The precious lesson learned from the Visitation

IMAGINE the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, the greatest women of all time, enjoying the greatest dignity, especially Mary! (cfr. Lk 1,39-45) The exchange of greetings between the two can only reflect the highest honor and privilege any human being can enjoy. 

 Mary, already aware of being the mother of the very Son of God, goes immediately to her cousin to offer her service. What humility she is showing us! 

And Elizabeth, the recipient of such favor, could not help but exclaim: “O, most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” And Elizabeth continues to express her overwhelming joy, saying: “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” 

 And then the most important part of her greeting came out of her mouth: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” 

 My friends, let us again remind ourselves of how important it is to have a strong and effective faith for the will of God of be fulfilled in our lives as it was fulfilled perfectly in the life of Mary! 

 Mary is the New Eve who never violated the honor and dignity God gave her. And that’s because of her great faith that she was able to incarnate the very Son of God, again underlining a basic truth about our relationship with God—that we are meant to share the same life and nature since God wants us to be his image and likeness, children of his. 

 In spite of our weaknesses and failure, we should just try to imitate the example of Mary, ever strengthening our faith so that we too can eventually share the honor and dignity that she herself is enjoying. 

 It’s a faith that necessarily would lead us to an unwavering hope despite the confusing drama of our earthly life. More than that, it’s a faith that can drive us to an overwhelming love that is the very perfection of our humanity as it is the very essence of God. 

 Mary shows this charity by immediately making herself available to serve her cousin, practically reminding us that charity is not just sweet words and intentions, nor enjoying the honor of a privileged status. It is always expressed in deeds, in wanting to serve, just like Christ himself who once said: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20,28) 

 May it be that just as we are now a few days before Christmas, we rev up our desire to serve in a purely gratuitous way, just like what Christ and Mary did, without counting the cost and ever eager to serve in all conditions, whatever may be the cost. 

 This eagerness to serve would really identify us with Christ who is our “way, truth and life.” Definitely, to be able to serve, one has to be humble. And that’s what we see in our Lady, and of course, in Christ, first of all. Pride and all its allies would always extinguish any desire to serve others. They only are interested in serving their own selves. 

 May this Christmas fuel to the max our desire to serve, that is, to love!

“Hail, full of grace…”

THAT was how the Archangel Gabriel addressed Mary. And after a few exchanges of words, the very Son of God was conceived in Mary’s womb after she said that famous response: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.” (Be it done to me according to your word.) 

 The archangel’s greeting to Mary should give us the idea of how we too can incarnate Christ in our life as we should, since we actually are patterned after him. We need to be in the state of grace, something that, of course, given our wounded condition will never be perfect but rather a lifelong work for us. 

 We should learn how to live our whole life with Christ, doing everything with him and for him. This is the ideal way to live our life. That is how we can attract and keep the grace of God and let Christ enter into our life. 

 Again, let’s come out with plans and strategies that would put this ideal into reality. We need to submit ourselves to some plan of life that includes the appropriate practices of piety like mental prayer, recourse to the sacraments, waging ascetical struggle that would enable us to develop virtues and to properly deal with our weaknesses and temptations, etc. 

 The ideal condition should be that at any given time we are conscious of the presence of God, aware of what he is telling us since he is the one who actually directs our life. His presence should fill our mind and heart with joy and peace, with confidence and clear sense of purpose, etc. We should feel the drive to do a lot of good. 

 In short, there has to be the sensation that everyday we are progressing in becoming more and more like Christ. We get to have his mind and will, eager to reach out to others for the purpose of human redemption. For this to happen, we need to repeat Mary’s response, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.” 

 If handled properly with the right attitudes, dispositions and skills, the plans and strategies we make would not become a drag that would freeze us and put us in some kind of silo, but would rather enhance our capacity to cope even with surprises and other unexpected things that life can present to us. 

 We have to be careful of reacting to today’s rapid developments in an instinctive way only, Pavlovian style. While we cannot avoid having to react spontaneously in that knee-jerk way to these developments, it would be wrong if we get stuck in that level. That would make us slaves, not masters, of these developments and changes. We have to stay away from the bad habit of improvising always. 

 We need to come up with plans and strategies to give shape and direction to all these things. That way, we would have some clear vision of our goals and means and timetables involved. That way, we would have a better grasp of how to identify and handle issues, problems and challenges. That way, we would have a good sense of priority, especially nowadays when we are faced with many competing options. 

 Making plans and strategies may require some time and effort, but it’s an investment that is all worthwhile. The little time and effort required can actually multiply our time and make our efforts more productive at the end of the day. It’s like the little rudder, St. James talks about in his letter, that has the power to give direction to a big boat. (cfr 3,4)

The conceptions of Christ and John the Baptist

BOTH conceptions came about with clear divine intervention involved. Christ’s conception in the womb of Our Lady was completely virginal. That of John the Baptist involved a natural process though the parents were already in a condition where it would have been impossible for them to have a child. 

 But both came about because of the faith of the parties involved. Mary’s faith was pure and wholehearted, while that of Zachary was a bit doubtful. Still, faith played a major role in these conceptions. (cfr. Lk 1,5-25) 

 What all these tell us is that God and us truly share the same life because we also share the same nature, since God wants us to be his image and likeness, children of his. This is a basic truth of our faith that we should never forget. Rather, we should try our best to be consistent to it not only from time to time. It should be a constant truth that we act on in our daily life. 

 Again, it’s a matter of faith that would make this truth a reality in our life. Let’s try to follow the example of Mary who shows us how pure faith is. The faith of Zachary, though not quite perfect, still prevailed over his human doubts and disbelief. Because of this faith, the humanly impossible became possible. Faith does not suppress our human nature. It enables us to enter into God’s life and nature while remaining human. 

 Indeed, it’s faith that would enable us to do things that otherwise we would hesitate, if not refuse, to do. It’s faith that would enable us to do the very things of God. From the Book of Proverbs, we read a relevant affirmation: “Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make our paths straight.” (3,1-6) 

 We have to learn how to be keenly aware of this basic truth about ourselves, so that we can go on with our life without unnecessary doubts and fears, and so that we can do a lot of good instead of being hindered to do so. Remember that even without Christ telling us, there are a lot of things we need to do to uplift the conditions of everyone. 

 This awareness of our sharing in the life and nature of God here in this life should be cultivated, resorting to appropriate practices of piety and ongoing formation, so that we can live our life as it should be lived—with confidence, always with good intentions and willingness to do the very things of God which actually are for our own good. 

 Let’s try to approximate the faith of Our Lady and Zachary and of the many characters in the Bible who chose to believe God and in his ways despite the difficulties, sacrifices involved. Actually, if our faith is strong, whatever difficulty and sacrifice we make would always be regarded as meaningful and a source of joy. 

