Immersed yet detached

CHRIST’S parable about the Kingdom of heaven being compared to a net thrown into the sea and catching all sorts of fish after which the good fishes were put into a bucket while the bad ones were thrown away certainly reminds us that at the end of our life here on earth, there will be judgment. (cfr. Mt 13,47-53) 

 Let us hope that we are always aware of this truth of our faith so that we can try our best, always with God’s grace, to qualify as a good catch and to be confident to face that judgment. 

 This can only mean that we be always mindful that in this life, we are actually being tested to see if what God wants us to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature—is also what we ourselves would like to be. 

 And the only way to pass that test is to see to it that we follow God’s will to such an extent—and this is the ideal that we should try to achieve—that our will is none other than the will of God. We should make as our own Christ’s very own words: “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (Jn 6,38) 

 It is for this reason that we are placed in this world to carry out the original mandate God gave to our first parents, when he said: “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1,28) 

 We just have to see to it that in our life here on earth, we do not get trapped by the worldly things. Rather, while we should immerse ourselves in the things of the world, we need to practice a certain detachment from them to avoid missing the real purpose of our life here on earth. 

 We should know how to be in the world, without being worldly, trapped and imprisoned in worldly things, and failing to look, find and love God and everybody else. And the secret is to follow Christ who shows us how to be in the world without being worldly. 

 Christ who is the very essence of wealth and human dignity lived a very simple life: he had nowhere to be born or die, nowhere to lay his head, came to our world with nothing and left it also with nothing. In his public life, he sent his apostles to preach without extra luggage. 

 We need to understand that poverty and a certain detachment from earthly things are required for our hearts to be properly filled with the spirit of God and to enable us to fulfill our mission in the world and to pursue the real purpose of our life. 

 We have to be most wary of the danger of worldliness which is becoming practically irresistible these days. Yes, it’s true that we have to love the world since that is where God has placed us to test us if what he wants us to be is also what we ourselves would like to be. We should love the world the way God loves it, but we should not be held captive by it.

Complexities, opportunities, dangers

THAT’S what we are facing these days. We actually have been having them for quite a while now, but these days, with the advent of AI—and we can expect more advanced technologies in the coming years—things have become exponentially more complicated. 

 How should we handle this condition such that we can manage not to be trapped by them and diverted from our true goal in life? Perhaps, we can get some ideas from these words of Christ in the gospel. 

 “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field, which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.” (Mt 13,44) Reiterating the same point, he said: “Again the kingdom of heaven like a merchant seeking good pearls. When he had found one pearl of great price, he went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Mt 13,45-46) 

 In other words, to successfully navigate in these complicated times, we need to see to it that while we immerse ourselves in these powerful things of today’s world, we have to practice a certain kind of detachment from them so that our pursuit for the kingdom of heaven is not undermined, much less, compromised. 

 But let’s remember that detachment here does not mean that we run away from the things of the world. We have to take advantage of the good opportunities these new and very powerful technologies offer. Am happy, for example, that many young people today are going into start-ups that are helping them and the economy on the whole. 

 The detachment we are speaking of here simply means that we are clear and strong about the goal we are supposed to pursue. The things of this world are simply means, occasions and reasons for us to go on with that pursuit. We should not allow them to entangle us along the way. 

 This certainly means that we should have a working and healthy spiritual life, a constant and intimate relation with God and with everybody else that is always nourished by the appropriate practices of piety, like regular periods of prayer and meditation, recourse to the sacraments, undergoing continuing formation and spiritual guidance, etc. 

 These practices of piety are much more needed now than before. They should be taught and popularized as widely as possible, focusing more on the young ones who are very vulnerable to be confused and lost in these complicated times. We cannot deny that nowadays we are witnessing a massive leap of juvenile cases of vices and perversions, addictions, mental and psychological illnesses, suicides, etc. 

 We need to remind everyone of the need to have the proper intentions in this life. To put it bluntly, the ultimate intention that is proper to us is that of doing everything for the glory of God. If that intention is not clear, we surely would be treading on a dangerous path that most likely would lead us to a bad end. 

 If there is such thing as upskilling, that is, acquiring additional skills and capabilities, we should first of all “upskill” our spiritual life and the virtues involved, like prudence, detachment, etc. in order to face the complexities, opportunities and dangers of our times. 

 The challenge of our times actually invites us to grow more in our spiritual life, in our love for God and for others.

Lessons from the sisters Martha and Mary

WHAT these two sisters can tell us is that we will always have differences, and even conflicts, among ourselves, even if we belong to the same family or clan, the same neighborhood or group, etc. Martha was the active type, while Mary was the quiet and withdrawn type. (cfr. Jn 11,19-27; Lk 10,38-42) We should not be surprised by this fact of life. But we should be prepared to deal with it properly. 

