The cross as the summit of our life

WE have this happy assurance from our Christian faith—"God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3,16) We should just know what this divine assurance implies. 

 Yes, we are assured of eternal life with God if we follow Christ who clearly told us that if we want to be with him, we should deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) In short, the cross should be the summit of our life, just as the cross was the culmination of Christ’s mission of the redemption of mankind. 

 Not only that, we have to understand that we should have the cross not only at the end of our life, but rather in our daily life. It should be the summit of all our earthly activities. That would assure us that we would be with Christ and would be working also for the salvation of mankind, ours and that of everybody else. 

 We need to process this truth of our faith about the cross so we can live it truly. It should not just be a desire or an intention. More than that, the cross, in whatever form it comes, should cause joy in us rather than just a distorted face of pain. 

 We, therefore, have to learn to lose any fear of the cross. That instinct of ours to be afraid and to flee from the cross has to be reversed, and made into an instinct of love for the cross. 

 This may take time and effort, this may require a lot of thinking and discipline, this may involve some drastic and even painful adjustments in our understanding of things, but it is all worthwhile to do so. 

 When we lose the fear of the cross and develop the love for it instead, we would have the proper light to guide us in our life here on earth. Not only that, we can have the invincible peace and joy that is proper to us as persons and as children of God. 

 Thus, it is important that we have a proper understanding about the phenomenon of evil and suffering in this world. And that proper understanding comes from our Christian faith.  

In the Catechism, we are told that God permits evil to happen because he respects the freedom of men and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it. (cfr. CCC 311) The Catechism further tells us regarding this point that: 

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

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

 Again, it’s good to be theological in our understanding of the cross because the mere human attitude toward the cross can never fathom the crucial and indispensable significance the cross of Christ possesses. 

 Christ’s cross, which Christ himself told us to carry (cfr. Mt 16,24), converts that tree of death that led to the downfall of our pristine humanity in Adam and Eve into a tree of eternal life that brings us back again to God, our Father and Creator.

We need to be born again daily

ALTHOUGH we already are born again in Christ especially through the sacrament of baptism—and with that reality continually nourished by the other sacraments and other instrumentalities that Christ through the Church has made available to us—we should see to it that we know how to live up to that reality in our daily life. 

 We know that we tend to be inconsistent in our ways. We say one thing and yet do another. We profess, even very fervently, our Christian faith, and yet our actions often belie what we profess. 

 We have need to truly work out how our being born again in Christ is really lived. For this, I imagine that we should make as our own these words of St. Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2,20) 

 It would indeed be helpful if everyday we set some concrete goals of how we can become more and more like Christ. This would help us to have a good sense of purpose in our daily life, and to be protected from the danger of the distractions we can meet along the way. This would also help us to be more resistant to the urges of our weaknesses and the many temptations around. 

 For example, we can have some ideas of these goals if we can ask ourselves: Are my thoughts and intentions those of Christ? Do I have a sense of mission and is that mission a sharing in the mission of Christ? Am I growing in the virtues like kindness, humility, fortitude, love for the cross and suffering in general, etc.? We should try to make these goals as concrete and as specific as possible. 

 And once these goals are clearly set, let us get down to make some practicable plans and strategies to achieve them. For this, we need to give due consideration to the different current conditions and circumstances of our life—personal, family, professional, social, etc. 

 It would be good if we can identify both the favorable and unfavorable elements involved in the pursuit of our goals, so we would know how to prepare ourselves accordingly for this daily endeavor. As much as possible, we should try to achieve that ideal condition when the pursuit of the goals is done in a smooth, active and lively way. 

 Obviously, we have to make some allowance for some unexpected things that can appear along the way. We should learn also to be flexible and adaptable to these surprises that may involve a radical revision of our plans. 

 And then, when these plans and strategies are made, let’s put all our efforts to put them into practice. Let’s remember that we should first of all ask for God’s grace and that our intentions are always pure and all for the glory of God. There should be zeal and ardor in carrying out these plans. 

 But we should also see to it that for all the zeal and ardor that we should try to attain, we should remember to be humble, meek, tender and even sweet. Far be it from us that we become bitter and rigid in our zeal, highly sensitive and irascible whenever we meet some negative things along the way.

“More, more, more”

MANY years ago, when I was still studying for my priesthood in Rome, I attended a retreat where I heard a recording of a homily given by Opus Dei Founder, St. Josemaria Escriva. What stunned me in that recorded homily was his repeated shouts of “mas, mas, mas” (more, more, more). He wanted to tell us that we should always give more, do more and be more or better, never saying enough in one’s pursuit for holiness. 

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

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

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

 And even if such total self-giving is not reciprocated, it would still go on loving. It is purely gratuitous. Even more, even if it is not only unreciprocated but is also violently resisted and rejected, it would still go on loving. 

 Obviously, if we are to rely only on our own powers, there is no way we can have this kind of self-giving. This can only take place if we are truly identified with Christ, if we have his grace and are corresponding to it with all that we have got. 

 It’s indeed laudable that in whatever we do, we try to give it our best shot. But we should just remember that our best will never be enough insofar as pleasing God and everybody else is concerned. Our best can always be made better. 

 This should not surprise us, much less, cause us to worry. But we should acknowledge it so that we avoid getting self-satisfied with what we have done and then fall into self-complacency. That’s when we stop growing and improving as a human person and as a child of God. 

 We have to remember that we are meant for the infinite, for the spiritual and the supernatural. That’s a goal that we can never fully reach in our life here on earth. But we are meant to keep on trying. 

 What can keep us going in this regard is certainly not our own effort alone, much less our desire and ambition for fame, power or wealth. It’s not pride or some form of obsessions. These have a short prescription period. A ceiling is always set above them. In time, we will realize that everything we have done was just “vanity of vanities.” 