 With faith, there is really nothing to worry, and we would be on our way to our human perfection when God and us would definitely be together for all eternity in heaven. With faith, we would always feel light and happy, always optimistic despite whatever, and eager to do a lot of good. 

 Let’s see to it that everyday we can see some progress in this regard. We should feel the very effects of faith taking place in our daily life. Let’s make this promise a gift to God who gives us the best gift—the birth of Christ on Christmas Day!

God’s will and ways should always prevail

THAT gospel episode where Joseph thought of separating from Mary because the latter was found already with child in her womb before they lived together (cfr. Mt 1,18-25) teaches us that despite the big sacrifice involved, we should just follow God’s will and ways even if our legitimate human ways have to be sacrificed. 

 Joseph’s example is truly worth imitating. And it can only take place if, like Joseph, we would just follow what God would clearly tell us as to what to do. In our life, we can have our own legitimate choices. But when there are clear signs that God wants us to choose another thing, we should just try our best to follow what he wants. We can be sure that that option would be the best for us even if it would require grave sacrifices from us. 

 Indeed, God’s particular will for us can come in some dramatic ways, requiring drastic changes in our life. Yes, God can enter into our lives and make his will more felt by us in some special way. We should not be too surprised by this possibility.

 Consider St. Paul, St. Augustine, the apostles themselves, and the patriarchs and prophets like Abraham, Moses, Jonas, Jeremiah, etc. Consider St. Edith Stein, and our very own St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Cebuano saint, Pedro Calungsod. 

 Their stories are full of drama and suspense. St. Paul received his vocation while on a mad campaign to arrest the early Christians. St. Augustine, though gifted intellectually, had a colorful past. The apostles were mainly simple people, mostly fishermen. 

 St. Edith Stein was an intelligent Jewish agnostic before her conversion. And our own Filipino saints were catechists doing some domestic work for some priests. All had their defects, and sins, and yet they became and are great saints. 

 We have to feel at home with the idea that God can call us in a way different from what we have been planning, no matter how legitimate our plans are. Let’s not play blind and deaf. God’s call is actually quite loud enough. And when we are given a special vocation, let’s not be afraid, but rather go for it at full throttle. 

 Ok, we may hesitate at first, but if we are honest, we will soon see there’s nothing to be afraid about. God takes care of everything. All he needs is that we trust him, that we have faith in him, and that we try our best to cooperate. 

 We just have to learn to live by God’s will that is shown to us, thanks to God, by Christ, the fullness of divine revelation, who left us with his word and the sacraments in the Church. 

 We have to learn how to know God’s will for us at every moment. For this to happen, we need to be recollected, always putting ourselves in God’s presence, trying to discern through our daily duties and the things that we see around what God is asking of us or telling us. We have to strive to be real contemplatives in the middle of the world, able to see God in everything. 

 We may have to use some human devices to remind us continually of God’s presence and will. But we should also undertake a continuing plan of prayer, sacrifices, study of the doctrine of our faith, development of virtues, recourse to the sacraments. All these help in making us attentive and docile to God’s will.

The virginal conception of Christ

ON the second day of Misa de Gallo, December 17, the gospel reading (cfr. Mt 1,1-17) talks about the human genealogy of Christ to show that Christ is truly a man while remaining, of course, as God. 

 A question may be raised—if Christ is truly a man, why did his conception in the womb of Mary not involve the participation of a man, as any human conception would involve? 

 I am sure this question is at the back of the mind of many people, though many of them are hesitant to voice it out. But it is a good question to give rise to a very important clarification of a certain truth about our relation with God that we need to know well and to act on. 

 For me, the answer can only be that, indeed, God and man share the same life and nature. Because of that sharing, we can say that while there is the natural way of human conception, involving a man and a woman, we cannot discount the possibility of a conception achieved by both God and woman. 

 We need to strengthen our belief and sharpen our awareness of this basic truth about ourselves in our relation with God. God and us share the same life and nature not only in our definitive state of life in heaven, even while here on earth. We are expected to act on this truth always so our life develops and leads us to our definitive state of life. 

 To be sure, our life is not simply natural, ruled by reason and will alone, supported by our emotions and the whole gamut of bodily senses, organs and systems. Nor is it simply conditioned by social trends, economic and political developments, or historical and cultural factors. 

 It is also supernatural, not only in its goal or orientation, but even now, as in, here and now as we breathe. And that’s simply because there’s something spiritual in us. We are not purely material beings. 

 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, 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. 

 For this to take place, we need to learn to pray, to study the doctrine of our faith, develop virtues, live in God’s presence to such an extent that we would be able to see God in everything and to relate everything to him. In other words, that we would know how to be contemplatives even if we are immersed and dirtied by the things of this world.

The search for truth in today’s world

AMID all the obvious overload we have today in terms of facts and data, opinions and views, ideologies and philosophies, fiction stories and narratives, rapidly evolving innovations, etc., we cannot deny that the search for truth has become a very challenging task. 

 We certainly should not ignore them. Rather, we should give them due consideration. But we should not forget that truth can only be found in God who revealed himself and the whole truth to us in full in Christ, “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 Yes, we have to give due consideration to all these things, but we should never forget that to deal with them properly, sorting them out without getting lost along the way, we have to be firm in our pursuit for that task of identifying ourselves more and more with Christ. This is going to be an ongoing affair, a work in progress for our whole life. We can never say we have definitively and perfectly identified ourselves with him. 

 Only with Christ can we deal with these things in the best way, but seeing to it that the Christ we want to show is not a disembodied Christ, a Christ simply of doctrine and some pious practices, but the Christ who adapts himself to the way the people are without compromising the truth. It’s Christ who shows the truth always in charity. 

 Let’s remember that Christ went all the way not only to become man, but also to assume all the sins of men without committing any sin, if only to save us. So, like Christ, we have to learn how to be adaptive to the different and changing conditions of our life, to the different kinds of people, without losing our Christian identity and consistency. 

 Christ was always adapting himself to the people, being flexible to everyone, and yet managed to accomplish his mission, whatever the situation was. He was not only passively adapting himself to the environment. He was also actively pursuing his goal in different ways. He was versatile. 

 He rounded off all these expressions of adaptability, flexibility and versatility by offering his life on the cross. There he made as his own all the sins of men, died to them and rose from the dead. He turned the cross from being a tree of sin and death into a tree of life. His death conquered sin and death, and opened the door to eternal life. 

 To become Christ-like would indeed require a lifelong effort, but we can always start and develop it anytime. Let us not wait for some so-called opportune moment to be so. Any time, any situation can and should be an occasion to be like Christ. Obviously, we have to know Christ more and more. Thus, we need to be familiar with his life, his teachings and his example. 

