Human and demonic malice can only go so far

THIS is what we can gather from the story of the beautiful Susannah who was the object of lust by two elderly men and who was falsely accused of wrongdoing because she refused to accede to their evil request. (cfr. Daniel 13,41c-62) 

 These two elders occupied high positions in the community, being appointed judges. This fact somehow reminds us that our capacity to do evil does not depend on how young or how old we are. 

 We are capable of doing evil at any age—with the exception perhaps of the innocent children and those with certain disabilities. And the good things—wealth, talents, prestige, power, etc.—that we enjoy can be used to pursue an evil plan. In fact, the better endowed we are, the greater and graver malice we can commit. 

 That is why we should be most careful with whatever human and God-given gifts we may have. They should only be used and enjoyed with God always and with the good of others in mind. Using and enjoying them simply for ourselves can only mean disaster for us, sooner or later, one way or another. 

 The story of Susannah also reminds us that it always pays to stick to what is truly good for us, even if by so doing may involve great sacrifice. Of course, what is truly good for us is to obey the commandments of God and to carry out God’s will and ways. We should be willing to prefer suffering, and even death, if it has to come to that point, rather than to accede to do evil. 

 We should be wary of our tendency to react to the evil and malice inflicted on us in a purely human way. Without referring things to God, we can only become bitter and prone to fall into anger and hatred and to devise ways of how to get even with the evil doers. 

 We should not be afraid to be faithful to God at all costs. We know that even if we may appear to be a victim of the most heinous injustice in this life, God, in his own mysterious ways, can never be outsmarted by whatever complicated malicious plots and schemes we may encounter in life. God’s providence is all powerful, all wise and all effective. He can even draw good from evil. 

 And so, we should not allow ourselves to sink into unnecessary worries and anxiety when we appear to be victimized by the malice of men and the devil. They cannot go far really. Sooner or later, the truth will always come out, and justice will always be served, if not in this life, then surely in the next. 

 We should never sacrifice charity which should cover even those who play the role of villains in our life. Remember that Christ told us clearly that we have to love even our enemies. (cfr. Mt 5,44) Obviously, we can only do that if we truly identify ourselves with Christ. 

 In the end, what truly matters is that we identify ourselves with Christ. With him, nothing can bother us. As St. Paul said in his Letter to the Romans, all things, including the negative elements in our life, will work out for the good. (cfr. 8,28) 

 We should see to it that we are spiritually and morally healthy and strong as we tackle all the possible cases of human and demonic malice that we may encounter in our life.   

The graver the sin, the greater should be the compassion and mercy

THIS somehow is the lesson we can draw from that gospel episode about the woman caught in adultery and dragged to Christ to see if she should be stoned to death according to some Mosaic law. (cfr. Jn 8,1-11) 

 As the story unfolds, Christ simply kept quiet, knowing that those who dragged the woman to him was simply trying to test him. After a while, he stood up and told them that he who had no sin could cast the first stone. 

 We know what happened after that. No one dared to do so. Instead, the accusers started to leave one by one, until it was only the woman left with Christ. That was when Christ asked the woman if anyone stoned her. When she answered, “No one,” Christ simply dismissed her with the advice to sin no more. 

 This story is full of meaning that reflects how deep and so entrenched and ingrained in our human condition our weaknesses are. Despite our best efforts, we know that sooner or later we would succumb to them. This reminds us of what St. Paul once lamented about himself: 

 “In my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7,22-25) 

 In our relation with others, let’s see to it that we channel the same attitude of compassion and mercy Christ had and continues to have towards all of us, sinners. We know that when a baby makes a mess, we don’t mind it so much. We are even eager to clean it up. That’s because we love the baby, and we understand that the baby cannot help but make some mess. 

 When we are dealing with the defects, mistakes and sins of older persons, we should even show greater compassion and mercy, because even if they are supposed to know better, we also know that their weaknesses can overpower them. 

 Nowadays, with the rise of cases of addiction, obsession and mental and psychological illnesses, we should really be ready to show more compassion and to offer mercy to those involved. 

 Even more, with those who appear normal in the different aspects of their health and yet can still fall into some mess, and even a graver mess, we should show greater compassion and mercy, since they would need it more than what babies and those older persons with some health issues would need. 

 Yes, we may apply a little of the Mosaic law, clarifying the issues involved, rendering justice and some punitive action, but in the end, we should apply greater compassion and mercy to those involved. This was the way Christ dealt with sinners. This is also how we should deal with anyone who causes some messes in our life. 

 We need to be always reminded that we are truly helpless without God. There is no other way but for us to fall into some sin. We just have to understand each other, and strengthen our conviction of what St. Paul once articulated: “Where sin abounded, grace much more abound.” (Rom 5,20) 

 Of course, we should try our best to avoid sin and making a mess. But we know that we can only go so far. Let’s just be consoled by what a psalm once expressed: “God’s anger is for a moment, but his mercy is forever.” (30,5) And let’s also live this wonderful truth of our faith ourselves.