 It is God’s grace that does the trick. It’s when we correspond sincerely to God’s love for us that we get a self-perpetuating energy to do our best in any given moment. It’s when we can manage to do the impossible. 

 It’s a correspondence that definitely requires a lot of humility because we all have the inclination to be proud of our accomplishments that would kill any desire to do and be better. It’s also a correspondence that is always respectful of our human condition, given our strengths and weaknesses, our assets and limitations.

Mercy, God’s ultimate love for us

CHRIST was not contented only with offering forgiveness to those who crucified him while still hanging on the cross and just moments before his death. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,” he said. (Lk 23,34) He wanted that mercy to offered all throughout time by giving his apostles the power to forgive. 

 “Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.” (Jn 20,22-23) This is how great God’s love is for us. Let’s hope that we too can channel that same love, at least to some degree, among ourselves. 

 We need to know what is involved in imparting this divine mercy. Yes, for this purpose we have to study well the doctrine of our faith and morals, now authoritatively taught by the Church magisterium. We need to be generous with our time and effort so that that divine mercy can be readily given to everyone. 

 This way we can hope to be father, a friend, a judge and a doctor to the others insofar as their spiritual and moral lives are concerned. 

 More than that, we really should pray so that we can see more directly and reflect in our attitudes, our thoughts, words and deeds the very passion, death and resurrection of Christ which in the end is the very substance of divine mercy. 

 The ideal situation is that we be filled with holy desires to ask for forgiveness, to atone and make reparation for our sins and the sins of others. It’s a mindset that we have to deliberately cultivate, always getting inspiration from the example of Christ himself. 

 I wonder if our idea of what Christian life ought to be includes this very important factor. Until we have these desires to dispense divine mercy to others can we sincerely say that we are truly Christian, another Christ if not Christ himself, as we ought to be. 

 In our daily examination of conscience, let us try to see if we have been doing something concrete in this regard. Are we willing to bear the sins of others, in an effort to reflect Christ’s attitude toward all of us who are all sinners? 

 It is indeed a tall order to be able to disburse this divine mercy to everyone. Even more, it is an impossible task, for how can a human instrument, no matter how gifted he is intellectually, morally and spiritually, ever think that he can give God’s mercy, so full of mysteries that simply go beyond even the most brilliant and smart methods we can ever develop? 

 I shudder at the thought that a human instrument has been given the responsibility to dispense the very mercy of God to penitent sinners. Thus, prayers have been formulated to calm down the apprehensions of priests before hearing confessions, and to make them aware of what they need to be, to have, and to do. 

 To dispense mercy is simply to distribute it from a sure source that can never be depleted, since God is rich in mercy. He is never sparing in giving it. In fact, this divine mercy is given to us in abundance. 

 And as long as the human instruments and those who would like to avail of it have at least the minimum proper intentions and dispositions, and the constitutive acts of the sacrament of divine mercy are done, that is, there is contrition, confession and penance, then that divine mercy is disbursed. 

 The effectiveness of the sacrament of divine mercy depends more on the will and power of God as carried out by Christ than on the qualities of the ministers and the penitents.

From nothing to abundance

THE secret is simply to follow what Christ tells us. He is always around and is eager to help us especially in our needs and helplessness. This we can gather from that gospel episode about the third appearance of the resurrected Christ to his disciples. (cfr. Jn 21,1-14) 

 As the gospel narrated, Peter and some companions went out fishing but caught nothing. Then from the shore, they heard someone telling them if they had caught some fish. When they responded, no, this person told them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat. And behold, they caught a huge number of fish. That’s when one of them recognized that it was Christ who told them where to cast their nets. 

 It’s clear that Christ always takes care of his disciples. If we, as disciples of Christ also, would find ourselves in some difficult or helpless situation, let’s make an effort, through our prayers, what Christ would be telling us, because for sure, he will give us a way out of our predicaments. 

 It may involve sacrifices. But to be sure, if our faith in Christ is strong and abiding, we would know that help, perhaps in some mysterious ways, would always be granted us. It would be a help that would go beyond our wildest expectations, since it can tackle even the worst of our predicaments which is death. 

 We have to learn to listen to the voice of Christ through the Holy Spirit. He is actually intervening in our life all the time, prompting us about what to think, desire, speak and do. Failing to listen to Christ’s voice in an abiding way undermines our being disciples of his.   

Christ himself said it very clearly. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (Jn 14,26) 

 We have to understand that the Holy Spirit perpetuates the presence and redemptive action of Christ all throughout time, with all the drama, vagaries, ups and downs that we men make in our earthly sojourn. 

 It has been prophesied that God will pour out his Spirit upon all men. The Holy Spirit is intended for all of us. We are all meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But this divine will obviously has to contend with the way we receive and do things, and that is, that we take to this reality in stages involving a whole range of human means of teaching, evangelizing, etc. 

 We need the Holy Spirit because only in him can we truly recognize Christ. Only in him will we be able to have Christ in our life, to remember all his words and even to develop them to adapt them to our current needs and situations. 

 Only in him can we see things properly. Especially these days when truth, justice and charity have become very slippery, and people are left confounded and vulnerable to fall into scepticism and cynicism, we need to be in the Holy Spirit to be able to sort things out properly and avoid the mess. 

 I am amused to note that in today’s political debates, a growing awareness is felt by more and more people that myths and lies, with shreds of truths and facts cleverly inserted, are exchanged. They talk about a surge of fake news. It’s not anymore about what the truth is. It’s more about who is followed more. 

