What we need in these confusing times

CHRIST told his disciples to stay awake, that is, to be vigilant, and at the same time to be fruitful and productive, not idle and lazy. (cfr. Mt 24,42-51) It’s a call that is most relevant these days, given the very confusing times we are in. 

 We cannot deny that in spite of the many conveniences and amenities our new technologies offer us, we are actually thrown into an ocean of swirling elements, pushing and pulling us in every which way. To have focus is getting harder as distractions always get in the way. Many people do not know anymore what the proper priorities in life are. 

 And, of course, the sad effects and consequences are all so clearly shown. Many people are burned out. Cases of mental and psychological illness are growing. Addictions are increasing as many people do not know anymore how to be a master of their own lives. 

 We should always be vigilant, never letting our guard down. This is simply because we have enemies to contend with all the time. We should not be naïve about this. Our enemies start with our own selves, our own weakened flesh that will always lure us to do things against God’s will and against what is truly good for us. 

 Then we have the world with all its sinful attractions and temptations. And, of course, the devil himself. Never discount him. He’s always around, prowling like a lion looking for someone to devour. (cfr 1 Pt 5,8) 

 Without getting paranoid, we have to practice certain wariness while using and enjoying the many good things we have today. They can easily turn into sweet poisons. What we should rather do is never to lose touch with God. 

 Only then can we always remember the proper priorities in our life and live them. Only then can we be able to be a master of our own lives and be truly fruitful and productive. 

 Let us remember that in the Bible narrative of the creation of man, God told our first parents, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,” (Gen 1,28) clearly outlining his mandate to them. It’s a mandate that continues to be repeated up to now. Christ himself said as much. 

 In his parable of the three servants (cfr Mr 25,14-30), a master clearly told each one to trade with the amount given to them. He was happy with the first two who gained as much as was given. But he was mad at the third one who did nothing with the amount given. 

 We have to realize that God has already given us everything that we need not only to survive but also to improve our lot that ultimately translates into realizing the fullness of our dignity as image and likeness of God, as children of his. 

 We should never forget the real purpose of our life here on earth, which is for us to forge our own identity as God’s image and likeness, children of his, meant to share in his divine life and nature while immersed in the things of this world. 

 We can only do that if we always have in mind our duty to follow God’s commands rather than being guided and ruled only by our own estimation of things and by our feelings, passions and the trends around.

Blending sincerity and discretion

IN the gospel, there is a part where Christ addressed some harsh words at some leading Jews who misled others with their false doctrine and their inconsistency between their words and actions—in other words, their hypocrisy. (cfr. Mt 23,27-32) 

 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth…” 

 It’s not that we have to show everything to everyone what we have inside our mind and heart. There are times when out of some consideration of charity and delicacy, we choose to keep things hidden. There are also times when, again out of charity for others and to glorify God, we put on things if only to cover our defects and inadequacies. 

 Thus, sometimes we put on a make-up which, of course, also has to be done in the proper way. It is not meant to deceive, but rather to pursue what we know is the ideal for us. It’s when we overdo it that we start to fall into the area of deception. 

 We may call this action as discretion, which is definitely an aspect of sincerity. Given our condition here on earth, we simply have to do such things. But to do it properly requires us to have the proper intention, and that is to give glory to God and to offer some good to the others. In other words, God and others should be the beginning and end, the motive and goal of such actions. 

 Thus, it is important that we review the crucial relationship between God and the others, on the one hand, and our capacity to stick to the truth or to distort it, on the other hand. 

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

 And so, prayer and a constant concern for the others are a must. That is how we as persons should behave—always in good relation with God and others. Ignoring God and the others means we will just be on our own, an easy prey to our own weaknesses, let alone, the temptations around. 

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

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

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

Willing to be martyred for Christ

ON the Memorial of the Passion of the St. John the Baptist, celebrated on August 29, we are reminded that we should be willing to suffer and even to be martyred for Christ. In this regard, we should learn to lose the fear of suffering and death, which we should expect anytime, because these will surely come if we indeed would like to follow Christ to the end. 

 We need to appreciate better the unavoidable condition of our life here on earth that will always involve some suffering in one form or another, and eventually our death. If we would only adapt the mind and attitude of Christ toward human suffering and death, we know that such condition can transform itself from being a curse to being a cure. 

 If we truly follow and love Christ, we would be willing to suffer and die for our beloved who in the end is none other than God, and because of God, is also everybody else. Said in another way, suffering is a clear proof that we are with Christ and that we are truly in the dynamic of real love. 

 Thus, we all need to be reminded that all our suffering has a positive and favorable aspect. It’s not all entirely bad and negative, though in itself it will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, there is something in it that can give us a greater good. We may refer to this advantageous aspect of suffering as the happy Good News or the Gospel of Suffering. 

 We have to remind ourselves though that we are not actually meant to suffer. Our original as well as our ideal definitive state in heaven excludes suffering. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were in the state of original justice, where everything was in order and in harmony. No pain and suffering touched them, until they fell into sin. They were not meant to die. 

 And as the Book of Revelation would put it, in our definitive state of life in heaven “He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (21,4) 

 In this life, we have to expect and be prepared for the unavoidable pain and suffering. And this means that whether we are guilty or not of our pains and suffering, all we have to do is to go immediately to Christ who shows us how to handle our pains and suffering and who is ready to forgive us if ever we are deserving of suffering due to sin. 

 It’s true that God is always offended by our sin, and will somehow show his anger and disappointment to us. But let’s never forget that with him, anger would only be for a moment, while his mercy is forever. (cfr. Ps 30,5) 

 It would be good that everyday we have to expect some suffering which would be a clear sign that we are with Christ and are joining him in his redemptive mission. We should be quick to unite our suffering with that of Christ on the cross, and thus convert our suffering as the very proof of real love! 

 This is how we can be realistic with respect to the unavoidable suffering and death in our earthly sojourn.

The challenge of sanctifying our skills

THAT series of “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites,” (cfr. Mt 23,13-22) that Christ heaped on some of the leading Jews remind us of the sad and common phenomenon nowadays where we can be doing some good and yet miss the real and ultimate good meant for us. 

