Just be quick to say sorry

“LORD, forgive the wrong I have done.” That’s from Psalm 32. We can make use of this psalm to express our intention for forgiveness because we all know that despite our effort to be faithful and all that, we somehow manage to fall. 

 We should not stay long feeling bad and guilty because of our failures and sins. While God is not happy with mistakes, he is ever quick to offer us forgiveness if we would just turn to him asking for it. As another psalm would put, “His anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.” (30,5) 

 Our sinfulness, defects and errors should not separate us from God. If anything at all, they should bring us closer to him, assured that God’s mercy will never be lacking. 

 These two realities about our sinfulness and God’s mercy always should go together. We should always strengthen our conviction about the helpful relationship these two should have with each other in our life. 

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

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

 And from there, let us develop the unshakable conviction that no matter what sins we commit, no matter how ugly they are, there is always hope. God’s mercy can take on anything. 

 Let’s strengthen our conviction that Christ has a special attraction to sinners, that he is ever willing to forgive us as long as we show some signs of repentance that he himself, through his grace, will stir in us. 

 Let’s play the part of Peter who, after denying Christ three times, realized his mistake and wept bitterly in repentance. Christ looked kindly on him and forgave him and even made him the prince of the apostles. 

 Let’s avoid playing the part of Cain and Judas who, after committing their crimes, ran away instead of going back to God repentant. Of course, in saying this, I am not at all judging that they are in hell. That judgment belongs to God alone. 

 We just have to make sure that we do not get spoiled by God’s abundant mercy, because even if his love and mercy is eternal, his justice is never sacrificed. His mercy and justice always go together, in proportions, if we have to speak in human terms, that are just right. 

 Let us also hope that God’s mercy would rub off on us too. We have to learn to be forgiving, because Christ clearly told us that it is when we forgive others that we ourselves can also be forgiven. 

 “If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.” (Mt 6,14-15) 

 We have to be clear that his injunction is meant for everyone, and not only for a few whom we may consider to be religiously inclined. That’s why when asked how many times we should forgive, he said not only seven times, but seventy times seven, meaning always. 

 So, let’s just be quick to say sorry when we commit a mistake, and we should mean it wholeheartedly!

The constant danger of treachery and betrayal

THAT bible episode about King David and his rebellious son, Absalom, (cfr. 2 Samuel 18,9-19,3) perpetuates the narrative that treachery and betrayal will always be with us for as long as we live. 

 Even at the start of creation, some of the angels, headed by Lucifer, rebelled against God. Thus, they became devils, and Lucifer became Satan. Man himself in Adam and Eve, created in God’s image and likeness, preferred to obey the devil than to be faithful to God. 

 Cain killed his own brother Abel. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sold by his own brothers. Saul betrayed David, and David also betrayed his own loyal soldier Uriah. Of course, the most classic of these cases is that of Judas against Christ himself. And we have not yet seen the end of all these. 

 We have to remember that this danger of treachery and betrayal is a fact of life. It would be good to remember this reality always if only to be properly guarded against it. Nowadays, to be a traitor and betrayer of God and of anybody is very easy and can also be easily hidden or rationalized. Thus, the need for extreme vigilance. 

 Today, with the riveting attraction of the new technologies, it’s almost invincibly impossible not to be a traitor and betrayer to God and to everybody else. And that’s simply because instead of giving ourselves to God and to everybody else, as love that is proper to us demands, we get easily trapped into the wiles of self-indulgence. 

 Practically everybody is hooked to the Internet, to the cellphones, to the social media, etc. While these new and powerful technologies offer a lot of good, they also occasion a lot of dangers. They are like a double-edged sword. 

 We should be wary of this phenomenon and do our best to be properly and adequately protected. For one, we should try our best that we be vividly aware of what the ultimate and constant purpose of our life is. With that awareness, let’s do everything to pursue that purpose in full steam ahead. 

 We need to rectify our intentions before, during and after doing anything. That way, we make sure we are on course to our true and ultimate destination. In this regard, we need to declare an unrelenting war against our self-indulgence which has become a very formidable problem we all have. Yes, this has always been a problem to us, but these days it is much more so. 

 Let’s make God the beginning and end of everything that we do. He should always be in our mind and heart, in our thoughts, intentions and desires, in our feelings and passions. He should always be in our deeds. And because of him and through him, the others should also always be in our mind and heart. 

 Without God and without others, let’s be convinced that we are actually lost, even if we feel that we are conquering the world and are having a grand time. Let’s do everything that God and others become the constant reference points of our life. They are meant to lead us to our true maturity, our fulfillment and perfection, our joy. 

 Thus, whenever we realize that our thoughts, intentions and desires simply revolve around ourselves, around our interests and what give us convenience, advantage, etc., let us react immediately and rectify ourselves. This is how we avoid the danger of treachery and betrayal.

Let our hope spring eternal

WE all have reason to be always hopeful and even optimistic despite the ugliest fears and worries we may have in our life. And that reason can only be that we can always count on God who is all powerful. Not only that, he truly cares for us, though in ways that may escape our understanding and appreciation. 

 This truth of our faith is highlighted in that episode where Christ drove out a legion of evil spirits that possessed a man. (cfr. Mk 5,1-20) Even in the worst scenario, when we inflict ourselves with the gravest of sin, there is still hope because as St. Paul said, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Rom 5,20) 

 We have to reassure ourselves, based on what Christ has promised and has actually done for us, that there can be no crisis that is too big for the grace of God to handle. 

 We have to remember that nothing happens in this life without at least the knowledge and tolerance of God. And if God allows some really bad things to happen, it is because a greater good can always be derived from them. 

 We just have to put ourselves in God’s side to tackle whatever crisis plagues us. That is the real challenge we have to face. And just like what Christ did and continues to do to redeem us, we have to follow the formula he once spelled out: deny ourselves, carry the cross and then follow him. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 If we are willing to do that, then we can even gain a lot more than what we appear to lose and to suffer. In other words, we can say that the bigger, the more serious the problem, the bigger, plentier and stronger also would the grace God will give us. So, let us just be game and do our part of the bargain. 

 It’s not easy, of course. But neither is it impossible. It would really depend on how we see things. If we only consider the enormity of the problem, then we cannot help but feel overwhelmed and even get discouraged. But if we consider God’s abundant grace, even the impossible can be possible for us. 

