should be rich in the things of God, rather than in the things of the world that in the end will not last forever. 

 Since we are in the middle of the world, immersed in our temporal and earthly affairs, we should see to it that we do not lose sight of what is important and essential in our life. The things of this world are at best only means and instruments for us to grow in our love for God and for others. We should be wary of the constant danger of our heart being trapped by the things of this world, displacing God from our heart. 

 To be rich in what matters to God is not so much a matter of how much wealth and possessions we have as it is of how much love we have for God which is always translated in our love for the others, expressed in deeds and not just in intentions. 

 We may be rich or poor in our worldly standards, but what should be pursued with extreme care and seriousness is that our heart gets filled with love for God and love for the others. 

 Yes, one can be rich materially—he can be a millionaire or a billionaire—but he should see to it that he fits the category of what one of the beatitudes regarded as “poor in spirit” because in spite of or even because of his great wealth, his heart is fully for God and for the others. 

 This, of course, will require tremendous struggle and constant purification and rectification of our intentions and ways, given the fact that we are always prone to get attached to the things of this world and to the ways of greed, envy and the like. 

 We have to continually check ourselves especially these days when we are bombarded with many tantalizing and intoxicating things that can capture our heart and remove God from it. It always pays to lead a very simple and austere life in spite of the great wealth that we may have. 

 And to be clear about this also: that the more wealth we have, the greater also would be our responsibility to show our love for God and others with deeds. The scope and range of that love should grow exponentially, so to speak. 

 We should be wary of our tendency to get complacent in this duty of living true Christian poverty and detachment. We really have to fight tooth and nail against this tendency because the likelihood for us to fall for this sweet poison of the new things today is high. 

 At the end of the day, we should be able to say that with our struggles and rectitude of intention, we are truly getting rich in matters to God!

We are meant to pray always

WE have to understand that prayer is not an optional element in our life. It is something essential and indispensable. We are meant to pray always, making prayer like the very breathing and heartbeat of our spiritual life. 

 This truth of our faith is clearly articulated by Christ himself when he told his disciples to pray always without becoming weary. (cfr. Lk 18,1) St. Paul reiterated the same idea when he said, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances…” (1Thes 5,16) 

 And that is simply because prayer is the most basic way we have to get engaged or to get connected with God with whom we have to live our whole life. Our life is not simply our own. It is a life always with our Creator. It’s not a life that is kept in the natural level alone, governed solely by the laws of biology, chemistry, physics and the like. Our life should not just be subject to the sensible realities. It is meant to be spiritual. 

 And since our life is also spiritual, it is also a life that is meant to be supernatural, since it is meant to be a sharing in the life of God who has created us to be his image and likeness. Thus, we are endowed with intelligence and will so we can know and love him. To top it all, he has given us his grace so that our human nature can be elevated to the supernatural level of God.

 It’s a very daunting challenge, no doubt, to be able to pray always and to convert everything that we do into some form of prayer. But whatever difficulty we can encounter in this regard does not detract from the fact that we need to pray always. Anyway, if we would just put our mind and heart into it, constant prayer can truly be achieved. 

 Let’s always remember that God is always around. He is actually intervening in our life. We can just call his name anytime, and he will all be there for us. That’s how accessible he is to us. 

 He may test us for a while, just like what happened in that story Christ told his disciples about a dishonest judge and an importunate widow. (cfr. Lk 18,1-8) But such test would only make us strengthen our faith, because Christ assures us that God will always listen and care for us. 

 It’s moving how that story ended and the lesson Christ wanted to impart to us. “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?” he asked. “Will he be slow to answer them?” (Lk 18,7) 

 And it is also good to be reminded that prayer is not only a matter of saying some vocal prayers. It is more a matter of lifting our mind and heart to God in all moments of the day. We need not say anything. We need not do anything external. It is more a matter of being aware that we are always with God, and that everything we do is done with God and for God. That is what prayer is. 

 We need to convince ourselves that the very core of our consciousness should be God, not just ourselves. We may find that truth of our faith incredible, impracticable, etc. But if we have a strong faith, accompanied by our efforts, no matter how erratic, we can achieve that ideal that God himself means for us!