Good resolutions, affection and inspiration

THESE should be the effects if we truly have a good prayer. We would be filled with inspiration and affection and moved to make resolutions to follow and fulfill what God wants of us. We would have a purpose-driven life, not one marked by boredom, etc. To be sure, God is always intervening in our lives, prompting us to do his will and his ways. 

 Like the saints, martyrs and other holy people through the ages, we can manage to face and tackle whatever challenges and trials there would be in our life, and bear whatever difficulty and suffering we can encounter. 

 In fact, we would lose the fear of suffering and would even be welcoming to them, just as Christ himself looked forward and embraced the cross to bring about the salvation of mankind. To top it all, we can manage to do great and even impossible things. Let’s always remember that God always takes the initiative to share what he has with us. He empowers us to be like him. That’s his will for us! 

 We really should make our prayer real prayer, a living connection with God which is actually very possible because not only is God everywhere. He is also full of love, concern and solicitude for us and for our needs. He wants to be with us always, and to direct our life towards him. It would really be just up to us to correspond to his ever-present love for us. 

 We should just really learn the ropes of how to truly pray. This requires us, of course, to activate the God-given gift of faith, hope and charity, and to submit ourselves to a certain plan and discipline, so we can use all our human faculties to this most important duty of ours to pray. 

 We know that we are easily trapped in our earthly condition, indifferent to the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life. We have to learn how to transcend from our natural and earthly conditions, without leaving them behind, in order to enter into the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life, since we are meant to share in the very supernatural life and divine nature of God. 

 Especially these days when our external and corporeal senses get so easily overstimulated that we become numb to the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life, we have to practice what Christ himself once said—that in order to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 We have need to disengage ourselves from time to time from our earthly concerns, turning off our corporeal senses, so to speak, if only to engage ourselves in a spiritual conversation with God and enter into the supernatural world which God shares with us. 

 This is what is meant to have a contemplative life which is actually meant for all of us, especially those of us in the middle of the world. This contemplative life is not meant only for some people—the nuns, priests and other consecrated persons. It’s meant for all of us. 

 This contemplative life can be pursued and achieved if we manage to do a daily good prayer that should fill us with good resolutions, affection and inspiration. With it, we can manage little by little to do the things of God and not just our own things, which is how our life should be.

“Lord, show us the way…”

THIS should be the request that we should constantly make as we pursue the real goal of our life, which is our own sanctification and our duty to do apostolate. God in Christ has offered us “the way, the truth and the life” so we can manage to be on the right path despite the heavy drama that we can encounter in our earthly life. 

 We should always go to God in all our efforts to grow into the fulfillment and perfection of our humanity. We should never rely on our own human powers alone, though we have to also make full use of them, but always under the animation of God’s grace. 

 That gospel episode where Christ practically begged the leading Jews of his time to believe him rather than their own ideas (cfr. Jn 5,31-47) clearly tells us we should refer everything in our life to Christ. 

 Even the basic things of our life—like how to study and work well, how to live the virtues of humility, temperance, order, etc.—just should not be a matter of personal concern alone. God in Christ through the Holy Spirit should be at the beginning, end and the middle of them all. 

 This is how we can make all our temporal and earthly affairs acquire the eternal and redemptive value that we should all aspire. Thus, we have to learn the habit of asking Christ, “Lord, show us the way…” In fact, we should try to make that habit like instinct because such attitude is truly proper to us. 

 When we just rely on our own powers, there is no way but for us to simply end in some disaster sooner or later. When we get blinded by our own pride, we would even willingly head to such disaster not knowing that such is the case. 

 We cannot deny that given the basic truth of our faith that we are God’s image and likeness, sharers of his supernatural life and divine nature, we are faced with an impossible challenge. It would only be with him that we can manage to make the impossible possible and practicable. 

 We would not know how to pray if we would just rely on our human talents alone. Much less would we be able to resist the many strong temptations around, especially in the area of purity, if we are not with God. 

 Obviously, we have to fight against the usual natural, not to mention the infranatural, awkwardness involved in this effort to refer everything to God. We really need to activate our faith, hope and charity that first of all are gifts given to us by God. That is how we can counter that awkwardness. 

 Let’s hope that we can make it as some kind of system in our life to instinctively refer everything to God, asking him to concretely show us the way of how to deal with a particular issue in our life. We have to acknowledge that we are actually helpless when we are just by ourselves. 

 For this, we really should rev up our intellect and will, the primary faculties we have, so that they can actively engage us with God as we go through the different events and situations in life. They are the faculties that would spark and keep our faith, hope and charity alive and kicking. They are the ones that are supposed to direct the other faculties and powers we have so they can act at God’s promptings.

Pivoting from the customary to the heroic

THIS is how our spiritual life should be, how our relation with God and with everybody else should be. It will always involve the dynamic of pivoting from where we are at the moment to another and higher level of love and self-giving. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to be contented with what we may already have achieved in terms of loving. We should see to it that we continue to break new frontiers in loving. Despite our limitations, we know that with God, nothing is impossible. Things would just depend on us, on how we are receptive and corresponsive to God who loves us first and teaches us and enables us to love the way he loves. 