 This is what happens when we are not in the Holy Spirit and we rely only on our human resources that sooner or later will be twisted and exploited to suit personal or partisan interests, and not anymore the common good.

Be welcoming to the cross

THAT’S how our attitude should be toward the cross, in whatever form it may come to us. It may be in matters of health, finances, family and business concerns, etc., we should just welcome the cross knowing that if we carry it together with Christ, it will surely work for the salvation of mankind, since that was the reason Christ embraced his cross. 

 We have to make some radical adjustments in our understanding and attitude toward whatever suffering and pain we can have in this world. Our Christian faith should shape our understanding of it. 

 With such understanding, we know that the cross can actually give us peace and joy in this world, the real peace and joy that capture the global picture of God’s tremendous love and mercy toward us given our wounded and sinful condition in this world. 

 Our attitude toward the cross should not just be one of simply tolerating and bearing it since it cannot be avoided. We should love it, embrace it, even look for it. We should not just wait for it to come to us. We have to convince ourselves that it is in the cross where we can truly find Christ, and Christ as he consummates his redemptive work on us. 

 That is why we should really why the cross is essential and indispensable in our life. And by knowing the purpose of the cross, we mean that we need to refer everything in our life to the passion, death and resurrection of Christ where the cross plays a crucial role. 

 Yes, that’s right. We need to refer everything to the cross because that is how everything in our life, whether good or bad, big or small, spiritual or material, would find its true and ultimate meaning and purpose. 

 We need to know the purpose of the cross because in the first place Christ himself said that to follow him, we need not only to deny ourselves but also to carry the cross daily. (cfr Lk 9,23) 

 Christ, who as the Son of God and the perfect image that God has of himself, is the pattern of our humanity since God created us in his image and likeness. As the Son of God who became man, he is the redeemer and restorer of our damaged humanity. That’s why he described himself as the way, the truth and the life for us. (cfr Jn 14,6) 

 We need to know the purpose of the cross because the cross, through Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, is where everything in our life is resolved. Christ’s passion, death and resurrection is the culmination of Christ’s redemptive mission on earth. 

 We also have to understand that it is through Christ’s cross that we can attain the fullness of love. There’s, of course, love when the conditions around it are sweet, favorable, convenient to us, etc. But it would be a much greater love if the conditions around it are the opposite—bitter instead of sweet, one that gives us more challenges and difficulties, etc. Yes, the greater the suffering, the greater the love also. 

 Indeed, suffering makes our love have its fullness. This is how we should look at the cross so that we can develop a welcoming attitude toward it. Everyday, we should see to it that the cross figures prominently and abidingly in our life. It need not be in big sacrifices only. It can be more consistently developed in the little sacrifices we make, like some mortifications in food, drinks, use of social media, etc.

Restraint, moderation, fasting, abstinence

GIVEN the temper of the times, we really need to incorporate these attitudes, virtues and practices into our system. In other words, we need to live temperance now that we are wallowing in a very intoxicating addicting world of the social media and the digital gadgets. We are now all too familiar with the signs of addiction afflicting people, both the young and the old. 

 Temperance puts our human attractions and appetites in their proper places, not by suppressing them, but rather by using and directing them to their proper ends. It checks them from their tendency to dominate us and to lead the way for us, when in fact they need to be dominated and led first by our higher faculties. 

 We know that our bodily powers are in great need of direction by our intelligence and will, let alone, God’s grace. On their own, they can just go anywhere and drift according to moods, fashion, popularity, but hardly by the criteria of what is good and bad, what is true and false. 

 We need to be more aware and guarded against the dangers of the new technologies. All these new technologies instantly produce in us a tremendous amount of dopamine that is so difficult to manage, let alone, resist. And these gadgets keep on coming, each time with an improved version, with hardly any manual as to how to use them ethically and prudently. 

 We cannot deny that we are constantly bombarded with many material things, all offering all kinds of advantages and conveniences that, if we are not careful, can remove us from our proper path to God, to heaven, to the world of the spiritual and the supernatural. 

 It’s as simple as that. We now have to deliberately exercise restraint and moderation in the use of material things, otherwise we will be swallowed up by the dynamics of worldly forces that would plunge us to the big, wide and smooth road to self-indulgence, and ultimately to our perdition. 

 More than practicing restraint and moderation, we need to have a clear, firm and functioning idea of what the purpose of all these material amenities we are enjoying in the world today, is. Our proper focus should not be lost. 

 Let’s remember that all these material developments and progress we have today are meant to give glory to God and to contribute to the common good. They are meant to develop in us the real essence and the fullness of our humanity, which is love—love for God and love for neighbour, and not self-love. 

 That is why it becomes increasingly imperative that we be properly grounded on our faith and our life of piety, consisting of the usual things—time for prayer and meditation, offering of sacrifices, recourse to the sacraments, availing of a continuing plan of formation, development of virtues, forming our consciences, waging an abiding ascetical struggle, etc. 

 We have to have specific ways of living temperance in our thoughts, desires, imagination, memory, and in our speech and deeds. Temperance also in food, drinks and sex and recreation. Yes, in all aspects of our life, including our spiritual life that can also have its excesses and abuses. 

 To be sure, this is not punishment. Rather it is to uphold and enhance our dignity. We need to educate ourselves more effectively about this need for temperance. The youth these days should be given special attention, because they are often unprepared to properly handle the new developments and allurements of the world today.

Stay sweet amid bitter conflicts

THAT’S the ideal thing to do whenever we find ourselves in some difficult conflicts, especially in the area of politics. Let’s not make things worse by following the urges of the flesh, the ways of the world, and much less, the game of the devil. If water is what extinguishes fire, it is also sweetness that can overcome bitterness. 

