When life gets tough

GIVEN our human condition, marked always by all kinds of weaknesses, limitations, mistakes and other negative things, we should be ready to face and bear them, never by our lonesome, but always with Christ who is always around, ever ready to help us in many and often mysterious ways. We should develop the instinct to do this, training ourselves to always go to Christ especially when times get tough. 

 We are somehow reminded of this piece of advice in that gospel episode where a leper, despite his condition and the big crowd he had to contend with, managed to approach Christ asking for healing. And true enough, without further ado, he was healed. (cfr. Mt 8,1-4) 

 There is just one thing we have to bear in mind when we carry out this advice. We should see to it that our plea for help from Christ should not just be in pursuit of some personal convenience or advantage. 

 While that may be the immediate motive, the constant and ultimate motive should be that we would like be like God, sharers of his life and nature, as he wants us to be. When God gives us what we ask, our sense of gratitude should make us progress in our pursuit to become like God. 

 We should always remember that every event and circumstance of our life, whether good or bad in human terms, is meant to test us if we want to be like God as we should or we would simply want to be by ourselves. 

 The same is true when we ask for forgiveness for our sins which in the end is more important than just healing of some health issues. The contrition or repentance we have to make for our sins should be the perfect one, not the imperfect type. 

 In the latter, we would be sorry for our sins because of the ugliness of our sin. We would be sorry for our sins so we can feel good about ourselves. In the former, we would sorry for our sins out of love of God, out of our desire to be more and more like God as we should. 

 While we would always be forgiven even if our contrition is imperfect, that kind of repentance would sooner or later spoil us and would not give us the grace to avoid the same sins for which we are asking forgiveness. It may even lead us to a subtle kind of spiritual pride and vanity that is worse than the material or external one. 

 We should try our best to make a perfect contrition that will keep us humble and in need of God always, never daring to be simply on our own. With perfect contrition, we continue to make our journey toward heaven. With imperfect contrition, we somehow make a stop along the way which can open to some dangers. 

 It’s important that we purify and rectify our intention when we ask for forgiveness for our sins. For this, we need to do some practical and relevant exercises, since we have to contend with subtle enemies that can undermine our desire to make a perfect contrition. 

 Nowadays, those of us who simply make imperfect contrition when we go to confession, cannot help but fall to the same sins again and again. That’s because the grace of real, deep and thorough conversion has not been received properly.

Despite our weaknesses and sins

On the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, celebrated on June 29, we are somehow reminded that God can work well with and through anyone of us who obviously has his own share of weaknesses, not to mention, sins. 

 In the case of these two apostles, we know that St. Peter denied Christ three times, but later on repented. St. Paul, before his conversion, was a rabid persecutor of the early Christians. And yet Christ not only chose them as apostles but also gave them some leading roles in the life of the Church. 

 We should always hope and be open to the many mysterious and wonderful ways of God. No matter how bad people, things and events may look, there is always that possibility that they can still turn out to be good, useful and faithful. We should never be condemnatory of anyone or anything in the final sense of the word. 

 Yes, we of course have to uphold as clearly as possible the distinction between what is right and wrong, what is good and evil. But to make the final judgment on persons and things belongs only to God. We should never preempt God in this. 

 Practically everyone who worked for God in the Bible had their own share of weaknesses and even sin. We can mention a few, like Abraham, Isaac, Moses, etc. The same with all the apostles. St. Joseph thought of separating from Our Lady when he found out she was already with child before they lived together. 

 In the case of Judas Iscariot, I was happy to learn from the late Pope Benedict XVI that despite what he did to Christ, we cannot make the final judgment of condemnation on him. That belongs to God alone. What we know about him is that while what he did to Christ was truly wrong, there was a sign of repentance on his part though he carried it out also in the wrong way by committing suicide. 

 All these only prove that God can work well with sinners, somehow giving credence to what St. Paul once said—“Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.” (Rome 5,20) 

 On our part, we just have to be aware that we are always prone to sin, but there is always hope. God will always do everything to bring us back to him. What we just have to do is to try our best to foster a spirit of penance for our unavoidable mistakes, failures and sin, and to always feel the need for continuing conversion. 

 We should always feel the need for conversion. The mark of true saints is precisely the awareness of their weaknesses and sinfulness, and also their hunger and thirst for repentance and conversion. Whatever good they did humbled them instead of leaving them proud. They knew who and what was behind all the accomplishments they made, and were more keenly aware of their inadequacies, their mistakes, faults, infidelities, etc. 

 It’s their driving love for God and souls that keep them feeling always the need for penance and conversion. It’s not just fear of sin and evil that provokes this hunger. It’s love of God and souls. It’s this love that made them see many things that they need to do. 

 Due to this love, they also sharply knew that on their own, all they could do is evil, not good. St. Augustine said something to this effect. We are actually nothing without God. We simply would have no resistance against evil.

Our prophetic duty

IN the gospel, there is a part where Christ warns us about false prophets. (cfr. Mt 7,15-20) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves,” he said. “By their fruits you will know them.” 

 We cannot deny that the world today is awash with false prophets and demagogues. It even looks like there is an infestation. Whether we look at the fields of politics, business, the sciences, sports and entertainment, and, worst of all, religion, we can readily find dishonest and corrupt leaders, false prophets and lying teachers. 

 It actually should be no surprise. Since time immemorial, and even during the time of Christ, these people proliferated. Our human condition, if not grounded on God, is vulnerable to it. We can´t help it. Our world can easily produce the caustive elements and factors. And we can never run out of potential materials. 

 Such sad phenomenon should remind us of our duty to take more seriously our prophetic duty. This duty is incumbent on everyone, obviously in varying ways. This is what the Catechism teaches regarding this duty: 

 “The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith . . . once for all delivered to the saints," and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.” (785) 

 We therefore need to study seriously the doctrine of our Christian faith, making such doctrine flesh of our flesh in such a way that we can truly personify Christ himself. Let’s remember what Christ told his disciples which can be applied to us who believe in him: “He who hears you hears me, he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Lk 10,16) 

 This is, of course, a test of faith for us, since we are always given the choice of either believing in what God through Christ in the Spirit and now in the Church teaches us, or sticking to our own views and personal beliefs. 

