Our universal and particular vocation

ON the Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle, celebrated on November 30, we are reminded that Christ can call anyone to be his apostle. In the gospel of the day, (cfr. Mt 4,18-22) we see Christ just passing by and when he saw the brothers, Peter and Andrew, he told them to follow him, and, wonder of wonders, they just did. The same when he saw the brothers, James and John. 

 It’s clear that Christ can call anyone to follow him, since he is precisely the pattern of our humanity, the one who offers us “the way, the truth and the life” proper to us. In other words, we are all called by Christ to follow him. 

 Yes, we all have a vocation which is what the call of Christ to us is all about. In short, the vocation to follow Christ, to be like him, to be holy and to be involved in the continuing work of human redemption, is universal. This should be clear in our mind. 

 As to the particular vocation, we actually are free to choose whether we want to be a priest or nun or religious, or we want to be a layperson. Unless we are given specific signs from God as to what particular vocation to choose, we are quite free to choose all possible and clean ways of life as a vocation from God. 

 We should not waste time trying to figure out what particular vocation we ought to have. We should just choose one, and once done, let’s stick to it all the way to the end of our life, no matter whatever happens in our life. 

 Of course, if along the way there are again some clear signs that God is pointing us to a particular vocation, then some changes or adjustments can be made. But all these things should not cause us too much worry or anxiety. 

 The important thing is that we are truly committed and faithful to any vocation we choose or is meant for us. Let’s avoid falling into the trap of overthinking and overanalyzing things that would lead us to be worried and to hinder us in doing the things that we need to do. 

 In the worst scenario, if in the end, that is, in the Last Judgment, we would be made to realize that we chose the wrong particular vocation, it’s very likely that Christ would still be understanding, compassionate and merciful with us, since we decided to choose the particular vocation we had in good faith. 

 Again, what is important is that whatever particular vocation we choose, we be most generous and fruitful in our commitment and fidelity. And this commitment and fidelity can only be lived by us if we are truly seeking God in everything and doing everything out of love for him, and because of him, we can manage to love everybody else. 

 Let’s also remember that if we are truly driven by love for God and for others, everything that we do and that can happen in our lives will always bring us joy and peace, a deep sense of meaning and purpose. We can cope with any situation in our life. And we would be in a better condition to defend and protect ourselves from our weaknesses, temptations and all forms of evil in this world.

Persevere in faith and hope

ONCE again, since we are approaching the end of the liturgical year, the gospel readings these days remind us of the need for perseverance that is fueled with faith and hope despite all the severe trials we can meet along the way, since Christ will take care of everything as long as we go along with him as far as we can. 

 “By your perseverance you will secure your lives,” Christ told a crowd one time. (Lk 21,19) He listed down some terrible scenarios that can happen in our lives which we should just learn to endure, since he will always be with us, defending, protecting and teaching us how to react all the way. 

 “They will seize and persecute you…You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.” (Lk 21,12ff.) 

 Christ even said that we should not worry to prepare our defenses before all these possible severe trials, because as he said, “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” (Lk 21,15) 

 We have to remember that if Christ could not help but had to offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the world in general would take a different path? Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn 15,20) But let’s always keep in mind his assurance, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33) 

 Let’s just have to learn how to suffer, always with Christ, that is, with faith, hope and optimism, convinced that all these troubles will always be for the good. It would also help a lot if we maintain a sporting spirit in life with a good and healthy sense of humor. 

 To be sure, we can manage to find joy in suffering only if we identify ourselves with Christ. With Christ, suffering becomes an act of selfless love that can take on anything. Only in him can we find joy and meaning in suffering. With him, suffering loses its purely negative and painful character, and assumes the happy salvific character. 

 We need to process this truth of our faith thoroughly, always asking for God’s grace and training all our powers and faculties to adapt to this reality. That’s why Christ told us clearly that if we want to follow him, we simply have to deny ourselves, carry the cross and follow him. There’s no other formula, given our wounded human condition. 

 This self-denial and carrying of Christ’s cross will enable us to see that suffering is obviously the consequence of all our sins—ours and those of others. Embracing suffering the way Christ embraced his cross unites our suffering with that of Christ.

 For us to have this conviction, we really need to deepen and strengthen our faith which will lead us to have an unwavering hope that despite whatever, everything would just turn out right. 

 With faith and hope, we can manage to endure anything and to persevere, because as St. Paul told us once: “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1,6)

The end times

NOW that we are ending the liturgical year, we should not be surprised that the readings and the tenor of the prayers at Masses these days somehow refer to the end times. It’s a good occasion to remind ourselves of this reality, not to scare us but rather for us to be realistic in our life here on earth and learn to prepare ourselves for the end times. 

 We are told in the gospel that the time will come “when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” and that “nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom,” and that “there will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” (cfr. Lk 21,5-11) 

 To top it all, we are told not be deceived because as Christ said, “many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘the time has come.’ Do not follow them!” It would seem that as the end of time approaches, the enemies of God and of our soul would use the most duplicitous tactics to mislead us. So, let’s be properly guarded. 

 We have to learn to prepare for this eventuality. If Christ, who is God made man and who is our Redeemer, could not help but had to offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the world in general would take a different path? 

 Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (Jn 15,20) So we have to expect to have the same fate as Christ. And that means that we have to prepare for the worst scenario. The world will end badly. That’s already a given, a truth of our faith. 

 What we have to do is to always have a proper focus in life. Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, what with all we can devour in the social media, videos, etc., we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life. 

 We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity. 

 Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy even if we feel we are having a good time in our life. 

 This fundamental truth about ourselves should be proclaimed time and time again because we are notorious for taking it for granted, if not for violating it. We have to remind everyone that we have to take the necessary steps for us to be aware of this truth and to live according to it. 

 Obviously, what is truly helpful in this regard is that everyone learns really how to pray, how to engage God in a continuing conversation, or at least to have an abiding awareness of his presence and interventions in our life.

Lavish or austere?