 We need to educate ourselves always to remain calm and optimistic when faced with grave problems, and just try our best to discern what God is showing us with respect to resolving a crisis. 

 Yes, we have to learn to suffer. But let’s never forget that there is always the resurrection of Christ. Christ has already won for us the war against any form of evil. We just have to learn to be with him and not to be so stupid as to do things simply on our own. 

 We have to strengthen our conviction that every problem and crisis is an opportunity to grow in strength and quality in our spiritual life, in our love for God and others and the world in general. Yes, we need to develop a proper love also for the world. We have to conquer the world that will always be beset with the effects of our sins. 

 Again, let’s do all this with a sporting spirit based on our faith, hope and charity. We may get dirty from time to time, but we can always get up and then move on. To repeat, there is no crisis too big for the grace of God to handle!

God shares his power and authority with us

ONE day in Capernaum, Christ with his followers was teaching in a synagogue and the people were amazed because he taught as one “with authority and not as the scribes.” 

 Later, the people were again amazed when Christ drove away the unclean spirit that possessed a man there. They could not help but exclaim, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” (cfr. Mk 1,21-28) 

 These incidents simply showed to the people the true identity of Christ—that he was not just any ordinary person, nor just an accomplished preacher. He was trying to lead the people to believe that he was the expected Messiah who wants to bring us back to the dignity meant for us. 

 But underlying all these incidents is the fact that Christ also wants to share his power and authority with us. He is actually unstinting in sharing what he has with us. As to our capacity to share his power and authority, there should be no question. We are wired and equipped for that state of life. Things would just depend on us as to how we are receptive to God’s designs for us in this regard. 

 That is why we need to give due attention and care for our spiritual faculties of the intellect and will. As our Christian faith tells us, of all the powers and capabilities we have, it is the intellect and the will that make us image and likeness of God before all the other components of our humanity, like our body, can partake of the same dignity. 

 That’s simply because these powers of ours enable us to know and to love, and therefore, allowing us to enter into communion with the objects of our knowledge and love. They are spiritual powers that transcend the dynamics of our physical or material constitution, i.e., our biological, chemical make-up, etc. 

 As such, these powers of ours are capable of receiving and acting not only on things of nature, but also on the spiritual and supernatural realities. A philosophical term is applied to this phenomenon. And this is called their “obediential potency,” that allows them to be elevated to the supernatural order, to the world of grace, the world of the spirit and of God. 

 As a Catholic dictionary would put it, obediential potency is “the capacity to receive either a miraculous change or a supernatural perfection that exceeds the natural capacities of a being.” Of all the creatures of God, we, together with the angels, have that potency. 

 It stands to reason therefore that we have to give due attention and care for these powerful faculties of ours. We just cannot allow them to develop on their own, simply guided by what our senses can discern. 

 They have to be inspired and guided by the things of God who give us a share not only of his knowledge but also of his very life, his power and authority, through the gifts of faith, hope and charity, or the gift of grace in general. 

 Unless our spiritual faculties of intellect and will are guided by faith, hope and charity, they can only go anywhere and nowhere, and in fact can expose and lead us to a lot of dangers. Indeed, they can be our worst enemy, our gravest curse! 

 Without faith, hope and charity, or without grace, we may know a lot of things and get involved also in significant human affairs, but we will fail to reach the goal meant for us. We would be prone to get entangled in controversies and endless contentions. We would fail to enjoy what God wants to share with us.

“Stir into flame the gift of God”

WE recall these words St. Paul addressed to St. Timothy—and now to us—precisely on the Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus, celebrated on January 26. These words are a call not only to be faithful to any gift God has given us—and we are actually given everything that is good for us—but also to be very zealous in making use of these gifts for God’s glory and for the good of all men. 

 Said in another way, we have to continue fighting against our usual tendency to fall into lukewarmness in our dedication to God and to others. What’s so dangerous about spiritual lukewarmness is that it often passes as something ordinary and normal. It hardly causes any worry, much less, alarm. It lulls many of us to think there’s no problem. 

 It’s an attitude, a mindset, and, worse, a culture that is stuck with the minimalist virus, contented with what is practical, convenient, popular, profitable, etc., and goes no further. It justifies itself by saying, “Why do I need to go any further? Things are already ok as they are.” 

 It is the perfect expression of the adage, “The good is the enemy of the best.” And so, it fails to submit itself to the law of love that requires self-giving without measure, a total self-giving whose language is generosity and heroism all the way to death. 

 Of course, behind that justification is a subtle, unspoken compromise with one’s laziness and other weaknesses, not to mention, his lack of faith and spirit of sacrifice. That justification puts one in the Stop mode of his spiritual life, when it is supposed always to Go, to Move, to Grow always. 

 In the Book of Revelation, there is a clear condemnation of such spiritual illness. “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” (3,16) 

 We have to be more aware of this danger and do all to avoid, if not fight against it. The basic and indispensable antidote to this danger is love, the proper kind of love that comes only from God and is a living participation of the very love of God which is the only true love there is. 

 This love has the power of continuing self-renewal and self-perpetuation, and of supporting and even going beyond our physical and other natural powers. This is the love that will keep us always young and vibrant, and will give us a taste of eternity while still in time. 

 How to keep that love burning, how to continually feed it is a concern we ought to cultivate in ourselves. We can be sure that we are not engaging here in some quixotic, unrealistic adventure, since on the part of God, everything is already given to us. 

 We need a strong and jolting reality check to wake us up from this predicament. First, we need to be rescued from the mainstream idea that true love is what comes simply from one’s heart, but not necessarily from God. It’s more a matter of feelings, of what pleases and satisfies one’s longing. 

 This, to me, is the very virus responsible for lukewarmness. Human love in all its forms can only be true love if it flows from the love of God. Our problem is that we seem to be helplessly infatuated with our own kind of love. We should get out of that frame of mind, asking for God’s grace and mercy, so that his love enters into our heart.

The quest for Christian unity

JANUARY 25 is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, a truly dramatic story of conversion that can happen to anyone of us also. It also culminates the Christian Unity Octave that highlights the need for a continuing quest for unity among Christians as well as with everybody else who find themselves in all sorts of divisive differences and conflicts. 

 The readings of the day remind us, of course, of the need for continuing conversion and the mission for universal apostolate, things that everyone who wish to be consistent with his Christianity should always carry out. 