The futility of hypocrisy

CHRIST has warned us about the futility of hypocrisy. At one point, he said, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.” (Lk 12,2-3) 

 We have to be wary of this danger of hypocrisy since we are very prone to it, since it always promises us some instant relief from anything that can cause us some discomfort or inconvenience. But we should be brave enough to let ourselves suffer for a while if only to tell the truth or to show things as they really are. Such suffering, to be sure, will give us tremendous benefits that are far greater than what hypocrisy could give us. 

 What we should rather do if we want our life to be truly good is to develop a keen sense of transparency and accountability. These traits assure us that we are on the right path. That is to say, we have nothing bad to hide, and more, we are seeing to it that we are responsible for what God has given us, making these God-given gifts fruitful and productive. 

 A good sense of transparency will help us develop and sustain our integrity in life. It means that everything that we do is good, that is, morally good. 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. 

 Besides, God actually sees everything. Before him, 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 have to learn to be brutally sincere in everything that we do, and especially when we go to confession and to spiritual direction. We have to learn to lay all our cards on the table so that the human instruments used by God to help us in our spiritual life, can truly help us. 

 We should not be afraid or ashamed to do so, because in these occasions, it is indeed God who is acting through the human instrumentalities. We have to approach confession and spiritual direction with a strong supernatural outlook, because it is only then that we can go beyond our human respect. 

 As our dictionary would put it, human respect is “a kind of fear of the judgment of others...one acting from this motive lacks courage or fortitude...it seeks honor rather than the works worthy of honor.” 

 There is really no reason to fall into human respect when we go to confession and spiritual direction. God is a father who will always understand and love us. He is always ready to forgive us of whatever sin and failures we may commit. He is always there for us, to defend and protect us. His judgments will always be with mercy. 

 To be truly sincere is not only to say facts and data. It is to probe into the motives of all our actions, especially our sins and misdeeds. In the end, it is to see what the spirit is behind all our actions. Is it the spirit of God or is it another spirit?

God’s mercy can heal our sinfulness

THAT stinging rebuke Christ made on some leading Jews of his time (cfr. Lk 11,47-54) reminds us that we actually are all sinners no matter how much we profess to be good persons and even holy ones. 

 “Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets whom your fathers killed,” he said. “Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.” (Lk 11,47-48) 

 We should have no doubt about this lifelong predicament of ours. As St. John said in his first letter, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1,8) Even our first parents, created in the state of original justice, managed to sin in spite of the many supernatural privileges given to them. 

 The right thing to do is to acknowledge our sinfulness and immediately go to God asking for forgiveness and for the grace to make us grow stronger and more resistant to temptations and sins. We should have the same attitude that is spelled out in the Book of Proverbs: “The just man falls seven times and rises up again.” (24,16) 

 Let us remember that we can always expect God’s mercy no matter how grave our sins are. Precisely, St. Paul expressed this truth when he said: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom 5,20) It’s always worthwhile to keep this assurance of St. Paul in mind given our earthly condition so prone to temptations and sins. 

 We should just acknowledge our sinfulness which is a clear mark of a good, humble, if not a holy a person. When one acknowledges his own faults and weaknesses, and more so, of his own mistakes and sins, he is truly getting real and is not deluding himself into living a self-contained, make-believe world. 

 And if he does something about them, being sorry and atoning for them, learning from them and developing the appropriate virtues, then he is corresponding to God’s will, which is what is most important in our life. 

 This is the beauty of this attitude which we should try our best to cultivate in ourselves. Acknowledging our sinfulness attracts God to us. Ever full of mercy and compassion, as shown by Christ himself, God can never be indifferent to our weaknesses and predicaments. He will rush to help and comfort us, and always offering forgiveness. 

 Acknowledging our faults and sinfulness does us a lot of good. It deepens our humility, very crucial in our life for without it, practically no other virtue develops in us. It keeps us simple and prevents us from falling into complications, since we would then have no need to come up with a web of excuses, rationalizations and other unnecessary self-defense mechanisms. 

 Acknowledging our faults and sinfulness leads us to have a working spirit of penance that purifies us and makes up for them. It puts us in the proper condition for further spiritual growth. It gives us greater intimacy with God and closer relationship with others. We would become more objective and fair in our views and outlook, since our own faults, defects and sinfulness would make us more understanding towards others. 

 We have to learn to be quick to say sorry to God and to run to him once we feel the sting of our weaknesses and defects, and especially when we fall. We should end our day with an examination of conscience that concludes with that word so endearing to God: Sorry.

