Christ involves us all in his mission

ON the Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle, celebrated on November 30, we are presented with the gospel story about how he, his brother, Peter, and two other brothers, James and John, were called by Christ. (cfr. Mt 4,18-22) 

 It would appear that Christ would just happen to pass by them one day and call them to be his apostles, asking them to “follow me.” And wonder of wonders, they would immediately respond to follow him, even “leaving everything behind” (relictis omnibus). 

 We obviously would be struck by the seeming randomness with which these brothers were called, especially considering that what they were asked to do demanded everything from them. 

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

 At bottom, the answer is because we are supposed to be like Christ, another Christ, if not Christ himself (“alter Christus,” and even “ipse Christus”). All of us are patterned after Christ, and so we cannot avoid being involved in the mission of Christ which is the salvation of all mankind. 

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

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

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

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

 And the best way we can show our love and concern for one another is when we bring them to Christ, when we help them in our common endeavor to be true children of God, seeking sanctity and cooperating in the work of continuing apostolate. 

 We should be most aware of this important aspect of our Christian identity and do everything to pursue and develop it. We should not hesitate to give everything for this purpose, as we always have been reminded that since we are freely given by God with so many good things, we should also freely give ourselves to him and to everybody else. (cfr. Mt 10,8)

It always pays to be simple, humble, childlike

THOSE intriguing words of Christ, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike,” (Lk 10,21) should clearly reassure us that it always pays to be simple, humble and child-like. 

 Reinforcing that claim are also these words of Christ addressed to his disciples who in general were just a bunch of simple and humble people with all their share of weaknesses: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Lk 10,24) 

 Somehow, we are reminded of what St. Paul said regarding this point: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Cor 1,27-29) Of course, St. Peter said something similar: “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” (1 Pt 5,5) 

 Amid the complexities of our life today, we have to learn to stay humble and simple because that is the basic way to precisely handle these complexities well. When we are humble and simple, we would know how to blend openness, tolerance and versatility on the one hand, and to stick to the truth in charity on the other hand. 

 It is genuine humility and simplicity that would enable us to face the complexities of our life because these are the virtues that liken and identify us with Christ. And with Christ, we can manage to tackle anything. 

 That is why Christ said: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11,29-30) 

 Of course, this is a mysterious and intriguing kind of reasoning that Christ is telling us. And that is simply because he is telling us something that is mainly spiritual and supernatural in character. He is not giving us an indication that is meant to tackle purely natural situations and predicaments. 

 We have to realize that our life does not only have material, temporal and natural dimensions. It has an eminently spiritual and supernatural character for which the spiritual and supernatural means are more important and necessary than the natural ones. 

 Humility and simplicity are the virtues that would make us acknowledge that we are nothing without God. They sort of open our soul for the grace of God to enter. And it is this grace that transforms us, irrespective of our human impotencies, mistakes and errors, into becoming children of God. 

 And with God’s grace in our soul because of our humility and simplicity, we can manage to receive the gifts of faith, hope and charity. We can believe natural truths that not only are difficult to discover but also to understand. Even more, it is humility and simplicity that would enable us to believe supernatural truths where there is no way for us to fully understand them, much less, explain them in a human way.

THAT beautiful gospel story of a centurion who approached Christ on behalf of his dying servant, importuning Christ for a miracle to happen, that is, for his servant to survive, (cfr. Mt 8,5-11) tells us precious lessons about how our faith in Christ should be. 

 It should be a faith that is so strong and deep that we would not hesitate to go to Christ for ask for a favor. And it should also be a faith that is so strong and deep that without asking Christ for a direct, face-to-face encounter with the persons concerned, we know that the favor would be granted. 

 As the gospel narrated, the centurion boldly told Christ the now famous words, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” To which, Christ responded, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” And the servant was healed. 

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

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

 To those leading Jews who refused to believe in spite of the clearest evidence at least of his special powers, Christ has these strong, intriguing words to say: “They who see not, may see, and they who see, may become blind.” (Jn 9,39) 

 Especially in our special needs and persistent human miseries, we need to follow the example of the men and women, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the sick, etc., who did all to get close to Christ and to beg. Some even had to climb to the roof and cut a portion there to be able to be near Christ. 

 This is the pattern we have to follow. We have to eagerly seek Christ and importune him with all our might, accompanying our pleas with external signs of our fervent faith and love for him. 

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

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

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

 Faith contains the medicine and the remedy to all our spiritual inadequacies and illnesses. It is what is required for miracles to happen, as attested many times in the Gospel.

As we begin another liturgical year

THE season of Advent, which this year starts on November 27, marks another beginning of the liturgical year or the Church year. The immediate thought that comes to mind in this transition of the old and new liturgical years is that while we should have the mind of ending well and also beginning well, we should neither forget that this cycle of life is meant to catapult us to the eternal life where there will be no more changes of seasons and shifts of days and nights. 

 We have to understand then that the season of Advent implies that we have to learn how to begin again very well. What is presumed is that we have a global picture of our life. 

 We ought to know the different constitutive elements of our life here on earth as well as their relations among each other. We have to distinguish as well as relate the different dimensions of our life, like the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the natural and the supernatural, the mundane and the sacred, the theory and the praxis, piety and morals, work and prayer, etc. 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to be properly focused amid the many distractions we have today. At the moment, we can see a disturbing development involving many people, especially the young. A big segment of the people is getting addicted to games and the many other novelties played out in the Internet and in the new technologies. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Our intentions can and should only have at their core the love of God, the giving 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) That’s how our acts become good, or moral. Otherwise, they are bad, or at least dangerous.

God’s word guides us to eternal life

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

 We need to understand very well the significance of God’s word to us. It can mean the teachings of God as revealed to us by Christ and now handed down to us by the Church. We therefore should give it utmost attention. 

 But it can also mean, first of all, as God himself who sent his Son, the very Word of God, to us, since in God there is actually no distinction between his being and his word, considering that he is absolute simplicity where there are no different parts or aspects in him. 