 So, to be in the truth, we have to refer things to God. In fact, what would really assure us that we would be fully in the truth despite truth’s many levels, aspects, angles, etc., is when we are with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to be truthful! 

 This means that we have to be vitally identified with Christ who told Pilate that he came to bear witness to the truth. (cfr. Jn 18,37-38) Only in Christ can we be in the truth. Only when we look, understand and react to things the way Christ did would we be in the truth!

Our baptism in Christ through the Spirit

As we enter the 3rd Sunday of Advent, we are reminded of how the people to whom John the Baptist preached, started asking what they should do to be worthy of being baptized. (cfr. Lk 3,10-18) 

 That’s when John the Baptist told them that while he would baptize them by water, there was someone else, referring to Christ, who would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and with fire. John the Baptist would refer to Christ as the Lamb of God who will be sacrificed for our sake. 

 We have to understand that the ideal condition for us to have is first to know and love Christ, because only then may we know and love ourselves and others properly. Thus, St. Augustine once said: “Noverim te, noverim me,” Latin for “May I know God, may I know myself.” It is when we know and love God, revealed fully in Christ, that we can know who we really are and ought to be. 

 God is our Creator and Father, and Christ is the Son of God in the Trinity of God who is the very image and likeness God has of himself. Since we have been created in God’s image and likeness, we can say that we are actually patterned after the Son who became man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life” we need to achieve our true dignity and ultimate identity. 

 How Christ is should also be how each one of us ought to be. This may be an incredible truth of faith before which we may feel awkward, but as long as we would just be guided by our faith, we know that that truth of faith can truly be applied to us. 

 Let’s just be like Mary, the Mother of Christ and our Mother, who simply said “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word,” when she was told that incredible piece of news that she was going to be the Mother of the Son of God. 

 With faith, we can do and achieve the impossible, because it would be God who will make impossible things possible. As mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews, it was because of faith that those Old Testament characters like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah were able to do great, if not impossible things. (Heb 11) 

 And let’s remember that the ideal condition we ought to pursue in our relation with Christ is to gain intimacy with him. We have to do everything to have intimacy with Christ all the time. 

 It’s when we are intimate with Christ that we can really see ourselves and Christ as we truly are, in our rawest and unvarnished selves. Intimacy is where the most fundamental expressions of our humanity are made, where we become aware of our personhood, meant to enter in loving relation with Christ. It’s where we can truly feel we need Christ, and that he is everything to us! 

 Yes, intimacy is where we can achieve to the highest degree possible our unity and identification with Christ while here on earth. It’s where we can share what he has in the best way—his wisdom, goodness, compassion, patience, etc. etc. 

 We need to train all our human faculties—our reason, will, emotions, passions, appetites, memory, imagination, etc.—to get intimate with Christ. This, of course, will be lifelong process. But let’s see to it that everyday we are gaining ground in that direction. This should be the constant goal of our daily life.

The danger of getting used to the truths of our faith

THIS was what Christ once lamented about while preaching to the crowd. “To what shall I compare this generation?” he asked. “It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’” (Mt 11,16-17 

 It’s a lamentation that continues to hold true even up to now. We cannot deny that there are many people, even those who can be considered as active in the Church, starting with our own selves, who do not live in a way that is consistent to the Christian faith we profess. 

 Our usual problem is precisely that we get easily over-familiar with the truths of our faith and the sacred things. We tend to take for granted the many blessings we have. Not only do we not count our blessings, we often complain that we do not have enough. We can then elicit those reproaching words of Christ to his townmates: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country.” 

 This is a very common danger to all of us, and is at bottom a result of letting ourselves be simply guided by our senses, or feelings and our other ways of human estimation, without the guidance of our faith that should lead us to develop the appropriate piety. 

 We have to be more aware of this danger of familiarity and install the necessary defenses against it. More than that, we have to aggressively cultivate the art of always being amazed at God and at all his works. That should be the proper state for us to be in. 

 We have to understand, though, that this abiding state of amazement that we should try to develop is not simply a matter of sensations. Of course, it would be good if we can always feel amazed and in awe. But given the limitations of our bodily organism, we cannot expect that to happen all the time. 

 The ideal abiding state of amazement is more a matter of conviction, of something spiritual, moral and supernatural. It should be the result of grace that is corresponded to generously and heroically by us. 

 It is a state of amazement that sooner or later, of course, will have some external manifestations like an aura of serenity and confidence even in the midst of great trials and suffering. It will most likely show itself in the lilt in one’s voice, optimism in his reactions to events, a smile, a warm word of praise and encouragement to others, etc. 

 To be sure, God will always give us this grace. The problematic area is our correspondence to that grace. In this regard, we should try to pray and meditate on God’s word. Let’s see to it that we get to relish the spirit behind the word of God as presented to us in Bible. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to go through God’s word in a mechanical way. We can produce the sound, we can use the word in some sensible and intelligible way, but still miss the very spirit of the word. We can still miss God and ignore his will, because our heart is still not in God’s word. 

 Besides, we need to develop a deepening sense of total dependence on God. Let’s see to it that our talents, faculties and powers, our achievements do not blunt, but rather sharpen this sense of dependence.

Ever ready to obey God’s will

THAT should always be the proper condition of our life. In this regard, let us follow the example of Our Lady, the perfect person, who upon being told that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God, simply said, “Fiat mihi secundum tuum,” (Be it done to me according to your word), even if she did not fully understand how that was going to be. 

 Let us remember that it is in following God’s will that we attain the perfection of our humanity, since we have been created not simply by the genes of our parents, but by God who wants us to be his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 In this regard also, we should follow the example of Christ himself, the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, who said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6,38) Christ was so obedient to the Father’s will that even when he knew he was going to be crucified, he just prayed to the Father, “not my will but yours be done.” (Lk 22,42) 

 Getting to know and do God’s will is what actually would comprise the very substance of our relationship with him. That’s simply because that is what love is all about, what it entails, which is the very essence of God, as St. John affirmed (Deus caritas est). Love is deeds and not just sweet words or feelings. Real love is deeds done to correspond to God’s will for us. 

 God’s will can be known in many ways. He already has given us the 10 commandments, which explicitly articulate his will for us, though not yet in a perfect way. What perfects the 10 Commandments or the Old Law is the New Law or the New Commandment as spoken by Christ himself, “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

 Of course, this New Law contains a lot of mysteries even if we have many ideas of how this New Law can be carried out. It has mysteries because it involves nothing less than our total identification with Christ who, being God, will always remain mysterious to us even if he has given himself completely to us. 