 And precisely because of that miss, those involved cannot help but get involved in some forms of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. As Christ observed, the many religious practices that those involved did, since they are not properly motivated and oriented to their ultimate goal, simply became a ground for some spiritual and moral irregularities. 

 The proper priorities were not observed. Things were done more for show than for anything else. Inconsistencies marked the relation between words and deeds, intention and action. 

 This phenomenon continues to take place today, especially in the area of imparting skills to young people. While we cannot deny the importance of teaching skills to the youth for the immediate and practical reasons of providing them a source of income and a chance to develop their talents, we should never forget that these skills should first of all be understood as the means, occasion and reason to bring them to God, to make them saints as we are meant to be. 

 There is still that deep bias of separating our ordinary work and circumstances in life from the ultimate purpose of our life which is our own sanctification. The idea of sanctifying our work and skills to sanctify ourselves and pursue the ultimate purpose of life is still foreign to most people despite the many centuries of Christianity all over the world. 

 To many, our work and skills should just be ruled by temporal and technical laws. Many of us don’t see the intimate relation that these dimensions of our life have with respect to the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. 

 Thus, we would not know how to sanctify our work and skills, which is actually just a matter of doing them mainly for the glory of God out of love for him and for everybody else. If we would just be aware of the purpose of our work and skills, then we would always be motivated to do them well, with as much technical perfection as we can give them, and always offering them not only for themselves, but mainly for God and for others. 

 Our work and skills would then be an expression of love, and of our pursuit to become more and more like God as we are meant to be, since we have been created in his image and likeness. 

 Our work and skills are not just for practical purposes, and much less just for us to get rich and well-placed in our society, or to be powerful here on earth. We need to realize deeply that our work and skills are actually an intimate, personal participation of the continuing work of God which is his abiding providence over all his creation. 

 As image and likeness of God, we live and do everything, including our work, with God always. Even without realizing it, the objective truth is that our life, and everything in it, is always a life with God. 

 Our work therefore is not just ours. It just does not correspond to some purely natural and human needs. It is by definition a work with God. We need to be most aware of this truth, so we can also consciously and freely work in sync as much as possible with God’s will and ways, as is proper to us as God’s image and likeness.

How to know ourselves properly

THAT question Christ asked his disciples about who did people say he, as the Son of Man, was should also be addressed to each one of us. And we should just try our best to give the right answer like what St. Peter did. (cfr. Mt 16,13-20) 

 And the simple reason is because knowing correctly who Christ is would lead us to know ourselves properly, since Christ is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity that is damaged by sin. 

 Let us always remember that Christ, being the Son of God, is the perfect image and likeness of God himself. And since we have been created in God’s image and likeness, we can truly say that we are meant to be like Christ to achieve what God wants us to be—his image and likeness, his adopted children, meant to share in his divine life and nature. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to attain our self-knowledge based only on what we see and feel, on how certain worldly ideologies define us, or worse, on certain passing trends and fashions that can be prevailing at a given period of time and place. 

 We truly need to know Christ to know ourselves properly, and we have to do everything to attain that knowledge by every means possible—by reading and meditating on the life of Christ as recorded in the gospels, by living the clearly Christian charisms and spiritualities now available in the Church, by imitating the lives of saints who have been faithful to Christ all the way to the end, etc. 

 Again, Christ as the Son of God is the pattern of our humanity. If we want to know who we really are, how we ought to be, all we have to do is to look at Christ and try our best, with God’s grace, to identify ourselves with him. 

 More than that, because of our sin that defaced the original state in which we, in Adam and Eve, were created, Christ is the Son of God who became man to save us. The immediate conclusion we can derive from this truth of our faith is that for us to know how to handle our sinfulness, again all we have to do is to look at Christ and try our best, with God’s grace, to identify ourselves with him. He offers us the “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 That identification with Christ as our Redeemer cannot but involve the acceptance of the cross through which our salvation is achieved. We have to know therefore the full meaning of the cross in our life, and embrace and die on it the way Christ embraced and died on it. 

 This is what is meant to be ‘alter Christus,’ an ideal that can be reached because insofar as God is concerned, everything is already given for us to be able to be so. Things now just depend on us on whether we would like to be ‘alter Christus’ or not. 

 All the means are made available. We have the sources of divine revelation that show us the truth about ourselves. We have the word of God. We have the Church and the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. 

 We just have to make the necessary adjustments in the way we think, in the way we identify ourselves. It would not be presumptuous, even given our limitations and woundedness, to start and keep thinking that “I am another Christ, ‘alter Christus.’” We just have to try our best, with God’s grace to think and act like Christ!

Beware of the secret bondage

WE have to be wary of this spiritual and moral anomaly that, sad to say, is a common affliction these days. It can easily take place when we fail to really give our whole selves to God and to the others, giving an opening for this most deceptive anomaly to enter and dominate our life in a hidden way. 

 Let’s remember that when Christ was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said that it was to love God with all our heart and with everything we have. And without being asked what the second greatest commandment was, he just said that it was to love our neighbor as ourselves. (cfr. Mt 22,34-40) 

 That is actually the ideal condition of our life, short of it precisely opens us to temptations, sins and other anomalies some of which can dominate us in a hidden way. What is worse is that we can easily cover them if we happen to appear normal outside, if we have talents that people appreciate, if we have good social skills, or if we happen to have some authority and enjoy a good standing in society. 

 And since these can be hidden with hardly anyone noticing them, we would always be tempted to just keep them to ourselves. That’s when they can fester to such an extent that they can become irreversibly incurable. 

 These cases of secret or hidden bondage can arise in the area of our human weaknesses. Thus, people can have this enslavement to pornography and sex, to drinks and drugs, or worse, to some evil spirits who can appear to them, as St. Paul warned us, as an angel of light. (cfr. 2 Cor 11,14) 

 In cases like this, the most important thing to do is to pray hard, offer a lot of sacrifices, and then open up with someone who can help those affected spiritually and morally. And if needed, some professional help from psychologists or psychiatrists who have good human and Christian formation may be availed of. 