 That we need continuing conversion is always given. This is simply due to our very precarious condition in life. No matter how good, pious and saintly we think we are, we cannot deny that in this life we will always be assailed by the enemies of God and of our soul. 

 We have our weakened flesh to contend with, in the first place. Then the world around us is full of temptations. And the devil will always be scheming for our downfall, setting up traps everywhere for us. 

 As the Book of Job would put it, “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.” (7,1) We have to get over the myth that in this life we can achieve a stable state of sanctity and that therefore we do not need to struggle anymore. 

 A fixed feature of our life should be making regular examinations of conscience at the end of each day, going to regular confession, making acts of atonement and reparation, etc. We need to always enliven our spirit of penance which is not meant to put us down, but rather to make us free from what would truly put us down. We should come out of these practices with the eagerness to begin and begin again. 

 But we should not forget that all these practices of penance are also meant to sharpen to carry out our Christian duties, one of which is to fulfill the mission Christ has entrusted us. This is “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16,15) 

 We have to be ready to get interested in everyone apostolically. We should be interested both in the rich and the poor, those in the mainstream of society as well as those in the peripheries. 

 We have to learn how to dance with the rich and crazy as well as to get wet and dirty with the poor and miserable. We should be able to do apostolate in any part of the world. We have to learn how to be all things to all men as St. Paul said. (cfr. 1 Cor 9-22) 

 And our interest in them should go beyond merely human and worldly purposes and categories. We simply are not interested in them for some practical reasons alone. We should avoid getting entangled in the subordinate reasons for our apostolic interest in everyone. 

 The main reason for our apostolic interest in everyone should be that everyone gets back to God from whom all of us came and to whom we all belong. We have to be most interested in everyone achieving his spiritual and supernatural goal in life, in his holiness, in his becoming ‘another Christ,’ who is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity.

Let’s be like little children

“LET the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Mt 19,14) With these words, Christ is giving us a clear idea of how it is to be in heaven. We should be like little children, a bit messy perhaps but definitely with a pure heart devoid of any malice. We should strive to be like them in spite of our advanced age and exposure to the things of this world. 

 To be sure, it’s not a call to be childish, as in being whimsy, capricious, thoughtless. Rather we are asked to be always humble and simple, full of trust in the authorities and especially in the providence of God, and eager to believe in what is good, precisely like a child whose worries are few and not deep and lasting. 

 We have to remember that Christ also said that even while we have to be simple and innocent like doves, we should also be shrewd and clever like serpents. (cfr Mt 10,16) We have to find ways of how to blend these two apparently contrasting qualities together. 

 To be child-like is to have a lot of faith in God. It is to be led more by that faith than by our merely human estimation of things. It is to accept whatever happens in our life but always confident that God never abandons us and is leading us to him through the ups and downs of our life. 

 To be child-like is to have a pure and innocent heart, incapable of malice, ambition, pride and arrogance. It is to have the confidence that even our defects and mistakes, if immediately referred to God, do not really matter much. 

 To be child-like is to be transparent, simple and sincere, unafraid to be known as they really are, warts and all. The knowledge and vast experience they gain in life do not alter their simplicity which neither negates prudence and discretion. 

 To be child-like is to be welcoming to suggestions and corrections made on them. These do not make them feel humiliated, but rather thankful. To be child-like is to be teachable, flexible and docile. When one is child-like, he can be told anything and he tends to believe and obey. Attainments, achievements and successes do not spoil him. Neither do difficulties, temptations and failures crush them and plunge them to sadness or bitterness. 

 To be child-like is to be easy to be motivated and consoled. It is to be optimistic despite problems and difficulties. Falls and mistakes are easily forgotten. To be child-like is to be disposed to see things as they are, whether they are self-evident natural truths or highly mysterious supernatural realities. What is not understood is simply accepted and believed, relying simply on the recommendation of parents and elders. 

 To be child-like is to capture the spirit of the beatitudes, where being poor in spirit, being meek or in a state of mourning, being pure of heart and being persecuted, insulted and the like are no big problem. They are good occasions to go closer to God. 

 And more directly, St. Paul said: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor 13,11)

The need to unite our will with God’s will

THAT need is clearly seen when Christ himself said: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mk 3,35) If we always abide by our Christian faith that we have been created in God’s image and likeness, meant to share in his divine life and nature, then the only conclusion we can make is to unite our will with God’s will. 

 Our will, which is where we find our true selves, should not just be floating around on its own, thinking that it is how it enjoys its freedom. We need to acknowledge that our will is a creation of God and is meant to be united with God’s will. We need to acknowledge the truth that our real freedom is when our will is united with the will of God. 

 This, definitely, is not an easy task to do, given the fact that it is precisely in our will where we choose whether we would like to be with God, to be part of his family, or to be simply on our own. And given how we handle this issue, starting with our first parents all the way to the present, we always have the strong tendency to think that our will is simply our own. 

 We therefore have to be strongly wary of this danger and do everything we can to avoid it. I suppose it goes without saying that we need to be frequently reminded that our will needs to be anchored on the will of God. That’s how our will acquires its proper status. 

 Especially nowadays when there are just so many things that can grab our will to be on its own, we really need to train ourselves to develop a strong regimen of self-discipline and constant rectification. 

 It would be good if we frequently make pauses during the day to see where our will is anchored. That’s because even in those areas where we can exercise a certain autonomy or where we are encouraged to make initiatives, etc., we should be clear that all these things should be done in accord with God’s will. Everything should be referred to God’s will. 

 We need to remember always that our true humanity or the perfection of our humanity can only be properly pursued if our will is united with God’s will. Christ, the pattern of our humanity, shows us the way when he himself said, “Truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” (Jn 5,19) 

 This constant need to refer everything to God’s will will obviously require tremendous humility on our part, given our strong tendency to do our own will alone. That’s why Christ himself said that if we have to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) There is no other formula for us to discipline our will to be united with God’s will. 

 We need to convince ourselves strongly and frequently that it is when our will is united with God’s will that we can achieve the condition proper to us. Yes, it may involve a lot of sacrifice, but the joy and fulfillment such sacrifice would yield us is so much greater, infinitely greater than any sacrifice we may have to go through. 

 It’s important that we be always aware that our will is always united with God’s will! That’s where we can our best condition in life.