 We just have to learn to go along this divine adventure that involves us in God’s mysterious ways even if on our part we try our best to know his will all the way to the littlest detail. Such is our human and temporal condition until we identify ourselves completely with Christ which can happen only in heaven when we see him “face to face.” 

 In the meantime, let’s realize that God’s will is known by studying the doctrine of our faith. What can also help is to be familiar with the living testimonies of saints who had managed to know, obey and love God’s will. 

 We can also know God’s will, at least in some generic way, by performing, as best as we can, all the duties and responsibilities as well as the rights inherent to our conditions or status in life, whether we are single or married, student or professional, etc. 

 We should also realize that God’s will can be known by having a running conversation with God all day long. We have to realize that God’s will is always manifested in any and every situation we can find ourselves in. 

 His will is known by what any situation ethically demands from us, and also by what the others have a right to expect from us or what we owe to them.

Let’s always be welcoming to Christ

THE days before Christmas usually see us frenziedly preparing for the birth of Christ. It’s a natural behavior for someone who is very special to all of us. After all, Christ is God who makes himself man to save us, to recover us from our state of alienation from God who gave us the dignity of making us like him, sharers of his life and nature. 

 This welcoming behavior should not be limited only during the Advent and Christmas seasons. It should be for the whole time, every day and every moment of our life, in fact. It is what is proper for us to do, otherwise we cannot escape the possibility of again being separated from God. 

 This should be the attitude to have in our relation with Christ. He always takes the initiative to come to us, to knock at our heart’s door. We should be welcoming to him, and more than that, we should be appreciative of his love and concern for us and learn to correspond by knowing, thanking and loving him better each day. 

 Toward this end, we may just need a few moments to touch base with this reality and to make it our guiding spirit all throughout the day. We have to feel this need for him, for without him, we can only do nothing, or worse, the only possibility left for us is to sin. 

 Christ spelled out this innate need for him when he said: “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me, and I in him will bear much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned…” (Jn 15,5-6) 

 Thus, we have to learn the art of praying, or spending a few moments of meditation, which is not only a matter of a technique but more, that of learning how to be with Christ. A few minutes of meditation is like the refueling and the recharging that we need to make us going properly throughout the day. 

 Remember that God first created us. And upon our creation, he took the initiative to establish a personal relationship with us. He talked to our first parents, gave them some instructions. And even if our first parents, and then us, messed up the original plan of God, he did not sever that relationship with us. 

 Yes, there was and will be divine anger and punishment because of our sins, but he will never abandon us, unless we dare to abandon him. But it is his love for us, shown most especially in his gratuitous mercy he offers to us, that would contain all the aberrations we tend to commit. 

 Let us foster the desire for Christ to come into our hearts. We have to remember that as St. Augustine said, “The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire.” 

 He said that since we don’t see heaven now and yet we long for it, we need to keep on desiring it to prepare ourselves for it. That desire not only has to be maintained. It also has to increase as time passes. The time of our life, the time of waiting to see our ultimate end, God, is a time to cultivate our holy desire to the max. 

 This is how we can always be welcoming to Christ!

The eternal value of our actions

WE have to be more keenly aware of this truth of our faith. Our actions can and should have eternal value. And this can happen when everything we do is done with God and for God. It’s when we do things with love for God and in his presence that even our most ordinary activities, like doing some household chores, can have an immense eternal value. 

 In other words, it’s when what we do is not just to achieve some temporal goals, like efficiency and effectiveness, profitability, practicality, popularity, etc. While all these latter goals have their legitimate value, they would just be useless if they are not oriented toward the real and ultimate goal which we all are supposed to pursue. 

 By doing things in God’s presence and out of love for God, we would be entering the spiritual and supernatural world of God that is also meant for us. We would already have a foretaste of the Kingdom of God here on earth. 

 We have to realize that our time here on earth is actually a time of transit toward eternity, from where we came and to where we are heading. That’s because we are creatures of God who is in eternity. We came from him, and since we have been made in his image and likeness, we are meant to be with him in all eternity. 

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

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

 To the extent that we manage to be with God and go along his will and ways, we would be relating our time here on earth to the eternity meant for us. We therefore should avoid being carried away and swallowed by the technicalities of our earthly life, no matter important they are. They should serve only as means and occasion to be with God in love. 

 It does not mean that we should not take our worldly and temporal affairs seriously. On the contrary, we have to put all our mind and heart into them since the way we handle them determines the kind of eternal destiny that we will have. They are no joking matter at all. We are asked to be fruitful and productive in this life, but with the proper motive and intention. 

 For this, we have to continually check if our spiritual and supernatural bearing is still functioning. When driven by faith, hope and charity, we can manage to convert our worldly and temporal affairs as occasions and means to love and serve God and others. 

 This may require a certain discipline that we have to learn as early as possible and to polish it frequently, given our condition that is vulnerable to the allurements of the world and of the flesh. 

 We have to remember that time is short. (cfr. 1 Cor 7,29) We cannot afford to waste time which is a most precious resource we have in fulfilling the ultimate goal of our life.

Holiness is personal but meant to be shared

THAT’S right! While everyone is encouraged to pursue holiness, we have to understand that holiness should not just be kept to oneself. That would not be true holiness. Holiness, by the mere fact that we are all persons meant to always enter into relation with others, is also meant to be shared. 

 That’s why this business of personal sanctification cannot be separated from the duty to do apostolate. That’s because we are all in the same boat, we actually form one body in Christ, we are one family, and we just have to help one another to pursue our common ultimate goal, despite whatever differences and conflicts we may have with one another. 

 Sanctification and apostolate always go together, mutually helping each other. We cannot sanctify ourselves without doing apostolate. And our apostolate would be gravely undermined if we are not sanctifying ourselves. As one saint would put it, apostolate is the overflow of one’s interior life, i.e., one’s continuing work of sanctification. 

 This pair can never be separated, since holiness by definition involves not only loving God but also loving others with God’s love. Holiness will always be apostolic. It necessarily involves entering into the lives of others for God. That is why we are properly wired, so to speak, for this purpose, because we have been endowed with intelligence and will so we can enter into the lives of others. 

 If we would just understand well the relationship between holiness and apostolate, and work on it, for sure we would have a lot of peace and joy in our life, and the world would be a much better place to live in. Justice, mercy and the truth would be much better served. 

 In integrating the pursuit of holiness and apostolate, we have to acknowledge the indispensable role of the cross of Christ. That cross is the necessary cure for our weaknesses and what would make up for our mistakes, failures and sins. That cross is where we can truly find Christ. 

 When Christ said that he is the “way, the truth and the life,” he must have the cross in mind, since in another part of the gospel, he clearly said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mt 16,24) 

 We have to learn to make the cross, in whatever form it comes, an integral and essential part of our daily life. We should not wait for it to come. We have to look for it everyday, and in every circumstance. We actually need it more than we need air. 