 In today’s world, we can say that many are the elements and developments that can lead and even reinforce people to fall into this very sad predicament. There are now powerful ideologies that subtly but consistently promote this kind of bondage. And the many conveniences offered by the new technologies can make things easy to keep this enslavement—really a sweet poison—going. 

 The things that the AI (Artificial Intelligence) can do, if not used properly which can easily be done, can give us many distorted and totally false things that can appear true and credible. 

 Before, we used to say that “pictures do not lie.” Nowadays, that saying cannot be true anymore. Aside from not telling us the whole story of the event the picture shows, it can be totally made-up. 

 The other day, I saw pictures of prominent figures like Trump, Obama, The Rock doing things in Divisoria, Manila. They were completely made-up, and that’s why these images are rightly termed as “AI-generated hallucinations.” 

 People affected by secret bondages should first go to God, have a real conversion of heart, beg for his grace, and be totally sincere in their spiritual counselling and, if needed, in seeking the professional help of doctors. 

 We all need to be convinced that our true joy can only be had if we manage to rid ourselves of whatever secret bondage we may be bearing for quite a while already!

The Nathanael in us

THE Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle, originally known as Nathanael, offers us hope of also becoming closely related to Christ despite all the defects and weaknesses that we have. 

 The story of his calling as an apostle (cfr. Jn 1,45-51) is both amusing and uplifting since it clearly tells us that we too can be called to be an apostle and to be intimately involved in Christ’s continuing work of redemption in spite of all the warts we all have. 

 Christ described Nathanael as a “man with no guile” because he was quite spontaneous in his raw reaction to the news that a friend of his, Philip, told him. But it was also this being a “man with no guile” that made him to immediately rectify himself when Christ told him something that must have been in his mind for a while. 

 Nathanael embodies the ordinary person who, in spite of warts and all, still has that basic, irreducible trait of exposing his heart, no matter how defective, to the truth. He does not run away nor hide from it. 

 He is truly a man with no guile, no pretensions, no need for covering. Except for the normal need for discretion and modesty, he is completely transparent. What you see is what you get. 

 That’s why you immediately feel good every time you meet such persons. They always exude such welcome and wholesome aura about themselves in spite of their imperfections. They contribute in making society more at peace and in harmony. 

 Children are such persons, though their being guileless is due to their innocence and lack of exposure to the world. But when you see such quality in a person who is already exposed to the world, then you really feel good. 

 Let’s remember and imitate St. Bartholomew in his simplicity of heart and sincerity. His story shows that before we look for the truth, it is God first, Truth himself, who looks for us. 

 Once we find it, let’s earnestly engage ourselves to it, never playing around with it to serve our self-interest, but rather conforming ourselves steadily to its requirements. 

 This is when we can see more things, just as our Lord said: “Blessed are your eyes because they see…. For amen I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things you see, and have not seen them…” (Mt 13,16-17) 

 Otherwise, we will get our just deserts. Let’s remember St. Paul’s warning: “Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, God therefore shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying.” (2 Thes 2,10) 

 Let’s try our best to be always simple, yet shrewd but not complicated. Let’s not be daunted by this undeniably difficult combination of qualities we all ought to have. There's God's grace to help us. As long as we also do our part, things would just jell. 

 The fact is that Christ tells it to us very clearly. “Look, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.” (Mt 10,16) 

 Indeed, we cannot deny that we are in an increasingly complicated world. There are now many smart people around, quick to rationalize their actions. This is especially true among our political leaders, who in their quest for power, will do everything—mostly unfair means and reasonings—to gain or keep that power.

Learn to be contented and thankful

THAT gospel parable about the Kingdom of heaven likened to a landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard at different hours of the day (cfr. Mt 20,1-16) strongly reminds us that we should be contented and thankful for whatever God gives us. We have to be wary of comparing ourselves with others which can easily give rise to the dangers of self-righteousness and envy. 

 God gives us everything that we need not only to survive in our earthly affairs but more importantly in our ultimate purpose in life, which is our sanctification, our salvation when we would finally become, as God wants us to be, his image and likeness, his children, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 As the parable narrated, the landowner hired workers because they appeared to be without job and were simply idle. This can mean that God is the one who gives us the real work in our life. Without him, we end up idle even if we appear to be busy with a lot of things which, if they are not from God and for God, are really worthless. 

 That the landowner promised to pay each of them the usual daily wage can mean that the reward for all our work that is done in our earthly life would be same, irrespective of when we are called by God. And that can only be to be with God in heaven for all eternity. 

 The important thing here is simply to carry out the duties and responsibilities inherent in our being children of God as articulated in our concrete conditions here on earth. We give all that we can which, of course, would vary according to the different conditions in our life. 

 Let us remind ourselves that our differences are meant to develop, if not enrich, everyone through the dynamics of complementation and supplementation. Let’s see to it that we are not unduly entangled with the unavoidable tension and conflict, and that we manage to go past them and see the bigger picture. 

 What is incumbent on us is to give what we have, what has been entrusted to us by God—our talents and other gifts—as much as we could for the common good. This is where our true joy and self-fulfillment are. It’s in giving that we truly love, and that we truly get blessed. 

 We have to be quick in cutting envy every time it makes us its port of call. We have to let it know immediately that it is unwelcome. And the way to do it is to go to Christ immediately, praying, sacrificing, and reminding ourselves of Christ’s example and teaching. 

 We need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, however we are placed and situated in life. Not everyone can be bright, talented, successful, etc. Some have to do the menial job, take care of the little things, be at the background. 

 We should not feel inferior to anyone because we are all children of God, equally loved by him although shown in different ways. Everyone has the same dignity and vocation, though lived and pursued in different ways. 

 We have to love everyone as Christ has loved all of us, without exception. He even told us to love our enemies. But given our human weakness, we need to be more pro-active in living out what St. Paul once advised: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” (Phil 2,3)

Total self-giving needed to enter heaven

CHRIST said it in so many words. “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Mt 19,23-24) 

 These words caused great astonishment among his disciples and, of course, to us, to whom these words are now addressed. We can echo the same reaction of the disciples, “Who then can be saved?” 

 We always need to be reminded that while we have to use and even possess many things in this life, we should see to it that our hearts, which are meant only to be given totally to God, are not attached and trapped in them. The material and temporal things we use and possess in this life are meant only as means, never as ends, to bring us to God in heaven. 