 We have to realize that these unavoidable differences and conflicts are very good occasions for us to develop and grow in the virtues, especially of humility, patience and most importantly, charity. That’s how we should see these differences and conflicts. And so, more than being bothered by them, which is also unavoidable, we should rather be welcoming to them. In God’s providence, they come with some hidden and special gifts. 

 For this, of course, we should be guided by our Christian faith and follow the example of Christ who was willing to suffer the cruelest injustice inflicted on any man if only to consummate our human redemption. We just have to try our best to go to that extent, although we know that we can only go so far. 

 But we can always do something about this, no matter how small and insignificant it may be. As long as we persist in following the example of Christ, no matter how erratic and inconsistent at times, Christ himself has assured us that victory always awaits us at the end. It will be him who will get it for us, but also with us. 

 These days, many friends of mine complain about the “habal-habal drivers” or what they call as “kamote drivers.” I myself have my own negative reactions against them, especially when they would just suddenly appear in front me while driving my car. But I try my best to get over the irritation as quickly as possible. 

 What I would suggest is that, of course, we should be careful while driving on the road. Let’s do what they call as “defensive driving” which focuses on anticipating and responding to potential hazards, going beyond simply following traffic rules. It makes us always vigilant and quick to react properly to the actions of the other drivers. 

 But more than that, we can use those occasions when we get irritated or even angered on the road to practice and develop the virtues of patience, humility and, yes, even charity. Let’s pray for those who bother us on the road. Think and wish them well. This way, we are truly following the example of Christ in a direct way. 

 In time, we will notice that we are learning how to go above the unavoidable “drama” on the road. We can remain at peace and more focused on what truly matters in our life. We polish and refine the animal part of our humanity. 

 Let’s remember that as St. Paul said, we have to “bear each other’s burdens.” (Gal 6,2) Do we have that kind of outlook? Are we quick to help others even to the point of inconveniencing ourselves? 

 We have to start dismantling attitudes, habits and practices that keep us imprisoned in our own world, mistakenly thinking that these actually would make us happy or are good for us. We have to expand our heart to be able to resolve in a Christian way our unavoidable differences and conflicts.

Looking for God in the little things

THIS is the lesson we can draw from those parables where Christ compared the Kingdom of God with a mustard seed and a yeast. (cfr. Mt 13,31-35) We need to develop the urge to look and find God in the little ordinary things of our daily life, because only then can we find him in the big things of life, whether good or bad in human terms. 

 God should be the one who should arouse our most intense and constant attraction. That’s because if we make God the source and cause of all our attraction, of all our joy and pleasures, of what ultimately gives us perfect satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment, all the other things can attract us and give us joy in the proper way, always respecting our true dignity as persons and as children of God. 

 Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to have merely a fake kind of joy, pleasure and satisfaction that can only lead us to bigger dangers. We really have to train ourselves to make God and to make following his will and ways the constant source and cause of our attraction and joy. 

 For this, we first of all should ask for God’s grace which is actually given to us in abundance. And from there, let’s go through some systematic plan of life that will nourish and strengthen our constant and intimate relationship with God, a relationship that should involve our entire self—body and soul, feelings, emotions and passions down to our very instincts, as well as our mind and heart. 

 It should be a plan that should obviously include prayer in all its forms—vocal, liturgical, ejaculatory, mental, contemplative, etc. Our life of prayer should be such that even when we are immersed in the things of the world due to our work and our temporal duties, we would still be aware of God’s presence, and it is doing God’s will that should always motivate us. 

 Let’s hope that we can manage to see and find God in the little ordinary things of our daily life. That’s because when we fail to see, know and love God in the little things, it is very likely that we also will fail to see, know and love God in the big things of our life. Let’s keep in mind what Christ said in this regard: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.” (Lk 16,10) 

 In short, the point we should realize more deeply is that sanctity, our ticket to heaven, certainly requires heroism, even to the point of martyrdom. But we can be sure that by being consistently loving in doing the little things of life, especially when they are hidden and unappreciated humanly, we would already be very heroic indeed, even approaching the level of martyrdom. 

 What we have to do is to learn to find God in the little things which comprise most of our day, if not of our whole life. Another way of saying it is to learn to refer everything to God, no matter how little or insignificant it is. 

 We should always be with God at every moment of our day, offering things to him, asking him questions like, “Lord, how should I deal with this particular situation, be it an exciting work or a boring and tiring moment, etc.?” 

 When we learn to find God in the little things, we have a better prospect of being with God the whole day. Our pursuit for sanctity would be more consistent despite the varying conditions of our daily life.

Let’s be insistent in our prayers

WHEN the disciples asked Christ to teach them how to pray, they were not only given what is now known as the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father, but also were egged to be insistent in their prayers. (cfr. Lk 11,1-13) 

 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you,” Christ told them. “For every one that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened,” he reassured them. (Lk 11,9-10) 

 Doubling down on that assurance, Christ told them, “Which of you, if he asks his father bread, will he give him a stone? Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?” (Lk 11,11-13) 

 We will always have problems and difficulties in this life. But they should not be a reason for us to fall into despair. Rather, in these instances of the hard predicaments, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems. 