Cultivating an abiding unity of life

THIS is a big challenge for us. We are always prone to fall into inconsistency and disunity in our life, and thus into all forms of hypocrisy, deception, formalisms, legalisms, etc. that try to show goodness without the proper substance. 

 In the gospel, Christ lamented about this predicament of ours. To the leading Jews of his time, he expressed this disgust that can still applicable to us now: 

 “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. 

 “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Lk 11,42-44) 

 We have to understand that our unity and consistency in our life can only be achieved if we have Christ as the animating spirit for this responsibility. If we only rely on our own ideas and powers regarding this duty, there is no way we can truly achieve unity of life. We can give some appearances of unity and consistency, but it would not stay long. Sooner or later, the ugly truth will come out. 

 Developing this consistency and unity of life should be an abiding concern for all of us. Truth is even if we have to contend with many aspects and dimensions of our life, and some of them competing with each other, it is only one life that each of us has, not two or three. And thus, to build and keep our unity of life is a daily task of ours. We can neglect it only to our own serious risk and damage. 

 Our life is not only biological that relies simply on our biological functions. Neither is it just purely physical or material that requires merely material nourishment. Our life has many more important aspects and dimensions that need to be integrated into one whole consistent thing. There’s the manual and intellectual, the active and contemplative, personal and social, the material and spiritual, the temporal and eternal, etc. 

 We therefore must do everything to have Christ always as the foundation of our life. He is after all the pattern of our humanity. We have been given intelligence and will, plus God’s grace, so that we can know, love and identify ourselves with Christ, for he is the proper object of our human powers. We should be wary when we are more interested in pursuing as our main object anything other than Christ. 

 For this, we truly need to learn how to pray, for that is how we can basically get in touch with Christ. But for us to learn how to pray, a whole lot of discipline and training is needed. We need to have the proper attitudes, like being humble so that we would always feel the need for God. Our problem is that many times we feel that we can simply be on our own, relying only on our human powers, etc. 

 We have to learn how to refer everything to God, and to discern his abiding interventions in our life. We should always have presence of God, aware of the unfolding providence he does together with us. Obviously, for this to happen we need to have a working life of faith and piety. And so, we have to realize that we need certain practices that would keep our faith and piety alive and functioning all the time.

Unity of life achievable only in Christ

“Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil.” (Lk 11,39) 

 This is the typical reaction of Christ toward the rigid rules of the Pharisees, who make a big issue out of little things while ignoring the bigger and more important things. Remember Christ accusing them with these words: “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Mt 23,24) 

 We need to be careful with our tendency to fall into this predicament that we call as hypocrisy, inconsistency, or not seeing the forest for the trees. This can only happen when we are not with Christ who as God knows everything, both the small and the big things, and as man shows us how to deal with that tendency so as not to get lost, confused, and more, how to maintain the proper unity of life despite the many and often conflicting things we have to consider. 

 We have to understand that only with Christ can we aspire to have unity and consistency in our life, one that is not rigid. Rather it is a consistency and unity that knows how to adapt itself properly given the different and changing conditions and circumstances of our life. 

 So, we really have to earnestly pursue the effort of living and defending our Christian identity all the time. We should not be afraid to show our Christian identity at all times and in all situations. We should not be Christian by name only, but also by our thoughts, desires and deeds, and in all aspects of our life. We should not be Christian in good times only, but also, and most especially, in bad times. We should not be Christian only in our sacred moments, but also in our mundane activities. 

 This does not mean that we have to flaunt our Christian identity or to exude some kind of a triumphalistic aura. In fact, we have to be most natural and discreet about it. But it should not be hidden because of fear or shame. 

 Remember Christ saying: “Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.” (Mt 10,32-33) 

 That Christ is the Son of God who became man to redeem us means that God in Christ through the Holy Spirit identifies himself with each one of us at all times. This is the basis for keeping a consistency in our Christian identity. 

 This is what our Catechism teaches us clearly: “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us. ‘By his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man.” (Catechism 521) 

 Let us remember what Christ said so clearly. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can only have life, let alone, consistency and fruitfulness in our life, if we are united to him. Outside of him, we can only expect death, inconsistency and sterility. 