 By not only staying calm but also choosing to be sweet with the parties involved, always showing affection and respect for the others, we facilitate the resolution of any conflict we have with them, we can even learn something from the differences we can have with them. 

 There will always be some wonderful changes that will take place in all the parties involved. There will be some polishing and refining of all the views and position at play. Most of all, we can remain brothers and sisters, friends and lovers of each other, keeping intact the charity that should always rule our life. 

 We have to remind ourselves that when we find ourselves in some conflicts with others, we should see to it that we avoid going through it by our lonesome. That would make these occasions of bitter conflicts a useless and purely negative event. 

 Truth is our conflicts with others can have tremendous meaning and positive effect on us if we go through them always with Christ. If we go by our Christian faith, we are sure that Christ is ever willing to suffer the bitterness for us and with us, and to convert that bitterness into the very means of our salvation, in fact. 

 There is no human bitterness that Christ is not willing to make also as his own. And he does it because he loves us, he wants to save us, he wants to bring us back to him. Let’s remember that his love is first of all gratuitous. He loves us first before we can learn to love him in return. 

 Christ loves us even if, according to our human standards, we do not deserve to be loved. Let’s never forget that because of this love, he, being God, emptied himself to become man, and still went further by assuming all our sins by going through his passion and death on the cross and by his resurrection. 

 We should therefore lose the fear of bitterness when we find ourselves in conflict with others, and learn how to convert it into a means and occasion to gain a greater good for all of us. If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of bitter conflicts, and all the other negative things that can mark our life. 

 So, we just have to be sport and cool when we find ourselves in some bitter conflicts with others. In fact, the ideal attitude would be to welcome these occasions of bitter conflicts, since in the first place, it cannot be avoided no matter how much we try. We have to cultivate a more positive outlook toward it and relish its inherent benefits for us. 

 For this, we need to discover and appreciate the link between the suffering caused by these bitter conflicts and loving. The two need not go against each other. In fact, they have to go together if we want our suffering to be meaningful and fruitful. And we have a way to do that. Go through them with Christ in his passion, death, and his resurrection!

Proclaim the Good News of Christ

CONSIDER the great and overwhelming joy Mary Magdalene and the other Mary felt when they discovered the resurrection of Christ. (cfr. Mt 28,8) They ran, very eager to spill the Good News to Christ’s disciples. 

 Let’s hope that we too can have the same joy and eagerness to share the Good News that covers all of the Christ’s redemptive mission. For this, let us acquire the necessary qualities and competencies that would make this proclamation of the Good News credible and easily acceptable to the people. 

 I imagine that among the qualities and competencies of a good and credible proclaimer of the Good News would be a life of deep spirituality that should spring from a profound connection with the divine life of God. This should bring inner peace, self-awareness and a strong unity of life. 

 We should aspire to reach that point when we can feel that the following words of Christ to his disciples can also be applied to us: “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who reject Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Lk 10,16) 

 Obviously, that would only be possible if we truly have a life of prayer, together with an increasing understanding the doctrine of Christ that should be supported by well-grounded theological training. We should see to it that our prayer would truly be an actual encounter with Christ and that we manage to listen to him and to take to heart what he is telling us. 

 We should also learn how to be articulate and eloquent in discussing the content of our Christian faith. Thus, we should always feel the need for continuous study of the doctrine of our faith which, while it is old, will always also be new. Our faith will always offer something new for us to learn. We can never say we have learned all of it already. 

 Yes, we have to develop a passion for evangelization, which is not only a matter of transmitting some doctrine but rather that of transmitting to the people the very life and spirit of Christ. 

 We need to be most aware of our duty to evangelize, to do apostolate, seeing to it that for it is always nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree. 

 We know that before ascending into heaven, Christ told his apostles, and now to us: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…” (Mt 28,18-19) 

 We have to understand that these parting words of Christ represent his culminating and ultimate desire for our redemption. We can say that all he did in his earthly life—his preaching, doing miracles, his dying—get somehow summarized in this one great desire of God. 

 That’s because the divine work of human redemption continues. It cannot stop. This time though, it is done with our cooperation, since if we are incorporated into him through baptism and in the Spirit, we can’t avoid getting involved in God’s plans and actions. 

 The realization of this crucial aspect of our Christian life gives meaning and perspective to our whole life and everything contained in it. It puts our life in the right orbit. 

 We should give everything to this duty to evangelize, always trusting in God’s providence, assuming always a sporting and adventurous outlook that would greatly facilitate the carrying out of this duty.

A proactive, not reactive, fidelity

HAPPY EASTER to everyone! Once again, we celebrate the final victory of Christ over our sins and their consequences. That’s what his resurrection, achieved through the instrumentality of the cross, means. We should all be moved to correspond to this BEST NEWS we could ever have in the best way that we can. 

 And that can mean, first of all, a sharpening of our sense of vocation to holiness and apostolate, and to spread that sense of vocation to everyone. Truth is everyone has a vocation because everyone is called to holiness and its accompanying duty of doing apostolate. This thing about vocation should never be treated as something very special, meant only for a few. It is meant for all! 

 And once we have that vivid sense of vocation, let us exert all the effort, with God’s grace which will always be abundantly available, to be as generous and heroic as we can in our fidelity to it, come what may. 

 In this regard, it would be good to realize that our fidelity should be something proactive, and not just reactive. We have to be both, of course, but between the two, it’s being proactive that is more important, since that would clearly show that we are truly driven with love, that there is growth and development in our life, that we are exercising our creativity and sense of initiative. 