 Obviously, since God’s word comes to us in human form, it also is subject to the way we, humans, understand any word. We, for example, need to discern the meaning, the origin, the context, and the different conditionings God’s word was formed and transmitted to us. It has to come to us from a certain Christ-given authority, and we need to consider also the tradition that has accompanied its transmission through the ages, etc. 

 Most of all, God’s word has to be received and understood with faith. Only then will we realize that reading and meditating on the gospel, for example, is actually having a living encounter with God through Christ. 

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

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

 Only then can God’s word handle any situation and predicament we can encounter in life, since God is everything to us and takes care of everything. Only then can it truly be fruitful as said in that parable of the sower and the seed. (cfr. Mt 13,1-23) 

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

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

 We have to be wary of the danger of being guided only by what Christ referred to as the “leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (cfr. Mt 16,6) These are any teaching or ideology that certainly contains traces of truth but are not deep and complete enough to capture the whole reality that governs us not only as a human being but also as a child of God which is our original and ultimate dignity. 

 Only God’s word can guide us to our definitive eternal life!

Let’s be always prepared

THIS is not meant to scare anyone, but the fact is that the end of time, the end of the world can come anytime. If we have some common sense, we should know that the natural thing for us to do is to be always prepared, since we would not know how much time we have left. 

 The gospel reading of Thursday of the last week (the 34th) of liturgical year reminds us of this reality. “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves,” Christ said. 

 “People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” (Lk 21,25-28) 

 There, we cannot say that we are not amply warned. Still, we should not be overly worried about this. This is a fact of life that should be taken with due consideration. What this should do is simply for us to be always properly prepared. 

 In fact, if we are properly guided by our Christian faith, we would look forward to the end of time since that would make the transition to our eternal and definitive life when we are promised that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (cfr. Rev 21,4) Our life here on earth is just some kind of testing ground to see if what God wants us to be is also what we want ourselves to be—his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 And the preparation for this eventuality need not involve anything extraordinary. It is enough that whatever we do in our daily routine is done with God and for God. That way, we would always be motivated to do things in the best way that we can, leading us to be more and more like God. And even if we cannot escape the limitations and imperfections of our work, God will always understand and would be happy to see us working with that intention. 

 What God would consider is the faith, hope and love that beat in our hearts as we do our daily activities. It is not so much the human success in our work that is important. Of course, if we do things with God and for God, it is very likely that our daily activities would have good effects and results. But these should not be the main consideration. 

 And so, it stands to reason that during the day we make many pit stops, so to speak, so we would know whether we are still on the right path, with the proper direction. We would have the chance to rectify and purify our intentions. 

 And at the end of the day, it would be good that we make it a habit to make a general examination of conscience that should end with a loving expression of sorrow for whatever mistake, shortcoming or sin we may have committed during the day. That way, we express our intention to be reconciled with God always. That in the end is what truly matters!

Perseverance with God always

CHRIST warned us about what to expect in life if we are to take our Christianity seriously. “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name,” he said. (Lk 21,12) 

 But not to worry, because Christ will take care of everything. “Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,” he said, “for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute…By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (Lk 21,13-14.19) 

 Let’s remember that we can only manage to persevere in the trials and challenges of our earthly life when we are always with Christ. We have to be wary of our tendency to rely solely on our human resources, especially when we happen to be quite gifted in that department, because such attitude cannot go the distance. Sooner or later, we would give up. 

 In this regard, we have to be very careful with the most subtle trick of the devil who can lead us to think that we would just be ok by relying on our own powers only, especially if so far we have been quite successful in dealing with our human drama. 

 While it’s true that we have to make full use of our human powers, we should never forget that such powers come from God and can be used properly only with God as the motive and the purpose. Otherwise, they can provide us with a sweet poison whose harm to us may only be observed when things would already be too late to resolve. 

 We definitely need to be humble to realize this basic truth about ourselves and our capacity to persevere in our Christian life. It’s only when we are humble that we can become ‘capax Dei,’ an expression coined by St. Augustine that means that we are capable of becoming like God or that we are capable for God. 

 Humility is the virtue that makes us acknowledge that we are nothing without God. It sort of opens our soul for the grace of God to enter. And it is this grace that transforms us, irrespective of our human impotencies, mistakes and errors, into becoming children of God, capable of speaking in the Spirit and of persevering despite whatever tests we can encounter in life. 

 It is humility that would enable us to be like Christ, to be ‘alter Christus,’ who is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. It is when we are humble that we can manage to bear and to suffer all things, and to love even our enemies, offering forgiveness to our offenders, just like what Christ did and continues to do. With it we can handle whatever challenges, trials and persecutions we may face in life. 

 Pride, the opposite of humility, is what blocks God’s grace from entering into our soul. It restricts us to our own powers alone, which in the first place are given by God but which we consider simply to be our own. It gives us a false light, quite convincing in its effect on us, but is really deceptive. It cannot go the distance insofar as the demands and requirements of our authentic human dignity are concerned.

The sense of time as connected to eternity

IF we want to have a truly global picture of our life, we should develop a sense of time that is connected to eternity. We need to remind ourselves of this basic truth about this human condition of ours since we tend to ignore it or give it little importance and due concern. 

 We are somehow reminded of this aspect of our life in that gospel episode where Christ talked about how a temple, so lavishly adorned, would be destroyed at the end of time. (cfr. Lk 21,5-11) Considering that we are now ending the liturgical year, this truth about our human condition is truly worthwhile to be given a thorough review. 

 We need to be keenly aware of this dual dimension of our life. In fact, I believe this aspect refers to the ultimate status of our life. We should not be too immersed in the here and now as to forget that time is meant for eternity, and we have a role to play in their connection. 

 We live both in time and eternity for now, and later, in a definitive state, in eternity with God or separated from him forever, since time would be completely taken up by eternity the moment time runs its course through our death or through the world’s end. 

 But at any instant, our earthly life spent in time is actually also in eternity. The flow of time is always within the sea of eternity, since eternity is both outside and inside time. Whatever we do now, no matter how transient, always leaves an effect in eternity. 