 Of course, that faith has to be translated into deeds and life itself. For this, we have to avail of some effective means and practices to keep that faith alive, that faith that should lead us to hope and charity. As much as possible, we have to be consistent in this way of life everyday. 

 These means and practices can be the frequent recourse to the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, availing of some program of ongoing formation which should last till death, waging some ascetical struggle to continually develop virtues and fight off temptations and sin, coming up with a plan of life where we spend time for personal prayer and some devotions, especially that to our Lady. 

 It’s important that we put ourselves always in the presence of God, and see to it that our thoughts, desires and intentions, our feelings, words and actions, begin with God and end with him also. We have to be wary to give witness to Christ in our daily activities. 

 Let us always remember that everyday we should see to it that we are progressing in our lifelong journey to become more and more the image and likeness of God as God wants us to be. 

 This is what our prophetic duty entails.

Some divine indications

IN the gospel, there is a part where Christ tells us some indications meant to guide us in our earthly journey. (Mt 7,6.12-14) “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Mt 7,6) 

 These are words that clearly tell us that we need to develop an abiding sense of the sacred even as we immerse ourselves with the mundane things of the world. They are meant to remind us that our life is not simply a natural human life, but is also a supernatural life with God. 

 As image and likeness of God, our life cannot help but be also sacred as it is a shared life with God. We cannot help but also handle sacred things in our life, like the sacraments and the sacramentals. In fact, the natural moral law that governs our moral life should be regarded also as sacred. We just cannot treat it the way we treat the purely natural law of physics, chemistry, biology and the like. 

 And then, Christ continues to tell us about the Golden Rule. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.” (Mt 7,12) This is a basic ethical law that should govern the way we treat each other. It’s a way to achieve the basic peace and order in our social life. 

 This Golden Rule reminds me of the way we handle the traffic on the road which can be a good image of how our life actually is. There are many vehicles going in different directions. We just have to learn how to give and take so that each one can reach his destination safely. Especially in a heavy traffic situation, there should be a good sense of reciprocity, flexibility and adaptability. 

 This does not mean that there are no absolute truths that all should follow. We just have to learn how to live and uphold it in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts not only in matters of opinion but also in matters of belief. 

 We need to remind ourselves that truth in the end can only be achieved if it is also lived, upheld and defended in charity. That is why, we should be ready to go through unavoidable suffering the way Christ suffered to live and defend the truth in charity. In fact, suffering can be the very touchstone of truth in charity. 

 Thus, Christ also said that to arrive at our proper destination, we need to enter by the narrow gate. “Enter through the narrow gate,” he said. “For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” 

 That is why he also said in another part of the gospel that for us to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) We can readily see the wisdom of this divine indication when we realize how easy it is for us to be deceived, confused and trapped into some kind of a silo when we just follow what we want. 

 We always need to follow the will of God, not just our own will, for that in the end is what is proper to us.

Careful with our judgments

YES, we really need to be most careful with our judgments, since it is very easy for us to fall into rash judgments. Given our personal weaknesses and the conditions around, that tendency to make rash judgments is always there. We need to be wary of it and do whatever we can to counter it. 

 We are reminded of this danger when Christ said, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” (Mt 7,1-2) 

 We need to understand these words of Christ well. To be sure, he does not mean that we should never make judgments, since in the first place we are by nature made to judge. The fact that we have intelligence and will, and that we are meant to know and to love, simply presumes that we are made to judge. We cannot know anything nor love anyone if we do not make a judgment. 

 Thus, in that gospel cited above, Christ said took it as a given that we are made to judge. “For as you judge, so will you be judged,” he said. What Christ wanted to tell us that we just have to make sure that our judgments are fair and prudent. And given the limitations of our human condition, we have to be most wary when we make judgments. 

 Nowadays, with all the “Mariteses” around and the pervading culture of spreading all kinds of spins and narratives in the areas of journalism, politics, etc., we need to make extra effort to be protected from the pressure of making rash judgments. 

 But more than just being protective and resistant to this tendency of making rash judgments, we should enhance our duty to take the initiative to make charitable judgments of everyone and everything. 

 That means that we should try to think well of everyone and of everything. Even if we see defects, mistakes and other forms of evil, our judgment should remain charitable rather than simply condemnatory. Of course, we should keep the distinction between what is right and wrong, good and evil. 

 When we are faced with any form of evil, let us remember that we actually are given a golden opportunity to grow in charity. That should be the attitude to have in that kind of situation. Obviously, we would initially feel bad and can fall into anger and the like when evil comes our way. But we should not stay long there. We have to convert that situation into an occasion to be more charitable. 

 For this to take place, we obviously need to identify ourselves more closely with Christ who is the personification of charity and sound judgments. He gives us the proper example of how to be charitable in our judgments and reactions to the various events and conditions of our life. 

 Let’s realize that we can only see, judge and know persons, events and things properly when we have a vibrant interior or spiritual life, a vital link not only with theories and principles, but with God himself. 

 Let’s never dare to emit judgments that are mere products of our own making. We have to make them always in the presence of God and motivated by nothing other than love for God and for everybody else. We have to continually check on the rectitude of our intention, and the correctness and timeliness of our words and deeds.

Be fearless to proclaim the Good News

CHRIST exhorts us to be so. “So do not be afraid of them,” he said. “Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (Mt 10,26-28) 

 If we believe in Christ, we know that we have nothing to be afraid of, as long as we carry out his will. He will take care of everything. Yes, some effort, even extraordinary effort would be needed. And we can expect all kinds of challenges and difficulties along the way. We would not be exempted from suffering. But then again, Christ takes care of everything. 