 Being reactive is, of course, important too, otherwise we would be regarded as dead or, at least, insensitive. But being reactive comes more of an instinctive action. We cannot help but react and respond in some way to any stimulus that would come our way, be it small or big. In fact, we have to react if we, at least, want to be aware of what is happening around us. 

 It’s in being proactive that we have to pay more attention and where we have to train ourselves more. We are notorious for our tendency to fall into routine, and from there into complacency and passivity. We should not allow ourselves to be trapped by routine. 

 If we truly love God and everybody else, with a love that is nothing less than a participation of the love God has for us and as commanded by Christ to us, then we will never say enough in our self-giving. It will always be proactive, always looking for new frontiers in our own sanctification and in our apostolic activities. 

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

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

 Our fidelity should be inventive, innovative, creative, versatile and adaptive to all the conditions we can find ourselves in. This can happen, at least to some degree, if we truly strive to be close to God, to follow him and conform ourselves to him. 

 We should never get stuck at a certain level of loving, no matter how successful we already are at that level. Life continues to demand more things from us, and we cannot afford to be contented at any point. Love requires more always. There will always be new challenges, new openings, new needs, given the changing temper of the times and of the people. 

 This is the Easter spirit!

Finally, the Easter Triduum!

THIS is the highest point, the climax, of the redemptive work of Christ. With the Easter Triduum which starts in the evening of Holy Thursday with the celebration of the Mass of the Last Supper, we are made to understand that Christ, whose idea of human redemption is not only for us to be rid of sins but rather to be one with him, makes himself and his redemptive work present all throughout time. He makes himself fully available to us. 

 This is the truth of our faith that we should train ourselves to be ever aware of and to act according to it. We have to develop the desire, matching it with the appropriate efforts, to hunger for Christ, to make him present in our lives. In fact, he should be incarnated in us because that is what we are meant to be—another Christ (alter Christus), if not, Christ himself (ipse Christus), as one saint put it. 

 This may look like an incredible and impossible prospect. And, indeed, it is. But if we would just activate our faith, that impossibility can become possible. We are meant to go as far as we can, but it will only be Christ himself who will complete and perfect everything for us and with us. (cfr. Phil 1,6) 

 Yes, we can make Christ alive in us. And this is no gratuitous, baseless pursuit. We are not indulging in some fantasy when we exert the effort to make Christ alive in us. In the first place, because Christ himself is alive. He continues to be with us and is, in fact, actively intervening in our lives. We are not in some make-believe world. 

 It’s us who have the problem since we tend to ignore him. It’s the same problem once articulated by St. Augustine: “You were with me, but I was not with you.” And even the things around all point to us about Christ’s constant interventions in our lives. Still, we fail to be aware of him. 

 Christ, of course, died, but then he rose again, never to die again. And even if he rose again, he after so many days ascended into heaven. He should not be around anymore. But, no, he continues to be here, this time in the Holy Spirit, in the Church, in the sacraments, etc. 

 Let’s remember that before he went up to heaven, he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who would bring to us everything that Christ did and said. More than that, the Holy Spirit brings Christ alive in us. 

 This is how God works. The entire trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is involved in this continuing divine effort to bring us back to where we came from—that is, from God himself in whose image and likeness we have been created. And God in his work cannot be frustrated despite the mess we make. 

 We just have to exercise our faith to the hilt. With it we enter into a reality that goes beyond what we simply can see and touch and understand. With it we can feel at home even with mysteries which, by the way, abound in our life since we are not confined only to the sensible and material realities. Our world includes the spiritual and the supernatural. 

 If we correspond actively to what Christ has done for us, we in the Holy Spirit can truly manage to make Christ alive in us. It is really just a matter of being consistent with our faith that brings with it the other virtues of hope and charity. In that way, we would be dealing with the Holy Spirit who will bring Christ to us alive.

Staying calm before our unavoidable suffering and death

THAT Christ knew that he would be betrayed by one of those close to him and thus suffer the consequences—his passion and death on the cross (cfr. Mt 26,14-25)—should remind us that we too would be betrayed, if not by others then by our own selves—and that we too would have to undergo our own suffering and death. 

 We should not be surprised by this turn of events in our life. What we should rather do is to prepare ourselves for it, making every effort to adapt the very mind and spirit of Christ in facing this eventuality. 

 If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of suffering and death, and all the other negative things that can mark our life. 

 He bore them himself and converted them into our way for our own salvation. Yes, even death which is the ultimate evil that can befall us, an evil that is humanly insoluble. With Christ’s death, the curse of death has been removed. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15,54-55) 

 So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of suffering and death. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing suffering and ultimately death, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of suffering and death. 

 Thus, we have to understand this very well. Unless we love the cross, we can never say that we are loving enough. Of course, we have to qualify that assertion. It’s when we love the cross the way God wills it—the way Christ loves it—that we can really say that we are loving as we should, or loving with the fullness of love. 

 By uniting our suffering with the passion and death of Christ on the cross, the vital link between suffering and loving is established. The sting of suffering and death is removed, and the guarantee of our resurrection and our victory over death, sin and all forms of evil that cause us suffering is made. 

 We just have to learn to be sport about our unavoidable condition of suffering in this life and adapt the proper attitude and reactions that should be inspired by our Christian faith. We have to educate our senses, feelings and emotions according to the indications of our faith and the recourse to the sacraments. By developing a life of authentic piety, we can hack it. 

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

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

 Indeed, there can be joy in suffering only if we identify ourselves with Christ.

The Judas in us

THIS is a “caveat emptor” that will always be relevant in our whole life. We may already consider ourselves as good Christians because we pray, attend Mass, do some good works, etc. But if our relation with Christ is really not strong, deep and abiding, and always in the process of renewal and conversion, then like Judas we can also betray him. 