 This is because being both material and spiritual, with body and soul as constituent elements of our nature, we can’t help but live in both time and eternity. Time is when we are tested as to our correspondence, or lack of it, to God's love. As St. Augustine said, “God created you without you, but he cannot save you without you.” 

 In short, what would truly connect time with eternity is when whatever we do here on earth is done with faith, hope and charity with God as the main object and all the others as an unavoidable accompaniment of the exercise of these virtues. 

 We should not be doing things with purely earthly and temporal goals only. We need to refer them to our eternal goal with God. That is why, St. Paul said, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) 

 That is also why we are asked to make everything we do as a form of prayer. St. Paul articulated this truth when he said, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thes 5,17) And this is always possible and practicable since all that is needed is the awareness that everything we do is done with God and for God. We need not say anything or do some special thing. 

 We need to make so many pit stops during the day, so to speak, to see if we still have love of God and others as our inspiration, motive and goal in everything we do, for that is how we connect our earthly time with our heavenly eternity which is our definitive life. Our life here on earth is only transitory, meant to test us if we truly want to be with God as he wants us and designed us to be.

Christian poverty leads us to real love

THAT gospel episode where Christ commended a poor widow for putting in two small coins into the treasury over the wealthy who put in their lavish offerings (cfr. Lk 21,1-4) clearly tells us that it is worthwhile to give our all if we truly want to be in love with God and with everybody else. 

 “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest,” he said, “for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” 

 This is a big challenge for us, considering that we always tend to get attached to the things of this world in a way that undermines true love that channels the very love of God for all of us. 

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

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

 Let’s hope that we can echo these words of an old song: “I have no use for divided hearts. I give mine whole, and not in parts.” Let’s strive to reach that goal. It’s not an easy goal, but neither is it impossible. With God’s grace and our all-out humble efforts, we can hack it. 

 But given our human condition which allows us to learn things in stages, we have to understand that everyday we have to conquer our tendency to some earthly attachments so that we can say we are giving ourselves more and more to God until we give ourselves completely to him. 

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

 We need to understand that our intelligence and will, our freedom and rights that enable us to be and to do what we want, and to be rich in many ways, also come from God and belong to him. They can only be properly exercised when used in accord with God’s will and ways. 

 And to be rich here does not mean only those with a lot of money and resources. It can mean those who are well-endowed in the other aspects of life—power, fame, health, intelligence, luck, etc. 

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

 Our total self-giving to God and to others is when we start entering the supernatural character that our life possesses, since we are the very image and likeness of God, children of his, meant to share in God’s very life that obviously is supernatural. 

 This is when we enter into the very essence of love!

God’s Kingdom of repentant sinners

THE Solemnity of Christ the King, which ends the current liturgical year, presents us with the gospel reading about the thief who asked Christ to remember him when Christ would enter into his kingdom. And Christ readily said: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (cfr. Lk 23,35-43) 

 What a heartwarming scene this is! It tells us that despite our sinfulness, we are assured always of mercy as long as we show just a bit of a sign of repentance. God is all too willing to welcome us to his kingdom. 

 We have to understand that God wants to establish his kingdom with us who are most of the time sinners. That is why when some Pharisees asked Christ when the Kingdom of God will come, he answered that “the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk 17,21) Now, it is all up to us if we want to be part of that kingdom! 

 We really do not have to look far to find the Kingdom of God. It is already with us as long as we repent of our sins and express our desire to be with God. It is as simple as that! 

 Our defects, failings, sins and all that should not be a permanent obstacle to be part of God’s kingdom. On the contrary, they should bring us closer to him, asking for forgiveness and for more grace, rather than alienate us from him. If we are humble enough to be realistic about ourselves, we can readily see the wisdom of this attitude. 

 We all know, as an author rightly said, that “every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” God will do everything to bring us back to him. He has given us all the means and an all-powerful roadmap to heaven. 

 We may fail God many times, but he will always be understanding to us. We should be careful not to be too overwhelmed by our weaknesses and sinfulness as to fall into despair and run away from God. 

 It’s precisely when we are down when God shows his greatest love for us. We should never doubt this truth which can be validated by the mere fact that God sent his Son to us, and Son became man and assumed all our sins by dying on the cross. 

 We obviously should not abuse the goodness and mercy of God, though we also know that somehow we cannot avoid abusing it. What we can do is to learn as quickly as possible the many precious lessons our weaknesses and sinfulness can occasion in us. 

 We have to remember that nothing happens in our life without the knowledge and at least the permission of God. So, if anything bad comes to us, we should always ask God: Lord, what is the purpose of all this? We know that everything happens for a reason. And the ultimate reason can only be found in God. 

 We have to be wary when our reaction to our errors, failures and sins would only be human, based simply on our feelings or some human consensus and other human estimation of things. These bases cannot capture the whole picture and can even distort things, aggravating things for us. 

 Let us make Christ, the Son of God made man, our true King. Let’s make him rule over us, in our thoughts and desires, in our words and deeds. With him, we achieve the fulness of our humanity. He does not treat us like slaves. He treats us like he treats himself.

The pressing and the precious

IN life, we have to learn how to give due attention and care to both the pressing things and the precious ones. In the end, we have to learn how to give due attention and care to all the different aspects and dimensions of our life: the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the short-run and the long-run, the emotional and the intellectual, the personal and the social, etc. 

 We are somehow reminded of this point in that gospel episode when Christ got angry at those who converted the temple into a marketplace and drove them away, but at the same time he did not neglect the task of continually preaching there. (cfr. Lk 19,45-48) It was a pressing matter for him to see to it that the dignity of the temple was kept while still pursuing the precious duty to preach. 

 This ability to know how to put these different aspects together will certainly require a discipline which would be composed of the results of our experiences, regular study of things and issues, examinations of conscience, a series of trial and error, etc. We should be willing to go through this discipline that will certainly involve effort, wins and losses, success and frustration. 