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

Be always guided by faith

IN the gospel, there is a part where Christ lamented about the lack of faith of the people. “This generation is an evil generation,” he said. “It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” (Lk 11,29) 

 We need to understand that faith is the original and ultimate source of truth about everything—about God, about ourselves, about the world and the whole of creation. We need to understand that faith is a gift from God the Creator who wishes to share his knowledge of everything with us who have been created to be like him, his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 Faith gives us the over-all picture of things. While it has to be learned, and the learning process obviously requires certain stages, not to mention tremendous effort also, we need to understand that the pursuit to have the fullness of faith should be of prime importance to us. We need to do everything to acquire that faith in its fullness. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to set aside faith or at least to have recourse to it only from time to time, because we may feel that with our human knowledge brought about by our sciences, technologies, philosophies and ideologies, etc., we can already be on our own and declare some independence from God and from the faith that he gives us. 

 Part of the problem we have in this regard is that belief that by resorting to faith, we would be undermining our human powers, our capacity to know, our reason, etc. Nothing can be father from the truth. Faith, in fact, requires the full use of our human faculties. It does not do away with them, nor treat them as unimportant. Faith would not be faith if it ignores our reason. 

 We just have to realize that our reason alone cannot cope with all the reality and the truths that are relevant to us. These are truths that are spiritual and supernatural in character, and therefore are beyond what our human powers can handle. 

 But despite the limitations of our human powers, we have the capacity to live by faith if only we are humble enough to accept the truths of our faith since they are given to us not just by a human authority but by God himself who reveals himself in Christ who in turns makes himself present and actively intervening in our lives, through the Church and the many instrumentalities in the Church. 

 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 need to check our attitudes and dispositions. Do we really look for him, in the manner spelled out by Christ himself, that is, with constancy and determination? Christ said: “Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Mt 7,7) 

 What obviously would help is the habit of reading and meditating on the gospel, at least for a few minutes everyday. In that way, we get to know Christ better, and to familiarize ourselves with his words, deeds and reactions to the different situations he encountered. Let’s remember that since he is “the way, the truth and the life,” everything in him will always be a guide to us.

God always cares

THAT gospel episode about 10 lepers who begged Christ to cure them teaches us the lesson that we should always go to God especially when we find ourselves in difficulties. It also reminds us that we should always be thankful to him because he always cares for us. (cfr. Lk 17,11-19) These two attitudes should be kind of instinctive to us. 

 We have to learn how to deal with the difficult and the impossible things in our life. Let’s remember that as long as we are here on earth, we have to contend with all sorts of difficulties, trials and temptations. 

 And as if these are not enough, we also have to contend with the truth of our faith that tells us that we are meant to pursue a supernatural goal that definitely cannot be achieved simply with our own human powers alone, no matter how excellent they are. 

 The secret is always to go and to be with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit who can make the impossible possible. 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 our prayers and petitions appear unanswered, if not, contradicted. 

 This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that can only indicate our unconditional faith and love for God who is always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in peace and joy even at the worst of the possibilities. 

 We just have to remember that Christ never abandons us and is, in fact, all ready and prompt to come to our aid, albeit in ways that we may not realize, at first, just like what happened in that story of the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. (cfr. Lk 24,13-25) 

 We should not allow our feelings of sadness to be so dominant and pervasive that we shut off Christ’s many and often mysterious ways of helping us. If we do not pose a deliberate impediment to Christ’s ways, there is always hope. In our darkest moments, some light will always come piercing and dispelling the darkness away. 

 At the same time, we should always keep in mind that we need to be thankful to God for whatever gift, blessing and favor he gives. We have to be wary of our tendency to take this duty for granted. As shown in that gospel about the 10 lepers who were cured, only one came to thank Christ who showed concern that the other nine did not bother to thank him. 

 We need to do everything to cultivate this abiding mentality of thanksgiving. We have to deliberately do this task, given the desensitizing effect of the flurry of activities and other concerns our modern world is bombarding us with. 

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

 When we are thankful, we open our heart to the workings of grace and the innate goodness that comes with our nature, at least that part that is still unaffected by sin. In a way, gratitude is a main language of the heart. It’s a major expression of love.

Our need to be with Christ

CHRIST said it very clear, in no unclear terms. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Lk 11,23) There’s no ifs and buts about this ideal that is meant for us. 

 We have to realize very deeply that we need to be with Christ if we want to achieve the fullness of our dignity as a person and as a child of God. This should be the main concern of our life. And so, we need to be wary of our tendency to get entangled with other concerns which, while having their validity, would mean nothing if not referred to our need for Christ. 