 Let’s not be deceived by the rationalization that we have already given much. St. Augustine somehow warned us of that danger when he said to the effect the in our spiritual life, if we do not move forward, we actually move backward. There’s no such thing as a stable point in loving. 

 Heroism is the name of the game of our life. We have to go all the way until we give up our life, channeling the same love that Christ showed us. He gave up his life out of love for us and in fidelity to God the Father’s will. 

 For this, we really need to continually ask God for grace, light and strength, so we may know what we ought to do. We have to make plans and strategies to carry out this ideal of love meant for us. 

 We have to remember that God already has given us everything so we can love the way he loves us. As Christ said: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” (Lk 12,48) We have been blessed with talents, wealth, knowledge, or time and are expected to use these gifts to help others and to give glory to God. 

 Definitely, loving will always involve and, in fact, require sacrifice. Where there is no sacrifice, there cannot be love. Love grows only to the extent that we are willing to make sacrifices. Without sacrifice, we sooner or later will be swallowed up by our own egoism, our own selfishness. 

 And this selfishness can take the form of laziness, attachment to certain things to the point of self-absorption, etc. We have to be ready to do battle against these anomalous tendencies of ours. 

 We should always remember that the very essence of love is self-giving. In love, the lover needs to lose himself in his beloved. He has to be identified with his beloved. And this will always involve self-denial. 

 The self-giving and losing that love requires would actually enrich the person in his dignity. This way of loving conforms to what Christ himself said: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 16,25) 

 That’s why Christ himself said that if anyone wants to follow him, that person has to deny himself and, in fact, should carry the cross also. Otherwise, he cannot love. And true love is personified in Christ himself. 

 In other words, we can only love truly when we identify ourselves with Christ who precisely commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. We have to understand that only in Christ would we manage to keep our love alive and vibrant, always fresh, new and creative. It’s a love that is open to anything, and willing to go through all the challenges, trials, difficulties, etc. 

 In short, only with Christ can we manage to pivot from the customary to the heroic, from the traditional to the innovative, etc.!

Unifying our external senses and our spiritual powers

WE should do our best to pursue this ideal. We know that due to our wounded condition here on earth, there is division and conflict between our corporeal and spiritual dimensions of our life. St. Paul articulated this condition well when he said: “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Rom 7,19) 

 But there is always hope as long as we also train ourselves precisely to unify our external senses and corporeal faculties, and our spiritual powers. Unifying our external senses and our spiritual powers brings about the basic unity of life we are meant to have. It’s a way to achieve that ideal condition of our life where we become recollected and contemplative even in the midst of our earthly affairs. 

 And by unity of life, we mean the ideal of first of all letting our spiritual powers be animated by the spirit of God, and then letting our spiritual powers animate our external senses. The perfection of this unity of life is when we manage to unite ourselves in the life and nature of God as we are meant to be, since we are God’s image and likeness. 

 Of course, our external senses—sight, hearing, feeling, etc.—feed our spiritual powers of our intelligence and will with raw data, but these spiritual powers of ours, in a manner of speaking, should refine and purify the data received, and animate them with the spirit of God, that is, with our faith, hope and charity. 

 We should avoid reversing the roles between our corporeal and spiritual faculties, making our external senses rule and dominate our spiritual powers. Nowadays, this anomaly is taking place and is quite common even. Our external senses are now overstimulated to such an extent that they deaden or numb our spiritual faculties. 

 As consequences, we are seeing a rise in mental illness and a greater vulnerability to demonic possessions and other irregular situations. Many people, especially the young ones, are falling into all kinds of obsessions and addictions. 

 The main problem, of course, is that the senses are not united or inspired by faith. They are just left on their own, ruled mainly by instincts and other biological factors. Or at best they may be guided only by an intelligence that is not yet enlightened by faith. 

 And things can become so bad that these senses can get quite hostile to anything related to faith that definitely involves spiritual and supernatural realities. We need to realize that the first, last and constant object that our senses should perceive is God since he is the origin of everything, the maintainer of the existence of all things. He is everywhere. .

As St. Augustine once said: “To find where God is may be difficult, but to find where he is not, that is even more difficult.” And to be sure, God’s presence in everything is not something cold and indifferent. It is full of love and solicitude. He is always and actively intervening in our lives. 

 We need to train our senses to be guided by our Christian faith, hope and charity, so we can capture this very consoling reality. They should not just be left on their own, guided and ruled only by factors other than our faith, hope and charity. That state of affairs would lead us nowhere other than trouble. 

 Thus, if we are serious with guiding our senses and emotions with faith, we have to realize that our faith should not just be an intellectual affair, lived and pursued only in the spiritual world of good intentions and right doctrine. It has to involve the basic elements of our humanity, which are our senses, our feelings, our emotions and passions.