 But as long as we are humble enough to be realistic about our life, I believe we would not mind so much the heavy drama that will be involved. Such experience will only enrich our life! 

 We have to learn how to handle our emotions properly, because once they become too strong, they can displace our intelligence, and even our faith, that give us an over-all picture of things. It’s not a matter of suppressing them, since that would be inhuman. It’s a matter of guiding them always, not allowing them to be simply on their own, since they lack the proper way of knowing things. Theirs is quite simple and shallow. 

 Our Catechism tells us that our emotions and passions are “movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt or imagined to be good or evil.” (1763) 

 In fact, the Catechism tells us that our emotions and passions are “natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of mind.” (1764) 

 Thus, once properly formed and guided, they can be very powerful in helping us carry out our more precious duties of preaching, evangelizing, doing apostolate, etc. They offer an effective linkage to other people as we go through our duties and responsibilities, especially the spiritual ones. 

 Our emotions and passions therefore serve as a link between our body and soul. They are where we materialize what is spiritual in us, and spiritualize what is material in us. As such, they create a rich texture in our lives. They create the consistency proper to us as a person and as a child of God. They also help to give focus on our judgments, modulate our will, and add sensitivity to our reasoning. 

 In other words, they play a decisive role in achieving a happy and fully human life. They contribute to achieving the full potentials of our humanity. But given the wounded condition of man, our emotions and passions need to be purified and thoroughly educated. They offer the link between the pressing and the precious in our life.

Just trace the God-given roadmap to heaven

ONCE again, since we are approaching the end of the liturgical year, we are reminded of the end of time and the duty to prepare ourselves for it, having the proper focus and following the God-given roadmap to our final destination. 

 This reminder is somehow made in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over what he saw as he was approaching Jerusalem. (cfr. Lk 19,41-44) “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides,” he said. (v. 42-43) 

 We have to remember that we should have a proper focus in our life, knowing exactly where we are ultimately going, avoiding getting lost, since in this life we are just having some kind of a journey toward our eternal home. 

 And God has actually given us a very powerful roadmap to follow, because everything that he created has been designed precisely to lead us to him. It is up to us to discern this design, to trace this roadmap, and then just follow it. 

 To be sure, this roadmap is infinitely more powerful than our current apps like the Waze or Google Map, since it not only gives us the direction to an earthly destination. More than that, it never runs out of alternative possibilities to be led back to him, no matter how many times we make a wrong turn in our life. It will always recalculate, so to speak, and offer us a new route. 

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

 It will surely help us if we develop the habit of always referring everything to God. After all, he is the creator of all things, and therefore should know how things ought to be, how they ought to be seen, understood, done, etc. Besides, God being God, he is everywhere and is actually always intervening in our life. We should never disregard this wonderful and basic truth about ourselves and about our life. 

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

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

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

 Let’s help everyone learn how to trace the God-given roadmap to heaven.

Approaching heaven by doing good on earth

THAT parable Christ told his disciples about a certain nobleman who was in a journey to obtain a kingship somewhere and leaving his servants with certain amounts for them to do business with (cfr. Lk 19,11-28), gives us the precious lesson that the way to heaven is through the path of generosity and fruitfulness in our earthly affairs. 

 The parable was occasioned when the people thought that with Christ speaking to them, the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. It was meant to tell them that the way to heaven was to take care of their earthly and temporal affairs. 

 It was meant to tell us that our earthly affairs are actually designed by God to bring us back to him, and it would be up to us to follow that design or not. Of course, knowing how we are, there is always the tendency to follow simply our own designs rather than God’s. And that’s something we have to be wary of and to correct. 

 We should be very clear about this basic truth about the world in general or about the whole of nature that has been created by God. We need to realize that as God’s creation, the whole world of nature has been imprinted with God’s laws that are meant to give glory to God and to lead us also to him, giving him glory as well. In other words, depending on how we see the world, it is actually a pathway to heaven, to God. 

 Everything that we discover and make use of in the world should lead us to ask ourselves whether what we are discovering are truly in accordance to God’s will, to his true designs of the world, and whether we can discern how they can be used to give glory to God, which is a matter of loving him and serving the whole of humanity. 

 We have to be wary of the danger of discovering and using things simply in accordance to our own understanding of them and also to our own interest only. This is a common and abiding danger that we have to be most wary about. We have to do everything to avoid and overcome that danger. 

 Thus, we have to develop that strong and deep attitude of always referring things to God before we put our hands on them. That way, we would be putting ourselves on the right track that hopefully will lead us to God and to see and use things the way they should be seen and used. 

 This attitude, of course, would require of us to be guided always by our Christian faith, instead of just being guided by our human estimation of things. And for that faith to be effective in us, we obviously need to be humble. Without humility, there is no way faith can have any effect on us. 

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

 We should be looking for God always in everything that we get involved in. In all the things that we do or handle, we should be conscious that all those things are for God, rather than being interested only on what are there in those things that are for us. 

 Let’s always remember what Christ himself said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mt 6,33)

Dealing with our sinfulness

THE story of Zaccheus in the gospel (cfr. Lk 19, 1-10) offers us a precious lesson on how to properly deal with the unavoidable human condition of our sinfulness. And that is, no matter how big, ugly and plenty our sins are, God’s mercy is always available. We should not waste time rutting in guilt feelings, sadness and depression because these would only make things worse. 

 In that gospel story, Zaccheus, regarded as a sinner at that time, promised to amend for whatever sins he committed, and Christ readily forgave him. “Today salvation has come to this house,” he said, “because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” (v.9) These words can only show how merciful and compassionate God is with all of us. 

 And to think that it was Christ who invited himself to Zaccheus’ house, knowing how Zaccheus was regarded by some people, only shows that Christ always takes the initiative to look for sinners, eager to offer forgiveness. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost,” he said. (v.10) 

 We should not over-react to our sinfulness which is unavoidable in our life. What we should immediately do is to go to God, asking for forgiveness, promising some amendment and reparation for our sins, and when able, to go to confession. 