 And when it comes without our looking for it, let’s be quick to identify it with the Cross of Christ. Let’s not waste time suffering our life’s crosses purely on our own. We need to suffer them with Christ. Everything needs to be referred to Christ on the cross. The cross should be a way to identify ourselves with Christ who is the very embodiment of holiness and love for everyone. 

 Then there would be nothing in our life that would prevent us from pursuing holiness and apostolate with passion. Not even our sins can weaken that passion. When referred to Christ’s cross, our mistakes, failures and sins can become tremendous spurs to get us closer to God and to others. Thus, no matter how often we fail, we should just continue pursuing this business of sanctification and apostolate.

Preparation for our definitive state of life

DECEMBER 8 this year, usually marking the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, is also the 2nd Sunday of Advent which takes precedence over the Marian solemnity. 

 This happy coincidence, through the gospel reading of the day, (cfr. Lk 3,1-6) somehow reminds us that through the merits of Christ’s redemptive work, we need to prepare ourselves, as St. John the Baptist tells us, for our definite state of life as exemplified by our Lady, our Mother, who is now glorified in heaven, body and soul. 

 What our Lady is now enjoying is also what is meant for us as our definitive state of life when we truly become God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. We can just imagine the kind of preparation we have to undertake to achieve that status. 

 And so, we just have to pay close attention to what St. John the Baptist is telling us in the gospel of the day. “John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the books of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” (Lk 3,3-6) 

 We should heed this call to repentance and conversion which is a constant need of ours, especially these days when, given the temper of the times, this call has become very urgent and most necessary, because it looks like it is largely ignored. 

 We should never think that we do not need further repentance and conversion because we are already good enough. As long as we are still in this world, there is no level in our spiritual life that can be considered as good enough. It’s time we remind ourselves of that old saying, ‘the good is the enemy of the best.’ 

 We need to move on always, to continue conquering new frontiers in our spiritual life which is a matter of growing in our love for God and for others. Let’s avoid falling into self-indulgence, complacency and lukewarmness. These will put a stop, or at least to divert us, in our continuing journey toward our eternal home and they do it with some lulling and most tricky appeal. 

 With love, there is actually no limit. It will continue to make new demands on us, because life itself will also make new challenges and trials on us. Let’s never forget that our life will always be some kind of warfare. We have to contend with many enemies of our soul. 

 What may motivate us to go through this process of continuing repentance and conversion is to always consider the significance of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady which reminds us that like Mary, we are actually meant to be sinless. By going through this process, we would be moving toward the ideal of becoming immaculate also, like our Mother Mary, as God wants us to be. 

 Mary’s Immaculate Conception should make us feel urged to persevere in our struggle to attain that state of sinlessness, which is another way of saying that we are meant to pursue our total identification with Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. It is not supposed to make us feel privileged and entitled. Quite the contrary. 

It is supposed to demand everything from us, so that we can merit the effects of Christ’s redemptive work.

Faith gives us the real 20-20 vision

“HE touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you.’ And their eyes were opened.” (Mt 9,29-30) That’s what Christ told the blind men who begged him to cure them of their blindness. 

 We need to realize that it is faith, more than anything else, that would cure our real blindness which is not simply a physical thing but more of the spiritual and supernatural kind. Let’s remember that the reality that governs us is not simply the material and the natural, where we may have a perfect vision, but also and mainly the spiritual and the supernatural. 

 In this regard, we have to imitate the example of the two blind men who begged Christ for a cure of their blindness. Obviously, we have to first of all acknowledge our own blindness with respect to the spiritual and supernatural realities that govern our life. We cannot deny that with our proneness to fall into all forms of carnality and worldliness, we become blind to the spiritual and supernatural realities. 

 Our main problem is that we often fail to acknowledge this fact of life, especially when we happen to be gifted with high intelligence and other talents. With such condition, we fail to realize that our intelligence and will, our talents and the other gifts God has endowed us, are actually meant to enable us to enter into the spiritual and supernatural world, and ultimately to God. We are actually poised for that purpose. 

 When we use our faculties to engage only with the natural things, which we often do, we would actually be misusing them. That’s when we become very vulnerable to all kinds of anomalies and irregularities. We would have no ample defenses against the usual weaknesses and temptations we have in this world. 

 In fact, we can say that we are more blind the more gifted we are, because this latter status usually sheds some light that blinds us from the spiritual and supernatural realities rather than clarifies things for us. It tends to take us away from God rather than lead us to him. 

 We have to be most careful when perhaps because of our education, our experience, our position, among other things, we feel that we would already have enough reason to make ourselves our own standard of what is true, good and beautiful. 

 It’s always good to acknowledge our blindness so we can see things clearly through God’s grace. That’s simply because it’s when we acknowledge our blindness, deficiency and inadequacy to tackle our temporal affairs that we attract God’s grace, his light, his wisdom, his strength. 

 That is why we should always feel the need to pray, to do many other spiritual exercises, like having spiritual direction and confession, availing of the sacraments, undertaking continuing spiritual formation and ascetical struggle, to keep our natural faculties properly animated by faith and God’s grace, enabling them to enter into the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 If our worldly knowledge does not make our faith in God grow stronger, it would be a dangerous kind of knowledge. We have to correct and purify it immediately, giving it the right motive and purpose which is none other than to give glory to God. Otherwise, it would be a knowledge that would simply be at the service of our self-indulgence. 

 And when that knowledge cannot cope anymore with the challenges of our life, that’s when we would enter into all kinds of anomalies and irregularities leading us to issues of mental health, depression, and all kinds of justifications to rationalize acts and positions that usually are considered by our common sense as perversions.

Our need for deep reflection

WE have to realize that we have this need for deep reflection. Thus, we have to set aside some time where we can do that. Otherwise, we may be doing a lot of things but still miss what is truly important for us. I think it was St. Augustine who once said, what good would racer be if he runs very fast but does it out of track? He’ll never reach the finish line! 

 Especially in our increasingly fast paced world, we have this great need for reflection. We have to have some time for a period of recollection and spiritual retreat if only to have an atmosphere of reflection and prayer that help us contemplate on the mysteries of God, letting us enter into the life of the Lord and learn to imitate him according to our circumstances, with the light and strength that God grants. 

 This period of reflection would enable us to meditate on the life of Christ, the pattern of our humanity, by reading and listening to his word as recorded in the Gospels that would hopefully lead us to translate Christ’s word into action. 

 Thus, from time to time, we should withdraw from our usual activities and concerns, and go into what is called a spiritual retreat where we try to get a closer if also global picture of the current state of our life. 