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

 We are somehow reminded of this consideration in that gospel episode where Christ observed some wealthy men putting their offerings into the treasury while a poor widow just put in two small coins, and praised the widow more than the wealthy people since the widow put in all that she had while the wealthy men put what was an extra thing for them. (cfr. Lk 21,1-4) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to end the liturgical year

HOW should we end the current liturgical year which takes place on November 26? The quick answer to that is to make sure that Christ truly is our king who rules and governs not only our lives taken individually but also the lives of all of us. 

 This is the proper closure of the liturgical year which should be a rehearsal and an anticipation of the final closure of the earthly life of all of us. Christ, and no other, should be our King. We have to learn how to close the liturgical year properly, prepared to meet Christ in his second coming, and seeing to it that we are found to be worthy to be part of his kingdom. 

 It’s no joke how this closure, with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus, King of the universe, should take place. We are expected to follow and serve Christ all our life here on earth. And as the gospel reading of the Solemnity reminds us, this duty to follow and serve Christ can be done by serving the poor. (cfr. Mt 25,31-46) 

 “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,” said Christ. (Mt 25,40) We have to be ready and quick to discover, love and serve Christ especially in the poor and those in some special needs and difficulties, including those of the spiritual and moral kinds. This can be a big challenge to us since we cannot deny that we tend to distance ourselves from this kind of people. 

 It, of course, will take a lot of faith and effort to abide by this standard of Christ. But we can always do something about it. Even if it’s just little and hardly significant, as long as it is done continually and daily, great progress in following and serving Christ can truly be achieved. 

 Let’s remember that while we try our best to cope with our responsibilities for our own personal needs, and those of our family, our relatives and friends, and those of society and the economy, we should never forget to give preferential attention to those who are poor not only materially but also and especially, spiritually and morally. 

 We need to make the appropriate adjustments in the way we prioritize things so that while we take care of our big responsibilities, we do not neglect to take a more special care to those who need immediate attention and help. 

 Let’s convince ourselves that this is how we can be truly serving Christ. Not only that. Let’s strengthen the conviction that this is how we can be like Christ as we should. Remember that God in Christ went all the way of not only becoming man, but also of making himself like sin without committing sin and offering his life on the cross, just to save us. (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21) 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to be self-righteous, quick to judge those in some spiritual and moral anomalies, instead of helping them return to Christ. This is a big challenge because this will practically require of us to carry the cross just as Christ did to save us. 

 Let’s hope that with Mary, our Mother, we can echo her words: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.” That’s how we can truly make Christ as our King.

On anger management

THAT gospel episode about Christ getting angry at those who turned the temple into market place (cfr. Lk 19,45-48) reminds us that anger is indeed a human emotion that has its rightful place in our life. 

 We just have to manage it well so it does not go overboard. In the case of Christ, his anger did not cancel what his intention was in going to the temple. After driving those concerned, he proceeded to preach. 

 We have to be most careful with our anger. It should only be a passing thing that is resorted to as an emergency reaction. We should get over it as soon as possible, and move on to what we ought to do. It should never blind us from our real duties and responsibilities. And most importantly, it should never take away our duty to be always charitable to everyone, including the one who may have caused our anger. 

 Anger is one of our God-given emotions, locked into our nature as persons. It has its legitimate use. But precisely because of our precarious human condition here on earth, we have to be wary of it. In fact, anger is also considered one of the capital sins, along with pride, envy, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, that can beget many other sins. 

 If ever we have to be angry, let’s try our best to be angry in the spirit of Christ who showed anger over the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes, and over those who turned the temple into a market place. Christ’s anger is what is called righteous anger, one that is done always in charity and in the truth, and not just due to opinions and biases. It’s an anger that is meant to correct, purify, heal. 

 For those who have some serious problem in this department, who are irascible with short fuses, great effort should be made to tame their proclivity to anger. Perhaps, some medical and professional help should be resorted to. But definitely, our anger can only be best managed when we try our best to be with Christ as we should. 

 As one psalm described it, God’s anger “lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (30,5) Like God in Christ, we must be slow to anger and quick to forgive. We should just have a strong grip over this particular emotion. 

 We need to understand that our anger should not just be an effect of some hormones nor simply an expression of a reflex reaction. It has to be purified and guided by reason that in turn should be enlightened and animated by our faith, hope and charity. 

 Anger not guided by reason is pure animal anger, not fit for our human dignity as persons and, most especially, as children of God. It would be brute anger, not rational. And if uncorrected, it definitely is a sin. In fact, it’s one of the capital sins. It not only would be against our human nature. It would also be against God’s law. It opens the gates for other worse things to afflict us. 

 We need to see the facile vulnerability of our anger to all forms of disorder that can range from pride to vanity to envy to hatred, etc. That is why it needs to be quickly purified and subjected to the requirements of right reason that is enlightened by faith, hope and charity. Thus, that advice of St. Paul not to let the sun set on our anger, giving the devil a foothold. (cfr. Eph 4,26-27)

The contemplative lifestyle

EVERYONE should learn to be contemplative. We are actually meant for it. Equipped and wired for it, we reach our ideal situation when we manage to become contemplatives even in the middle of the world. We have to start with ourselves before we can dare to teach the others, especially the young ones, how to be so. 

 To be a contemplative is to see Christ in everyone and in everything. It is to see God in every situation, in every circumstance, convinced that God is everywhere, and his presence is not just passive but is rather full of love and solicitude. 

 Remember Christ saying, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28,20) He did not say he will be with us in such and such a situation, or in such and such a person or thing. He just said, “I am with you always...” 

 Besides, God as the Creator can never be absent from his creatures, because the creatures’ existence completely depends on the Creator who precisely gives and keeps the existence of his creatures. Without him, the creature reverts to nothing. 

 Now, in our case, as man endowed with intelligence and will, that is, enabled to know and to love, we are meant at least to be aware of God and to try our best to correspond to his will and ways. God as Creator continues to shape us in our whole life until our creation is completed. 

 The completion of our creation is when we are finally formed according to God’s image and likeness, which is how God wants us to be. “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1,27) 

 And that means, until we become “alter Christus,” another Christ, who as the Son of God is God’s perfect image of himself and thus, the pattern of our humanity, and who as God who became man, is the redeemer of our humanity that is damaged by our sin. 