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross. 

 Let’s always remember that God, in his ineffable ways, can also talk to us through these crosses. In fact, he can convey precious messages and lessons through them. It would be good that we have a theological attitude toward them, and be wary of our tendency to react to them in a purely human way, based only on our senses and feelings and on some worldly standards and criteria. 

 We have to be quick to discern what God is telling us through them. Let’s be quick to see in these problems golden opportunities to receive more graces and other blessings from God. These graces and blessings can deepen our love for God and neighbor, enrich our understanding of things, occasion the birth and development of virtues. They can truly do us a lot of good. 

 There’s really no reason to be too worried and anxious when we encounter some difficulty in our life. In fact, we have every reason to be confident and at peace, focused on what we are supposed to do. And that’s because we are always in God’s hands. 

 Whatever situation we may be in, we can be sure that God will always provide for what is truly needed by us, and it may not be what we want. We just have to trust him completely for he knows better than we do, and what we want may not be what we need. It may not even be what is good for us. 

 We should just insist on praying, asking for God’s help, irrespective of how things go. Nothing is wasted and everything is actually a gain when we pray.

Where true greatness can be found

CHRIST gave us the clear answer to this question. “Whoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister. Ad he that will be first among you, shall be your servant. Even as the Son of Man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.” (Mt 20,26-28) 

 In short, our true greatness is when we truly become like Christ, or “another Christ” as we should be. It is when we assume his spirit of wanting to serve and not to be served, even to the extent of offering his life for the redemption of men. It is when we humble ourselves so we would have the attitude of wanting to serve everybody else, no matter how undeserving we think they may be. 

 We need to discover the intimate and mutual relation between humility and greatness. When we are truly humble, it can only show the greatness of our heart. And when we happen to be great in stature and dignity, we should know that we are there to serve more than anything else. True greatness is never shown in pride and vanity. It is proven and verified in humility. 

 Mary perfectly mirrors the humility and greatness of Christ himself who, as St. Paul said, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil 2,6-8) 

 This mutual relation between humility and greatness is expressed when we manage to value others, whoever and however they are, above ourselves and when we look after their interest instead of our own. (cfr. Phil 2,3-4) 

 This is what we clearly see in the life of Christ. Let’s call to mind that stunning example of his when he shocked his apostles when he insisted to wash their feet at the Last Supper. 

 For us to have this humility and greatness in our life, we need to be always with Christ and Mary. We need to be in constant conversation with Christ and Mary, referring everything to them, asking them for the answers to our questions, clarifications to the many issues we have to grapple with in life, strength for our weaknesses and temptations, contrition and conversion after our falls, etc. 

 We should do everything to keep this state of humility alive in us all the time. We know very well how easy it is for us to take this virtue for granted. We have to realize more vividly how vulnerable we are to the ways of pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, desire for power and domination, etc. Humility keeps us guarded against these dangers. 

 And when we happen to receive praises and honors from others because of our good works, let’s keep our feet firmly stuck to the ground, not allowing ourselves to be intoxicated. We should not allow these praises and honors to go to our head and cast some evil spell over us. 

 Instead, we have to thank God profusely. All praises and honors belong to him. What we should realize also is that those praises and honors given to us are actually a sign that we have to give ourselves more to God and to others. Our sense of duty and responsibility should become sharper. 

 Those praises and honors that we receive are actually some kind of a test to see if we would still remain with God or we would now choose ourselves as our own god.

Our animality, humanity and Christianity

WHILE we can consider our life under many different aspects and levels, we however can somehow distinguish three basic levels or stages that our life is subject to, without denying our basic identity as a human being or person. And that is that we are animals, first of all, that need to be humanized and later on, Christianized. 

 We are, of course, biologically classified as animals since we possess all the defining characteristics of the animal kingdom. We have tissues and organs, hormones, instincts, etc. We are mammals with hair and mammary glands. We, of course, are on top of the animal kingdom, since we are what they call as primates, with backbones, grasping hands, binocular vision and a high degree of social organization. 

 But we are not just animals. Unlike the other animals, we are rational animals with intelligence and will, with the capacity to know and to love, to enter into distinctive relation with others. We are not detained only in the sensible world. We enter into the intelligible world. 

 This is what makes us a human person, with the capacity to enter into relationships. We have consciousness, capacity for empathy, creativity, resilience, and a sense of meaning and purpose of life. We can communicate through our language and abstract thought and reasoning. 

 But we also have to realize that because of our intelligence and will which bring us beyond the material and sensible world and introduce us to the world of ideas and to things abstract, we are poised actually to enter into the spiritual world that later on would bring us to the world of the supernatural. 