 In another part of the gospel, he clearly gave us this assurance. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” he said. (Jn 16,33) We need to etch these words indelibly in our mind and heart as we carry out our Christian duty to evangelize and to do apostolate. 

 Truth is the world, especially these days when it is spiralling out of control in a sophisticated web of attractive errors and confusion, is in great need of God’s word and spirit. We have to follow what St. Paul once said, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 

 “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim 4,2-4) 

 Let’s also keep in mind what Christ said about when we are faithful to his will and when we are not. “If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven,” he said. “But the one who disowns me in the presence of human beings, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.” (Mt 10,32-33) 

 If we want to be truly and consistently Christian, we would give no place in our heart for fear other than that wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit that is the healthy fear of the Lord. That fear of the Lord is the fear of offending God that would lead anyone to prefer to die for Christ rather than to sin. 

 About the only reason to fear, worry and be sad is when we lose our faith, when we lose touch with God. We have to pray and pray so that our doubts and fears would not undermine our faith. 

 Let’s not waste time and energy by falling into the grips of fears, worries and sadness. When we notice that we are having some languid moments, it can be a sign that our faith is not working, and that we are succumbing to the laws of the flesh and the world, if not, to the tricks of the devil. 

 Especially in our dark and difficult moments, which these days are not anymore uncommon, when we feel so miserable that we can think that we have been deserted by God, we need to react immediately and reassure ourselves strongly that God never fails us.

A most timely and important reminder

“DO not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (Mt 6,19-21) 

 These words of Christ are a most timely and important reminder to all of us who are now immersed in the many new and highly irresistible developments in the world today. We have to make a shout-out of this reminder, proclaiming it loud and clear, broad and wide. We really need to make a serious campaign to warn people of the dangers of the new developments which obviously also give us a lot of advantages, etc. 

 We cannot deny that what we are having these days can easily swallow us up and trap us in a world of our own, detached from where we ought to be! The powerful technologies and other developments we are enjoying these days can be so tricky that we may not even realize that we are already falling into pure self-indulgence, the opposite of love which is what is proper to us. 

 To be able to abide by this reminder we need to learn how to be most prudent, discerning and discriminating in our ways. This can only happen if we are guided only by one principle—that everything we do should be done with God and for God, since in the end that is the real purpose of our life here on earth. In other words, that while we busy ourselves with our temporal affairs, we should try our best to remain recollected. 

 That’s actually a big challenge, since we are easily fascinated by the charms of our modern technologies and the other new developments we have today. We need to realize that these very attractive developments require of us nothing less than a more solid grounding in our spiritual life. Without this strong spiritual foundation, there is no way we can put ourselves in the proper path toward our real destination. 

 That is why Christ told us that to follow him, we should learn to deny ourselves and carry cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) I don’t think Christ wants us to disengage ourselves from the things of this world. He just wants us to practice a certain detachment from the things of this world. It’s a detachment that would enable us to do things with God and for God while going about our temporal activities. 

 For this we need to have the right intention in anything we do, and rectify and purify it whenever our intention goes somewhere else. We need to convince ourselves that it is all worthwhile to do everything for God and with God. We need to see the truth of how such intention would actually give us our true joy, our true perfection, even if pursuing it would involve certain sacrifices. 

 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.

What is to pray properly

CHRIST told us how to pray properly. “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words,” he said. “Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Mt 6,7-8) 

 In other words, we have to pray sincerely, avoiding just going through the motions of praying. We should see to it that that when we pray, we get to have an intimate and direct conversation with God who is always with us and, like a father, treats us with love and solicitude. He actually is eager to talk with us always. Our problem is that we often ignore him, something that we should correct. 

 This will require faith, of course, since without it there is no way we can have a real conversation with God. Even if our faith is not that strong, we still can manage to strike a good conversation with God, precisely by asking with all humility and importunity for that faith, echoing what a father of an epileptic son told Christ, “I believe, but help my unbelief.” (Mk 9,24) 

 And it’s interesting to note that after Christ told his disciples not to babble when praying, he told them the Lord’s Prayer which we usually refer to as the “Our Father.” “This is how you are to pray…,” (cfr. Mt 6,9-15) he said. It’s as if that prayer is the model prayer we have to follow in any personal prayer we do. We should express the same beliefs, attitude, intentions and petitions articulated in that prayer. 

 We therefore have to realize that prayer is how we maintain and nourish our relationship with God, and that relationship should be that of a father and a child. Prayer keeps alive our desire for God, a desire to be like God as we are meant to be. 

 We have to realize that praying is to our spiritual life what breathing and the beating of the heart are to our biological life. That is why St. Paul clearly said, “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thes 5,17-18) 

 When we manage to truly pray, we can also manage to protect ourselves from all kinds of evil, and to heal whatever wounds and weaknesses we may have because of our sins. A sense of holy invulnerability can come to us. We can find peace and joy in spite of the drama of our life. 

 We have to be careful not to convert our prayer into something that is meant only to foster our pursuit for some self-interest that is separated from our desire to be like God. That is why in the Lord’s Prayer, we address God as our Father, and we express the desire that his kingdom come here on earth and that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

 And while we have many things to ask because of our personal needs, we should not forget that the more important thing to ask is forgiveness of our sins which will always be given as long as we also forgive others. 

 We just cannot resort to prayer during special occasions when we are faced with some difficulty. Prayer is not meant to be the remedy of last resort. It is what we have to do always, both in good times and bad.

The proper intention

IN all our moral acts which are done knowingly and freely, we should have the proper intention. That’s because our intention plays a crucial role in our life. It is where we decide whether we would like to be with God or simply with our own selves, to glorify God, love and help others, or simply play the game of self-indulgence. 

 We are reminded of this duty to have the proper intention in that gospel episode where Christ told his disciples, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.” (Mt 6,1-2) 

 We know that with our intention, we can direct our acts to God, following what was once indicated by St. Paul, “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. 

 This is so, since God, being the Creator, 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. 