 That is why Christ had been consistently teaching about detachment from the things of this world and even from people. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life,” he said, “he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-17) 

 We obviously have to understand these words properly. We are men and women with material and emotional needs. We cannot let go of our loved ones if we want to retain our humanity, and of course, of our Christianity. But we have to realize that meeting these human needs should be animated by the proper spirit of love that Christ is showing and giving us. It should not displace such spirit. 

 Again, let’s be reassured of what Christ promised us if we observe the proper priorities in our life. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mt 6,33) And, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) 

 We need to have a certain detachment from persons and things to be able to give our heart entirely to God, and with him, we actually have everything else we need. As St. Teresa of Avila put it graphically, with God we have enough—“solo Dios basta.” 

 So, the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things of this world. In fact, he himself commands us to love them and everyone else. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of God. 

 Regarding the things of this world, we should realize that they are meant to lead us to ask ourselves whether they 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.

The rich-young-man syndrome

WE have to be wary of this syndrome. Many actually are afflicted with it, and worse, a good number do not even realize it. It is this syndrome illustrated in that gospel episode where a rich young man earnestly asked Christ how he can enter the Kingdom of heaven. (cfr. Mt 19,16-22) 

 The story started well but ended sadly. A rich young man, certainly with good intentions and who must have been doing well and was faithful in following God’s commandments, revealed to Christ what was in his heart of hearts. He passed the initial requirements, but when told about the ultimate requirement—to give his all to God—he found himself unable to do it. 

 Definitely to be able to give our all is no easy thing. It will require a lot of faith, hope and charity for God and for everybody else. To be sure, it will demand a lot of effort, self-denial and detachment. But we are also assured that we are actually being given the best deal, since as Christ said, what may appear as a loss for us would actually redound to a hundredfold of gain, not only in the afterlife, but even now here on earth. 

 The lesson to learn is that generosity is not a matter of how much we give but rather of total detachment from the things of this world so that our heart can only be for God. We therefore have to be wary of our strong, if often subtle, attachment to the things of this world such that our heart would at best be a divided heart, which is actually an impossibility. 

 That’s because 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. 

 This will require a constant reminder and self-reassurance that it is all worthwhile to give and to lose everything for God because we will in fact gain a lot more than what we give. Let’s always remember Christ telling us “to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” (Mt 6,33) 

 Since we are human beings with material needs, let’s see to it that all the things we use and own are used and owned in a way that would foster our total identification with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit.

When faced with a severe test of faith

THAT gospel episode about a Canaanite woman practically pestering Christ to cure her daughter who was tormented by a demon (cfr. Mt 15,21-28) gives us a precious lesson about what to do when we are faced with a severe test of faith where God may appear to be unresponsive to our petitions. 

 And the lesson to learn is to just persevere in begging God for the help we need, never losing our faith in God’s goodness and compassion. To be sure, God would not really mind the disturbance we give him. In fact, he is all there to help us. We should just persevere in asking. He is never unmindful of our needs. He even knows what we need before we ask him. 

 We just have to learn how to do this as much as possible without a great deal of tension and anguish. Yes, along the way we may have to suffer, but then again, if done always with God, we can manage to be calm and confident, knowing that nothing is impossible with God. 

 The experience of a bad break, a misfortune, a huge difficulty, etc., can and should be converted into an occasion to grow in our faith in God. And we can somehow know that we are growing in that faith when we learn how to continually beg God without losing our peace. 

 In fact, there would be an abiding sense of acceptance of whatever takes place at the moment together with a strong hope that provides us with a deep confidence that everything will be taken care of. 

 We know that with God, everything is taken care of. What we cannot take care, God will do it for us. Of course, God’s ways are not our ways. They may differ greatly from what we like to happen, but definitely God will take care of everything. He will solve, complete and perfect what we cannot anymore solve, complete and perfect. Nothing is impossible with him. We should just trust him. 

 This reassurance has been revealed to us by Christ himself. He was willing to offer his life for our sins and for whatever misfortunes we can suffer in this life. And he conquered them all with his resurrection. If all our misfortunes are suffered with Christ, we for sure will also take part in the resurrection of Christ. 

 Before Christ’s supreme act of love to take care of everything and to save us and to bring us back to God, we already have been reassured of this wonderful truth of God taking care of everything with the example of Job who was severely tested by all kinds of trials and misfortunes. But with his strong faith in God, he stood his ground and in the end was amply rewarded by God. 

 We need to toughen ourselves and cling tightly to what our faith tells us whenever we suffer some kind of misfortune in this life. For this, we have nothing else to do but to try our best, always asking for God’s grace, to assume the mind of Christ with respect to his suffering and death. 

 Part of a good accepting attitude is the ability to be flexible and resilient without getting confused and lost about what is absolutely right or wrong, true or false, real or unreal. We have to know how to adapt ourselves properly to different kinds of people, conditions and situations in our life, etc.

Marriage, divorce and the gender issue

THAT part of the gospel where Christ was asked about marriage and divorce and that also talked a little about man being created man and woman (cfr. Mt 19,3-12) gives us an occasion to clarify certain points that have become today’s hot button issues due to some ideological controversies. 

 We cannot deny that these days some ideologies are redefining things that are clearly set forth by our Christian faith and that can be clearly validated by an objective analysis of our human nature. One is that marriage can only be between one man and one woman, and that it is exclusive and is meant to be a lifetime commitment. 

 Why is that? It’s because for marriage to be true marriage, true love should be involved, a love that includes the use of the body and not just a spiritual love that can and should be given to as many persons as possible. 

 It’s an exclusive kind of love because once the body is given to another, it cannot be shared with anybody else. And if true love animates it, then everything is involved, and so there is a lifetime commitment involved. 

 Divorce is therefore a no-no. What can happen instead is what is known as nullity of marriage. That’s when it can be proven that the marriage was entered into with some impediments. Thus, marriage should be entered into with full knowledge of what it is and what it entails. 

 Marriage is also between a man and a woman because it is meant mainly for procreation, and not just enjoyment of some conveniences and pleasures, though these can also be reasons why people marry. 