Our reason needs to be guided by faith and charity

“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3,22). Filled with anger and unbelief, the scribes of Christ’s time did not realize they were contradicting themselves. Thus, Christ immediately pointed it out. 

 “How can Satan drive out Satan?” Christ asked. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mk 3,23-25) 

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

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

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

 When our reasoning is guided by faith and charity, we would even be welcoming to our unavoidable differences and conflicts, because they can occasion a greater good for us. For one, they can actually occasion genuine love and many other virtues to develop and grow. They can purify us, smoothing out the rough edges of our personality, and fine-tuning our views, opinions and preferences. 

 They can give rise to the development of patience and compassion, and the pursuit for the truth and justice is guaranteed to be more authentic even if it is also arduous. 

 They can actually expand our world of knowledge and understanding, and trigger the dynamics of a more meaningful unity among ourselves, not in spite of but rather because of our differences and conflicts. The unity we are speaking of here is not uniformity, but one that is richly nuanced and capable of accommodating everyone. 

 Most importantly, they can give a tremendous growth in our spiritual life, freeing us from being at the mercy of our personal, earthly and temporal conditions. They contribute greatly in our effort to make ourselves more and more like Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 Our differences and conflicts are part of our human condition and are an integral element in the providence of God over all of us. We just have to learn to live with them and try our best to use them according to God’s providence. The general pattern of how to live and make use of them is given to us by Christ himself who had to go through the most extreme kind of difficulty and conflict. 

 There is no use attempting to quash them altogether. We may sort them out to simplify things a bit, but we should never think that there will come a time when there will be no differences and conflicts among ourselves. Instead, what we have to do is to refer them to Christ to have an idea of how to handle them properly.

From swaddling clothes to kingly raiment

THANKS to God, our devotion to the Sto. Nino remains strong, deep and growing. Yes, there may still be things that need to be made right and purified, but we cannot deny that this devotion has helped us greatly in pursuing the proper path toward God, especially in a world that is increasingly secularized and paganized. 

 Thanks to God the image of Christ as both a child and king, from swaddling clothes to kingly raiment, has truly so captured the Filipino heart that whatever situation we may find ourselves in, whether good or bad humanly speaking, we still keep our Christian faith and try our best to live by it. 

 On this Feast of the Sto. Niño, we are reminded that irrespective of whatever status we have in this life, it is always necessary that we be like children. Why? The quick answer to that is by becoming like children, as Christ wants us to be, we can also become king the way Christ is King. 

 Christ told his disciples clearly: “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” (Mt 18,3-5) 

 Christ reiterated this necessity of being childlike a number of times during his preaching. “Let the children come to me. Do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mk 10,15) St. James, in his letter, made the same affirmation. “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (4,6) 

 We can ask what it is in children that Christ would want us to be like them? I suppose what can come to mind are the qualities of simplicity, transparency, complete trust to elders, etc. 

 These qualities enable us to deal with whatever situation and circumstance we can find ourselves in this life of ours here on earth. They enable us to dominate them, the way Christ dominated as king over all the possible human situations in the world. 

 We need to be clear about what makes for our human and Christian maturity, and how being like a child enters into the equation. We have to explode the myth that for us to attain our Christian maturity and perfection, we have to be an adult in age, with many years of experience, or popular in some religious ways, or knowledgeable about philosophy and theology. All these are helpful, but they are not the crucial elements. 

 What is essential is that our heart is fully conformed to God’s will, our life therefore somehow reflecting God’s goodness and holiness. And the child, with his inherent innocence and purity of heart, simplicity and openness, among other qualities, has the advantage of easily attaining that ideal almost effortlessly. 

 To be sure, what is being referred to here about childhood is not about the common proneness of the children to be naïve, thoughtless, or to get easily spoiled and to fall into tantrums when whims and caprices are not met. 

 It’s just the child’s humility, transparency and docility, among others, that make him easily drawn to God, and to the things spiritual and supernatural. These qualities lead him to believe and to trust. Talk to him about God, prayer and little sacrifices, and he gets it almost immediately and automatically. 

 With these qualities, we can channel in our life that transformation of the Sto. Nino from swaddling clothes to kingly raiment.

Drown evil with an abundance of good

WE are reminded of this beautiful Christian message in that story of King Saul and David. (cfr. 1 Samuel 24,3-21) The king, out of envy, planned to eliminate David. But David, who had the chance to eliminate the king, changed his mind. And when the king knew about this, he was so moved as to allow David to be his successor as king. 

 It’s clear that the lesson to be learned from this story is that evil should not be responded to with another evil. To undo evil and to convert the evil doers, the good should be done. The more good done, the better. Obviously, this will require some sacrifice, even a lot of it. But it will all be worthwhile. 

 We should try to be strong enough not to be so carried away and dominated by anger and hatred as to respond evil with evil when someone does us wrong. Instead, we should try our best to follow what Christ clearly told us: 

 “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Mt 5,43–44) Christ himself lived this indication well, as testified by St. Peter in his First Letter where he says: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (2,23) 

 We have to be guarded against our strong tendency to follow the law of Talion in our reactions to evil done on us. In this regard, we all need to discipline ourselves when we are offended. We have to make sure that we have good control of our agitated feelings and emotions, and not only should we try to think rationally, but also to see to it that our thoughts and feelings are infused with charity. 

 Yes, charity should never be cast aside even as we try to pass through the trickiest stage of exacting justice on some persons. Charity is not an optional item. It is a basic, indispensable requirement in our human relations and Christian behavior. 

 We cannot say that just because we are dealing with a crook, for example, that we can be excused from charity, or that we can feel free to tear that person’s name, if not person himself, to shreds. 

 Sad to say, this seems to be the prevalent mindset of many people. We really need to dismantle this mentality, because it is not human, much less Christian. It makes us insensitive to the real essence of righteousness and plunges us to a blinding self-righteousness. 

 We have to learn to be sober, allowing our thinking to be inspired by true love and compassion even as we also have to uphold justice. We need to broaden our perspectives so we can consider many other factors, taking us away from our biases and prejudices, and giving us a fuller picture of the situation. 

 We should feel uncomfortable when we find ourselves in some rage, and should do all to get out of that state as soon as we can. We have to be magnanimous, quick to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, focused more on what is constructive rather than dwelling on the distracting and destructive. 