 This is where we have the duty to Christianize ourselves. And the reason is because we will realize sooner or later, if we become aware of our Christian faith and learn to believe in it, that Christ, the God our Creator who became man, is actually the pattern of our humanity. 

 Our humanity is actually still in the process of an ongoing creation where we are given a choice of whether we want to remain as another animal, or just human, or as Christian where we can achieve what our faith tells us about ourselves—that we are God’s image and likeness, meant to share in his life and nature. 

 We need to seek our perfection by humanizing our animality, and Christianizing our humanity. In other words, our creation is still a work in progress, with God creating and redeeming us through Christ but also needing our cooperation since God wants us to be like him. We somehow should also be co-creators and co-redeemers with God. 

 It’s a pity that many of us do not realize this truth of our faith and, therefore, fail to do our part in our own creation and redemption. Remember St. Augustine lamenting about this fact. “You were with me, but I was not with you.” 

 He also said that “God created us without us, but he did not will to save us without us.” These words imply that our creation by God includes his work of our salvation. This truth of our faith has basis on what St. Paul once said: “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6) 

 We need to be aware that we therefore have to cooperate with God in our own creation and redemption. Thus, we have to realize that we need to go through the process of humanizing our animality and Christianizing our humanity.

Personal sanctity always involves the apostolic duty

THAT’S how we have to understand our duty to pursue personal sanctity without let-up. It will always involve the apostolic duty because sanctity is not only about one’s own holiness. It is also concerned about the holiness of everyone else. 

 The word “personal” should not be understood as simply to be on one’s own. To be a person, gifted with the faculties of the intelligence and the will, enabling us to know and to love, means to be always related to others, first to God, ideally, and then to everybody else. A person is not meant to be isolated from everybody else. That would be an anomaly. 

 And so, when we are seeking personal sanctity as we should, since it is the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth, we should see to it that it is very much involved in helping the others seek their sanctity also. And if the pursuit for personal sanctity should be constant effort, so should it also be with respect to carrying out our apostolic duty. 

 Thus, when we talk only of our own struggles involved in the pursuit for sanctity without any mention about what we are doing with respect to our apostolic duty, that pursuit for personal sanctity would be hanging on air. It may present very dramatic episodes but it would be hollow and would miss the real goal. 

 To be holy is to have the very mind and heart of Christ, to have the very spirit of Christ. As such, it would inescapably participate in the very mission of Christ which is the salvation of humanity. Christ is not only the embodiment of holiness. He is also our savior. If we are to be like Christ, as we should, then we should be both holy and apostolic, intrinsically involved in the salvation of mankind. 

 We then have to realize that we just don’t do apostolate as if it is just one more task to be done on some parts of the day. We are first of all apostles, and our apostolic concern should be constant and abiding, even while we are asleep or doing all kinds of tasks during the day. We have to learn how to convert everything in our life as an occasion and material for doing apostolate. 

 Our lifestyle should somehow reflect the kind of life or relationship that exists among the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. If we are God’s image and likeness, and if God is three persons in one in perpetual relation and communion with each other, then we too should somehow channel the same life of continuing relation and communion with God and with everybody else. 

 Of course, we would find this ideal impossible. But that is a given. We are not expected to really achieve it with our own efforts alone. What we are expected is to try and try to pursue this dual goal of personal sanctity and apostolate, because as St. Paul once said, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1,6) 

 We should just believe what our Christian faith teaches us even if we do not quite understand it fully. That is exactly what faith is all about. It is about believing beyond what we can see and understand. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it: “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (11,1)

What we can learn from St. Mary Magdalene

THE very first lesson we can learn from the life of St. Mary Magdalene is that no matter how big and ugly our sins are, God’s grace or gift of mercy is always there, more powerful than whatever damage our sins can inflict on us. It validates what St. Paul once said: “Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.” (Rom 5,20) 

 We should never prolong our sadness over our mistakes, failures and sins. That would make the devil happy, since our sadness would make us a sitting duck to their evil tricks. We would not have the strength to protect ourselves. 

 Instead, even as we carry a heavy heart because of our sins, we should just follow the example of St. Mary Magdalene who showed greater love to Christ precisely because of her sinfulness that was forgiven. She wanted to make up, and did so with burning zeal. 

 As a consequence, she even received more favors from Christ. Among them is the fact that she became the first one to meet Christ after the resurrection, although our tradition maintains—and this is not explicitly mentioned in the Gospels—that Our Lady must have met Christ soon after his resurrection. 

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

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

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

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

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

 We need to educate ourselves always to remain calm and optimistic when faced with our persistent sinfulness, and just try our best to discern what God is showing us with respect to resolving that unfortunate condition of ours. 

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

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

A call to docility

A BEAUTIFUL psalm expresses that call. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (95,8) This was articulated as a warning against hardening one’s heart, using the example of the Israelites’ rebellion in the time of the Exodus. They grumbled and questioned God’s provision, despite his prior blessings. Because of their lack of faith, they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. 