 “Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’” (Jn 13,21) 

 So begins the gospel for Tuesday of Holy Week. With these words, we have to be wary of the constant danger of treachery. That possibility is always around. In fact, we can be our own traitors. We can also be traitors to others. The others can also turn us in. That’s just how it is. 

 It’s not to be cynical about our human condition here on earth that is prone to this danger. Rather, we just have to be realistic, and do the necessary things we need to avoid treachery, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others. 

 Let’s always remember that our human condition here on earth where we are always engaged in the constant battle between good and evil, between grace and our weaknesses and temptations around, can always make this possibility of betrayal and treachery to happen. We should keep this fact of life in mind always. 

 Let’s never forget that because of our freedom, we always have the possibility and capability either to be faithful or not, to go up or down, to turn right or left, to move on or to stop not only physically but also morally and spiritually. 

 In fact, in the spiritual and moral realm, the possibilities are infinite, while in the physical dimension we certainly have clear limits. Yes, we can be a saint or a sinner, a hero or a villain. It’s our choice. 

 Said in another way, the possibility is always there for us to betray Christ like Judas, or to deny him like Peter. Or we can be another Christ, as is what is most ideal, who will remain faithful till the end, whatever it takes, in our love for God and for everybody else. 

 We should try our best that we make the proper choice. All the means needed for that purpose are already made available. It’s really up to us now to make the proper choice and to be faithful to it by using the means. 

 For sure, there is always a need to wage continuing spiritual struggle. As long as we struggle interiorly, we would be nourishing our relationship with God and with others. We would manage to be faithful to whatever commitment we have entered into. 

 We have to remember that our life is very dynamic, with all sorts of challenges to face, problems to solve, issues to be clarified. We need to see to it that our interior life, our spiritual life, our thoughts, desires and intentions are firmly rooted on God, their proper foundation. 

 We need not only to purify our thoughts and intentions from any stain of pride, vanity, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, anger, etc. We need to also fill them and rev them up with true love and wisdom. These are the reasons why we have to engage in a lifelong interior or spiritual struggle. 

 The ideal situation should be that we are always in awe at the presence of God in our life, making him the principle and objective of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We have to be spiritually fit before we can be fit anywhere else—family-wise, professionally, socially, politically, etc.

Getting involved in others’ lives

IF we really want to capture the heart of Christ, if we really want to have the same love he has for all of us, then we should train ourselves to get involved in the lives of others. That’s what Christ is showing us and is, in fact, commanding us to do so. 

 He, being God, not only became man, but also did everything to help all of us, giving such special attention to those most in need that he went to all the way to bear all our sins and conquer them with his passion, death and resurrection. 

 It definitely is not easy to do, given our wounded condition here on earth, prone to think and care only for our own life. But there’s always hope. If we would just open ourselves to God’s grace and do our best to do our part, slowly but steadily following Christ’s example, what may seem impossible can be made possible and practicable. 

 We obviously have to go through a certain process, going from one step to another, from one level to another. But as long as we persevere, we can indeed reach that ideal when we can share the lives of others and help them pursue the real goal of our lives. That’s when what is theirs—all their joys and sorrows, etc.—will also be ours in a happy “communion of saints” that is meant for us. 

 Thus, we need to develop the virtues of empathy and compassion that glue us together as a people, enabling us to enter into one another´s lives as we are supposed to do, edifying our sense of unity and solidarity despite the variety of our conditions and situations. And so, anything that undermines it undermines us as a people, as a society, as a family. 

 Lack of it leads to conflicts and acrimony, poisoning and weakening our social fabric. We need to be more aware of building up this important aspect of our lives, knowing its true nature and character, its authentic source of energy and its real goal. At this time, we cannot afford to be naïve about our need for empathy and compassion, properly understood. 

 Our initial problem is that many of us understand empathy and compassion more as an instinctive and emotional reaction, and nothing much else. When you see someone stumble and in pain, you immediately mirror his condition by vicariously feeling the fellow´s predicament yourself. 

 When you see a beggar in tattered clothes or an abandoned child, or when you read in the papers about the earthquake victims in some place, you automatically feel something like empathy or sympathy, depending on whether you felt with them or for them. 

 We are in need of mirroring one another´s conditions, since this is how we learn, grow and develop. Thus, the importance of physical, face-to-face encounters, and of being wary of our tendency to just keep to ourselves, limiting our relations with others in the level of intentions only. 

 Of course, we should be careful to avoid extremes—empathy and compassion either as only a physical and emotional thing or only as an intentional and disembodied affair. 

 Empathy and compassion are certainly part of our nature that indicates that not only are we individual persons, we are also social beings; not only are we spiritual and intellectual persons, we are also beings of flesh with feelings and emotions. 

 We need to respect, uphold and defend the requirements of each element that constitutes our being or nature. We have to understand that empathy and compassion have to draw their consistency from these constitutive elements that are properly ordered and pursued.

Going to the extreme of love

WITH the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord’s Passion, we begin the Holy Week of our liturgical calendar, the most important week of the year that commemorates the culmination of the redemptive mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s on this day that we are told how Christ went to the extreme of love by offering his life on the cross as a ransom for all our sins. 

 Let us hope that we can give time and due effort to meditate on this most important part of Christ’s life here on earth with the view of at least approaching this extreme of love to which we are also called. 

 As we can gather from the life of Christ, he, being God, not only became man to be with us, but also did everything to make things right for us, giving us the fullness of revelation about us. And since that was not enough due to our sinfulness, he went all the way to offering his life on the cross. (cfr. Phil 2,6-11) 

 To follow his example is the greatest challenge we have to tackle in this life. We may not be able to perfectly imitate him, but at least we should make the effort to pursue that ideal meant for us. 