 That is why St. Paul said: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6) 

 As a corollary to this truth of faith is that God or Christ is always with us. There is no time, no situation, no circumstance, no matter how considered it is in human terms, where God or Christ is not there. 

 When we are in the heights of our successes and accomplishments, or in the depths of our defeats and all forms of human misery, God is there. We need to learn to correspond to that reality because that is the most important and indispensable part of our life, of our world, of our reality. 

 That God became man means that God adapts himself to our condition, whatever it is. He has even made himself like sin without committing sin, as St. Paul said, so that we can become the very righteousness of God! (cfr 2 Cor 5,21) 

 Let’s hope that we can warm ourselves up to this truth of our faith, and start behaving according to it. We should not worry too much about the initial awkwardness, because if we know the full character of what it is to be contemplative, we would realize that we can be so whether we are in the church or in the farm or in our bedroom, or whether we are doing some intellectual or manual work, etc. 

 Christ adapts himself completely to us even in our worst situation when we would be in a state of grave sin! God will always love us. He will never reject us. It is us who are capable of rejecting him. 

 To be a real contemplative is to give our heart to him.

This business of wrapping up

WE have to learn how to wrap up our daily activities so that at the end of the day we can present to God what we have done in obedience to his command for us to be fruitful and productive in this life. 

 We are reminded of this aspect of our Christian life in that gospel episode where some people asked Christ about when the Kingdom of God would appear. But Christ, instead of answering them directly, told them the parable of a nobleman who, before leaving on a journey, gave his 10 servants some gold coins and instructed them to do business with them. (cfr. Lk 19,11-28) 

 In other words, Christ told them not to worry so much about when the Kingdom of God would appear. Instead, they should be more concerned about how they should be doing in their temporal affairs because only when they do well in this area would they be properly prepared for the Kingdom of God when it finally comes. 

 We have to realize that what Christ told those people is also what he telling us now. Instead of being too concerned about the end of time and Judgment Day, what we should rather do is to see to it that we are always prepared for them by carrying out our duties in this life as best that we can. In short, that we should be as fruitful and productive as we can be in obedience to what God commands us. 

 This concern will obviously involve that practice of planning and managing our earthly affairs well so that we can be fruitful and productive as God wants us to be. As much as possible, we should avoid leaving our affairs purely to chance. It’s definitely helpful to have some kind of a to-do list, and to establish a proper focus, always wary of the many possible distractions that can come along way. 

 Thus, we should realize that the practice of wrapping up our daily affairs is a must. It’s a way of summarizing our daily affairs, hopefully bringing them to good conclusion. It’s a way of monitoring the progress of our daily duties, making some kind of balance sheet, tying some loose ends, and preparing the so-called deliverables. 

 We should inculcate the need of developing this practice to everyone, especially the young ones who are often distracted and trapped in their own world, unable to relate themselves to the ultimate purpose of our life. 

 In this regard, it’s important that everyone gets to have a truly global picture of life, developing a sense of time that is connected to eternity. We have to realize that what would truly connect time with eternity is when whatever we do here on earth is done with faith, hope and charity with God as the main object and all the others as an unavoidable accompaniment of the exercise of these virtues. 

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

 We should learn how to make everything we do as a form of prayer. St. Paul articulated this truth when he said, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thes 5,17) And this is always possible and practicable since all that is needed is the awareness that everything we do is done with God and for God.

An example to follow

ESPECIALLY when we enjoy a lot of blessings and privileges in our life, and yet also carry with us our share of shameful weaknesses, failures and sins, the example of Zaccheus, the rich chief tax collector who had great love for Christ, (cfr. Lk 19,1-10) should inspire us. 

 As we read in that gospel narrative, Zaccheus knew well who and how he was with regard to his spiritual and moral life. He had great faith and love for Christ, but given the nature of his work, he also had his dark and ugly part of his life. 

 The life of Zaccheus resonates with many of us who find ourselves grappling with contrasting features of our life—an abiding, if dormant, faith in God, and a load of weaknesses and sins. We can have both love of God and a certain attraction to evil or concupiscence. What we should do is to follow the example of Zaccheus. 

 We should not be ashamed of our weaknesses and sins, and instead of letting them be the reason to stay away from God, they should rather urge us to go to God as quickly as possible. 

 God always forgives. In the book of Ezekiel, we read, “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” (18,23) 

 And in the Gospel of St. John, we read, “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3,17-18) 

 And so, we should not stay long feeling guilty, sad, burdened, worried, afraid and ashamed when we commit sins. All we have to do is to ask for forgiveness and the grace of God, so we can start healing our weaknesses that gave an opening to temptations and sins, as well as gaining strength to do more good things. 

 We have to remember that Christ has already paid the ransom for all our sins. We should just be quick to ask for that ever available mercy of God and move on, atoning for our sins and doing a lot of good things. 

 Yes, in spite of our weaknesses, failures and sins, we can afford to live a happy, peaceful, hopeful and confident life, because Christ has assured us of divine mercy. In fact, Christian life is such a life. 

 This mercy of God, of course, is not meant to spoil us. Rather, it is meant to teach us how to repay love with love and to be God-like as we should. There should be an impulse in us to grow better and mature in our spiritual life of love for God and others. Absent this impulse, the only possibility is to get spoiled. 

 This love is shown when we develop a true and deep spirit of penance. We have to learn to acknowledge our sins and weaknesses and to go to regular confession. We cannot return to the right path unless we first acknowledge our mistakes. We should be man enough to do that, always at the impulse of grace which God never refuses to give. 

 As we can see, Christian life is truly a happy life. When we are not happy or when we are not at peace and hopeful, it can only mean one thing: we are not yet with Christ!

Be quick to go to Christ

THAT gospel episode about a blind man who immediately called on Christ when he learned that it was Christ who was passing by (cfr. Lk 18,35-43) should teach us the lesson that we should always go to Christ, being quick to do so in spite of the many obstacles we can encounter, because in the end it is Christ who will resolve all our problems and difficulties, and help us in achieving our real and ultimate goal in life. 