 We should instead look for ways on how to heal wounds, to bring back those who strayed, to look for the lost, to strengthen the weak, to remedy what is defective in our systems. We have to look forward rather than backward, the future more than the past.

Never let envy eat you

THAT story of King Saul being envious of David because, as the crowd said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands,” (1 Samuel 18,7) clearly tells us the lesson that we all are prone to this danger of envy and jealousy. 

 This danger usually arises when we are not contented with what we have or with what is promised to us. It arises when we tend to compare ourselves with others in an improper way—that is, not for the glory of God but rather for our own self-interest only. 

 It’s one of the most insidious spiritual anomalies that we can have in life. It’s that uneasy feeling that others are better than us in some respects. We can even be envious of others who we know are doing evil and yet appear to be having a better time than us. Or it can come as a result of some personal frustrations, defeats and losses while others appear to only have successes and victories. 

 Many biblical passages refer to it. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” (James 3,16) “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” (James 4,2) 

 Still more: “For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (1 Cor 3,3) “Jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.” (Proverbs 6,34) 

 Envy is usually accompanied by sadness and sometimes by hatred, anger, bad thoughts and impulses of revenge, fault-finding and bitter zeal. It comes as a result of comparing oneself with others without God in the middle. The standards used are highly subjective and restrictive. 

 What makes it worse is that it is something internal, usually suffered in private, quite hidden, and therefore hard to be corrected by oneself or by others. To cover it up some more, especially when one suspects that others are already detecting it, one usually uses all kinds of pretension and the many ways of hypocrisy. 

 A nasty sense of insecurity bogs him. There’s usually a see-sawing attitude of liking and disliking, or the liking is somehow accompanied by a trace of dislike, a pinch of discomfort. One is not totally at peace when envy assails him. 

 Yes, envy is a very unfortunate thing to happen to anyone because it is a pure waste of time and energy. And because of it, many good opportunities that one can have are often missed. Of course, the worst effect is that one’s soul gets corrupted and can get completely wrapped up in his own miserable self-made world. He suffers alone. 

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

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

 The right attitude to have is to live out what St. Paul once said: “Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Phil 2,3-4)

The story of David and Goliath

THIS story (cfr. 1 Samuel 17,32-33.37.40-51) simply tells us one important lesson: that as long as we carry out our struggles with God, no earthly obstacle, challenge or trial can really put us down, no matter how formidable they are and how weak we may appear before them. 

 The youthful David with a sling only as his weapon managed to defeat the vaunted warrior Goliath because God was with him. May this story reassure us that as long as we are doing God’s will and ways, our victory is guaranteed, even if that victory may be in a form that is not in accord with our desires. 

 We have to learn how to deal with the difficult and the impossible things in our life. Let’s remember that as long as we are here on earth, we have to contend with all sorts of difficulties, trials and temptations. 

 And as if these are not enough, we also have to contend with the truth of our faith that tells us that we are meant to pursue a supernatural goal that definitely cannot be achieved simply with our own human powers, no matter how excellent they are. 

 The secret is always to go and to be with God who can make the impossible possible. In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted. 

 This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that can only indicate our unconditional faith, trust and love for God who is always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in peace and joy even at the worst of the possibilities. 

 Remember the Book of Ecclesiastes where it says that for everything there is a season, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal…” But everything is under God’s control, and even if we are capable of eternity, we just the same “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (3,1ff) We just have to trust him. 

 We have to follow the example of the many characters in the gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in, earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid and unashamed and they got what they wanted. 

 There is no denying that life always has more to offer to us than what we can understand, let alone, cope. And they can come in all shapes and sizes, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, likeable and hateful. There are surprises and moments when we seem to rot in expectation and still things we long for don’t come. 

 In the face of all this, I believe the attitude to have and the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the hands of God. 

 We just have to remember that Christ never abandons us and is, in fact, all ready and prompt to come to our aid, albeit in ways that we may not realize, at first.

The story of David and God’s inscrutable ways

THE story of how David was anointed to be king plainly tells us that God’s ways are inscrutable. (cfr. 1 Samuel 16,1-13) This story tells us that we need to trust in God’s mysterious ways rather be guided simply by our own estimation of things. 

 As narrated in the story, God asked the prophet Samuel to choose from the children of Jesse the one to succeed Saul as king. Samuel was quite sure the first ones presented must be the one God would anoint because of how they looked. But God rejected them and corrected Samuel. 

 “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature,” God told Samuel after Eliab, one of the first one was presented, “because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 

 So, the other sons of Jesse were presented. And still they were all rejected. When Samuel asked Jesse if there was still another son left, Jesse then called David, the youngest who at that time was tending sheep. It was then that God chose David to succeed Saul as king. 

 We should just be humble enough to realize that our certainties can never cope with all the mysteries of life. No matter how objective and scientific these certainties are derived, no matter how deep and exhaustive our philosophies, theologies and ideologies are made, our certainties just cannot take all the mysteries in our life. 

 Even in the world of nature where in theory we have the capacity to know things conclusively, we often find ourselves in situations of tentativeness and even of outright error. That is why we are always in the process of discoveries and we would not know when we can end it, that is to say, when we can say that we have known everything to be known in the world of nature. 

 This does not mean that our certainties can never know the truth, even the absolute, and not just relative, truths. Yes, we can, but the best that we can do is to project ourselves to infinite possibilities, because even the absolute truths are not things that are frozen. They are always dynamic. 

 Our certainties can only tackle some aspects and levels of the reality that is proper to us. We need to realize more deeply that we have to contend not only with natural and even spiritual realities but also with supernatural realities that simply are above our nature to know, unless some revelation is made which should be corresponded to with our act of belief. 

 We just have to learn to abandon ourselves to the mysterious ways of God who in his wise providence takes care of everything. We are not expected to know and understand everything. What is expected of us is to have faith in God so we can always be with him no matter how things turn. 

 With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have. 

 We also have to make sure that our inability to fully capture life’s mysteries should not dampen our eagerness to know and love Christ more. Rather it should prod us to know and love Christ better. And with that motive, let us polish and refine our certainties some more.

Obedience over sacrifice

THE two are good and important and are, in fact, necessary in our life. But if we have to choose between them, we have to choose obedience. 