 We need to see if things are going well, if we are still in the right direction, if we still have a clear vision of the over-all purpose of our life. We can’t deny that there are new developments in the world that give us new challenges, trials and other possibilities, and we just have to be ready to handle them properly. 

 We also need to see how things can be improved or even radically changed, since definitely there will always be things in our life at any given moment that need to be given such attention. In the end, we have to realize that a retreat is a great occasion to have another conversion. We have to see that. We have to feel urged by that. If we don’t feel that way, then let’s pray that we be given the relevant grace from God. 

 We have to understand that the growth and development of our spiritual life, of our relationship with God and with others which can only take place if we learn to love them more and more, will always be an ongoing affair in our whole life. It will always be a work in progress. We can never say that we have reached the point where there is no more room for improvement. 

 It is in a retreat when we can afford to savor the joy and beauty of silence and the spirit of recollection, reflection and discernment. Silence helps one to see the basic structure of his mind and heart, and the objects to which they get oriented. This is where he sees whether these human powers are in their proper condition and are properly used. 

 Silence also facilitates internalizing things, attuning our senses and faculties to their proper object. It also merges us with the stream of time, allowing us to run from the present to the past and then to the future, rectifying and refocusing things along the way, until we reach the doorsteps of eternity and infinity itself. 

 The need for the spirit recollection during the retreat simply indicates that our life consists of different aspects and levels that we have to orchestrate to be able to reach our final end.

God always provides

INDEED, God always provides for all our needs, foremost of which is our own salvation, our own sanctification, the achievement of our ultimate goal which is to be like him, sharers of his life and nature. 

 This we can gather in that gospel episode where Christ healed many people of their illnesses and when he noticed that they were hungry, he performed that amazing multiplication of the bread and fish that astonished everyone in the crowd. (cfr. Mt 15,29-37) 

 Still, we have to keep our side of the bargain, so to speak. That’s because even if God has given us everything to be what we ought to be, we need to be willing and humble enough to make the necessary adjustments to conform ourselves to God’ plans and ways. 

 We have to be more aware that with our creation by our Father God, we are meant to work. Work for us is an essential, inalienable part of our human nature. It is the very operation of our God-given powers and faculties that range from the spiritual to the intellectual and mental, to the emotional all the way to the manual and the physical. 

 It is what relates us to God and to others, what enables us to attain the ultimate goal of our life—full communion with God and with others. We need to understand then that our work is a vital part of God’s abiding providence over all his creation, especially over us. 

 God’s providence is organic, and extends in time and all the way to eternity of God’s creation. When God created us, he just did not put us into existence and then left us to be on our own. He continues to be with us, governing and leading us to him with due respect of our freedom, because as Creator, God cannot leave us, otherwise we will cease to exist. 

 Thus, we also have to be ready for wherever divine providence would take us. We have to be open to it all the time. Even as we make our plans and pursue them truly as our own, we should not forget that nothing in our life is actually outside the providence of God who can adapt himself to us, even in our worst situations and predicaments, and still lead us to himself. 

 The only thing to remember is that God is always around and is actually intervening and directing our life to him. That is part of his omnipotence which he exercises both from all eternity and in time since our creation and all the way to the end of time. 

 We need to be open to his providence, because even if God is 100% responsible for our life, we too, in a manner of speaking, are also 100% responsible for our life. Since we have been created in God’s image and likeness, we cannot help but have our life immersed also in God’s life. We need to learn to live our life with him as consciously and as freely as possible with him. 

 We really have no reason to fear, nor to wallow in worries, anxieties and sadness. Let’s remember that these unfortunate states are fertile ground for the enemies of our soul, especially the devil, to take advantage of us. 

 We should always be cheerful in life, and strive to show it even externally with smiles and happy, warm and encouraging dispositions. Even in our grief and mourning, we should manage to learn how to be serene, knowing that suffering and death have already been redeemed by Christ and are now endowed with redemptive power. Yes, God always provides for all our needs!

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”

THESE are words Christ addressed to his disciples after he praised the Father for revealing the deeper meaning of things to those who are childlike, that is, those who are simple and humble like a child. (cfr. Lk 10,23) 

 “I give praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” he said, “for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.” 

 Once again, we are made to consider the crucial role of the virtues of simplicity and humility in our life, since they make us like little children, able to see things clearly and objectively without being trapped in some complicated thinking. 

 I suppose we are familiar with the phenomenon of us seeing and looking, hearing and listening, and yet missing the point. It’s a common phenomenon that we should be more aware of and that we should try our best to correct. 

 To be sure, the object of our senses and even of our intellect and will are not just material things and some ideas. It is much more than these, since reality is not simply made of material things and ideas. Reality starts with God and ends with him, since he is the Creator of everything. 

 We have to learn to discern the presence of God in everything. And this we can do if we strive to nurture our relation with Christ who is the fullness of the revelation of God to us and who remains with us in so many ways. 

 It can only be through him that we can see more than what our eyes can see, hear more than what our ears can hear, and understand more than what our intellect can understand. 

 In other words, we can see, hear and understand what is the most important thing to see, hear and understand in our daily affairs. We don’t get confused, lost or needlessly entangled in the maze of things in the world. 

 We have to do everything to keep vibrant our piety and relation with Christ. This is what truly matters in our life. We need to give priority to our prayers, our sacrifices and recourse to the sacraments over all the other concerns we have, no matter how important or urgent they may be. The tension and the self-denial involved in this would all be worthwhile. 

 We need to explode the myth that taking our faith seriously and consistently living our piety in all the circumstances of our life means having a deprived and secluded life. The opposite is true. 

 With faith we get to see both the macro and micro levels of reality. With faith, our power to cover big and distant areas, as well as to penetrate things to their core is mightier than what the Internet and other new technologies, for example, can do. It would be mightier than what our senses and our intellectual powers unguided by faith can reach. 

 That's the reason why we should always enliven our faith through constant prayer, recourse to the sacraments, assiduous study of the doctrine of our faith, waging a continuing spiritual struggle against our weaknesses and temptations, and growing in the virtues. 

 The saints achieved a universal mind and heart, with the effects of their sanctity reaching distant lands, simply by living their faith to the full even if they were confined to a certain area. The life of St. Therese of the Child Jesus is proof of this. Her heroic sanctity, lived and developed in the confines of her convent, made her the patron of the missions.

The pursuit for creativity and innovation

EVERYONE should be encouraged to be as creative and innovative as he can be. To be creative and innovative is an expression of our freedom that should be used as fully as possible. To be creative and innovative enables us to make progress and growth in our human affairs. It makes as adaptive to the changing circumstances in our life. It is making good use of the talents that we have. 

 In the end, it is the passionate expression of the love we have in our heart. It enables us to explore the many possibilities and options we have to carry out our desire for development and progress in the many aspects and dimensions of human life. 