 We should, of course, do our part, just like what the blind man did, who was begging along the road. But knowing that we cannot cope with all the things we have to contend with—our natural necessities, not to mention our supernatural goal—we should have no doubt as to our need to be quick to go to Christ who is always passing by our side, since he is always around. 

 Truth to tell, 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 be 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. 

 Again, let’s develop the instinct to always go to Christ as quickly as possible in all our needs.

Developing a keen sense of management and accountability

THAT’S what we are reminded of in that gospel parable about a man who embarked on a journey and entrusted all his possessions to his 3 servants, giving them different amounts of talents. (cfr. Mt 25,14-30) When the man returned from the journey, he asked for an accounting of what he gave them. And we know how that parable ended. 

 In our life, we should try to develop a keen sense of management and accountability over all the things God has entrusted us with. Obviously, this will require first of all that we are clear and strong about our Christian faith so we would know what our life here on earth is all about. 

 We cannot deny that even among Christians, many do not exactly know what the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth is. They take things for granted, or they just allow themselves to drift to wherever life’s many currents and forces would bring them. 

 We should realize very deeply that God’s first mandate to men, through our first parents, was: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living things that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1,28) 

 In other words, everything that we do here on earth should be in obedience to this original mandate from God in whose image and likeness we have been created. There should be nothing that we do in this life that is not in keeping with obeying this original commandment from our Creator. 

 We cannot say that what we are doing is purely a personal project of ours, or that it is just matter between our family and us, between our bosses and us, etc. Everything that we do should first of all be a matter between God and us. 

 And so, we need to manage well what God has given us, such that we follow as best that we could what he has commanded us. Thus, we need to expand and deepen our sense of management and accountability to cover not only our businesses and other earthly concerns, but also and first of all our spiritual life. 

 We should be accountable not only to ourselves, to our family and to some other earthly superiors, bosses and authorities, but also and most especially to God. After all, he is the original and ultimate boss, our common father and creator of all. 

 And, of course, the parameters and standards to be used should not just be the temporal and worldly, but rather the spiritual, moral and supernatural. We need to educate ourselves in this sense of management and accountability proper to us. 

 We even have to account for the words we speak, as attested in this passage of St. Matthew’s gospel: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (12,36-37) 

 St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans also said that “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (14,12) And in his second letter to the Corinthians, he said: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (5,10)

Beware of transhumanism and posthumanism

THERE is now a strong and powerful philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies, like genetic engineering, cryonics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition. This may be called transhumanism. Offhand, nothing wrong there, though we have to sort out and clarify the ethical issues involved there. 

 But that’s not all there is. There is also a movement that goes further than this and seeks to use scientific and technological advancements to produce humans with augmented capabilities who evolve into an enhanced species that transcends humanity—the posthuman. This is where a big question mark can be made! 

 We all know that man is in constant process of development. With his spiritual soul, he is actually poised toward the infinite. But with his corporeal body, he is somehow always limited to some space and time. Thus, it cannot be denied that in our lifelong journey of human development, we have to contend with the tension between the seemingly endless potentials of our soul and the real limitations of our body. 

 We just have to be clear about what the true and ultimate end, definition and purpose of man is. And this is where we resort to the deepest belief we hold. Are we Christian believers, or agnostics, if not atheists? Or do we hold on to another philosophy and ideology? 

 Christian believers are clear about what man is, what the purpose of his life here on earth is, what he is supposed to be in the end. They can make use of whatever they can discover in this life, always respecting the natural law that God the creator has inscribed in the things of this world, but using the things of this world to pursue their ultimate goal. 

 Christian believers hold that man is God’s image and likeness. He is being tested in this life to see if what God wants him to be is also what he likes to be. That is the purpose of his life here on earth, for which everything that he does in this world can only be the means, the occasion and the reason to make his choice. 

 Christian believers hold that man is meant in the end to be a saint, because that is what is involved in carrying out his duty to conform himself to God’s will to be God’s image and likeness. Thus, everything that he does should be in pursuit of this ultimate goal meant for man—that is, to be a saint, to be God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 Thus, Christian believers should try their best to have the proper focus, the proper intentions in all their actions. They can do anything as long as they have that proper focus and intention, and as long as they use ethical ways to pursue their ultimate goal. 

 We are somehow reminded of this truth of our Christian faith in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over an unfortunate tendency of the people then who just ate and drank, marry and have fun, without giving due attention to the real purpose of their life. (cfr. Lk 17,26-37) 

 Especially these days when we have a lot of distractions, let alone the fact that precisely there are powerful forces that redefine man and nature, altering them according to their own ideas, we really need to strengthen our sense of focus and purpose in life.

Let’s look forward to Christ’s second coming

WE are approaching the end of the liturgical year, and it’s expected that we are reminded of what are called the “last things,” namely death, judgment, hell and heaven. In other words, we are also reminded of Christ’s second coming where judgment will be made to see if we have been faithful to his will and ways as we navigate our earthly life. 

 That is why, in the gospel, we are reminded of the coming of the Kingdom of God and of the second coming Christ which we would not exactly know. We are just told to be prepared always for it. (cfr. Lk 17,20-25) 

 In this regard, it is good that we always develop what is termed as an eschatological mind and that we always be eternity-ready, because that is what is meant for us. 

 Eschatology is that part of theology concerned with death, judgment and the final destination of the soul and humanity itself, that is, heaven or hell, or the so-called the Last Things. It may sound scary at first, but it actually is very helpful. We just have to make the necessary adjustments in our attitude toward it. 

 So, it’s a part of theology and not a merely empirical science. We need to have inputs of faith which actually play a directing role in the study. We cannot simply rely on so-called observable data, material or sociological, that by definition cannot fathom the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life. 

 To have an eschatological mind means that we know that our earthly life has eternal effects on our afterlife. We have to learn how to live our earthly with the view of our eternal and supernatural destination. 

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

 In other words, we need to be eternity-ready all the time. This means that of the things that we have to take care of, it should be our spiritual life, our relation with God and with others that should be given precedence. We should try to see to it that our spiritual life is vibrant, fruitful and productive, seeing to it that it enjoys the highest level of Christian integrity that we, with God’s grace, can attain. 