 In this regard, we have to realize that given our wounded condition, the cross, in any of its forms, will always be an integral, if not essential, part in this pursuit for love. We need to understand that unless we love the cross the way Christ loved it, we can never say that we are truly loving, or loving with the fullness of love. 

 We really need to know why the cross is essential and indispensable in our life. That’s because in the first place Christ himself said that to follow him, we need not only to deny ourselves but also to carry the cross daily. (cfr. Lk 9,23) We need to know the purpose of the cross because the cross, through Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, is where everything in our life is resolved. 

 Yes, Christ preached. He performed miracles. But in the end, he had to offer his life on the cross because no matter what he did, our sins are such that they simply cannot be undone and forgiven through the preaching of the truths of our faith and the tremendous effects of the miracles. Christ had to offer his life on the cross! 

 In our daily life when we can encounter cases of severe differences and conflicts among ourselves—for example, between husband and wife, parents and children, among friends and neighbors, etc.—we need to see to it that the more difficult the situation is, the more unfair and unjust the conditions are, the more we should follow the example of Christ who, treated in the worst way possible on earth, just offered his life for us. 

 That’s why he was more close to the sinners than to the self-righteous ones. Just the same, he loved all as proven by the fact that before dying on the cross, he asked forgiveness from his Father for those who crucified him. 

 We have to expand and deepen our attitudes towards others. Are we willing to think always of them, keenly observant of how they are? Are we moved to pray for them and to leap to their assistance when the chance comes? Do we try to go all the way in loving them, no matter how unfair to us things may look? 

 To be sure, only when we truly identify with Christ can we go also to the extreme of love.

Our constant need for repentance and conversion

WE should process well this truth about ourselves so that we would always feel urged to continually feel this need for repentance and conversion. We know that despite our best efforts, we know that sooner or later we fall into sin. 

 St. John in his First Letter said it so clearly: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1,8) We need to acknowledge our sinfulness and everything related to it, so that, at least, we can start asking for forgiveness and developing the corresponding proper attitudes and virtues. 

 There is no use denying this obvious fact of life. As St. Paul quoted the Scriptures: “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God…For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Rom 3,10-11.23) 

 The sad fact that we have today is that many people are losing and have lost the sense of sin. Any idea they have about sin is strictly limited to their own very subjective view of what is bad and wrong. And this usually has no, or hardly any, relation to the articulated will and commandments of God. 

 What is clear is that many people have lost their relation to God and as a consequence, have also lost their sense of good and evil. Pieces of evidence are aplenty. Unless we return to God and follow his laws as much as we can, unless we acknowledge our sinfulness according to God’s laws and seek conversion, things can only go worse. There is no other possibility. 

 To be sure, we need to humble ourselves before we can acknowledge our sinfulness. This may be one of the obstacles to surmount, since humility is practically becoming an extinct virtue in many places nowadays. Many people have become proud and conceited, vain and oozing with a self-confidence that is not properly anchored on God. 

 It’s not that we have to go around proclaiming to the whole world that we are sinners or that we have sinned in some particular issue. We have to practice prudence, discretion and naturalness in this regard. But we should have a working way of acknowledging our sinfulness on a daily basis by making regular examination of conscience, for example, and by having recourse to frequent confession. 

 We should always remember that God is full of mercy and his delight is to forgive us. In fact, if we have to go by the lesson we can learn from the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son (cfr. Lk 15,3-31) acknowledging our sin, saying sorry to God and returning to him, we would give him the greatest joy. So, we can even make use of our sinfulness as an occasion to make God happy. 

 We need to encourage everyone, especially during this Lenten season, to truly develop a deep sense of penance where our sinfulness is acknowledged and where we ask for forgiveness and have another conversion which, by the way, is actually a continuing affair for us, given our earthly condition. 

 It might be good to consider very often that Christ himself fraternized more with the sinners than with the self-righteous, though at the end, he offered his life for all as his way of assuming all our sins and conquering them with his death and resurrection, and thereby offering all of us forgiveness. But we have to acknowledge our sins before we can have that forgiveness.

Turn everything into prayer

THAT’S the challenge we have to learn to tackle. That’s because prayer is the ideal condition we can have in this life. It establishes and keeps our proper relation with God. It makes us discern God’s abiding interventions in our life, prompting us on how we have to think, speak, do, react and behave in any situation we can find ourselves in. Let’s remember that God speaks to us in all the situations, conditions and circumstances of our life. 

 Prayer gives us the proper attitude toward God and others and everything else in our life. It enables to love properly and to develop the virtues that we all need to grow toward the perfection of our humanity. 

 Prayer is our basic correspondence to God’s continuing work of creation and redemption in us. We need it much more than we need air or food. Thus, we need to do our part in learning it and in doing it all our life. 

 In other words, with prayer we do our part in building up in ourselves the image of God who is fully revealed, given and shared with us in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Christ is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. We are supposed to be “alter Christus,” another Christ.

 It’s important that our prayer is considered as necessary and indispensable as breathing. This is how to make prayer very personal and abiding. Short of that, it’s very understandable to deem prayer as a useless burden. 

 With prayer, we can get to be receptive to God’s will and ways. We become familiar with his words and his teachings that are a sure guide in our life. With it, we are not simply living our life on our own. We are living it with God, which is how our life should be, since we are his creatures, and creatures made in his image and likeness, meant to enter and take part in the very life of God himself. 

 With prayer, we get to share in a most intimate way what God has—his wisdom, his power, his goodness, mercy and compassion, his knowledge of things, etc. And especially when the sting of our weakness and the strong temptations come, prayer is what enables us to deal with them properly. 