 We just have to understand that this pursuit should be properly guided by the spirit of God, since in the end our freedom and love to be true freedom and love, which is the source of such pursuit, is none other than to do the will of God. 

 As we all know, it is God who is the original and ultimate Creator and Innovator. He can make everything new. As the Book of Isaiah would put it, God can always make a new thing, making “a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (43,19) Or from the Book of Revelation, we hear God saying, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (21,5) 

 Without God, we would be playing in some dangerous exercises that would do us more harm than good. It can be likened to a sweet poison that can lead us to a disastrous end. So, let’s be wary of the danger. 

 If we are truly with God, we would know how to be creative and innovative, inventive and versatile which should characterize the love and charity we ought to have with one another and in our relation with the world in general. 

 If we have faith in God who will give us the grace we need for this, we would simply be game with the adventure, the challenges, trials and difficulties this whole business would entail. We know that with God, his power to be creative and innovative is infinite, and if we try our best to identify ourselves with him as we should, we have good reason to achieve the same power, at least to some degree. 

 We therefore have to re-ignite our faith in the abiding providence of God who gives us everything we need to attain the goal that he himself has set for us. And that is, that we be true image and likeness of his, adopted children of his who can love the way he loves—that is, in endlessly creative and innovative ways. 

 For this, a lot of prayer is needed. A good study of the doctrine of our faith which, thank God, is already given quite clearly and completely to us. ucSh study should also be done in a continuing and deepening way. 

 We have to continue humbling ourselves to be able to acknowledge this need, then to go through a continuing process of conversion and renewal. Only then can we expect some spiritual growth in ourselves. 

 Our love should be all at once inventive, creative and versatile in the sense that we should never get stuck at a certain level of loving, no matter how successful we already are at that level. 

 Life continues to demand more things from us, and we cannot afford to be contented at any point. Love requires more always. There will always be new challenges, new openings, new needs, given the changing temper of the times and of people. 

 In short, the pursuit for creativity and innovation should be driven by love for God and others, not an expression of self-indulgence.

Advent gives us a new beginning

IT’S the Season of Advent again and with it we make another beginning of the liturgical year. If we truly understand the significance of the liturgy in our life, we know that we really should prepare ourselves seriously for this new beginning, having it clear in our mind what the ultimate purpose of our life is in this world. 

 As the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, liturgy is the “celebration of the mystery of Christ” through which the sanctification of humankind takes place. It’s a public worship offered by the whole Church as one organic body, with Christ as head and us as its members. (218) It’s a joint effort between Christ and us. 

 As the “sacred action par excellence”, it is therefore the “summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed and it is likewise the font from which all her power flows.” (219) The liturgy is not just a remembrance of things past. It is putting into the living present all that Christ said, did and gained for our own salvation. 

 With this Season of Advent, we need to develop a strong and correct sense of beginning. At the moment, many of us seem oblivious to this need. We appear to live only for the present. The past and the future are merely given a lick and a promise, that is, a shallow and fleeting consideration. 

 It could be because our contemporary conditions often lead us to act only for the moment. The problems and pressures of modern life badger us to mind only what is at hand at present. They tend to erode our sense of time. They seem to keep us narrow-minded, short-sighted and Pavlovian in our reactions. They trap us only in the here and now. 

 It’s one of the urgent challenges nowadays to develop this abiding sense of beginning. It’s what gives us a greater perspective and depth in life, a guide to help us assess things properly as we go on and encounter all sorts of situations. 

 We need to understand that Advent is a period of a love-filled waiting not only for the most joyous Christmas, the birth of Christ, but also and most especially of the second coming of Christ. 

 We need to look forward to that coming when Christ gathers us as his people at the end of time, incorporating us into his mystical body and bringing us to where we truly belong—in heaven where we, individually and collectively, will enter into a definitive communion with God, a communion of love in mind and heart. 

 Christ’s second coming is when we finally complete our earthly sojourn which is meant to be a time of testing, a time of making a choice either to be with God or simply to be by ourselves. 

 That is when we finally would become “alter Christus,” another Christ, who is the pattern and redeemer of our humanity. That is when we finally become the true image and likeness of God as God himself wanted us to be. That is when we organically form together with the others the definitive family and people of God with Christ as the head. 

 Even if the season of Advent is, in general, marked by a spirit of sacrifice as preparation for the coming of Christ, it also should be characterized by joy. We need to make a shout-out of this truth of our faith that true joy can only come from God, from loving him, following his will and commandments, and entering into such ever-growing intimate relationship with him that we could clearly and promptly see his abiding interventions in our life.

“My words will not pass away”

CHRIST explicitly said these words. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21,33) We should take Christ’s words most seriously because in them we have the surest guide we can have as we face the different situations, conditions, challenges, etc. of our life. 

 Yes, Christ’s word is the very word of God, the word that gives us true and complete light for our earthly journey towards heaven. Its primary purpose is to bring us back to God. And so more than just giving us some helpful earthly knowledge, it gives us the ultimate spiritual knowledge we need to return to God. This character of God’s word is described in the following words in the Letter to the Hebrews: 

 “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (4,12) 

 Of course, its purely eternal, spiritual, sacred and transcendent nature is now subjected to the conditions of time, culture, history, etc., in view of how we are. But we should not forget that it is primarily purely eternal, spiritual, sacred and transcendent, which with our spiritual powers plus God’s grace we can manage to abstract from its temporal, material, mundane and prosaic condition. 

 Let’s remember that God became man. With his incarnation, the divine word assumes the nature of a human word. And just as God became man to bring man back to God, his divine word becomes human word to bring and reconcile the latter with the former where it comes from and where it belongs to. 

 We have to develop a fondness for the words of God. This we can do as long as we exert due effort and continually ask, with humility, for the grace of God. Without these requirements, we can easily be swept away by the many alluring ideologies in the world that at best can only give us some temporal, never eternal, advantages. 

 It’s when we listen and live by God’s words that we attain our human and Christian maturity. And as St. Paul would say, we would then be like infants no longer, “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of the people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4,14) 

 It’s important that we spend time developing a liking and an intimacy with the words of God. We have to read and meditate on them daily, and use them as the spirit behind all events, activities and concerns that we have during the day. 

 We have to understand that God’s words are not meant to give us the technical solutions to our problems. They are meant to be the soul and the spirit of all our concerns and activities. Inspired by God’s words, our temporal and earthly concerns can acquire an eternal value. 

 Let us promote a culture of gospel-reading and meditation everyday. A few minutes with the gospel daily can go a long way in putting our life on the right path. We should not miss the great treasure we have in the gospel. We can use the new technologies to promote this culture. The world today is in great need for God’s word!