 We should not be afraid to be aware always of this truth about death, the end of the world and our duty to reach the goal of eternal life. That awareness should not be regarded as some kind of sword of Damocles. Such awareness would actually make us most realistic about our life here on earth, helping us to be very discerning of the many things in our life, so we would know what to think, judge and do, avoiding getting lost in our earthly sojourn. 

 Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life. 

 We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity.

Gratitude proves authenticity of our faith

THAT gospel episode about 10 lepers who were cured by Christ and yet only one came back to give thanks to him (cfr. Lk 17,11-19) gives us a precious lesson about the importance of always being thankful to God for whatever favor and blessing we receive from him. 

 Such attitude would prove that our faith in him, our relation with him, is authentic and working, and not something that we only profess but not practice and live. In that gospel episode, the conclusion made was that after the healed leper thanked Christ for the cure, Christ said: “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” 

 It’s important that we are always thankful to God, and to others. By being so, we keep our relation with God alive. We will abidingly realize that God is always with us, and in fact, takes the initiative to guide us, to help us, and to shape and direct our life as he wants it to be. 

 God always takes the initiative in intervening in our life. In fact, he is all too eager to share what he has with us, since we are his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. Our role in this relationship is to be as actively receptive in corresponding to God’s continuous action in our lives. 

 Let’s remember that God created us even without any need for us on his part. It was done out of pure love. The immediate corollary of this truth of our faith is that God loves us first before we can love him in return. In fact, we can only learn to truly love when we realize that God loves us first, and that he is the very essence of love that was made human and available to us through Christ, “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 We should never miss this basic truth of our faith that it is God first of all who always takes the initiative to guide us. And insofar as he is concerned, everything has already been taken care of, in spite of our weaknesses, our failures and our sins. 

 In other words, God in Christ has already paid the price, the ransom. There is really nothing to worry about how our life would go in this world with all its challenges, difficulties, trials, etc. If we would just have the living faith to realize this truth about God’s relation with us, what a wonderful time we would have in this life! 

 All we have to do is to continually ask, “Lord, what is it that you are showing me now, that you are sharing with me now, that you are warning me now, etc.?” And then in our heart of hearts, in our conscience, for sure we are going to hear what he would be telling us at a given moment. 

 This is the true essence of a contemplative life that all of us is supposed to develop and to have. It is a life of constant relating of ourselves with him, engaging him in a constant conversation, asking, begging, yes, even complaining like a child when we find ourselves in difficulties, etc. 

 If we truly have this contemplative life, then we will always be thankful to God, knowing that he is taking care of everything in our life, even in those problems that we ourselves cannot anymore solve. We would have peace and joy and a deep sense of confidence despite the ups and downs in our life.

Serving without strings attached

THAT’S how we should serve. Without conditions, without saying enough, without feeling entitled, without strings attached. With such attitude toward serving, we channel the very way Christ served us and continues to do so up to now and until the end of time. 

 We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that part of the gospel where Christ told his apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’?” (Lk 17,7-8) 

 That gospel episode concluded with Christ practically telling his apostles that whatever service they—and we—do should be considered as something always expected of us. These are his words: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” 

 We should strengthen our attitude of wanting to serve without expecting any reward and without putting any condition. This was what Christ himself has shown us when he went to the extent of washing the feet of his apostles, and most especially, when he offered his life on the cross to pay for all our sins. Thus, by serving that way, we become like Christ as we should. 

 Serving is the language of love. It is love in action and not just in intention and words. We have to take advantage of every opportunity to serve God and others. In fact, we have to look always for such opportunities and not wait for them to come to us. 

 If we truly love God and everybody else, with a love that is nothing less than a participation of the love God has for us and as commanded by Christ to us, then we will never say enough in our serving. 

 Even if such attitude would already seem to be going beyond common sense, our reason and other human and worldly standards that we usually use to measure our love, we should still go on giving ourselves by serving, never saying enough. We should just give and give, even if we seem to consume ourselves till death. 

 This is, of course, an overwhelming prospect, but that is what true love is. It is some kind of madness that knows no limits. It is given without measure, without cost, without any calculation. 

 We are not doing God and the others any favor when we serve them. That is what is expected of us. To serve and not to be served was the attitude Christ had, and it should be the same attitude we ought to have. 

 Loving and serving 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 as we ought. 

 The nice thing about this kind of attitude toward serving is that we would actually gain and receive more from God the more we serve and give ourselves to him and to the others.

Consequence of our life’s social character

GIVEN the social character of our life, we have to make sure that we are always contributing to the common good. Whatever we do, even if done alone, should have that motive always in mind. Even if we are not aware of the social character of our life, the truth is we always affect one another in some way. 

 Even our most private and intimate thoughts somehow would have some effects on the life of the others. That’s because as persons we, by definition, are meant to enter into relation with others. The ideal condition is for us to be aware that we always have relation with God first, and then with everybody and everything else. And it’s our duty to always maintain a good relation with God and with others. 

 We should therefore make sure that we are always doing good, starting with our thoughts and desires all the way to our most public actuations. We need to be extra conscious of this truth which we often take it for granted, and the appropriate means should be used to keep that ideal continually pursued. 

 We are reminded of this truth about ourselves in that gospel episode where Christ told his disciples that while sin and scandal are unavoidable in this life, we should try our best to be guarded against those possibilities. (cfr. Lk 17,1-6) He had harsh words for those who cause others to sin. 

 “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,” he said, “but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Lk 17,1-2) 

 These words of Christ also tell us that we should be properly guarded against the unavoidable sins and other forms of evil that will always come our way. Yes, while we should try to avoid scandalizing others, we should also be tough enough not to be scandalized when confronted with evil. 

 We have to be most careful about the danger of scandal, both in its active and passive aspects, since this danger is now rampant. In fact, we can say that the danger has become part of the world culture, promoted not only by individuals, but also by big and powerful institutions like the media, and in the fields of politics, business, entertainment, sports, etc. 