 Let’s remember that Christ is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. We should always be aware that the most important thing in our life is to be with Christ. In fact, it is not only to be like Christ, but rather to be “another Christ,” if not “Christ himself.” 

 We have to overcome whatever would put doubt about this basic truth about ourselves. Like, does not this kind of understanding about ourselves undermine our freedom? Or can we truly be “another Christ”? Is that ever possible, doable? 

 We have to repeat to ourselves this basic truth that we have been made by God in his image and likeness. We are meant to be sharers of his divine life and of his divine nature. 

 That may sound incredible, indeed! But that is what we can get if we look closely at how he created us, endowing us with intelligence and will, and gifting us with his grace, and at how he re-created us or saved us after our original dignity was damaged by our sin. 

 Yes, out of amazement, we can echo what is said in the Letter to the Hebrews: “What is man that you are mindful of him, a son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.” (2,6-8) 

 This realization about ourselves should, of course, humble us and fill us with joy and thanksgiving, even as it should also urge us to do everything we can, with the grace of God, to pursue the ideal. 

 This will be a lifelong quest for us, and even if we may not be able to perfectly achieve that goal in our lifetime, we should not worry, since it will be Christ himself, with his goodness and mercy, who will bring everything to completion and perfection. 

 As St. Paul said, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6) On our part, what is expected is just to go along with Christ’s work on us as best that we can. That is why we need to be with him, if not to be “another Christ” or “Christ himself.” 

 With Christ, we can somehow do things that are impossible for us to do if we would just do them by ourselves alone. Remember what St. Paul also said: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) 

 Let’s put our mind and heart in this pursuit to be “another Christ,” if not, “Christ himself.”

The art of holy insistence

YES, there is such thing as the art of holy insistence. This was shown, for example, in that story Christ told his disciples about someone who went to his friend-store-owner in the middle of the night asking for bread because a friend of his just arrived and was hungry. He was refused at first by the store-owner, but due to his insistence, he was given what he asked for. (cfr. Lk 11,5-13) 

 The lesson Christ wanted to impart to his disciples in this particular gospel is encapsulated in these words of his: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” 

 And the reason why such insistence is recommended is because God is always a father who can never be indifferent to the needs of men. He may ask us for some requirements or choose to test us for a time, but he in the end will always give what is best for us. This point was articulated by Christ in a most dramatic way when he said: 

 “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” 

 This truth of our faith is also highlighted in that gospel episode about a Canaanite woman who begged Christ to drive the demon that vexed her daughter. (cfr. Mt 15,21-18) Christ at first did not respond favorably. He even sounded harsh on her. But due to the faith-driven insistence of the woman, Christ finally gave in. 

 We should just be insistent in our petitions to God. No matter how hard or even impossible our requests would seem, we should not hesitate to go to God to present such petition. God will always listen and answers us in the way that is best for us, which may not be the one we like or expect. 

 We should never think that we are bothering God by asking for some favors. Our prayers will never go unnoticed with God who is all generous with us. In fact, he will give us much more than what we may be asking for.

 So, let’s just be insistent and persevering in our prayer. Besides, doing so will eventually give us new lights, insights and impulses that will leave us amazed at the goodness and kindness of God, his mercy and all-embracing love. It will rekindle or at least fan into a flame our dying fire of love for God and for others. 

 When we persevere in meditating on the words of God found in the gospel, for example, we would be astonished at how old familiar passages and ideas acquire new meaning and open to us practically a whole new world of insights that can inspire us to action and different initiatives. 

 And if God seems to ignore us, we have to realize that he is simply testing us for a number of reasons—to strengthen our faith, to purify our intentions, to grow in the other virtues, etc.

The quest to become contemplative

THIS is what we should aspire for. This is what we are meant to be. Unless we become contemplative souls, there’s no way we can be with God who is everything to us. Without him, we can only be at best a joke, no matter how impressive our life and work can seem according to human and worldly standards. 