 We always have to remember that God constantly is guiding us and providing us with everything we need to reach our goal in our earthly journey, which is to be with God in heaven for all eternity. Our life here on earth is just a testing ground to see if what God wants us to be is also what we ourselves would want to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 To be docile to God, we have to learn to be open and responsive to his guidance, like a child who is easily taught and led. This can mean that we cultivate a quiet and recollected heart even in the midst of our mundane affairs. We should seek wisdom from God and actively obey his continuous promptings. He actually never leaves us alone. 

 For this, we need to make time for prayer and quiet reflection with the view of cultivating a heart that is attuned to the voice and promptings of the Holy Spirit. What is also helpful is to familiarize ourselves with Sacred Scripture so we may be able to discern the true voice of the Holy Spirit, and not the fake ones that unfortunately are now getting very common. 

 We should also seek counsel from trusted spiritual mentors and guides who can help us discern the Holy Spirit’s will. We should also learn to be flexible and adaptable because the Holy Spirit may lead us in ways we do not expect or like. 

 To be able to listen to the Holy Spirit more clearly, we should try to avoid distractions, and to spend some time in meditation and contemplation. In fact, we should try to be contemplative always, especially when we are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of our daily activities. 

 Definitely, the virtues of simplicity and humility play a very important role in this endeavor. Without these virtues, we would actually be putting up walls and barriers around us, keeping us deaf and blind to the ways of the Holy Spirit. 

 Let’s also remember that in spite of our best efforts to be docile, we still can manage to commit errors in our discernment. We should just be game and sport in this regard, and just learn to move on, hopefully gaining some precious lessons from our mistakes and failures. 

 Once we are quite sure about what the Holy Spirit is prompting us, we should immediately take action. This would help us to maintain a continuing and intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. Delaying our response can cut that relationship or distort the connection we have with him. 

 We would somehow know that we are being docile to the Holy Spirit because the image of Christ is progressively carved into our lives. Like Christ, we become more charitable, patient and merciful. Our attitude toward the cross and suffering would be like that of Christ who considers the cross as his supreme act of love, of obedience to the will of the Father.

No showing off if love is pure

THAT’S what we can get from the gospel story about the two sisters, Martha and Mary. (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) If love is pure, we would not show off the things we do, baiting for praises; we would not compare ourselves with others to see if we are better lovers; we would just give and give without counting the cost; we would give our whole heart unconditionally to our beloved who in the end is God! 

 The problem with Martha was precisely that of comparing her love with what she saw was the inferior kind of love her sister, Mary, showed to Christ. It’s a phenomenon that, sad to say, is very common since time immemorial, and especially these days when the hunger for recognition seems to be sharper among many people in general. 

 Many people today like to flaunt the good things they do. They like to compare themselves with others. They even go to the extent of indulging in virtue signaling their own deeds while gaslighting those whom they consider to be not as good as they are. 

 To have pure love, we have to start with the purity of our intentions, since they express who and where in the end we want to be. Do we choose to be with God completely, or do we play games trying to do things for others when fact things are done more for ourselves? 

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

 We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it, since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge. We are urged to be most sincere in directing our intentions properly. 

 We can easily fall into hypocrisy and deception, doing what can appear good externally but is not internally, since we could refuse giving glory to God, which is the proper intention to have, and instead feed and stir our vanity, pride, greed, lust, etc. 

 If our love is pure, we would do a lot of good while passing unnoticed. All the glory should belong to God. We have to rid ourselves of any signs that would show that we want to divert the glory, even if only partially, to ourselves. 

 We are reminded of this danger when Christ said, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.” (Mt 6,1) 

 And he continued by saying, “When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (6,2) 

 As we can see, the intention of our human acts plays a crucial role. With it, we can determine whether we are truly good and moral, or are simply playing around, playing the game of hypocrisy, appearing righteous when we truly are not. 

 We know that with our intention, we can direct our acts to God, following what was once indicated by St. Paul, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) That’s how our acts become good, or moral, an expression of pure love. Otherwise, they are bad, or at least dangerous.

Our human laws and Christian morality

THAT gospel episode where some Pharisees complained against Christ’s disciples who were plucking ears of corn on a Sabbath to appease their hunger (cfr. Mt 12,1-8) again brings out the issue of our human laws and how they have to be made, understood and applied. 

 While they are indispensable in our life here on earth, we should also realize that they do not have the last word since they will always have certain limitations. And because of that, they need to be constantly purified so they can be aligned more and more, despite our mistakes and faults, to our ultimate dignity as God’s image and likeness, God’s children, meant to share in God’s life and nature. 

 In other words, our human laws should pursue the goal of achieving the proper Christian morality where all our human acts should reflect as well as reinforce who we really are. Our laws and idea of morality should help us to become more and more like Christ who is the pattern of our humanity. He is the fulfillment of any law we have in life. 