 Even if we are not aware, or refuse to be aware, of this choice, 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 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 need to actively purify our intentions, since we have to contend with many spoilers in this regard these days. In fact, we just have to look around and see how openly opposed many people are of directing their intentions to God. 

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

 This moral law is universal in character. There is something essential in it that cannot change in spite of the variations that this law can come to us due to the differences of cultural, historical and social conditionings, etc. 

 When we have the proper intention, we would be pursuing what is truly good for us. We would be approaching the fullness of our humanity, in fact.

Called to pure love

WE have to know what pure love is since we are called to it. Christ described it in this way: “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Mt 5,43-45) 

 We have to understand that love is something that we do and give gratuitously, without counting the cost nor expecting any reward. And it is made greater when it is given to someone whom we consider to be unlikeable or unlovable. 

 We have to be ready to develop this kind of love since it definitely requires a lot of sacrifice and self-denial. It requires more than our human resources and reasons for loving. It requires nothing less than God’s grace, our total identification with Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. Yes, only with God can we have this kind of love. 

 True love cannot and should not be quantified in terms of cost and reward. It is above all these considerations. It’s a purely spiritual operation that should not be spoiled by giving it some material and temporal value. It’s where we can approximate, keep and build up that dignity of being the image and likeness of God and adopted children of his. It’s how we become God-like. 

 This is the language of love that was first initiated by God to us and that has generated an endless cycle of love, of gratuitous self-giving to God and to one another. It is important that we feel this tremendous love of God for us so that we can return love with love, with God as the first object of our love and all the others as a consequence. 

 Let’s remember that God’s love for us accounts for everything that is good in us—our life, our talents and the many other endowments and blessings that we may not even realize. And more than this, God has given us his own self by making us his image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life. 

 And even if we have damaged that original gift, God has given us his own Son who became man to save us. In other words, God has given us the greatest gift, no less than his own Son who, aside from becoming man like us, had to offer his life on the cross as a ransom for our sins. 

 We have to learn how to be most aware of this reality of God’s gift to us so that we can learn also how to give ourselves as a gift to him and to everybody else. That’s why Christ told us, “freely you have received, freely give.” (Mt 10,8) 

 Christ concretely expressed this way of gratuitous self-giving in the new commandment he gave us that we have to love one another as he himself has loved us. It’s a love, a self-giving that is completely gratuitous without counting the cost nor expecting any reward. 

 Everyday, we have to try to approximate this kind of love. We are actually given many opportunities to develop this kind of love in our daily routine as we meet all kinds of people and situations.

When faced with evil

WE have to be ready to make the proper reaction when we are confronted with evil in any form. We cannot deny that in our life, we cannot avoid some evil. It’s a fact of life that we should learn how to deal with properly. 

 And the way to do it is what Christ himself said. “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil,” he said. 

 And he continued: “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” (Mt 5,38-42) 

 It’s important that we be very familiar with this indication directly spelled out to us by Christ. We need to study how we can develop the relevant attitude, practices and virtues for us to follow this Christian precept. 

 I imagine that whenever we are wronged by someone, our spontaneous reaction may be that of anger, hatred, revenge and the like. But we should not allow ourselves to stay long there. We need to rectify ourselves, and always asking for God’s grace, make the effort to understand and reach out to the party involved with the intention to help even as we try to clarify the issue at hand. 

 We can always pray and offer sacrifices for that person. That’s the least that we can do for him. But we have to be ready to follow the example of Christ who in the end simply offered his life on the cross, offering forgiveness to those who crucified him, and conquering all the sins and malice of men through his passion, death and resurrection. 

 Obviously, for us to have this kind of reaction, we really need to be identified with Christ. Only with him can we manage to be magnanimous and merciful even as we encounter all kinds of injustice and evil in our life. 

 This is a very intriguing part of our Christian faith. Not only should we love our enemies, as Christ taught us, but we also need to drown evil with an abundance of good. This was specifically articulated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans where he said: 

 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Rom 12,17-20) 

 We have to try our best to erase whatever disbelief, doubt or skepticism we can have as we consider this teaching, since most likely, our first and spontaneous reaction to it would precisely be those conditions. We can ask, even if done only interiorly, “Is Christ really serious about this? Can this thing that Christ and St. Paul are telling us, possible, doable?” 

 When these reactions come to us, it is time to remind ourselves that we just have to follow our faith that definitely contains a lot of mysteries and things supernatural that we are not expected to understand fully. Like Our Lady and all the saints, we should just believe and do what we are told because it is Christ who said so, and because it is the Church that teaches us so.

Called to selfless and generous apostolate

IF we truly want to be consistent with our Christian identity, then we should feel the urge to respond positively and eagerly to what Christ once told his disciples, “The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest.” (Mt 9, 37) 

 That was why, Christ immediately summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to drive them out and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness. (cfr. Mt 10,1) Then he told them, “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those suffering from virulent skin-diseases, drive out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.” (Mt 10,8) 

 It is important to note that these words are also meant for all of us who wish to follow Christ as we should. We should not forget that since we are meant to be “another Christ,” we also share in his continuing mission of saving mankind, which is what apostolate is all about. 

 For this, we need to develop a keen sense of vocation. It should be clear to all that everyone has a vocation. Everyone is called by God to carry out a mission that ultimately is a matter of our salvation. 

 To be sure, no one comes to existence by mere accident nor by pure chance and divine caprice. God does not create us at random. Even a person who is considered unwanted by his parents or is conceived through rape is already a person planned and loved by God from all eternity. This is a fundamental truth about ourselves that we should never take for granted. 

 Thus, we should try to develop this sense of vocation as early as possible. And this can mean as early as when one is still a child, already beginning to be aware of what and who he or she is. This normally should start in the family, with the parents playing a major role in this affair since they are our first teachers here on earth. 

 The parents should be quick in sowing the seeds of this sense of vocation by making the child aware that he or she just did not come from them but from God. And that he or she also belongs to God. This basic truth should always be reinforced all throughout the process of bringing up and educating the child. 