 Of course, they should also realize that marriage has its own burdens for which they have to be ready to bear. It is also meant to raise a family where children are formed to be real persons and children of God as we are all meant to be—a tall order, indeed, but which can be borne as long as those concerned tackle this responsibility with God’s grace and their all-out effort. 

 Regarding the gender issue, it’s kind of funny that nowadays some people are finding it difficult to define what a woman is and what pronoun to assign to those who think they are women when biologically they are men. 

 Of course, given our human condition that is always a work in progress, to be consistent to one’s gender at birth requires some effort and work. Masculinity for men and femininity for women have to be taught and learned, knowing that given our human condition that is replete with weaknesses, inconsistencies can easily take place. 

 There can be same-sex attraction which can happen to anyone anytime, but if one is guided properly by a good understanding of our human nature and of our Christian faith, one would know what to do. It’s when one prefers to be guided simply by his own feelings and estimation of things that he or she or they can get into error. 

 Anyway, we all know that our human condition in this life requires constant vigilance and struggle precisely because of our human weakness and limitations. But we should try our best to follow the objective guide provided by natural law, moral law and the spiritual and supernatural law provided by our Christian faith. 

 In any case, charity should always prevail, especially in situations when we have to deal with controversial issues. Our differences and conflicts should not be reason to set aside charity. It’s precisely in situations like these that charity should be best lived.

“Where I’m coming from”

THAT’S the usual line many people use when they want to justify their reaction and even their attitude and behavior of anger, if not of hatred or despair, toward a certain person or event. 

 They usually say that they were mistreated, misunderstood or prejudged, etc., and so they feel they are entitled to react that way. Things get worse when such reaction and behavior become extreme and permanent, forming all sorts of prejudices, biases and closed-mindedness. We have to be most wary of this danger. 

 We naturally have our initial and spontaneous reactions to anything that can happen in our life. We can hardly control them. They are quite raw. They are reflex reactions that definitely need to be purified and set in their proper context of our real dignity as persons and children of God. 

 We just have to realize that while our reactions are always shaped somehow by some immediate or proximate causes, in the end our reactions need to reflect that we all come from God and should reflect the attitude, reactions and behavior that God has toward all of us who have our share of defects, limitations and sins themselves. 

 That’s simply because we are God’s image and likeness. How God is, as shown to us and empowered in us by Christ in the Spirit, should also be how we ought to be. We are reminded of this important aspect of our life in that gospel episode where Peter asked Christ how many times he should forgive a brother who had offended him. (cfr. Mt 18,21-19,1) 

 Christ responded by talking about a certain servant-debtor whose huge debt was forgiven because he appealed to the king. The king eventually forgave his loan out of compassion. But when this servant-debtor could not forgive another servant of his loan, the king punished that servant-debtor severely. 

 “You wicked servant!” the king said, “I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” We should learn how to be always forgiving of others just as we all need forgiveness from God. 

 Let’s remember that with God, mercy has the last word. It is the highest form of charity as shown very vividly by Christ who, while still hanging on the cross, offered forgiveness to those who crucified him. 

 We have to make a shout-out for the need to develop in us the virtue of mercy so we can be forgiving of everyone, irrespective of whether one deserves it or not. Christ gave a clear indication of this need: “Forgive and you shall be forgiven.” (Lk 6,37) He reiterated this injunction when he said: “For if you will forgive men their offences, you heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your offences.” (Mt 6,14-14) 

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

 Being forgiving even to the most undeserving person is the highest form of charity precisely because charity is always a gift. The more gratuitously given it is, the more charity grows in us. The more we become Christ-like, God-like.

Real fraternity among ourselves

THE gospel reading of Wednesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time, which falls this year 2023 on August 16, talks about the Christian duty of making fraternal corrections as a true expression of fraternal love among ourselves. It also talks about the Christ-given power of Christ’s disciples to consider bound in heaven what they bind on earth, and to consider loosed in heaven what they loose on earth. (cfr. Mt 18,15-20) 

 It’s a truth of faith that we have to live by, after considering its practical implications of truly having the mind and heart of Christ which is full of mercy while also knowing how to give due consideration to the requirements of justice. 

 Truth is, irrespective of our different and even conflicting conditions and situations in life, we are all brothers and sisters in our common humanity, and children of God who are meant to share God’s life and nature, created as we are to be God’s image and likeness. 

 In this regard, we have to learn to deal and truly love the others as they really are in real time, warts and all. Of course, we have to maintain the distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, but we have to learn how to live and love each one individually and personally, helping them as much as we can in their various needs, material or spiritual, etc. 

 This is how Christ loves us. It’s a love that is individualized and personalized, kind of adapted to the way each person is. Thus, it is said that Christ went all the way to becoming like sin even if he did not commit any sin just to identify himself with each one of us and to give us a way of how to deal with our condition of weakness and sinfulness. 

 If we truly have the mind and heart of Christ, we should be quick to understand and forgive those who may offend us. In a sense, we should not be scandalized by anything. That, of course, requires a certain toughness that can only come with God’s grace and our earnest efforts. 

 This Christian spirit of fraternity should be first developed and lived in the context of the family life. Thus, parents have the very important duty to fill their family life with a lot of love and affection for one another at home, since it’s only then that the children, especially the young ones, would learn how to love, show affection and live true fraternity among themselves and with everybody else. 

 Of special interest in this duty of fostering fraternity is the need to look after the spiritual and moral life of the others. 

 To strengthen our spirit of fraternity and charity, we should see to it that we are always friendly to everyone in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts. Our friendships should be truly human, complete with generous details of affection and ready understanding and compassion. But it, of course, has to be based on the supernatural love of God that is fueled by his grace which we should always ask for. 

 If we would have such spirit of fraternity, then we would find it easy to fraternize with everyone, including those who are clearly in error or are great offenders and sinners. That’s what Christ did, even to the extent of ruffling the sentiments of some self-righteous people who considered themselves to be without sin.