 

 That is why we should really know him so we would know how to handle our laws. More than knowing him, we should love him since that would make us one in spirit with him. Let’s remember that we are meant to be like Christ, “alter Christus,” another Christ, as some theologians have told us, if not “ipse Christus,” Christ himself. Only then can we have the proper understanding and attitude toward our laws. 

 We need to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc. 

 That’s why any human law should always be a dynamic one, always in the process of refining, polishing and enriching itself. It should never be considered as static, or irreformable, unenrichable. 

 A lot of discernment is needed here. Prudence requires it. And the common good, which the law should always serve, can often present competing interests that need to be resolved as fairly as possible. 

 That’s simply because charity, truth, justice and mercy, which our laws should embody, have aspects that can be mysterious and that will always demand new requirements from us. 

 Let's hope that the proper structures are made available to address this ongoing need with respect to continually polishing our laws. The task is definitely daunting. But rather than be daunted, it should challenge us to do it whatever it costs. We actually have the means. God, for his part, will always give us the grace for it. We just have to have the necessary attitude, will, and skills to do it. 

 We have to understand that for this task to be properly undertaken, those involved should be vitally in contact with God, the source of all good things, of all truth, charity, and justice. Being the creator, he is the foundation of reality and the supreme lawmaker and lawgiver. 

 In the end, for us to make our laws reinforce our proper human and Christian morality, all the processes involved in their making and application should be done with Christ and for Christ. Outside of that context, we can only fall into some forms of legalism that misses the real intent our laws should have.

The secret of how to find rest

PERHAPS we can get an idea about that secret from what Christ himself said. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” (Mt 11, 29) It’s when we are meek and humble, like Christ, that we can find true rest, which is to rest with and in Christ. 

 It’s Christ who reassures us of the effectiveness of meekness. We should simply follow what he has told us even if our initial and spontaneous reaction is to doubt whether meekness, together with humility, could help us in our effort to tackle our worldly affairs, now getting more complicated and more challenging. 

 We have to strongly convince ourselves that it is when we follow Christ’s words that things would just work out right even if our common sense as well as our sophisticated sciences seem to contradict them. 

 Christ always has the last word, and we should just try our best that our human ways of knowing conform and comply with what Christ tells us. To be sure, Christ must have given due consideration to our human estimations of what would work, like effectiveness and efficiency, profitability and popularity, convenience and comfort, etc., but he goes much further than these. 

 Many of us are afraid to play the role of a meek character in any situation we may find ourselves in. We often think meekness is a defeatist trait, a weakness and a clear evidence of powerlessness and helplessness. 

 Meekness may appear to us in our human and worldly standards as a quality for weak, defeated and poor people. Nothing of that sort actually enters into the definition of meekness as defined by Christ himself. It’s a virtue that requires nothing less than heroic strength that can take on anything in this life, no matter how it goes, including of course the worst scenario that our life can get into. 

 When we are meek with the meekness of Christ, we can manage to be patient, understanding, gentle, tolerant, etc., when things and times get rough and difficult. Meekness prevents us from falling into sadness, anger, bitterness, fear, shame. It prevents us from rotting in frustrations and disappointments when things don’t go our way. 

 Meekness will always make us hopeful and optimistic, always looking at the brighter side of life and for solutions to problems rather than getting entangled with our problems and mistakes. 

 Meekness enables us to be accepting of things and situations as they are, without over-reacting to whatever defects or bad elements these things and situations may have. Obviously, meekness should encourage us to do something about them. And where we cannot anymore find any human solution to some of our problems, meekness helps us to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. 

 And the basis for all this is because in the end God takes care of everything. What we cannot do, what we cannot anymore solve, God in his infinite and merciful wisdom and providence can always do something for our own good.  

That’s why we really need to strengthen our faith that fuels our hope as we continue to get on with our life here on earth, and sharpen our charity that in the end is what is truly essential to us. We are made for love, for charity, since that is the essence of God and we are supposed to be his image and likeness. 

 This is how we can find true rest, our rest with and in Christ!

Charity is the ultimate truth

WE need to be very clear about this point. We often contrast charity with truth, mercy with justice. And that’s because we consider these values and virtues more from our own point of view, based only on our experiences, observations, sciences, etc., that while giving us some elements of truth can really go so far as to tell us the whole truth. 

 It’s a truth that depends mainly on our perceptions, discernments, judgments and reasoning. In short, in the way we are. It tends to be self-established and developed. It’s a truth that is often held captive by one’s subjective ways, and averse to anything pertaining to the truth that can go against how we are. 

 And so, with this subjective kind of understanding of truth, we tend to have at best only a partial grasp of reality, or a tentative one, if not a distorted one, that is most vulnerable to be used by the many ulterior motives we can have. 