 The parents should therefore plant the rudiments of piety in their children, mainly through their example and with them doing the appropriate catechesis. Their children should see them praying and having a special and pious regard to God. When the children see the love between them and feel their parents’ love for them, then the children will find it easy to relate themselves with God in faith and love. 

 With a sense of vocation firmly established, we should be keenly aware of the mission inherent to that vocation. This mission will definitely require everything from us. But neither should we forget that everything has also been given to us. To be sure, Christ does not ask of us something that he himself would not enable us to do. 

 It’s a truth of our faith that we should vividly remember always, especially when we feel we are already at our limits in our self-giving to fulfill God’s will. God cannot be outdone in generosity. If we are generous with him and with others, the more generous will God be with us!

Remember that Christ bears all our burdens

ON the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are reminded in the gospel reading of the day that we should go to Christ since he is the one who will bear all our burdens and who will give us rest. (cfr. Mt 11,25-30) 

 We should never forget this truth of our faith, since in this life we cannot avoid having to face all sorts of trials, challenges, problems, difficulties, etc. The drama can be very heavy and quite twisted, and yet we are assured that Christ will take care of everything. 

 What we have to do is always to go to Christ. We should never go through our life’s drama by our lonesome and using only our human powers and ways. Like an instinct, we should immediately go to Christ who assured us that his yoke is easy and his burden light. Everything would be quite bearable. 

 Just the same, we also have to learn how to suffer, but suffering always with Christ. That would make any suffering we can have most meaningful. Such suffering can acquire a redemptive, purifying and strengthening character. With Christ in our suffering, we can manage to remain meek and humble, as he told us. 

 Christ already warned us about how our life here on earth is going to be. But he also has assured us that everything would just ok. We should just stick with him through thick and thin. “In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world,” he said. (Jn 16,33) 

 We should put these words into our mind and heart and make them the principle to follow whenever we find ourselves in some difficult situations. For this, we should just learn how to suffer, since suffering is inevitable in our earthly sojourn. We need to develop a certain kind of spiritual toughness that is based on our faith and vital identification with Christ. 

 With Christ, we can learn how to be tough when we are made to suffer. Our faith, the ultimate source of truth about ourselves, tells us that suffering is due to sin, to the misuse of our freedom, to our disobedience to the will of God who created us to be his image and likeness, to be children of his, sharing in his very own life. 

 Yet, in spite of that, God our Father, who is all goodness and the very fount of love, did not and does not cease to care for us. And while allowing us to suffer the consequences of our sin and disobedience, he also showed and continues to show us up to now how to tackle suffering in our earthly life. 

 Toward this end, God did nothing less than to send his son to us. The son became man and took on all our sinfulness, culminating this mission with his death on the cross. In so doing and in resurrecting, Christ converts our suffering due to sin into a way of our redemption. 

 Thus, if we have to be truly Christian, we need to be tough, really tough. Christ himself was tough, but with the toughness of love that goes all the way to assuming all the sins of men by offering his life on the cross. To be Christ-like we need to be tough. At the same time, to be tough we need to be with Christ. Otherwise, whatever toughness we may show would not be the real toughness expected of us.

Loving without stopping

THAT’S how love is. It is given gratuitously, without cost and calculation. Besides, it is given with utmost generosity. It just gives and gives until it hurts! With this love, we are sure that we would be having the very righteousness of Christ which is actually meant for us, image and likeness as we are of God. 

 We are reminded of this character of love in that gospel episode where Christ said, “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5,20) 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to fall into some kind of self-righteousness that distorts the real essence of love, the very core of righteousness. We can say that we are going into the direction of self-righteousness when we are quick to judge, when we do not want to be corrected, when we are highly opinionated and always want to have the last word, when we like to dominate others, when we are notoriously impatient, etc. 

 That’s why, we should never let go of our duty to be humble and to find ways to make humility always grow and deepen, because that’s the antidote to pride and conceit, the very virus of self-righteousness. It’s humility that enables us to love God and others in the proper way. 

 To have that kind of humility-fueled love, we should have all our thoughts and intentions, our words and deeds have God as the beginning and end. Thus, we have to continually devise ways of keeping God always in mind, and of referring everything to him. 

 St. Paul, for example, keenly aware of his high dignity and responsibility as an apostle, highlighted the indispensability of humility. “My speech and my preaching was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of the Spirit and power.” (1 Cor 2,3) 

 And in another instance, he said that he preached Christ crucified, “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” (cfr. 1 Cor 1,23), to emphasize the fact that the real righteousness that comes from God is never triumphalistic according to worldly standards. 

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

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

 Fraternizing with sinners is what we all have to cultivate in ourselves also. We have to replicate Christ’s attitude towards sinners, who actually are all of us—of course, in varying degrees. We have to give special attention to the lost sheep and to the lost coin. We have to open all possible avenues to be in touch with all sinners. This is how true love can develop. 

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

The be-all and end-all of our laws

LET’S be clear about this. We may sound fanatical, narrow-minded or extremely biased to some people, but we just have to bring it up in the open to show the objective basis of such claim. 

 Christ is the be-all and end-all of all our laws. That’s because he himself said so. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil,” he said. “Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Mt 5,17-18) 

 We just have to remind ourselves that no matter how much we try to put and define things according to our own terms, in the end it is God through Christ in the Holy Spirit who will prevail in defining how things ought to be, ought to be understood and acted upon. 

 It’s truly worth repeating what he said: “I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” 

 God, after all, is the Creator of everything. He is the original and supreme legislator. And he is also the ultimate judge of everything. It would at least be strange if we do things, like making and interpreting laws, without referring things to God. 

 But, alas, it’s quite clear that nowadays there is a strong drift away from such understanding of how laws ought to be made, interpreted and followed. We are now redefining things according to our own terms. We are now redefining even the basic natural law and especially the natural moral law. 