 We actually never run out of material for prayer. And the very feeling of boredom and helplessness, for example, is a very fertile ground for prayer to grow. If we would react to this predicament with humility, that’s when we can easily become intimate and sincere with God, and prayer can spontaneously start. 

 Actually, with just a little effort, we can already pray. For sure, we will always have some plans and intentions that we can pray for. They can be something personal, or related to the family, our work, our relations with others. 

 To be sure, prayer can lend itself to different forms and ways. There’s the vocal prayer, the liturgical prayer, the meditative and contemplative prayer. But even in the midst of our hectic temporal affairs, we can still manage to pray as we ought if we only know how to do everything with God and for God, if not with actual intention, then at least with virtual intention. 

 We should just learn to develop the discipline of praying. We should train ourselves in this indispensable duty of ours.

Without God, everything we do would just be vanity

INDEED, that is what would surely happen. Without God, despite whatever brilliance and human and worldly success we may manage to achieve through our powers alone, everything would just be an exercise of self-indulgence and vanity that would lead us nowhere other than the ultimate disaster. 

 That is why Christ tried his best to convince the leading Jews then and now, us, that he comes from God and that he shows us the whole truth about ourselves, the truth that would make us really free, rid of the many subtle and sweet forms of slavery and bondage that we are prone to fall into. (cfr. Jn 8,31-42) 

 “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” he said. We really need to train ourselves to have a certain abiding hunger and thirst for Christ, for his word and teaching, because, as he said, that is how we would truly be free. 

 This training should start as early as possible, right there at home when kids are still kids. They may not understand things yet, but they would eagerly follow what the parents, teachers and elders would teach and show them. And from there, they should be slowly made to understand who they really are and how they should be. 

 They have to be taught in a gradual but steady way that they, and all of us, are meant to be with God always, to do everything with him and for him, explaining slowly why this is so. 

 That is why, parents should first be properly taught about this, since they are the first teachers of their children. And they should not be teaching by words only, but also and mainly by deeds and example. The consistency between words and deeds should be made clear for their children to see. 

 Why do we need to be with God always? The quick answer is because we have been made in God’s image and likeness. We are supposed to share the very life and nature of God, a basic truth about ourselves that indeed is tremendously incredible, but which has to be explained well and inculcated in children’s mind as early as the children are able to understand things. 

 Without God, we would just be doing things on our own, without the eternal effects that our life and all our deeds ought to have. Our life would simply be of the perishable type, since without God, we would not be able to convert the perishable things in our life into something imperishable. (cfr. 1 Cor 15,53) 

 Everyone should be made to realize that we need to be with God more than we need air, water and food, which obviously are our necessities. It’s indeed a big challenge to be able to see that truth and to act in accordance to it. 

 Obviously, this will take a long and even a life-long process that will involve studying and internalizing the truths of our Christian faith, the development of virtues, the recourse to the sacraments and to the means of continuing formation. 

 There definitely is need to learn how to pray, how to offer sacrifices, and how to avail of spiritual guidance. The art of spiritual and ascetical struggle should be mastered. 

 But before anything else, everyone should be made to see and understand why being with God offers us the best life we can have in this world, and why being by ourselves gives us the worst condition in life despite its apparent beauty.

Learning to be docile to God’s promptings

LET’S hope that we give due attention to this basic duty of ours of how to be docile to the abiding promptings of God through the Holy Spirit. Let’s remember that God is our creator and we are his creatures. As such, God and us as creator and creatures can and should never be separated. 

 Why? That’s because God as our creator is the one who gives us our very own existence. He can never be absent from us because, otherwise, we will lose our own existence. The creator cannot be absent from his creature, since not only does he give existence to his creature but also keeps it. Without the creator, the creature ceases to exist. 

 So, every creature, from the smallest to the biggest, from the inanimate to the living, from the material to the spiritual, from the natural to the supernatural, etc. has God in him or in it. That is why we can say that God is everywhere. 

 God as creator of all things governs all of his creation by giving each of them their appropriate law with the view of ultimately giving glory to the creator. By creating the universe, God as creator has no other purpose than to share in varying ways what he has with his creatures. And the bottom line is for the creatures to be united with the creator, giving glory to the creator in their own way. 

 In our case, since we have been created to be God’s image and likeness, sharers of his supernatural life and divine nature, we have been endowed by him mainly through our spiritual powers of intelligence and will so that we can know and love him. 

 That is the proper character of our relation with our creator. And since God is infinitely above our nature, God gives us his grace so that we can achieve what we on our own cannot—sharing his very own life and nature. 

 This giving of grace is something gratuitous to which we have to learn to correspond properly. Said another way, God is actually always intervening in our lives, giving us direction of how we should pursue our lives, not only from time to time but rather all the time. 

 This is where we are told that God through the Holy Spirit continues to send us promptings so we can act and be as children of God, sharers of his life and nature, even while here in our temporal world. 

 That is why we need to learn how to discern and to be docile to all these abiding promptings of the Holy Spirit in our life. Christ himself said it very clearly. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (14,26) 

 We have to understand that the Holy Spirit perpetuates the presence and redemptive action of Christ all throughout time, with all the drama, vagaries, ups and downs that we men make in our history. 

 We have to do everything to keep this awareness of the Holy Spirit’s abiding interventions in our life alive and operative. This duty and task are not meant for some special people only but rather for all of us. And this we can do if we try to keep ourselves always in the presence of God, constantly asking him and consulting him. 

 “Oh, Holy Spirit,” we may start asking, for example, “how should I understand this thing that is happening to me now, how should I react and behave, what are you trying to tell me in this particular event and circumstance, etc.?”

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.