 We should rather put our mind in doing a lot of good always, giving good example to the others, edifying them with our words and deeds. This duty, therefore, should be carried out deliberately. It should somehow be planned and aimed at. It should not just be something incidental or something optional. Of course, this duty should not be done out of pride or vanity, but out of obedience to the will of God who wants to save all men. (cfr. 1 Tim 2,4) 

 Everyday, we have to come out with a concrete plan to fulfill this duty of giving good example to others. It may just be as little as smiling, or reacting calmly when some disappointment comes our way, or saying something nice about somebody whose faults and mistakes are obvious, or showing compassion to those in difficulty and offering mercy to those who may have done us wrong, etc. 

 Part of our sense of accountability at the end of the day should be to present to God in our examination of conscience the concrete things we have done to give good example to others.

Effective vigilance only when we are with God

THAT gospel parable about the 10 virgins (cfr. Mt 25,1-13) obviously reminds us of our serious duty to be vigilant at all times because God can call us anytime and we should be ready for it. We should also be very vigilant because all kinds of evil can come and assault us anytime, and can even dominate us. 

 Nowadays, cases are increasing of persons with some forms of addiction and obsessions, or of some forms of hidden bondage. They feel helpless before this predicament of theirs because in spite of their efforts to stay away from these conditions, they would just find themselves giving in sooner or later. 

 The question is raised about how to handle this phenomenon. And the quick answer to that is, of course, for us to be truly united with Christ. Like Christ and with him, we would know how to suffer the unavoidable attacks of evil on us. Like Christ, we can die as a consequence of these evil attacks. But again, if we are to follow what St. Paul once said, if we suffer and die with Christ, we also will rise with him. (cfr. Rom 6,8-11) 

 Yes, we are assured of victory as long as we are with Christ. It’s this truth of our Christian faith that should fill us with peace and confidence that things would just be all right in spite of the heavy drama we may have to go through in this life. 

 For us to be effectively with Christ, we need both the human and supernatural means. The latter would include constant prayers, presence of God, recourse to the sacraments, especially the sacraments of confession and the Holy Eucharist. We need to develop and sharpen these practices without let-up, because only with God’s grace can we truly deal with this predicament. 

 But neither should we neglect the human means. We need to keep ourselves occupied always, because an idle mind and a lazy body are the favorite targets of the agents of evil. 

 We have to remember that we have to contend with a 3-fold enemy: our own weakened flesh, the many temptations around the world, and the powerful spiritual enemies. In fact, St. Paul warned us that we are actually ranged against powerful evil spirits. (cfr. Eph 6,12) 

 It would be very helpful if we avail of some regimen that would keep us always in God’s presence and make us feel his love and power which he likes to share with us. For this, we should develop virtues like fortitude, patience, temperance, industry, etc. 

 Again, since people can be so dominated by their weakness, if not by something more serious, like emotional and psychological disorders, that they are completely helpless if left on their own, they may have to avail of professional care from doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists. Let’s hope that we can have appropriate facilities easily available. 

 Neither should we ignore the possibility of demonic possession or domination, for which the services for exorcism or deliverance should be resorted to. When people cannot understand why they continue to fall into the same sins in spite of their earnest efforts, it could be that they unknowingly are under the spell of evil spirits. 

 In the end, it will only be when we are truly with God that we can be properly vigilant and effective in warding off the assaults of evil against us and instead have the zeal to do a lot of good always.

Dealing with the unavoidable evils in this world

WE have to be realistic in this life. There are unavoidable evils in this world and we should just learn how to deal with them properly without compromising what is essential in our Christian morality. 

 We are reminded of this fact of life in that gospel parable where Christ told his disciples about a certain rich man whose steward was reported to him for squandering his property. (cfr. Lk 16,1-8) Of course, the steward was sure of being fired. 

 As the gospel narrates, the steward did some tricky maneuvers to save him from his predicament. And in the end, the master commended that steward, because as Christ said, “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.” 

 As I’ve said a number of times before, this parable is the most intriguing since it would seem that Christ is just ok with some cheating. But to me, it simply means that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual. 

 This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance in human justice may be regarded as saving grace in God’s eyes. 

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

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

 We should try always to be helpful, positive and constructive in our outlook, avoiding having the attitude of simply looking for faults in others and for what is wrong in a given situation. 

 Of course, neither should we ignore the wrong things around, but we should not be discouraged by them. On the contrary, they should pose as an invitation and a challenge for us to do something about them. It may take a lot of time and effort to do this, but we should just be patient and persevering, never giving up on the effort to put things right. 

 Let us always remember that evil in all its forms cannot stand on its own. It will always depend, like a parasite, on something that is good and true which it tries to deform or deny. We just have to find a way to take that parasitic evil away from its host. What we have to avoid is to get so frustrated as to do nothing about it. 

 In this regard, it is good that we master the moral doctrine about cooperation in evil. Evil, as we said, is growing around us and has struck deep roots. We have to learn how to deal with it. Obviously, we cannot help but get dirty ourselves, and yet there is also a way to clean up and make up. We just always need to return to God, as often as necessary.

The synodal Church

ON the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, celebrated on November 9, we are reminded of that gospel episode where Christ visited a temple area and was angered to see it turned into a market place. (cfr. Jn 2,13-22) 

 He, of course, immediately drove the vendors away, even with a whip, and told them in no unclear terms, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” 

 This gospel episode rings a most relevant if not a delicate note since at present, under Pope Francis’ mandate, the topic of synodality is taking center place in the minds of many people. 

 Synodality, of course, is an effort to hear, know and see what can be done in the different levels and aspects of the Church. It’s an effort to reach out to everyone in every level and sector of society, listening to each other, and moving together toward God, without confusing the distinctive character and mission of each one. 

 It’s a way of making the Church more organically vibrant, with all her members in the different levels and walks of life making an effort to relate themselves with each other. It’s like putting life to the social principles of the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity in the Church. 

 But it is not without its dangers either, foremost of which is the possibility of understanding it as a way for anyone to have his own idea of how the Church should be, or how the Church should be governed, etc. It can open a way of understanding it as some kind of democratizing the Church without anymore recognizing the supreme power of the Pope and the bishops in union with the Pope, especially in the area of faith and morals. 