Godlessness and its effects

TODAY’S ideologies and isms clearly show the effects of godlessness. Things like Wokeism, Secularism, Gender Ideology and many other isms are openly declaring godless doctrine and practices. They are trapped in their own reasoning alone, unable to see the global picture that the faith in God provides. They are now into pure subjectivism and immanentism, unable to transcend beyond their own thinking. 

 As consequences, we are now witnessing increasing cases of violence, squabbling, misunderstanding. Clearly unnatural and inhuman practices are on the rise, like abortion, pornography, systemic corruption and deception. Mental illnesses and psychological irregularities, even among the young ones, are also on the rise. Human nature has been defaced and the real purpose of human life is all but forgotten. 

 This is not to mention the rising cases of demonic possession and infestation. No wonder that requests for exorcism and deliverance are also on the rise. Obviously, if the spirit of God is rejected, another spirit will surely come to animate people’s souls. Without God to give us the true light and strength, we obviously would be completely helpless. 

 We need to remind ourselves that we are meant to be with God. We should not just be by ourselves. We would be completely helpless that way, even if we can delude ourselves into thinking that with our human powers alone, we can properly cruise the ocean of our life. 

 Man is a creature of God, just like any other creature. But in our case, we have been created in God’s image and likeness. That is why we are given the faculties of intelligence and will so that we can know and decide to choose to be with God. 

 That is the primary purpose of our intelligence and will. Besides, since God is a purely supernatural being, God gives us the grace so that we can enter into his supernatural life also. Making God as our be-all and end-all is never a degradation of our human nature. On the contrary, it is the perfection of our nature. 

 We need to spread this most basic truth of faith about ourselves, explaining it in ways that people in all levels and conditions can easily understand, appreciate and start to live out. It should be made clear to everyone that the goal for us to pursue is to assume the very identity of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. This is not a fantasy, but truly the most real thing about us. 

 And so, we need to understand that we actually have to grow to be like Christ who offers us “the way, the truth and the life” for us to be with God. This is, of course, a truth of faith that is presented to us to act on, and not forced or imposed on us. It is something that should be taken up by us freely. Let’s hope that we can overcome whatever prejudice, disbelief and awkwardness that can undermine our desire and effort to be “alter Christus.” 

 We should not be afraid to undertake this lifelong process, thinking perhaps that it will detach us from the worldly realities. Nothing can be farther than the truth. With Christ, we would know how to love the world, how to get immersed in it, but always in the proper way. 

 Let’s keep in mind what St. John in his gospel said in this regard: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3,16)

Unafraid to face the world’s end

THAT’S what Christ practically told the crowd as he described how the end of the world would be. (cfr. Lk 21,12-19) “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name,” he said. 

 But he told them not to worry nor to prepare their defense beforehand. “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute,” he assured them. He encouraged them just to hold on because, as he said, “by your perseverance you will secure your lives.” 

 In this regard, we need to learn how to avoid falling into fears and worries. And this, of course, is a matter of a strong faith. With faith, we know that whatever be our condition and situation in life, God is always around and will never abandon us. He is there to help us, since he actually takes care of everything. 

 It’s this faith that springs and strengthens our hope and charity, which is the essence, purpose and fullness of our life. With faith, we can manage to be at peace all the time, to experience joy and awe even in the midst of our unavoidable earthly suffering, and to go on and move on despite whatever. 

 To battle our fears, worries and sadness, we need to strengthen our faith and live it to the hilt. And let us allow our faith to educate all our human powers and faculties—our intelligence and will, our emotions and passions, our memory and imagination, etc. Let us take time and learn the relevant skills to achieve this ideal. 

 Let us remember that we are a composite of body and soul. And since our soul is spiritual, it has its life and origin in the Spirit of God himself. We need to develop our life following the ways that would reinforce the unity of the composite parts of our life in their proper order. We have to realize that our life is mainly spiritual and supernatural, not simply material and natural. 

 Christ himself has told us that while troubles would unavoidably come our way in this life, we should not worry too much because he has overcome whatever troubles we may have. (cfr. Jn 16,33) 

 And so, let us assume the same thinking and reactions that St. Paul beautifully articulated when we are faced with all sorts of difficulties in life. At one time, he said, “If He (God) who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things.” (Rom 8,32) 

 Earlier, St. Paul said that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him.” (Rom 8,28) And the Catechism reinforces this kind of reasoning of how good can be derived even from evil by teaching us that: 

 “…God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: ‘It was not you,’ said Joseph to his brothers, ‘who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.’ 

 “From the greatest moral evil ever committed—the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men—God, by his grace that ‘abounded all the more,’ brought the greatest of good: the glorification of Christ and our redemption.” (CCC 312) 

 We should be unafraid to face the world’s end!

About the end of the world

IT’S understandable that since we are now at the end of another liturgical year, the gospel readings focus on this truth of our faith—that both time and the world will end. Thus, in one gospel episode, Christ was asked about the signs that such end would be approaching. (cfr. Lk 21,5-11) 

 Thus, Christ responded: “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!” Looks like we are seeing these things nowadays. There are some people who are posing as the very son of God, etc. Let’s be warned. 

 Then Christ continued: “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified’ for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” There we have a clear indication of what to expect and the appropriate attitude we should have toward it. 

 Finally, he said: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” 

 We should be prepared for this eventuality by making sure that we are guided always by our faith and the almighty and merciful providence of God, instead of allowing ourselves to be played upon by our fears and worries. We should be eternity-ready. That is to say, prepared to see God during our judgment and eager to be with God, fully identified with him for all eternity. 

 In this regard, we should rather be aggressive in our pursuit of our ultimate goal, the proper attitude to have in this life. Of course, we should first of all have a clear vision of our goal in life, knowing how to translate that goal into stages, and then let’s stir up all our faculties to achieve that goal. 

 We can take St. Paul’s words as some kind of inspiring slogan: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24) Yes, our life is like a race. The Letter to the Hebrews said as much: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...” (12,1) 

 The good thing about this attitude is that it engages our faculties properly and helps us avoid getting lost, being held hostage by the allures of this world, wasting time, etc. We would always be on the move, and would know how to put order in our daily activities, knowing the right priorities, etc. 

 And what is the ultimate goal that we should pursue? None other than that we become another Christ, if not Christ himself, ‘alter Christus, ipse Christus.’ This is simply because we have been created by God to be his image and likeness. 

 That image and likeness of God is Christ who as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is the pattern of our humanity, and as the Son of God who became man, is the redeemer of our damaged humanity. 

 Our creation is God’s project before it is our own. It is a work in progress that requires our cooperation precisely because as image and likeness of God, we have been endowed with intelligence and will that would enable us to correspond to God’s creative and redemptive action on us.