 The whole truth can only come from God who, being the Creator of the whole universe, reveals it to us completely in Christ, the son of God who became man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 Our experiences, observation, sciences, facts and data, in the end, are heavily conditioned by things of nature which, while giving us some aspects and elements of truth, often neglect the basic truth about ourselves—that is, that we are meant to live a spiritual and supernatural life with God. Our purely human ways cannot give us the whole truth. 

 What is worse is that many of us claim that there is no God, and that everything would just depend on our own selves in whatever way we understand that dependence. Many of us refuse to acknowledge that there is such thing as the spiritual and supernatural world that transcends our natural and material world. It’s no wonder that we can only end up with all sorts of ideas and professions, often contradicting each other. 

 Of course, to know the whole truth which is charity, we need to have faith in God. The problem we often encounter in this department is that that faith in God is often denied. Instead, we rely on the faith in our own selves, in our own powers that clearly are limited and prone to error. 

 Truth therefore just cannot be reduced to a cold data, or to mere personal perceptions and understanding, no matter how scientific it is, or politically and socially popular its consensus is achieved. We really cannot have the truth unless that truth is held also in charity as taught to us by Christ. 

 This is where we have to make some drastic adjustments in our understanding of truth. It’s when truth equates with charity that we can achieve true justice and equality among us. That’s when we can truly be brothers and sisters to one another, without anyone higher or lower than the rest of us. 

 It’s when truth equates with charity that we can live genuine prudence and discretion, avoiding the stupidities of gossips and mindless chatter. We would know what and when to think, speak and act, and when not. 

 It’s when truth equals charity when we, all of us, can achieve our authentic and ultimate dignity as persons who are the image and likeness of God and children of his, meant to participate in the very life and nature of God.

Our tendency to be impenitent

“THEN began he to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of his miracles, for they had not done penance. ‘Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.’” (Mt 11,20-21) 

 Thus lamented Christ over the people he had been giving a lot of favors. It’s a lament that continues to take place up to now, since we cannot deny that despite all the good things we have been having over the years, we still continue to be impenitent over our weaknesses, mistakes and sins. 

 While it’s a given that we cannot avoid sin, considering our wounded condition, it should also be given that we need to also have an abiding need for penance. Nowadays, it would look like while our sinfulness has become worse, our duty to do penance is practically neglected. 

 The sense of sin is being aggressively undermined. And that’s simply because we are not anymore referring things to God. We are simply referring them to our own ideas. The clear distinction between good and evil is practically erased. 

 Our sense of penance is in crisis because our idea of what is good and evil is now reduced to our personal preferences, or at best to what can be termed as our social, political, cultural or even ideological consensus. Our legal system is often regarded as explicitly atheistic or agnostic, to free it from the so-called religious bias. 

 We need to make an effort, even a worldwide campaign, to boost our spirit of penance, explaining our dire necessity for it and the ineffable benefits we can derive from it. 

 The spirit of penance is not actually something that is dark, negative, painful, etc. It’s not something we should run away from. In fact, it’s not something that we should just bear and tolerate since we cannot avoid it. 

 We need to embrace it, to love it, and thus, we have to develop that spirit as best that we can. It is actually something beautiful, since it is purifying and liberating. It recovers us from our wounded condition and reinforces our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 We need to develop and live this spirit of penance because it is clear that sin continues to dominate us in this life. In fact, it is quite clear that things are getting worse. There are now powerful and well-established structures of sin in our midst before which we are simply an easy prey. 

 The networks of corruption, pornography, godless and worldly ideologies, etc. are proliferating, taking advantage of the powerful technologies and the relative vulnerability of many people, especially the young ones, who are not yet prepared to properly handle these networks. 

 The virtue of penance should include the desire and practice of regular and frequent recourse to the sacrament of penance, where through the ministry of priests, Christ comes to us as father, friend, judge and doctor. This sacrament not only reconciles us with God, but also repairs whatever damage our sin would cause on others and the Church in general. 

 This virtue of penance also includes the desire and practice of continuing atonement and reparation. This can be done in many ways—exerting greater effort to pray, being more generous with our sacrifices and daily self-denials, especially in food, drink, and comfort. It can be done also by doing many corporal and spiritual works of mercy, etc.

The war for peace

IT’S, of course, intriguing that while Christ is known to often greet his disciples with peace, as in “Peace be with you” (cfr. Jn 20,19; Jn 20,21), he also said at one time: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth; I came not to send peace, but the sword.” (Mt 10,34) 

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 Christ is supposed to be the Prince of Peace. (cfr Is 9,6) At his birth, a host of angels sang praises to him: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” (Lk 2,13) Then why did he say he has not come to establish peace on the earth? 

 We have to understand that the sword Christ mentioned here does not mean to be destructive but rather constructive, driven by love and the desire to be united with God and with the others in a way proper to us as children of God and brothers and sisters among ourselves. 