 We have to be properly guarded against this danger, and the way to do synodality should be given a clear guide of how it should be properly done. In this regard, we need to be more conscious and skillful in our Christian duty to love the Church and the Pope. This cannot be taken for granted anymore, especially these days when the world is developing in a very rapid pace that often leaves behind our spiritual and religious responsibilities. 

 The Church is nothing other than the people of the God, gathered together at the cost of his own life on the cross by Christ. This is because we from the beginning are meant to be God’s people, members of his family, partakers of his divine life. 

 We have to understand that this gathering of the people of God is not achieved merely by some political, social or economic maneuverings. It is a gathering that is described as “communion,” where our heart and mind work in sync with the mind and will of God. 

 At the moment, the common understanding that many people have about the Church and their duty toward the Pope is far from perfect and functional. If ever there is such concern, it is limited to the sentimental or some mystical feelings that hardly have any external and, much less, internal effects. 

 We have to know the real nature of the Church, going beyond its historical and cultural character, or its visible aspect, because right now we need to do a lot of explaining, clarifying and defending the role of the Church in our life.

The stiff price of discipleship

IT’S definitely no joke to be a disciple of Christ. It demands of us everything. This is how Christ himself described what to be his disciple requires: 

 “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-27) 

 And he added that to effectively carry out our discipleship of him, we should plan things well. We should not just have good intentions. We have to be properly equipped with everything that Christ himself would provide us. And this is nothing less than for us to be truly identified with Christ. 

 With Christ, everything will be put in order. We would know how to understand his words that at first may sound harsh and even inhuman to us—what with him telling us to hate our father and mother, children, brothers and sisters. 

 We will understand that what he meant is that we give our whole heart to him, and by doing so we would actually know how to love everybody and everything else in the proper way. Our usual problem is that our human loving tends to be disorderly, fueled mainly by earthly and temporal principles and missing the real source of love. 

 We should train ourselves to have God first, last and always in our loving. This may require some discipline to control our human urges to let ourselves be guided and moved always by God’s love. This definitely will be a lifelong affair but we should consider as all worth it. 

 And to be true disciples of Christ, we also need to do some good planning and strategizing. That’s because we easily get confused and entangled in our ways. Especially these days when what is more trending is to be street-smart, to be practical with all kinds of technical skills, or to be good in the so-called life skills, there is great need to know how these conditions can be oriented toward our duty to be true disciples of Christ. 

 There is a crying need to know how to relate the technical details of our present condition to the spiritual and supernatural goal of our life, and how these can be used as an occasion to do apostolate to cooperate with Christ in his continuing mission of human redemption. 

 It cannot be denied that we often miss these ultimate and most important goals and missions of our earthly life. There is indeed a great need to train ourselves to maintain the spiritual, apostolic and supernatural bearing even as we immerse ourselves in the things of this world. 

 This is actually a call to be true contemplatives which should not be understood that we distance ourselves from the things of this world. Our earthly and temporal affairs are definitely the place and the occasion where we can be tested by God to see if what he wants us to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, to be his children and sharers of his divine life and nature—is also what we ourselves would like to be. 

 For this, we definitely have to avail of some effective plan and strategy. Let’s hope that we are up to this challenge that may appear to us as overwhelming. But we should reassure ourselves that Christ himself has given us everything we need to be his true disciples. There’s really no need to worry much!

God’s invitation to all

INDEED, God invites all of us to be with him in heaven which is meant to be our definitive home for all eternity. We should just be prepared to accept that invitation promptly and to be in the proper condition to enter there. 

 We are reminded of this truth of our faith in a parable Christ told those in a dinner with him. (cfr. Lk 14,15-24) That parable talked about a man who gave a great dinner to which he invited many. And yet, those all those invited started to refuse to go to the dinner, offering all sorts of excuses. 

 So, the man ordered his servants to go to the streets and alleys of the town and to bring in everyone they would meet, including the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame. And when after this, there was still space in the dinner, the man told his servants to go to the highways and hedgerows and to bring in anyone they would meet, so that his dinner would be filled. 

 This parable, of course, shows us how much God really wants everyone to be with him in his Kingdom. That’s because heaven is actually where all of us truly belong since we are children of his, made in his image and likeness, sharers of his life and nature. He would even go to the extent of “pressing” us to enter his kingdom (“compelle intrare,” Lk 14,23). 

 We should sharpen our awareness that God is truly inviting us to be with him, and that he has given us everything so that we can actually be with him. It’s the best deal we can have. And yet, we can dare to refuse that invitation. We should do something to correct this attitude. 

 Let’s realize more deeply and abidingly that we are meant to be with God for all eternity. Said in another way, we are meant to be like him, that is, to be saints, to be holy. That should be the main and ultimate goal of our life here earth. Everything in our life should be made as an occasion to pursue that goal. 

 We have to realize that we are all called to holiness, because everyone is a creature of God, and as such is therefore created in the image and likeness of God, adopted a child of his, and meant to participate in the very life of God. 

 There is a basic and inalienable equality among all of us insofar as we are God’s creatures and children called to holiness. Regardless of our position and state in life, whether we are priests, religious men and women, or ordinary lay faithful, we have the same calling and purpose in life. 

 Corollary to this truth is that there is also a basic and inalienable quality of everything in the world to be an occasion and means for our sanctification. To be holy does not mean that we only spend time praying, going to church, availing of the sacraments, etc. 

 To be sure, prayer, the sacraments, the doctrine of our faith, obedience to the Church hierarchy are important, even indispensable, but these would hang on thin air if they are not supported and made as the goal and expression of a sanctified life that is consistent to the teachings and the spirit of God. 

 To be holy also means that we have to use our ordinary work, all the things of the world, like the sciences, arts, politics, technologies, etc., properly purified, and all the other circumstances that define our daily life as an occasion and means to look for God, then find, love and serve him.

Total self-giving

ONE clear characteristic of a true Christian is that of willingness to do everything with total self-giving. He avoids having any ulterior motives in all this actions. His intention is purely out of love—love for God and for everybody else. Even if his love is not reciprocated by the others, he would still continue to love them. 