 We should avoid staying too long keeping some guilt-feelings and sadness in our heart. These conditions are not good for us. They are harmful, and worse, they can be like wedges that make more openings for temptations to come to us. We should get rid of these feelings as soon as possible. 

 The ideal condition is always for us be at peace with God and with everybody else. We have to ooze with our faith-based confidence. The moment we feel some disturbance in our heart, we should act quickly to seek relief through God’s mercy. Remember St. Paul saying, “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” (Rom 5,20) He is slow to anger and quick to forgive. 

 God is always a father to us. He will always understand us and do everything to help us. Before him, we are like little children who cannot avoid making a mess around. Let’s remember that we have to contend not only with our own weaknesses, but also with powerful evil spiritual enemies. 

 More, the goal that we have to reach is something supernatural. It’s just beyond our powers. We should not be too surprised if along the way, we commit all sorts of blunders. We should not be unduly entangled with them. God’s mercy and compassion is always available. 

 Let’s just strengthen our sense of divine filiation, that is, that we are all children of an infinitely good and merciful father who do everything to bring us back to him. His justice is never without mercy. 

 Whenever we feel the sting of our weaknesses and sinfulness, together with their antecedents and consequences, their causes and effects, let’s never forget to consider also God’s mercy that is always given to us, and, in fact, given to us abundantly. 

 What we have to avoid is to get stuck with one while ignoring the other. Our sinfulness should be viewed in the context of divine mercy. And vice-versa: God’s mercy should be regarded in the context of our unavoidable sinfulness. 

 On our part, of course, we should try our best to be as good a child to God as God is good to us. Obviously, we cannot perfectly achieve that ideal, but it’s in the desire to struggle to be so that truly matters.

“Lord, that I may see”

WE should try to make these words of the blind man asking Christ for a cure for his blindness (cfr. Lk 18,41) as an aspiration that we can repeat many times during the day. We cannot deny that despite our tremendous powers to see and understand things, there are still many things that escape our notice, let alone, our understanding. And going to God, begging him to let us see things, should only be our recourse. 

 Though we may enjoy good vision at the moment, we have to realize that to be able to see things properly and completely, we simply do not rely on our eyes nor any of our senses. 

 Our eyes and senses can only capture a little part of the whole reality that governs us. They can only perceive what are called the sensible realities, still light-years away from the intelligible, not to mention the spiritual and supernatural aspects of reality. 

 Still, what they get and gather are very useful and in fact are indispensable, since the data they give are like the raw materials that will be processed by our more powerful faculties of intelligence and will. In this sense we can already consider ourselves as suffering from some kind of blindness. 

 We need to be more aware that nowadays there is a strong tendency to base our knowledge of things mainly on the material and sensible realities alone. That’s why we have these disturbing phenomena of materialism and commercialism comprising our mainstream world of knowledge and understanding. 

 We have to correct this tendency because that simply is not the whole of reality. Our senses can only have a limited view of things. And what is worse, that limited condition is aggravated by the effects and consequences of our sins that not only limit but also distort reality. 

 For this to happen, we have to be determined to pray, even if some people would like to discourage us, thinking that we would be bothering God, just like what some people did to the blind man in the gospel. 

 With prayer, we connect ourselves with God, and with God we can see and understand things much better. Whatever fears, worries, insecurities we have at the moment would somehow disappear, and we would be willing to face anything in life with confidence. 

 Let’s always remember that God is our father who always cares for us. And he makes possible what is impossible to us. We should always strengthen this truth of our faith, so that we avoid falling into unnecessary worries in our life’s drama. 

 With prayer, we can feel confident and invincible against any trial and challenge we can face in life. And instead of being entangled with these worries and fears, we can give more attention to what we ought to do to pursue the main purpose of life, which is that of personal sanctification through our ordinary work and duties, and the accompanying duty to do apostolate. 

 Let’s reassure everyone that prayer is the key to making our life filled with peace and joy, invested with a sense of purpose and meaning. Our problem nowadays is that many people do not really know how to pray, and prefer to depend solely on their human powers which can only do so much. They cannot go the distance. 

 Like the blind man, let’s always go to God and repeat our appeal: “Lord, that I may see!”

Lavish or austere?

IN our liturgical celebrations, we can either be lavish or austere depending on the circumstances. What is important is what is in our heart—whether there is real love or not, whether there is a sincere effort to worship and please God or we are just making a show, whether we are making present the redemptive action of Christ or just playing games. 

 We are somehow reminded of this consideration in that gospel episode where Christ said that “there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” referring to the temple that was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings. (cfr. Lk 21,5-6) 

 Obviously, if our motives are sincere and our understanding about the liturgy is clear, we would really give the best that our capabilities can give. If we can give diamonds instead of just gold, then we would do it. We can never give enough to God. We can never be too extravagant in this regard. 

 But if all we can afford are just stones and pebbles picked up from the road, no problem. God looks at the heart more than the things we give him. And to God, there is no more precious thing than our heart if it is fully given to him. One good heart, faithful and full of love for God and others, is worth much more, infinitely more, than a world of precious gems. 

 What we have to avoid at all costs is hypocrisy in our liturgical celebrations. If we are really sincere in our liturgical celebrations, we will do and give our best. Even those little details of kneeling, genuflecting, singing and praying should be done in such a way that genuine piety can readily be seen. Such behavior not only would draw more graces from God but also would inspire others in their own piety. 

 I am happy to note that there is a marked improvement in the way our churches are built and furnished these days. The altars, the reredos, the ambos and the general interior decoration are being done in a splendid manner. The sacred vessels and vestments, the linens have, in general, improved in quality. They somehow show the kind of faith and piety of the people in general, even if we also know that we still have a lot of economic difficulty around. 

They somehow show people’s knowledge of what truly matters in this life, what truly gives them eternal joy and not just a transient one. Their sense of beauty transcends the economic costs and all other sacrifices involved. 

 We just have to make sure that our liturgical celebrations are done with the proper dispositions. This is something that has to be studied and put into practice, since it is no joke to be involved in the liturgy properly either as a celebrant or a participant. 