 Just consider the issues of gender, abortion, marriage and divorce, race, etc. In some countries that are supposed to be quite developed already, the redefinition of things has gone haywire. Like, there are now practically limitless genders. Anyone can choose what gender he or she likes depending upon how he or she feels. Everything has become subjective. The objective basis of things has practically been deleted out. 

 And one side issue that has become practically misunderstood in this whole affair is the role of the Church in defining what is true, moral and natural. There’s that automatic attitude of saying that since there is separation between the Church and state, then the Church should never be given any consideration in the state’s duty of making laws. Thus, any reference to the Church in lawmaking is regarded as anathema. 

 We have to remind ourselves strongly 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. 

 And the will, laws and ways of God are revealed to us in full by Christ!

Why we are the salt and light of the earth

WHY? Because, first of all, Christ told us so. “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world,” he clearly told his disciples and eventually all of us. (cfr. Mt 5,13-14) But more than just being told by Christ, the basis of such divine command is because as persons we are meant to care for one another, to love one another. We would be contradicting our personhood if we fail to care and love one another. 

 And the basic expression of such personal care and love for others is precisely to be such salt and light as Christ wants us to be so that we can lead everyone to our ultimate good and goal, which is to be with God, to be like God who wants us to be like him. 

 Let’s remember that as persons we are meant to enter into a necessary relation with God and with others. That is why we have been endowed with intelligence and will so that we can know and love God and everybody else. 

 Besides, we have been given the grace from God so that our knowing and loving does not get stuck in the natural level only, but can enter and get elevated to the supernatural order where the true essence of love, which is God himself as personified by Christ, “the way, the truth and the life” for us, is. 

 We need to be most aware of this duty and must do everything we can to carry out this responsibility effectively. Otherwise, we would get trapped in our own selves, in our own bubble that can trick us with deceptive charms and allurements. 

 Especially nowadays when the world is full of things that can imprison us in our own world. It’s ironical to observe that in spite of our very powerful tools and technologies of communication, the cases of conflicts and division among ourselves seem to be increasing instead of decreasing. 

 To be true salt and light of the world as Christ wants us to be, we need to learn how to inspire others. We know that we are all interrelated, obviously not biologically that only has a limited scope, but definitely to a large extent, politically, economically, socially, etc. The fact that we all live in the same one world somehow makes us all interrelated. 

 But there’s actually a more radical basis of our interrelation. And that is that we are all creatures of God, children of his, meant to be the people and the family of God. It is a relationship that is spiritual more than material, forged by a supernatural principle and not just by something natural. 

 This basic truth about ourselves gives rise to the duty that we have to help one another spiritually more than anything else. It is in our spiritual bond that actually gives rise to all our other relations with everybody else according to the different aspects of our nature. 

 This is what is meant by our duty to inspire others. Etymologically, the word ‘inspire’ means to breathe into. And it definitely is not only air that we should breathe into others. We have to breathe a spirit that in the end is nothing other than the spirit of God, who is the original inspirator. 

 That is the spirit that is proper to us since we are God’s image and likeness, meant to be existentially be united with God not only in heaven but even while here on earth! To inspire others properly, we need to be the salt and light of the world!

The Beatitudes make sense

WE are familiar with the Beatitudes. (cfr. Mt 5,1-12) At first glance, they appear to us as a crazy formulation of what would make us blessed. How can you be blessed if you are poor in spirit, if you mourn, if you are meek, insulted and persecuted, etc.? 

 But they actually teach us that since we would always be weighed down by our limitations and weaknesses and endlessly hounded by all kinds of temptations and evil, we are assured that such conditions are golden opportunities for us to achieve what would consist as our true and ultimate joy, and our human fulfillment and perfection. 

 We have to be ready for these conditions and know not only how to deal with them but also how to derive something good from them. In these instances of the hard predicaments, for example, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems. 

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross. 

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

 In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted. If our faith is strong and abiding, we know that God is always around and is most eager to help us in the best way. 

 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. 

 Remember the Book of Ecclesiastes where it says that for everything there is a season, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal…” But everything is under God’s control. 

 We have to follow the example of the many characters in the gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in, earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid and unashamed and they got what they wanted. Even when we think we are undeserving of God’s care, we should just go to him. 

 It may happen that we may not get what we want. And in this, we should not be too surprised or too worried. What is sure is that God always listens and gives us what is best for us, even if what God gives us is not what we asked for.

Bread of life? Incredible!

WE cannot deny that we too can somehow share the disbelief of the Jews when Christ declared himself as the “Bread of Life.” We can echo in ourselves their reaction: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (cfr. Jn 6,51-58) 

 It is once again the time to enliven our faith, suspend for a while our human perception of things and allow Christ to tell us things, since he truly tells us nothing other than the ultimate truths that can go over and above what we, with our human and natural powers, can only perceive and comprehend. 

 We have to realize that in spite of our best efforts to know and understand things, we know that we cannot apprehend everything, much less understand things fully and with finality. And yet we somehow can discern that the reality that governs us goes beyond what we can perceive and understand. 

 That is simply because of the spiritual character of our nature that would somehow enable us to have at least an inkling, an intimation of the spiritual, let alone, supernatural realities. These are realities that go beyond the sensible world. More than that, these are realities that are poised to make us enter into the supernatural realities since we know we have to contend with mysteries. 

 This is where and when we have to rely on faith, a gift given to us by God our Creator who wants us to be his image and likeness and, therefore, wants to share his knowledge of things, at least some part of it, with us. 

 And as the Catechism teaches us, “what moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe ‘because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived’". (CCC 156) 

 So, in spite of the tremendous and incredible truth told to us by Christ, we just have to believe that he makes himself the Bread of Life so that he can consummate his mission of redeeming us and of making us like him who is the true image and likeness that God has of his own self. 

 Yes, we have to reiterate this fundamental truth about ourselves. We are meant to be another Christ (alter Christus), if not Christ himself (ipse Christus). We have to pound this truth of our faith into our mind and heart repeatedly and strongly. 