 We are somehow reminded of this mark of Christian life in that gospel episode where Christ told the person who invited him for dinner that when he would hold a banquet, he should also invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” or those who would be unable to repay him. (cfr. Lk 14,12-14) Christ told him that he would be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. 

 We definitely need to learn how to give ourselves totally to the others, since we cannot deny that we have a strong tendency to put some strings attached whenever we have to give something to the others. 

 We have to make an effort, always asking, of course, for the grace of God first of all, so that we can learn to assume this attitude with respect to our self-giving. In the end, this will make us to be like Christ who gave himself totally to us, including giving his life for our sins. 

 Let's remember what he told his disciples once: "Freely you have received, freely you have to give." (Mt 10,8) Gratuitousness should characterize our self-giving to God and to others, just as gratuitousness characterizes God's love for us. Such gratuitousness will gain us much more than what we give away. 

 In this regard, we have to do some continuing battle against our unavoidable tendency to be calculating in our self-giving. Not only do we have to contend with our personal weaknesses in this regard. We also have to contend with a tremendous cultural environment, so prevalent these days, that not only is not conducive to this attitude of Christian generosity but is also hostile to it. 

 We constantly have to rectify our intentions when we have to give to others—be it things, a service, or matter of attention and affection. This is especially so when our giving is for God. Let's never forget that God cannot be outdone in generosity. 

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

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

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

The quest for unity of life

WE are reminded of this duty to pursue the ideal of unity of life in that gospel episode where Christ told the crowds and his disciples that while the leading Jews had taken their seat on the chair of Moses, they should do and observe what these leading Jews would tell them, but not to follow their example. (cfr. Mt 23,1-12) The reason? “For they preach but they do not practice.” 

 This, sadly, is a fact of life. We ourselves often can be accused of the same thing. We can be very good at preaching but poor in practice. We can be excellent in terms of theory and doctrine, but the aspect of morality is another story. Yes, it’s part of our human condition to fall into some forms of inconsistency and hypocrisy in our whole life! 

 But we should not be overly worried about this phenomenon. It’s not the end of the world. We can always do something about it. And in a sense, our whole life is precisely a matter of how we can achieve consistency and unity among the different aspects and dimensions of our life—the spiritual and material, the temporal and eternal, the theoretical and practical, the personal and social, etc. 

 What God expects from us is that we struggle against this lifelong predicament of ours. As long as there is some struggle, God would already be happy with us. We are not expected to perfect everything, because it will only be God who will do that for us, but also, with us. 

 In that gospel cited above, we are given an idea of how we can pursue this ideal of unity of life. And that is to be humble. It’s this virtue that would open us to the grace of God that in the end is the only way we can achieve this unity of life. Let’s forget and dismiss the idea that we can achieve this unity of life by our own efforts and powers alone. 

 This crucial virtue of humility can be developed in two ways: when we humble our own selves and when we are humbled by others or by some unavoidable circumstances. In that gospel cited above, Christ told the people that they have to humble themselves in the sense that they should avoid places of honor and privilege when invited to banquets, for example. 

 We have to realize then that any privilege, honor or praise given to us is a call for us to be more generous in our self-giving to such an extent that we would not run away from making the supreme sacrifice of giving our life for God and the others, just like what Christ did. 

 Our attitude should be to sharpen even more our desire to serve and not to be served. Christ made it clear to the mother and the brother-apostles, James and John, when he said, “The Son of man has not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20,28) 

 Reiterating the same idea, he told them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. Not so is it among you. On the contrary, whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” 

 No doubt, with humility we can make progress in our quest for unity of life!

Getting to know about ‘epikeia’

IT’S a term we have to be familiar with, since we cannot avoid its use in some occasions when the letter of the law cannot cope with the reality on the ground. It’s a Greek term that means reasonableness or suitability. 

 We are reminded of this phenomenon in that gospel episode where Christ again was accused by some leading Jews of violating the Sabbath law because he cured a man of his dropsy on the Sabbath. (cfr. Lk 14,1-6) 

 But Christ justified his action by saying: “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?...Who among you, if your son or ox falls into cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” With these words, the leading Jews were silenced. 

 Yes, there are times when we have to go beyond the law in its literal sense, without contradicting the spirit behind that law. This is what the practice of ‘epikeia’ means. A Catholic dictionary defines it in this way: 

 “A liberal interpretation of law in instances not provided by the letter of the law. It presupposes sincerity in wanting to observe the law, and interprets the mind of the lawgiver in supplying his presumed intent to include a situation that is not covered by the law. It favors the liberty of the interpreter without contradicting the express will of the lawgiver.” 

 It’s obvious that we need laws. We should respect and follow them as faithfully as possible as long as they are just laws. But we have to understand that laws, which in the end come from God, are formulated and articulated by us and therefore are subject to varying human conditions, such as the prevailing culture at the time the laws were made, etc. It’s for this reason why some exceptions can be made in obeying these laws literally. 

 We have to be wary of a certain tendency to absolutize our laws as if they are the ultimate purpose in our life. They can be so rigidly and indiscriminatingly applied to all cases when there can be exceptions or even exemptions that can be made. We fall into some kind of legalism. We have to realize that our human laws have certain limitations. They cannot fully capture all conditions of men. 

 The prudent practice of ‘epikeia’ can only take place when we truly have the spirit of Christ who embodies the ultimate spirit of justice that always goes together with truth, charity and mercy. 

 More than that, Christ shows us that perfect justice can never be achieved here on earth, given our wounded human condition. It can only be achieved in a supernatural way, the way Christ achieved our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection, which in the end is not just a purely human act, but mainly a divine, supernatural act. 

 We need to understand then that Christ is the fulfillment of our laws. Laws made, interpreted and applied without Christ as the principle, end and spirit, would lead us sooner or later to some forms of injustice. We would not know how to practice ‘epikeia’ on those occasions when it is applicable. 

 We really should strengthen our relation with Christ, with God, because that is what is proper to us as we go through all the aspects of our life—personal, social, professional, legal, etc. Without Christ, we would be at the mercy of all kinds of evil predators, some of whom can be very subtle and tricky.