 To be sure, the liturgy is not just some kind of dramatization. It is nothing less than the making present and effective of Christ’s sacrifice and his entire redemptive action. Both the celebrants and those who attend the celebrations should never miss this reality and should act accordingly. In the liturgy, everyone steps into the spiritual and supernatural world where Christ works out our redemption. 

 Again, this requires of us to have a deeply theological mind, where faith more than anything else rules all our human faculties.

Let’s train ourselves to have a proper focus

WE are reminded of this very important duty to train ourselves to have a proper focus in life in that gospel episode where Christ warned about people who were just immersed in their earthly affairs without giving any thought about the disasters that were coming to them. (cfr. Lk 17,26-37) 

 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all,” he said. “Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.” (Lk 17,26-29) 

 Now that the liturgical year is approaching its end, we are reminded that there are such things as our death, the end of time and the second coming of Christ. We should be prepared always for these events, and align all the elements of our earthly life toward them. In other words, let’s have a proper focus. 

 For this, we definitely need to be taught so we can learn how to have that focus. But to learn, we need to study and develop the proper attitudes, practices, virtues, etc. We have to undergo a certain discipline and follow a well-thought-out plan. 

 Definitely, an important element in that plan would be the habit of “settling accounts” with God by making daily examinations of conscience. In our spiritual lives, it is important that we settle accounts with God regularly. In fact, saints and the Church herself have recommended that we make a daily examination of conscience just before going to bed. 

 This is to see if the day went as it should, that is, if love for God and neighbor is really the motive behind all our actions, and so that we at least can be reconciled with God no matter how the day went. We should at least say sorry to God, even if we still have to do things to make up for our mistakes and sins. 

 This is an important task, because more than just resting physically, mentally or emotionally, we need to be at peace with God at the end of the day. God is everything to us. Regardless of our status at the moment, whether good or bad, moral or immoral, God not only will tell us what to do but also will give us what we need at that time. 

 In this regard, let’s hope that the daily practice of examination of conscience becomes normal and widespread in us. It’s a real necessity, just like the daily accounting that business firms do if they are serious with their businesses. And frankly, can there be any more decisive human endeavor than caring for our soul, our principle of life? 

 The daily practice of examination of conscience means a lot of things. For one, it means that we understand that our life is not just a natural, material, individual or social affair. Or simply our life. 

 It would show that we know our life is a life with God and with others, pursued and developed in the spiritual and moral spheres more than in anything else. We need to do some accounting of it not only for our own interest, but also and more importantly for the sake of God and of the others.

Developing the eschatological sense

WE have to be familiar with this aspect or dimension of our earthly life. We need to develop what is known as the eschatological sense or the eschatological mind. That is to say, we need to realize that there are such things as the Last Things, namely, death, judgment, hell or heaven. It also involves the realization that there is such thing as the second coming of Christ, for which we should always be prepared. 

 We are somehow reminded of this dimension in the gospel when Christ was asked by some Pharisees about when the Kingdom of God is coming. (Lk 17,20-25) Christ’s response was that its coming cannot be observed since that Kingdom is among us. That is to say, its coming depends on how we are preparing ourselves for it or leading ourselves to it. 

 We have to remember that our earthly life is not our definitive life. It is only transitory that is meant to be some test God is giving us. It is to see if what God wants us to be, that is, to be his image and likeness, is also what we ourselves would choose to be. Every event in our life here on earth is actually a test, an occasion to make our choice. We therefore need to know how to make the right choice. 

 For this, we of course need to be guided by our Christian faith, which definitely is first of all God’s gift to us before it is something that we have to develop and live by. As creatures of God endowed with intelligence and will and given his grace, we are not meant to be guided only by our empirical sciences and technologies. 

 With our intelligence and will, plus God’s grace, we are meant and equipped to transcend the natural dimension of our humanity in order to enter into the spiritual and supernatural reality of our life. This is something that we have to understand very well so that we do not get unduly entangled with our earthly and temporal affairs, not knowing how to make use of them to lead us to the Kingdom of God. 

 Otherwise, we can be accused of what Christ said about what would it profit us if we gain the whole world but would lose our soul which comes from God and is meant to be with God, sharing his life and nature. (cfr. Mk 8,36) 

 We should therefore need to develop the eschatological sense and to be always prepared for the second coming of Christ who will establish the definitive Kingdom of God among us. Doing so is not meant to scare us, but rather to put us in a very realistic mode about our life. 

 There will come a time when we will die or when the world itself comes to an end. That realization should sharpen our sense of what is essential in our life and of what is the true and ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. It’s not meant to give us a gloomy picture of life and the world in general, or to put us into unnecessary worry and stress. 

 If we truly abide by our Christian faith, we know that we are assured of a happy ending, given God’s proven goodness and eagerness to give us mercy in case we find ourselves in the worst of conditions. We just have to be open to God’s will through our faith and trust in his providence even if we cannot fully follow it.

The Church is sacred in spite of…

WE are reminded of this character of the Church on the Feast of the Dedication of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome on November 9. This basilica is honored as the episcopal seat of the Pope as Bishop of Rome. It is the “mother and head of all churches of Rome and the world.” 

 In the gospel reading of this feast, we are told about how Christ drove away those who turned the temple area in Jerusalem into a marketplace. (cfr. Jn 2,13-22) “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace,” he said. 

 The gospel obviously tells us that the church is a sacred place. As Christ said, it is his Father’s house, the house of God. It’s where we are supposed to have our definitive home for all eternity, united with God and all the saints. Of course, while here on earth, the church can only approximate that ideal, but we should treat it as best that we can as a sacred place. 

 The gospel also highlights the truth that there is such thing as righteous anger as shown by Christ himself in that episode. Anger is a human emotion that has a rightful place in our nature. But we should learn to deal with it properly, because unless inspired by faith, hope and charity, that emotion can only be harmful to us. 