 It would be truly good if on our part we try to do our best to correspond to this truth of our faith. Christ so wants us to be like him that he makes himself a bread for us to eat so we can achieve not only a spiritual identification with him but also a material one, at least for a time as we still traverse this world of ours. 

 What the gospel of Christ as our Bread of Life tries to tell us is that we should try our best to develop a Eucharistic devotion that would lead us to become truly Eucharistic souls. In other words, it is telling us to be another Christ, Christ himself, the very pattern of our humanity, and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 It’s incredible indeed! But that is just how it is. With faith, we can hack it.

Get to know who Christ truly is

WITH all the antagonistic questionings Christ received from some of the leading Jews, he instead offered some clarification about who really was. “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?” he asked those around him. (Mk 12,35) 

 And so, he himself also provided the answer. “David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘Lord’; so how is he his son?” (Mk 12,36-37) 

 The problem with these leading Jews was that they had a narrow if not wrong understanding of the identity of Christ. They could not believe that Christ is first of all God before he also became man. And that his mission is not only something earthly and temporal—the liberation of the Jewish people from bondage—but is something spiritual and supernatural in keeping with the true dignity of man as children of God. 

 It is important that we too have a good and correct understanding of who Christ truly is and of the real mission he is carrying out with us. Quite often, even if we already are Christian believers, we still have wrong notions and attitudes toward Christ. We expect Christ to work under our own terms instead of the other way around. 

 It’s good that from time to time we ask ourselves the question of who is Christ to us. I think that’s a very legitimate question to ask ourselves daily. If Christ is truly alive and is actively intervening in our lives, we should ask ourselves if we manage to see him and deal with him today and always. We know all too well that very often we are good in words only, but not in deeds, in theory but not in practice. We need to close the gap. 

 Let’s remember that Christ himself said: “I am always with you until the end of time.” (Mt 28,20) If we have faith, these words should never be considered as mere bluff. They are true and operative. We have to learn to conform ourselves to that reality and to behave accordingly. 

 Christ should not just be a Christ of faith or a Christ of history, as some theologians have described him. The Christ of faith and the Christ of history is one and the same person, and he continues not only to be with us but also to work with us, showing us the way how to live, how to work, how to decide, how to choose, etc. 

 Christ is actually leading us the way in our life so that we can reach our final destination. He is never indifferent to us, even if we are indifferent to him. He will always find a way to be with us always and somehow lead us in his own mysterious ways. 

 But we need to be more aware of his presence and more active in cooperating with his will and ways. For this, we have to learn to discipline ourselves to be able to see Christ everyday. He is actually in all things and in all situations. 

 Our faith in him should be such that we can contemplate him always. He has to enter in our life not only intellectually and spiritually, but also emotionally and physically. We have to wean ourselves from that stage where we think that we are just living on our own. We are living with Christ, and in fact, with everybody else.

Loving God is loving our neighbor

CHRIST said it very clearly. When asked what the greatest commandment was, he simply said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And without being asked what the second greatest commandment was, he volunteered by saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Jn 12,30-31) 

 St. John, from whose gospel these words of Christ were recorded, reiterated the same idea when in his First Letter, he said: “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” (4,7-8) 

 Again, he underlines the same idea when he said: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (4,20) 

 That loving God always goes with loving our neighbor is the basic formula to use to live our life properly. Everything has to be determined by our love for God and love for neighbor. The parameters to use in everything that we do, starting with our thoughts and intentions down to our most material activities, should be love for God and love for neighbor. 

 These are the determinants that should define our life and give shape to our thoughts, words and deeds. Outside of these parameters, we would be straying from the proper path. 

 We have to understand then that what would constitute as our true development and as our fullness of life should be the fruit of our love for God and love for the others, whoever they may be, for that is what a neighbor is—he is anyone and everyone. Our neighbor can even include our enemies, since Christ himself said it very clearly that we too should love our enemies. (cfr. Mt 5,44) 

 We have to be wary with just doing what we like to do, even if what we do is objectively not bad since it is not a willful disobedience of God’s commandments. This is because, if it is not referred to the love of God and love for neighbor, it may just be an exercise of self-centeredness or selfishness. 

 And this is the common predicament we have around the world. People, merely relying on what they consider as personal good, just do whatever is convenient and practical to them, whatever is profitable and advantageous to them. 

 We have to do everything to escape from the grip of these worldly values that can only be legitimate if related to love of God and love for neighbor. We have to spread the good news that it is actually and only when things begin and end with God that whatever legitimate desire for success, wealth, power, etc., would be achieved properly. 

 That’s why in many of our liturgical prayers, we always end with the words, “Through Christ, our Lord...” That’s simply because it would only be through Christ that whatever we say or ask in our prayers is heard and acted upon by God. 

 We also have to remember that referring ourselves to God always involves referring ourselves too with others. God and neighbor cannot be separated. Our love for God would not be true if it is not carried out in our love for others. And vice-versa. Our love for neighbor would not be true if not based on our love for God.

The truth about our resurrection

THAT gospel episode, where some resurrection-deniers among the Jews tested Christ with a tricky question about the resurrection, gave Christ the chance to talk precisely about this truth of our Christian faith. (cfr. Mk 12,18-27) 

 They approached him and posed the question about whose wife a woman who married seven brothers, one after another, would be among the brothers at what they regarded as the so-called resurrection. 

 And so, Christ told them that at the resurrection, everyone would have gone beyond our earthly condition to enter into our spiritualized and supernatural condition. Yes, we will still retain our body. But that body will be fully subjected to its spiritual and supernatural condition where marriage, whose main purpose is procreation, would already be irrelevant. As Christ said, in the resurrection, we would be like angels, but angels with a body. We will not be pure spirits. 

 And then he proceeded to explain about the resurrection by citing some passages in the Book of Moses about God being the God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob that should show that God is not the God of the dead, but rather of the living. 