 We are reminded of this truth of our Christian faith in the First Book of Samuel where the prophet Samuel told Saul the king: “Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams.” (15,22) 

 While Saul obeyed in part what was commanded of him, he gave in to some human considerations that diluted that obedience of his. In the end, that disobedience constituted some kind of rebellion against God. 

 We have to be wary of this choice between obedience and sacrifice, and should have no doubt as to what should be given priority when a choice between the two should be made. Thus, we need to understand better the true nature of obedience, appreciate its inner nuances, grow in our conviction of its necessity, fruitfulness and its intimate relation to our freedom. 

 Nowadays, this virtue is grossly misunderstood, its caricatures better known than its objective reality. It’s generally known to be a burden rather than a liberating constituent element in our life. We need to reclaim its proper place in our personal and collective lives, because without it we would actually undermine our very own humanity. 

 Yes, this virtue is indispensable in our life. We are actually created to obey, because first and last we need to obey God, and then also, we need to obey those who have some authority over us in our earthly life. 

 That’s because we can’t help but live with others, and there will always be others with some authority over us—parents, teachers, public officials, even policemen, etc.—whom we have to obey. 

 In short, we cannot outgrow the need for obedience. The moment we feel we can do without it, we start heading the wrong way in our life. A lot of evils come as a consequence. All kinds of disorder follow, from the material to the moral and spiritual aspects. But if we obey, we would also generate a lot of good. 

 We have to do everything to polish and sharpen our sense of obedience, especially as we head toward maturity since the years tend to deaden our need for it. We have to be more aware of those factors that tend to dull our duty to obey. 

 In fact, the older we get, and the more accomplished and experienced we feel we are, the sharper should be our sense of obedience and more attentive to its finer demands. 

 Otherwise, we would simply spoil whatever achievements we have gained. It’s like we are gaining ground on the outside but losing ground on the inside, an echo of “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.” A terrible collapse would just be a matter of time. 

 We need to be strongly reminded about this, since we have to contend with formidable undermining forces—culture, lifestyle, media, the scandalous examples of many in politics, business, and even in the church. We have to be ready to do continuing constructive battle of peace and love in this area. 

 The model for all this is Christ who frequently said, “My food is to do the will of my Father.” And he did so all the way to the cross. Thus, St. Paul said that Christ was obedient until death.

Giving our body the proper spirit

WE are reminded of this very important concern of ours in that First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians where he said: “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.” (6,13-17) 

 Let’s remember that man is always a unity of body and soul. He is not just pure body nor pure spiritual soul. And as our Catechism teaches us, the body, properly animated by the spiritual soul, shares in the dignity of the “image of God.” (cfr. CCC 364) 

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

 The Catechism further teaches that, “Through his very bodily condition he (man) sums up in himself the elements of the material world…He is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.” (CCC 362 ff.) 

 We need to understand that our body is organically linked to our spiritual and the supernatural character of our life. While distinct, it cannot be separated from our integral human nature and condition, from our beginning and end, and from the plan and purpose God our Father and Creator has for us. 

 Given that dignity of our human body, we have to make sure that our piety and our devotion to God and everything related to him has to involve both the body and soul. It has to involve our whole person. It just cannot be purely spiritual or purely material. It just cannot be only a matter of knowing the doctrine, quite cerebral in approach, without some external manifestations, or of practicing all sorts of devotional exercises, without knowing the doctrine of faith. 

 If piety has to be authentic and consistent in all circumstances, then it has to be lived both in our spiritual soul whose main faculties are our intellect and will, and in our material body whose link to our soul, the principle of life, are the emotions and passions, the memory and the imagination, our temperament and psychological state, etc. 

 When piety is limited to one or the other essential element of our being, to either our spiritual soul or the material body, then it cannot be consistent. It cannot hold out against that anomaly for long. It sooner or later will fall into the tricks of hypocrisy and self-deception. 

 We need to see to it that our body is properly animated by the spirit of Christ, which is a spirit of love, a spirit of self-giving, willing to make sacrifices even up to death for love of God and of everybody else. This spirit of Christ should be felt in the body. And let’s convince ourselves that it is in this way that our body acquires its best condition. 

 It’s in this way that our body too will always look for Christ and for others out of pure love. We have to be wary of letting our body be animated by other spirits—like the spirit of the flesh, the spirit of world, or even the evil spirit.

When we have to go unconventional and innovative

IN life, there are times when due to unusual circumstances or emergency situations, we may have to do some unconventional things, going beyond the usual protocols and details of refinement, to meet our urgent necessities, especially the spiritual and moral ones. 

 We are reminded of this fact of life in that gospel episode where the friends of the paralytic had to climb the roof of the house where Christ was and bore a hole there to let the paralytic in a stretcher land right before Christ. (cfr. Mk 2,1-12) 

 Many other gospel episodes tell similar occurrences. A woman with an issue of blood, for example, had to struggle to get close to Christ and to stealthily touch the fringe of Christ’s vestment just to get a cure of her ailment. (cfr. Mk 5,25-34) 

 There also was the story of Zaccheus, a rich tax collector who, being short, had to climb a tree to be able to see Christ pass by. (cfr. Lk 19,1-10) He eventually had the fortune of having Christ in his house. The occasion also highlighted that beautiful message that Christ came “to seek and save the lost.” 

 Then that story of the blind man on the roadside (cfr. Lk 18,35-43) also teaches us that we should not just mind what some protocols may tell us. When we are in great need, especially of God and of some spiritual help, we should just do whatever we can without compromising what is truly moral. 

 Yes, in this life we may have to go unconventional at times. Also, we also need to be constantly innovative, in fact. And that’s simply because we have the notorious tendency to fall into routine, complacency and lukewarmness, which is the silent, steady and treacherous process of dying of the spirit, our true life principle. 

 If the spirit dies, we would be at best a living dead, a most radical contradiction we can have. And our spirit dies when it separates itself from its origin who is God. This is a truth that we need to be reminded of very often, since we always tend to take it for granted. Put bluntly, we cannot live as we ought without God. 

 That is why Christ gave us this indication: “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Mt 13,52) 

 We need to know how to blend the traditional and the innovative, the old and the new, the absolute and the relative, the more or less stable culture and the appropriate passing fads. 

 In a higher level, we need to know how to put into an organic whole the sacred and the mundane, the faith and the sciences, arts and the technologies, the eternal and the temporal aspects of our life, etc. 