 We need to see to it that we should always feel the urge to pray, to engage with God, to be with him. If we do not feel that urge yet, let’s convince ourselves that we have something most important to work on. Thus, like the disciples of Christ, impressed by how Christ was to them, we should beg him to teach us how to pray. (cfr. Lk 11,1-4) 

 The Lord’s Prayer is the model prayer that we should learn by heart. We have to learn to discern the spirit behind its every expression and petition, since as the Compendium of the Catechism teaches us, this prayer is the “summary of the whole Gospel,” “the perfect prayer” that presents in the form of prayer the essential content of the Gospel. (579) 

 In the Church, this prayer is considered as the prayer “par excellence” that is handed on in Baptism to signify the new birth of the children of God into the divine life. (cfr. Compendium 581) 

 We have to understand that prayer is what keeps our love burning. That’s because it what keeps us always in contact with God who is the very essence of love. Prayer, therefore, should not be understood merely as some spiritual exercise that we have to learn to do at certain moments of the day only. 

 It has to be our very life itself. Everything in our life should be an act of prayer, including our sleeping. Our very consciousness, our breathing and heartbeat should be converted into prayer. This is what to be a contemplative spirit is. 

 We have to realize that contemplative life is a great need for us since it represents the full maturity of our consciousness. And as our radical connection with the very foundation of reality who is God, contemplative life is indispensable to us. 

 Obviously, we need some training for this. But it should be a training that would enable us precisely to convert everything into prayer. Even when we work, whether of the white-collar or blue-collar type of work, whether intellectual or manual, etc., we should be praying. That is to say, we should maintain our contact with God and channel what he has, his will and his ways, in all our daily affairs. 

 In that way we can reflect God’s love in all the situations, circumstances, predicaments, challenges in our life, etc. This love, of course, is concretely shown to us by Christ whose life and teaching we should truly learn and assimilate. Not only is Christ showing or teaching it to us. He is giving it to us by giving his own self, especially in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, if we also understand well the significance of the sacrament. 

 We need to discipline ourselves so as to make us always feel the need to echo the disciples’ request to Christ, “teach us to pray.” We have to be wary of our tendency to feel that with our human powers alone, we are already ok. We are not! Let’s not be deceived.

Everything should be a form of prayer

WE should do our best to overcome the usual tendency of ours to fall into some form of dichotomy, dividing our life mainly into 2 parts—one for prayer, our relation with God, and another for work, our involvement in the things of the world or our temporal affairs. 

 We only have one life, and it’s a life that essentially should be an active participation in the life of God, since we have been created to be his image and likeness. Though our life has many parts, many dimensions, many aspects, and each one requires specific treatment, we should not forget that all of them comprise one and the same life. They have to be blended and made to work according to one same spirit—the spirit of God. 

 We are reminded of this basic truth about ourselves in that gospel episode about the two sisters, Martha and Mary, where the former complained to Christ about the latter for apparently not helping her in some tasks of hospitality. (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) That was when Christ told Martha that only one thing is necessary and that Mary, her sister, who was contemplating on Christ, was doing the right thing and it would not be taken away from her. 

 The mistake of Martha was to consider her tasks of hospitality not as a form of prayer but simply as some practical work that needed to be done. She failed to elevate her work into prayer. That was why she felt uncomfortable to see her sister apparently doing nothing by simply putting herself before Christ, listening to him. 

 The main point of the gospel is that we are supposed to be contemplative souls. That is to say that no matter what we are doing, no matter what condition we may be in, we should not lose touch with God. 

 That’s obviously not an easy thing to do, but we have precisely our whole life to cultivate that kind of lifestyle. And we have been given all the means so that such ideal can be achieved by us. We should just do our part. 

 The story of the sisters, Martha and Mary, therefore offers us a precious lesson on always giving priority to prayer, the one thing necessary in life, no matter how many and urgent our other concerns are during the day. It urges us to make everything a form of prayer. 

 The immediate basis for this truth is what Christ himself said: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16,26) That’s because prayer is like the breathing and the heartbeat of our spiritual organism, of our soul. Just as we continue to breathe and just as our heart continues to beat even while we are unconscious in our sleep, so should our prayer be. 

 To be sure, this is possible and doable, because praying does not even need a bodily organ for it to be done. It is a spiritual operation that can transcend the use of our bodily faculties. It’s a matter of attitude, of belief, which we can always have even if it is not expressly articulated. 

 As such, it can be done in any situation—while we are working, playing, resting, etc. But it would be good that we spend some time doing nothing other than praying, directly engaging God in a loving conversation, because that would help us to be prayerful in all our other activities and situations in life.