 If we have to analyze this question about our resurrection more closely, we will realize that since man is by nature body and soul, and our soul is not just a vegetative or animal soul that depends fully on the body, but a spiritual soul, created, generated and meant to be always in union with the eternal Spirit of God, then we can conclude that our spiritual soul will always need our body in its definitive, eternal state in heaven. 

 Besides, we can also say that since Christ, who is the pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity, the living vine to whom we as its branches should always be attached, resurrected from the dead, we too can expect ourselves to resurrect from the dead. 

 That is why the resurrection of the dead at the end of time has always been professed as part of our Christian faith since time immemorial. Such resurrection has already been shown in the exceptional case of Mary, the Mother of Christ and our mother, who was assumed into heaven, body and soul, and who, from time to time, would make apparitions in bodily form. Any doubt about our resurrection should be laid to rest by this fact. 

 We just have to understand also that our resurrection is caused by the supernatural power of God who shares it with us precisely because we have been created in his image and likeness, sharers of his life and of his nature. We cannot expect to have our resurrection mainly by our own human powers alone. These human powers of ours should be fueled, so to speak, by God’s grace. 

 And so, we have to understand then that we can have our proper resurrection when we choose to die with Christ. It’s only with Christ that our death can lead to our resurrection. St. Paul encapsulated this most wonderful truth of our faith when he said, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6,5) 

 And so, we have every reason to think that we can live forever in Christ over whom death no longer has dominion. In spite of whatever, we have every reason to be happy and confident, as long as we are faithful to Christ.

Outsmarting the know-it-all

WE should never dare to deceive God. In the gospel, there is a part where some leading Jews dared to trap Christ in his speech. (cfr. Mk 12,13-17) They asked if it was lawful to pay census tax to Caesar. 

 Of course, Christ knew what was behind that question. He therefore asked them to show him a denarius. And since the image of Caesar was in that coin, he just dismissed the whole issue by telling them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” So, their “gotcha” question completely backfired. 

 The same thing happened when they accused Christ of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons. (cfr. Mk 3,22) That’s when Christ pointed out the inconsistency in their logic. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” he asked. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mk 3,23-25) 

 Clearly, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, his reasoning can go off the rails, even the simplest of logic is thrown out. We need to do everything to always strengthen our belief in God, the very cause, origin and pattern of unity amid the vast and increasing diversity and variety of elements we can have in this world. 

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

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

 In many places in the world today, people are now legalizing and inculturating outright immoralities and perversions, rationalizing them as part of their human rights, their freedom, or as a gesture of tolerance on a multiplicity of preferences, etc. 

 This is a big challenge for all Christian believers who want to be all-the-way consistent with their faith and with humanity itself, for the issues at hand are not just a matter of a particular religion but rather that of our common humanity. 

 And the Christian faith is not meant only for a few. It is for all, though it obviously is not meant to be imposed on everyone. It has to be accepted knowingly, freely, lovingly, that is, with charity. 

 Instead of responding to evil with evil, hatred with hatred, we should rather respond to evil with good, hatred with love. That way we turn things around, rather than plunge into the spiral of evil and hatred. 

 This was specifically articulated by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans where he said: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Rom 12,17-20) 

 We have to try our best to erase whatever disbelief, doubt or skepticism we can have as we consider this teaching, since most likely, our first and spontaneous reaction to it would precisely be those reactions.

Expect suffering in our life

IN the gospel of St. Mark we are told about a parable (Mk 12,1-12) where a man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenant farmers. The servants whom he sent to collect his portion of the harvest were treated badly and some were even killed. Finally, he sent his son, thinking that the tenants would respect the boy. But they also killed him. 

 The servants and the son are a picture of those who work for Christ. That’s actually all of us, since we all ought to work for Christ. But precisely because of the message we have to spread and live by, and the resistance of the world, we can expect misunderstanding, persecution and even martyrdom to come our way too. 

 We have to learn to be thoroughly patient, bearing all things that can come to us, as St. Paul once described charity. But let’s also remember that charity can also conquer all things. Charity is not just bearing all the time, but also conquering all the time. 

 I would say that the bearing part of charity would seem to have the last word in our life that is going to be full of suffering. But it’s actually conquering. Just as Christ bore all the sins of men by dying on the cross, he eventually conquered with his resurrection. 

 This divine paradigm of our own redemption should be clear in our mind. In our earthly sojourn, there would be many instances that we have to bear all the misunderstanding and persecution we can encounter in life. But we should not be remiss of our duty, out of charity also, to conquer, not only in the last moment, but also along the way. 

 This conquering can be done in terms of making corrections on people who are in error. The way to do these corrections would, of course, vary depending on the circumstances of the case. 

 Yes, it’s true that we have to bear and be patient with everyone all the time, but it would not be right if we do not make corrections or suggestions or mere proclamations and reminders of truths when both the need and the opportunity come. In fact, we should not just wait for the opportunity to come. Somehow, we have to look for them, or even make them come. 

 Bearing and patience would be false if they are not accompanied by acts of conquest. We are somehow noticing this anomaly around when people just prefer to be patient, actually doing nothing, without making any effort to make some corrections or suggestions, proclamations and reminders. 

 The gospel warns us about the danger of what is known as human respect. This is the fear to correct someone who is in error for a variety of false reasons—because he is a friend, or a superior, or a disagreeable person. 

 Or it can be that we play favorites and treat different persons differently in an unfair manner. The different translations of the Bible refer to this attitude as “partiality” or “favoritism” or “respect of persons.” (cfr. Rom 2,11; Act 20,34) 

 Yes, we have to bear and be patient, but we also should not run away from the opportunities when we have to speak up and even complicate our life out of true love for God and for souls. 

 When Peter and John were commanded not to speak of Christ, they just boldly said: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. But we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4,19-20) 

 They and many other holy men preferred to suffer, even to the point of martyrdom, rather than to keep quiet and fail to proclaim or correct those who need to be corrected.