 Given the naked reality on the ground, we need to examine and question the status quo of our life many times, since we tend to do well at the beginning of any endeavor, then start to deteriorate as we go along, until we end up badly. 

 This has always been our lot and we should not be surprised by it anymore. And much less should we feel helpless about it, since there are many things we can do to renew ourselves continually, neutralizing the bad effects of our complacency, if not taking advantage of it to produce a greater virtue.

Doing a lot of good while passing unnoticed

WE are somehow reminded of this kind of behavior in that gospel episode where Christ told the leper whom he just cured to “tell no one anything,” but to rather show himself to the priest and to offer what Moses prescribed for his cleansing. (cfr. Mk 1,40-45) We know how that episode ended. The cleansed leper could not help but publicize what happened to him such that Christ could not anymore enter a town openly. 

 It’s worthwhile to take serious note of this indication of Christ to the leper especially nowadays when we, as Christians trying our best to do a lot of good, have to contend with a certain dilemma of spreading the good news, doing a lot of apostolate, reaching out to all kinds of people, making use of powerful means of communication, and yet seeing to it that we avoid falling into the danger of vanity, pride and the like. 

 Yes, these days, we are encouraged to be good and effective influencers in the social media, and yet we need to realize that it should be Christ who should shine out, not us. If after some interventions in the social media and other public fora, it would be us who the people remember rather than Christ, we would be doing things wrongly. 

 Sad to say, this is what is widely happening these days. Many social media influencers, including priests, seem to make themselves more popular than Christ. And they employ methods that pander more on people’s weaknesses and on what the people like to hear rather than on what the people need to know and learn according to the teaching and example of Christ. 

 Obviously, these influencers should know how to connect with the people effectively. And for this reason, they have to adapt themselves to the way people think and are. But this should not compromise the real purpose of their being influencers. This can be a very tricky and challenging task, but if approached with good intentions, can attract a lot of grace from God. 

 There is need for one to make regular review and examination of conscience to see how things are going since this business of doing a lot of good while passing unnoticed so that Christ alone would shine involves many exercises in trial and error. Definitely, there will be things that need to be corrected, modified, changed, etc. along the way. 

 All this would surely require of anyone to have purity of intention and to rectify it every time it gets diluted with something that smacks of self-indulgence, instead of doing things for the glory of God and the good of everybody. 

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

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

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

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

Recognizing God’s call

THE story of the vocation of the prophet Samuel is very interesting in the sense that he at first did not realize God was calling him. God had to call him three times, before he realized it was not his earthly master, Eli, who called him, but God himself. Of course, it was Eli who finally told him that it was God, not Eli, who called him. (cfr. 1 Samuel 3,1-10.19-20) 

 Indeed, everyone has a vocation and it can come to us in some mysterious ways. God calls all of us to be with him. He invites us to share his life and his work. We are all co-operators of his abiding providence. That’s why we are told that we have to “listen to him.” He always intervenes in our life. We just have to learn how to hear him and work with him. 

 This is what vocation is all about—living and working with God. Everyone’s vocation has been forged from all eternity, and we too have been wired for that. That’s why we have been created with intelligence and will. We can and should enter into a living relation with God. 

 Thus, it behooves all of us to develop a sense of vocation in our life. We need to exert the effort to know God and his will more and more by praying, meditating on the gospel and his doctrine, now taught by the Church, fulfilling the usual duties we have which are part of God’s will, etc. 

 But he can give some special vocation to some people precisely for some special purpose that would be good not only for the persons concerned but also and mainly for the whole Church. 

 Some are called to be apostles, teachers, priests, religious persons, or just committed laymen who seriously look for personal sanctity and work actively in the apostolate right in the middle of the world. We just have to accept what is given to us, and start appreciating the eternal and supernatural significance of the vocation. 

 And he can do this in some dramatic way, often involving drastic changes in the recipients. God can enter into our lives and make his will more felt by us in some special way. Though we cannot help it, we should try our best not to be surprised by these possibilities. 

 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 St. 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 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, nay, the truth that all of us have a vocation. 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.

Christian life is both hard and easy

WE need to understand that there are times that we need to persist in bothering God for some extraordinary interventions in our lives. To be sure, God knows all our needs, even before we get to realize them or to express them. But there are times when God wants us to strengthen our faith by going to the extent of nagging him with our petitions if only to have his power and compassion shown on us. 

 This was shown, for example, in that story of Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, who went to the temple to importune the Lord to give her a male child. (cfr. 1 Samuel 1,9-20) This was also shown in that parable of the persistent widow who did not tire to ask the judge to give her justice even if at the beginning she was rejected. (cfr. Lk 18,1-8) 

 When these times come, we should not worry much. Rather, we should welcome them since we are actually given a chance to strengthen our faith, the first step that would lead us to be united with God and to share in his life, nature and power. 

 We have to understand that Christian life, while it can be hard and very challenging, since it demands from us everything, is also very easy, because God in Christ has already given us everything that we need to achieve our true and ultimate purpose in life. 

 Obviously, we would not be exempted from suffering as we have to face all sorts of difficulties, challenges and trials in this life. But if our faith is strong and abiding, we know that all these hardships will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) Christ has converted all the possible negative things in our earthly life as an occasion and means for our salvation which is what truly matters in our life. 

 We should just develop a healthy sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have faith that always engenders hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 Besides, life involves a till-death struggle against all sorts of enemies, starting with our own treacherous self, the ever-seductive world, and worst of all, the spiritual enemies who certainly are more powerful than us. 

 Finally, life involves pursuing a goal that is much greater, yes, infinitely greater than ourselves. We should not be a bad sport who gives up easily without even trying, or who surrenders in the middle of an exciting and suspenseful game. 

 We therefore have to develop a strong spiritual sportsmanship in the tenor expressed in some words of St. Paul: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” (1 Cor 9,24) 

 Aside from a strong sense of self-discipline and submitting ourselves in a continuing training program, an indispensable ingredient of this healthy sporting spirit is the sense of acceptance and abandonment that we need to deliberately cultivate. This does not come automatically, as if it’s part of our genes. We have to develop them. 