What Mary’s Assumption reminds us of

THE Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, celebrated on August 15, definitely reminds us that our body also shares in the dignity of being image and likeness of God. This is what our Catechism teaches about the basic truth of faith about ourselves: 

 “The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity.” (CCC 364) 

 It’s a truth of faith worthy of being studied very well so we would know what practical consequences and implications are involved, especially with regard to our duties towards our own body—how to look at it, how to take care of it, etc. 

 Let’s remember that at the creation of man in Adam and Eve, there was a state of original holiness and justice, and because of that there was no malice at all in seeing them without any clothing. 

 That is how the Italian painter, Michelangelo, portrayed the creation of Adam in a fresco painting which forms part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling in St. Peter’s Basilica. The same with both Adam and Eve in Eden just before the fall. They were both naked. Of course, now with the effects of sin, we cannot dare to go out naked unless something is wrong with our head. 

 The Solemnity of Our Lady’s Assumption definitely urges us to take care of our body in such a way that it too should give glory to God. For that to happen, we obviously have to exert a lot of effort to discipline its worldly urges with God’s grace, so that it gets totally animated by the proper spirit of God, which is a spirit of love as shown by Christ. 

 This means developing the virtue of chastity which needs to be grounded on a life of authentic piety, of spirituality, of an intimate and abiding relationship with God from whom all good things come. Absent this grounding, chastity can only be at best a shell, a matter of appearance only, of some form of social or political correctness devoid of real substance. Such condition only leads to cases of hypocrisy. 

 Let’s never forget that man is both body and soul. And because of the spirituality of our soul, we are meant to unite ourselves to God, our creator who made us to be in his image and likeness. It is God who gives us the grace so that our natural disposition toward what is good that ultimately is God, is actualized. In other words, we are meant to live not just a natural life, but a supernatural life with God. 

 To be blunt about it, any virtue that we ought to develop should have God as its cause and effect. It just cannot be the result of our human efforts alone. We need to ask and to correspond to God’s grace. 

 And the way to correspond to God’s grace has been shown to us and even given to us by Christ, the son of God who became man to redeem us, giving us “the way, the truth, and the life” that is proper to us. 

 A quick look at the life of Christ can tell us that we have to learn to pray, to offer sacrifices, to deny ourselves and carry the cross, to live a certain detachment from the things of the world, etc. That’s how we can develop chastity.

Blending the different aspects of our life

IT’S a skill and art that we need to develop. We cannot deny that we have different aspects of our life that can be competing and conflicting, and we should just learn how to blend them as best that we could into some meaningful unity and consistency. 

 Our life involves both the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the short-term and the long-term, the here-and-now and the last things, the biological, social, cultural, historical, economic, political aspects, etc. We have to learn how to orchestrate them together so as to lead us to our ultimate goal, which is to be with God in heaven. 

 We are reminded of this need in that gospel episode where Christ already talked about how he was going to end his life and complete his mission here on earth, and then later he was asked about whether he had to pay taxes. (cfr. Mt 17,22-27) 

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

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

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

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

 We have to correct that predicament by realizing more deeply that our life is supposed to be a life with God since not only are we one of his creatures, but a creature that is meant to be his image and likeness. We are meant to be like God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. That’s how we can have consistency and unity of life. 

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

 We just have to learn how to strengthen our relation with Christ, overcoming our natural awkwardness and difficulties, knowing how to pray, studying and assimilating the doctrine, availing of the sacraments, rectifying our intentions, developing the virtues, observing proper priorities, etc. 

 We need to be more aware of our duty to establish, build up and strengthen the unity in our life. We only have one life, made up of many parts, aspects, stages and levels, and subject to all sorts of conditions, big and small, favorable and unfavorable, etc. The challenge is how to put all these things together in harmony.

When God pulls a surprise on us

THAT gospel episode of Christ walking on the water should remind us that God can intervene in our life in some mysterious and extraordinary way. (cfr. Mt 14,22-33) In other words, he can surprise us, he can come to us when we are not expecting him. 

 We somehow should be ready for this eventuality, although we should rather prefer that God comes to us in the usual ordinary ways—through the sacraments, doctrine of our faith, the usual events in our life, etc. 

 I say that we should prefer the ordinary ways because the extraordinary ways can also be pulled by evil spirits who can also appear to us, as St. Paul warned us, as angels of light. (cfr. 2 Cor 11,14) Thus, we have to be very discerning. 

 In any case, if it is truly God who pulls a surprise on us, he would normally tell us to remain calm and to reassure us that it is him who is doing so. This happened in that gospel episode of Christ walking on the water. Christ told his disciples, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

 Otherwise, if it is not God or any saint who is doing these extraordinary interventions, we would usually be led to some tense reaction, kind of disabling us to think and behave properly. 

 Also, we have to remember that the evil spirits can do nothing on us without the permission of God. And if God permits them, it is because a greater good can come out of them. The important thing to do is not to lose our faith in God. If we ever err in our judgments and discernment, but done in good faith, we can be sure that God will do everything to correct things for us. 

 The Book of Ezekiel mentions these reassuring words of God: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (33,11) 

 We should learn the skill of determining the kind of spirit that is involved in these extraordinary events in our life. St. John was explicit as to which spirit is proper to us. “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.” (1 Jn 4,2-3) 

 St. Paul distinguished between the fruits of the Spirit of God and the works of the flesh dominated by the evil spirit. The former include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (cfr Gal 5,22-23) 

 The latter include fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing. (cfr Gal 5,19-21) 

 We would somehow know the kind of spirit we have by the kind of thoughts, desires and loves we have. If we look more closely at how our consciousness works, what its usual contents are, what we are most aware of, we would have an idea of the kind of spirit we have. All we have to do is to see if our thoughts, desires and loves are those of the fruits of the spirit or the fruits of the flesh.

Why do we have to lose to win?

WHY? Because Christ said so. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” he said. (Mt 16,24-26) 

 We have to make some adjustments in how we see and understand things. Those words of Christ actually describe for us what true love is. It’s when we give up everything in a way that would fill us with what is proper to us, when true love is generated. 

 This is the example of Christ himself, who in the words of St. Paul said that “in our relationships with one another, we ought to have the same mindset as Christ: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…” (Phil 2,5-7) 

 We certainly have to make some drastic adjustments in our understanding of what true love is. It will always involve self-giving, a certain losing in order to win, a certain giving up to gain something more important. 