 We just have to be wary of our anger because as St. James already warned us in his letter, “man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.” (1,20) We always tend to go overboard, and our anger can already go beyond the scope of charity and righteousness. 

 Let’s never forget that we have a wounded condition here in our earthly life. We may appear strong and clearly endowed with powerful talents and resources, but all these good things can blind and intoxicate us also and can plunge us into a very subtle forms of pride, vanity, arrogance and self-righteousness. 

 We can feel that we have all the truth and fairness in our side, but just the same all that can still be held outside of charity. And let’s remember that charity is the fullness of knowledge, truth, justice. Where there is no charity, the charity of God, all the other virtues can at best be only apparent. They can look and feel like virtues, but in reality are not. 

 But in spite of all our weaknesses, we have to realize also that the Church is actually for all, both the saintly and the sinful. It is meant to help everyone in the way they need to be helped. We always have that need. And the Church has all the things we need to achieve our final goal despite the varying conditions of our life here on earth. 

 Let’s remember that the fullness of our quality of life is when we are truly with God who can help us to deal with whatever situation or condition we may find ourselves in this life. Let’s overcome the thinking that the quality of our life simply depends on whether we are lucky enough to be rich, intelligent, talented, powerful, etc. 

 We may be poor, not gifted or lucky enough to be intelligent, talented, or powerful, but if we are with God, we actually have the best quality of life!

Gratuitous and generous self-giving

THAT’S how our self-giving should be. It should be both gratuitous and generous, without expecting any reward nor counting the cost. We should just give and give, knowing that God can never be outdone in generosity. He gives himself completely to us. We should learn to give ourselves to him completely as well. 

 We are reminded of this condition in our life in that gospel where Christ talked about the unprofitable servant. (cfr. Lk 17,7-10) “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do,’” he said. (Lk 17,10) 

 This should be the attitude in our self-giving. We should not worry about anything, because God knows everything and gives us everything that we need. The more we give of ourselves, the more he will reward us. 

 We just have to do our self-giving very freely. As Christ himself told his apostles, “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Mt 10,8) And the first one to live by this principle is Christ himself. He gave himself freely to us, including his own life. He did not mind the sacrifices, the insults and mistreatment he underwent. 

 This is what true love is. It is a total self-giving. But the mysterious part of it is that it actually generates more love and self-giving in others. It inspires others to give themselves in the way of true love. That is why true love has its own reward. It has the dynamic of being repaid also with love. 

 We should always be encouraged to give ourselves to others gratuitously without strings attached, without conditions. Even if instead of being reciprocated properly and requited, our love is misunderstood and rejected, we just have to go on loving. The only reason for loving is because that is what true love is. It is this love that is the real essence of God, of whom we are his image and likeness. 

 Loving in this way can only mean giving all the glory to God. We have to be careful because we always have the tendency to give glory to ourselves, if not totally then at least partially. Our motto should be “Deo omnis gloria,” all the glory to God. 

 We should not worry about our own glorification because God will take care of it. This is what St. Paul said in this regard: “For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…And those he predestined he also called. Those he called he also justified. Those he justified he also glorified…If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8,29-31) 

 And we should be generous in our self-giving, because the more generous we are with God and with others, the more generous God will be with us. This is just a simple law of ‘we reap what we sow.’ We usually sow just a seed, but with the generosity with which we take care of that seed, we are bound to get a lot of fruit later on. 

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

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

Toughness amid unavoidable scandals

YES, we have to be tough, with the toughness of charity, amid the unavoidable scandals in the world. Christ already warned us about this. “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,” he said. (Lk 17,1) We should just be prepared for this condition in our life. 

 While those who cause scandals in others would be severely punished—"It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Lk 17,2)—we should avoid reacting to these unavoidable scandals by falling into lack of charity. 

 If we have the charity that Christ commands us to live, we would know how to deal with these eventualities, willing to suffer and be patient while thinking of how we can help those who cause these scandals and those who are victimized by them. 

 As St. Paul said, true charity “does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth. Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.” (1 Cor 13,7) It’s indeed a big challenge to live by that charity, but with God’s grace which we should always ask, we know that we can hack it. 

 What we should always do is to be most mindful of our words and deeds, because no matter how insignificant they may seem, we may already cause a scandal in others. And we also have to strengthen our defenses against scandals, so that instead of thinking badly, for example, of someone due to what we have seen or heard, we are ready to understand and help. 

 And scandal need not be in the sexual department only which is already a grave sin. It may only be a matter of gossip of any kind, as long as we cause another person to sin by thinking badly of someone or by leading him to have some critical thoughts, mental reservations, rash judgments, etc. 

 Of course, we have to distinguish between the temptation of scandal and the sin of scandal itself. Temptation is only temptation and is not yet a sin because we have not yet consented to it, though we may already be attracted to it. The sin of scandal is when we consent to the temptation and, worse, when we enjoy it and spread it around. 

 What we should always realize is we have a duty, as Christians, to always give good example to others. Not that we have to flaunt whatever good thing we have or do, doing some kind of virtue signalling, for Christ clearly said also that we should not show off our good deeds before men, to be seen by them, lest we lose our reward in heaven. (cfr. Mt 6,1) 

 We have to be aware that we always have to give good example to others for the sole purpose of leading others to God. It is to edify others, to encourage them to be holy and to pursue the path of sanctity in an abiding way. 

 This duty, therefore, should be carried out deliberately. It should somehow be planned and aimed at. It should not just be something incidental or something optional. Of course, this duty should not be done out of pride or vanity, but out of obedience to the will of God who wants to save all men. (cfr. 1 Tim 2,4)

Marriage and human sexuality

THAT gospel episode where Christ was asked about marriage and divorce (cfr. Lk 20,27-38) gives us an occasion to clarify the true nature and purpose of both human sexuality and marriage. It’s a clarification that, I believe, is most urgent these days, considering the widespread ignorance, confusion and error these aspects of our human life now suffer. 

 Our main problem with respect to our understanding and attitude toward human sexuality is that this has been reduced to a purely biological and human aspect of hormones, passions, urges, instincts, sensual stimuli and genital activity, and a naturalistic sense of decency and nothing more. 