 As we can see, if we follow by our Christian faith, our life, while having all sorts of challenges and difficulties, can actually be easy. Christ himself said as much. “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11,30)

The Baptism of the Lord

IT’S one of the intriguing episodes in the gospel. Why did Christ ask to be baptized by John the Baptist? In fact, John was hesitant to do so. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” he said. (Mt 3,13) But Christ insisted. “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness,” Christ told John. And so, Christ was baptized. 

 This “to fulfill all righteousness” must mean that Christ wanted to establish the sacrament of baptism through which all of us can become members of his mystical body, the Church, and sharers of the merits Christ earned for us through his redemptive mission. With this sacrament we are given the chance to earn the “all righteousness” that is meant for us. 

 This episode of Christ’s baptism also highlights the interesting fact that Christ was clearly confirmed as the Son of the Father. That’s when suddenly a voice was heard while Christ was still immersed in water, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

 We should therefore have no doubt as to the importance and indispensability of the sacrament of baptism and as to the identity of Christ in whom we should give total belief and love. 

 Our belief in Jesus as the Christ, as the First Letter of St. John says, proves that one is born of God. This is how one becomes a child of God. More than that—by believing in Jesus as the Christ, one shows his love for God by keeping God’s commandments. (cfr. 5,1-3) 

 Again, the question may be asked: why do we still need to be baptized if in the first place, man has already been created in God’s image and likeness? The answer, of course, is that the original image and likeness man had at the beginning was deformed because of the sin of our first parents that led all of us to be born with original sin. We need to recover our dignity as children of God. 

 This was done when God became man in Christ who offers us “the way, the truth and the life” that is proper to us. We need to be conformed to this God-made-man. And this conformity of ours to Christ starts to take place in our baptism. 

 This time, our continuing creation and testing would need that we be conformed to sacrament of baptism which was instituted by Christ himself through his own baptism in the River Jordan. 

 With baptism, we have Christ as the pattern of our salvation, embedded, so to speak, in our life. That is why we need to be baptized. It is to recover our original dignity as true children of God, his image and likeness, meant to participate in the very life and nature of God. 

 With Christ, we can receive the supernatural grace that would enable us to attain our ideal state. It would not be enough for us to know God with our intelligence and to love him with our will, without God’s grace through Christ. 

 We need to clarify and emphasize the importance and necessity of baptism since there is now a trend to downplay this sacrament in our life. But even before that problem came to be, the usual issue is that many people do not realize the implications of the sacrament—that we need to duly correspond to the abiding redemptive action of Christ all throughout our life. 

 We have to be aware that once baptized we commit ourselves to vitally identify ourselves with Christ, which is going to be a lifelong process!

Like the 3 magi

ON this Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, celebrated this year on January 7, we are reminded of the constant presence and manifestation of our Lord in everything in our life and in the world in general. We should be quick to capture this reality that obviously will require of us a lot of faith, and more than faith, a lot of love for God, which will always be translated in our love for the others. 

 In this regard, we should try to imitate the example of the 3 magi who, in spite of the effort and difficulty involved in looking for the “new-born king of the Jews,” did everything to carry out that search. They were given, of course, a guiding star which disappeared at a certain point when some danger was involved. But they still proceeded until they finally saw the child. (cfr. Mt 2,1-12) 

 The significance of the Epiphany of the Lord lies in the fact that we should develop an innate desire to look for Christ in everything in our life. It should be a desire fueled by faith, hope and love and supported by an effective plan of practices that will put the intentions to reality, the desires to actuality. 

 We need to examine what our strongest desire is. Is it for God or is it simply the things of this world? Unless we have this fundamental and abiding desire for God, all our desiring would be vain and futile. We need to realize this truth of our faith, and do our best to cultivate such desire in our life. 

 It may not be easy, given our human condition, limited as it is by our nature and handicapped further by the effects of sin, ours and those of others. But once we know this truth of our faith, we can always do something about this challenge. 

 To be sure, God, on his part, has already given us everything. The ball is actually in our court. We just have to pick up the means and start the ball rolling. To begin, we can make many acts of faith, hope and charity. 

 St. Augustine expressed this truth of faith very clearly: “The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire.” This assertion is certainly based on what God himself said: “Seek my face” (Ps 27,8), and on what Christ said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt 6,33) 

 St. Augustine 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. 

 His argument for this is beautiful. “Suppose you are going to fill some container and you know you will be given a large amount. Then you set about stretching your container.” It is to make room for the tremendous amount we will receive—God himself. 

 The idea of stretching or enlarging the container to receive a tremendous amount that we expect can be translated into not only keeping but also increasing our desire of God whom we expect to come to us in overwhelming abundance. In short, we have to make that desire fervent! We need to constantly feed it to keep it burning.

What true love involves

IT’S in the First Letter of St. John where we are given some ideas about what true love involves. (cfr. 1 Jn 3,11-21) This love, if genuine, will always be a participation of the love God has for us. And how is this love expressed? 

 “We know the love of God in this way,” St. John said. “Because he laid down his life for us, so we must lay down our lives for our brothers.” And then proceeded describing it by saying: “Whoever possesses the goods of this world, and sees his brother to be in need, and yet closes his heart to him, in what way does the love of God abide in him? Let us not love in words only, but in works and in truth.” 

 St. John concluded this description of true love by saying that by so loving, we would be in the truth and we can confidently commend our hearts to God. “If our heart does not reproach us, we can have confidence toward God,” he said. 

 We should love the way God through Christ loves us. This is the only way we can say are truly loving. We should be ready to go through the whole scope of love as shown to us by Christ. Of course, it is a love that can only be achieved when we truly identify ourselves with Christ. 

 That means we should always be focused on doing God’s will in everything that we think, desire, say and do, and also in everything that takes place in our life. This is how Christ showed his love for the Father and for us. 

 In this regard, we should try to forget ourselves and think always of doing the will of God, following the example of Christ, and of thinking always of the others—thinking of what we can do for them. Love should not just be in intentions, but should be translated into action. 

 In this, we should overcome whatever fear and doubt we may have regarding the wisdom of this description of true love. We should be ready to make sacrifices and even to complicate our life. We have been reassured that whatever may appear as a loss because of our self-giving will actually gain us a lot of what is proper for us as children of God, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 True love involves giving ourselves totally and selflessly without expecting any return. This is how we should give if we want to follow the example of Christ. We have to give to others not only things but also our own selves without expecting any recognition nor any reward. 

 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: “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.