 Christ taught about this kind of love in those parables that compared the Kingdom of God with the treasure hidden in the field, or with the merchant looking for fine pearls. (cfr. Mt 13,44-45) A certain giving up is always involved when we have to find what is best for us. And we should not be contented with what is good enough in the context of the good being the enemy of the best. 

 Christ wants us to lose in human terms so that we can win in the end in divine terms which is what really matters. This is made clear, for example, when Christ articulated the beatitudes that would somehow put us in the losing end in order to have the victory of being truly blessed. (cfr. Mt 5,3-12) 

 This is reiterated when he talked about the willingness to lose an eye, an arm, a foot, if these would cause us to sin. Better to lose them and enter heaven rather than to have them and get to hell. (cfr. Mt 5,29-31) 

 In another instance Christ clearly told us that for us to be his disciples, we should be willing to ‘hate’ our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even our own life. We should be willing to carry our cross. (cfr. Lk 14,26-27) 

 To be able to live by this divine logic, we of course would need first of all the grace of God. We have to ask for it with humility. And then we need to do our part, exerting the due effort to acquire the appropriate attitude and corresponding virtues. We should have the attitude of willingly giving up everything else just to be with God. “Vale la pena,” it is all worthwhile, should somehow be like a slogan for us. 

 Everyday, we have to see to it that there is always something that we give up not only for some personal goal or interest, but also and mainly for the love of God and others. Let’s hope that the little self-denials we do everyday will prepare us for the ultimate self-detachment we have to make to enter into our definitive union with God.

We ought to die in order to live?

WE have to be ready to understand as quickly as possible some of the incredible teachings of Christ. One of them is that we need to die in order to live. (cfr. Jn 12,24-26) “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life,” he said. This was prefaced by the image of a seed that needs to be sown and die in the ground for it to grow and produce much fruit. 

 Our first reaction to these words would most likely be that this is a crazy doctrine. But obviously, if we consider that these words came from Christ, we would have reason to reconsider them. 

 And true enough, if we follow the life and example of Christ as we should, it should come to our mind that this teaching delineates the very essence of what love truly is. Christ, who is love incarnate, died for us to recover us from our unavoidable sinfulness and to offer us eternal life with God who wants us to be like him, sharers of his life and nature. 

 And what does this involve? It means that we have to continually fight against our weakness, our temptations and our sins that separate us from Christ or that violate the will of God for us. This will involve going against what we like in order to conform our will, our mind and heart to the will and ways of God as taught, shown and lived by Christ himself. 

 That is what is meant by “losing his life for my (Christ’s) sake.” We need to realize that our weaknesses, temptations and sins can so dominate us that they can practically become our life. And that is the life that we have to lose for the sake of Christ. 

 This fight against our weaknesses, temptations and sins will obviously involve effort, pain and suffering, since what is involved is the loosening, or worse, letting go of our will, our most precious and intimate faculty that practically identifies who we really are, so that our will conforms to the will of God instead. It is a form of self-emptying so that we can only be filled with the will and spirit of God. 

 Yes, it’s going to be a “bloody” struggle, but a struggle that is unavoidable and necessary. Besides, we are assured of victory as long as we go along with Christ who makes himself so available to us that he is all there for us. We should not worry too much of what this whole affair would involve. 

 We should never think that we will be going through this struggle by our lonesome, relying only on our own human powers. It’s true that what we would be tackling is overwhelming. But if we only open ourselves to God, nothing would be impossible for us. 

 We have to learn how to be cool with this condition in our life, and avoid falling into unnecessary stress and worries. This is part of the territory. We can handle it perfectly well. We just have to have the right attitudes and skills. 

 We have to find ways to die a little everyday so that little by little also we can achieve a certain degree of the life that God meant for us, he who created us to be his image and likeness. We have to avoid simply developing our life purely according to our designs.

The edifying example of the Canaanite woman

THAT story of the Canaanite woman who practically nagged Christ for the favor of driving a demon that tormented her daughter (cfr. Mt 15,21-28) teaches us the great lesson to ever strengthen our faith especially when we are faced with difficulties and challenges that look impossible to handle. 

 “‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish,’ Christ told her. “And her daughter was healed from that hour.” When we have great difficulties, we should have great faith in God too. Said in another way, difficulties can occasion the growth of our faith. 

 In relation to God, we may fall under very different, and even conflicting, categories. We can be believers or non-believers, friends or foes, etc., but to God we are all his children, objects always of his tremendous and gratuitous love. 

 No matter how the state of our relationship with God is, whether it is hot, cold or lukewarm, we should try our best to go to God, especially in some extraordinary situations. He is our last and most reliable recourse especially when we find ourselves in some impossible situations. 

 For this, of course, we just have to activate our faith in him, even if our belief in him at the moment is not that strong. Remember one gospel character who said, “I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief.” (Mk 9,24) 

 We should just be humble enough and try to clutch as tightly as possible to whatever strand of faith we may still have in God. To be sure, God always listens and acts on our importunings, even if we seem to annoy him. 

 We should just overcome whatever fear or shame we may have to approach God our Father. To him, we will always be a child who can give him great joy whenever we act like the lost sheep and the lost coin that are finally found or the prodigal son who has decided to return to the father. 

 With just a little flicker of faith and repentance, the heart of God would readily melt into compassion and mercy. In the case of the Canaanite woman, for example, Christ immediately gave in to her request when she did not relent with her request despite the apparent initial rebuke. 

 “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs,” Christ told her at first. It sounds like pure insult, right? That was because being a Canaanite, the woman has no right to ask a favor from a Jesus, a Jew. That was how things worked that time. It was also because Christ was actually testing the woman of her faith. 

 And true enough, the woman did not take offense at the response of Christ, but went to argue her case, showing the intensity of her faith in Christ. “Please, Lord,” she said, “for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” 

 At that, Christ relented, amazed at the faith of the woman. “O woman, great is your faith,” Christ said. “Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. 

 It’s truly a beautiful story that assures us that no matter how unworthy we are to approach God for a favor, God always listens and cares for us and will give us what is truly good for us. 