 This is giving it an incomplete, inadequate if not distorted and dangerous treatment. We need to bring it to the terra firma of its true nature and character, its authentic beginning, purpose and end, away from the swamps and marshes of the sensually, if not genitally, dominated aspect. 

 Sexuality is reduced to sex. Worse, sex is made the end-all of our sexuality. All other considerations are made secondary, and even ignored, ridiculed and finally rejected. Thus, there is that growing, headlong drift toward an erotic and pornographic culture, at first hidden and later open. 

 Because of this phenomenon, sexuality is not anymore inspired by reason, let alone, by faith and love. Instead, the savagery of the passions and urges is given free rein, with the matching fruits of all kinds of anomalies and perversions. 

 Many people are abandoning even the basic natural idea of masculinity and femininity. That our sexuality is first of all a gift from God, meant to enable men and women to complement each other not only for human development but ultimately for the final communion among ourselves and with God, is forgotten. 

 As to marriage, there is no doubt that we need to revisit its true nature and purpose, since this basic human and Christian institution is now besieged with so many misconceptions and malpractices. 

 There is a need to realize and appreciate more deeply that marriage, not only as a natural institution but also and especially as a sacrament, is a path to sanctity not only for the husband and wife but also for the family, and from the family, for the society and the Church in general. 

 We need to see the organic link among these key elements: the marriage between man and woman, and the family they generate, as well as the society of which the family is the basic cell and the universal Church of which the family is considered the domestic church. 

 Seeing that link, we would appreciate the strategic role that marriage plays in the life of men and women in the world. We would appreciate the tremendous potential good that marriage can give to all of us. 

 That is why everything has to be done to make marriage achieve its fullest dignity. And that means that we have to purify and elevate the love that is the very germ of marriage to the supernatural order. 

 That love has to develop from simply being natural and body-emotion-world reliant to being more and more spiritual and supernatural, driven by grace rather than by merely natural forces. 

 With the sacrament of marriage, the love between husband and wife is already guaranteed to have all the graces needed to make that marriage reach its fullness. What is needed is the faithful and generous correspondence of the parties concerned to those graces.

Dealing with the world’s unavoidable evils

OF course, this is going to be a most tricky challenge. But we just have to learn how to deal with the world’s unavoidable evils without compromising both truth and charity that can lead us to respond to evil with evil. 

 We are reminded of this concern in the gospel where Christ told his disciples a very intriguing parable about the dishonest steward. (cfr. Lk 16,1-8) A rich man decided to fire his steward for mismanaging his business. And the steward, knowing what was going to happen, had to do some cheating so he would have security after being fired. 

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

 At first sight, it would seem that God, who must have been personified in some way by the rich man in the parable, is ok with cheating, with being dishonest, with being calculating as leverage for one’s personal gain and interest. 

 Even the so-called liberal gospel commentators raise their eyebrows over this parable and have to take great pains to find the rationale behind this parable. You can just imagine how the so-called conservative gospel commentators would justify this parable! 

 To me, it simply means that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual. 

 We should just learn how to carry out what Christ indicated for his disciples: to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Mt 10,16). Definitely, by carrying out what Christ indicated, we cannot help but get dirtied somehow. But hopefully it would be a dirt that does not compromise our true Christian identity. 

 The secret again is to be like Christ through whom we can manage to live out what St. Paul once described: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,11-13) 

 We should be ready to face any kind of circumstances and conditions in life without getting confused, much less, lost, in our Christian identity. We should not be Christians during fair weather only. We have to be Christians for all seasons and weathers. 

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

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

Dealing with our differences and conflicts

THE great lesson we can learn from the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (cfr. Lk 15,1-10) is that with the unavoidable differences and conflicts among ourselves, we have a golden opportunity to be like Christ and develop the true charity that knows how to love everyone in spite of whatever. 

 Like Christ, we have to take the initiative to understand everyone, to be patient and willing to suffer for whatever it takes to have that all-inclusive kind of love. Far from turning us off or distancing ourselves from the parties concerned when we experience these differences and conflicts, we should all the more be interested to be with them, to help and love them in whatever way we can, always with God’s grace. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to keep grudges, resentments, critical and negative thoughts, mental reservations, etc., against anyone when we are confronted with these differences and conflicts. We should try our best to rid ourselves of them no matter how small or insignificant we think they may seem to us. 

 Only love that channels the love of Christ for all of us can handle this condition when we have to deal with our unavoidable differences and conflicts. When we find it hard to have that love, we have to beg God for the grace, and little by little develop the appropriate attitude, virtues and spirit. 

 Obviously, some struggle would be involved here. And it can be of the severe kind. But as long as we go to God for help, we can manage to win and conquer those human and natural weaknesses and limitations that hamper our power to have the charity of Christ. 

 Let’s remember that when we react negatively toward these differences and conflicts, it would be as if God is showing us those weaknesses and limitations that we need to correct and transcend with God’s grace. In a sense, we should be welcoming of these differences so that we can know ourselves better and have the chance to become more Christ-like as we should be. 

 We should bring these issues in our prayer, always begging God for light and strength. We should remind ourselves that as St. Paul told us, as long as we are with God, all things will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 The ideal condition of our heart is that of being light and bearing nothing other than pure love and understanding for everyone. As such, we can live what St. Paul described how true charity should be: “Charity is patient, is kind, does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated, is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil…” (1 Cor 13,1-6) 

 So, we just have to learn how to be sport and game with everyone without compromising the rules of the game, so to speak. Foul is foul, cheating is cheating, and the appropriate penalties should be given, but the game has to go on. 

 Just the same, we have to be ready to get dirty. There is actually no game where the sportsman does not get dirty or does not experience extreme tensions and suspense. 

 In this regard, we have to realize more deeply that we need to be strong and flexible ourselves. Thus, we have to undergo continuing formation, just like those good athletes who never fail to practice daily and to go through endless training exercises.