 May we have the same faith as that of the Canaanite woman!

Unafraid with the things of God

THAT gospel episode where Christ shocked his apostles when they saw him walking on the water (cfr. Mt 14,22-36) reminds us that the ways of God can overwhelm us and even throw us into the grip of fear. We should just remember what Christ told his apostles. “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

 We should just be prepared for this eventuality which can happen anytime. We may not deserve to be given such extraordinary intervention of God in our life, but it is really up to God to give us that favor. 

 We should just have to learn when to be afraid and when not. We have to distinguish between a good fear and a bad fear, a healthy one and a sick one. We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. 

 Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. 

It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair. It’s the fear that we should foster, especially these days when we see a lot of people who are not afraid anymore to offend God. Though to be fair, we can also say that many do not fear God anymore because in the first place they don’t know him. No one fears what he doesn’t know. 

 Look at little children. They have to be watched closely because in their carefree spirit of playing and running around, they do not know the many potential dangers that can befall them. In a sense, they have no fear, which is why we have to watch them closely. 

 There are, of course, those who do not fear God because they don’t believe in him. This is reflected in one of the psalms: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God above.’” (52) 

 Lastly, there are those who lose the fear of the Lord because they think they can escape or hide from him. It’s kind of a funny predicament to be in, but actually many fall under this category. For sure, it’s the devil’s work, supported by one’s weaknesses and self-inflicted delusion. 

 We have to contend with these possibilities and wage a battle of love and peace, of truth and charity, with a lot of patience to boot. Prayers, heroic sacrifices are definitely needed, but concrete, doable plans on how to tackle these problems should also be made. 

 We have to learn to lose our fear, allowing our faith to make that leap in the dark that is integral to it. That is the secret. Instead of fear, what we should have is awe. Though it may have some freezing effect, awe actually attaches us with God. Not so with fear. Fear makes us to run away from God.

Developing a compassionate heart

IT is said that when Christ saw a big crowd as he disembarked from boat, he was moved to pity and started to preach, cure the sick and even feed them with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish which he miraculously multiplied to the utter consternation of the disciples who witnessed the whole thing. (cfr. Mt 14,13-21) 

 If we have to be like Christ as we should, then we have to develop a heart like his, full of compassion and willing to extend whatever help we can, especially giving both the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that many people are in need of. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency not to complicate our life by keeping to ourselves instead of getting involved in a positive way in the lives of others. We may think that that is the better thing to do for us, but that way of acting fails to see the whole picture of how complicating our life by helping others would actually benefit us greatly. 

 One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of always thinking of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help. This was what Christ was showing us all his life here on earth. 

 It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about. We just have to learn to be tough to take on whatever effort is needed. We have to learn to be all things to all men. 

 Compassion starts in the heart, in our thoughts and desires. In this level, there is no limit in what we can do. Obviously, when we try to translate these prayers, thoughts and desires into action and material things, we can be greatly limited. But insofar as prayers and sacrifices are involved, the possibilities are unlimited. 

 We need to examine ourselves more deeply to see if indeed we are always thinking, praying and wishing others well. We have to be wary of our tendency to let our thoughts and desired be dictated only by self-interest, usually done in a most subtle but effective way. For this, we have to do regular examination of conscience. 

 Compassion should not be exclusively associated with the sweet and tender moments of pity, sympathy and empathy. It demands sacrifice and self-denial which we should be willing to give. 

 For this, we have to be willing to complicate our life. There surely will be some need for adjustments in our attitudes, in the way we understand things and view different kinds of people. We have to hone up our skills at versatility, which should not only be a matter of theatric performance but rather that of genuine love for God and for souls. 

 We have to learn how to flow with the times whose developments are getting more rapid and more varied. We should learn to be very discerning, knowing how to identify and derive anything good that is in any person, situation, ideology, etc., but knowing also their defects, errors, limitations so as not to be trapped by them.

The sense of the sublime and the supernatural

THE Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, celebrated on August 6, reminds us that like Christ, we are meant to be transfigured to a supernatural life with God in heaven for all eternity. While here on earth, it behooves us to be always conscious of this truth of our faith, and to develop a sense of the sublime and the supernatural amid the varying conditions of our earthly life. 

 That we are meant to a supernatural life is based on the fact that we have been created in God’s image and likeness. How God is, as revealed fully to us in Christ and made abidingly present in us in the Holy Spirit, is how we ought to be. We should just rev up our faith and overcome whatever disbelief or awkwardness we may have with regard to this truth of our faith about ourselves. 

 To be sure, having a strong and deep sense of the sublime and the supernatural in our life would keep us confident, serene, hopeful despite the drama of our life here on earth which can be quite heavy. It is our way of connecting us with God’s will and ways which can handle anything that can happen in our earthly sojourn. 

 We should not forget that we are meant for a supernatural life. Our human nature, with our spiritual soul that enables us to know and to love, and therefore to enter into the lives not only of others but also and most importantly, of God, urges us to develop a supernatural life. 

 It’s a life with God always. It just cannot be exclusively our own life, taken personally or collectively.  It’s a life that depends mainly on God who gives us the grace that purifies and elevates it to his life, but it also depends on us, on our freedom to correspond to this loving will of God for us. 

 We have to develop a taste and even an appetite for the supernatural life with God and of things supernatural in general. In this we have to help one another, because in the end, this is our common ultimate end in life—how to live our life with God, how we can be immersed in God even as we are immersed also in the things of the world. 

 It’s always good that we develop and keep a sense of the sublime. After all, if we are truly consistent to our Christian faith, we know that we are meant to be God’s image and likeness, children of his, meant to share in his very own life in heaven. Ours is a dignity like no other. 

 And we should always be aware of it, irrespective of how our life here on earth goes. We are not meant for a dark, sad life, full of suffering only. We are meant for a sublime life with God. 

 To be sure, developing this sense of the sublime is not a baseless and gratuitous exercise. It is what God wants us to have, since we truly are children of his. It is not our invention. It is, first of all, his will for us to which we have to correspond. 

 We should not feel uneasy about this truth, because on the part of God, he will do everything to make what he wants of us to be fully realized. All we have to do is simply to go along with his will and ways as far as we can.