 Our life here on earth cannot but be in some form of struggle. Aside from our innate urge to grow and develop that requires some effort, we also have to contend with the enemies of God and of our soul, whose sole intent is precisely to bring us down, to divert us from our proper path toward holiness. 

 We are not simply ranged against natural difficulties, challenges and trials in life, but also against very powerful and subtle nemeses. The natural enemies alone are already formidable. 

 But we still have enemies tougher than these. As St. Paul said, “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” (Eph 6,12) 

 Truth is many people—in fact, I would say all of us one way or another—are looking for effective ways to develop our spiritual life and to be skillful in the unavoidable spiritual warfare in this life. 

 People, including the young ones whose stirring for the spiritual can be sharp and intense if hidden, want to know, for example, how to pray, or how to keep it going amid the many concerns in life. Getting engaged with God all throughout the day eludes them. 

 The answer could very well be that war and peace somehow go together. To have peace, some war has to be waged. It cannot be any other way. A peace without a war, given our wounded condition, is a false peace. 

 And that’s simply because our life here on earth necessarily involves some warfare. The forces of good and evil do their battle all over the place, first in the hearts of men and then in many other arenas—practically in all the fields where human freedom is involved. 

 It’s true that peace is part of the ultimate goal all of us are seeking. It’s part of that inmost longing for joy that every human heart possesses. But to have that peace, we need to wage war precisely against those forces and elements that would undermine our pristine desire for endless peace. 

 That is how we have to understand those words of Christ cited above. He wants us to make war against the enemies of God and of men. And this war can take very subtle forms as when we have to contend with the so-called sweet poisons. We should always be on guard, and prepared to do battle against anything that goes against our own true good.

Lessons from the parable of the Good Samaritan

THE obvious lesson we can immediately gather from the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10,25,37) is that we should have true empathy and compassion with everyone, irrespective of how those involved are, whether they are friendly or not, of our type or kind or not, likeable and lovable or not, etc. We should try to have a universal heart, quick to serve anyone, irrespective of who or how one is. 

 The more subtle lesson we should draw from it, however, is that we should be wary of our tendency to rely mainly on our titles, status or whatever privileges and entitlements we have. This reliance may not be openly seen, and that’s the problem to face and resolve. 

 Very often, even if we profess ourselves to be truly and entirely Christian, in reality there are some hidden things that would belie such claim. We may talk a lot about charity and show in some external acts that we are living it, but very often if not always, we can always find ourselves in some inconsistent condition, because there are times when we fail to live charity truly. 

 We can be choosy as to whom to be compassionate as well as to the kind of conditions that would prevail in a certain occasion. We expect that all the conditions be favorable for us to show charity. When sacrifices are involved, especially the extraordinary ones, we tend to turn a blind eye, just like what the priest and the Levite did in the parable. 

 This is not to mention that we all have certain biases and preferences that would prevent us from having a heart that would show and give love at all times, irrespective of the circumstances around. 

 We truly need to address this problem realistically. And the first thing to consider is to acknowledge our deficiencies with respect to the charity expected of us as true children of God. This may take a lifetime, but it is worthwhile to keep doing something to make our heart resemble more and more like that of the Good Samaritan, or to put it bluntly, a heart like that of Christ. 

 In our prayers, examinations of conscience and other spiritual and ascetical exercises, let us identify those items or aspects of charity where we are failing or lagging behind. It could be that we are still dominated by what and whom we like and dislike, or by the fear of more sacrifices especially if they are occasioned by surprises. 

 Definitely, we need to ask for grace, but we also need to develop a certain discipline that would enable us to truly have a charity, empathy and compassion that have a universal scope. 

 It is also helpful that we avail ourselves of some help from someone who can truly give us guidance in our pursuit for personal conversion. Obviously, in this regard, we need to be open, sincere and transparent, putting all the cards on the table without hiding anything. 

 We have to learn how to discipline our feelings and passions, teaching them to go along the true spirit of charity as Christ himself has shown, commanded and enabled us to have. This can mean that we learn, for example, how to convert difficult and humbling moments into moments of graciousness and magnanimity. 

 In our pursuit to have this kind of charity, we should have the sensation that we are becoming “all things to all men” as St. Paul once said (1 Cor 9,22), willing to “bear one another’s burdens.” (Gal 6,2) This is when we can truly be a Good Samaritan to anyone, whatever may be the circumstance.

All the way to the gates of hell

THAT’S how willing we should go in our apostolic tasks if we truly dedicate ourselves, as we should, to Christ’s continuing work of human redemption. We should not be afraid of anything, the effort, sacrifices and all sorts of contradictions that may be involved along the way. We should do all we can, yes, even going all the way to the gates of hell if only to snatch a soul from entering there. 

 Christ already warned us that we will be like “sheep in the midst of wolves” in this world. In pursuing this mission, he told us to be “wise as serpents yet simple as doves.” (cfr. Mt 10,16) We should not be naïve, we should not be afraid to get dirty. We have to be tough and learn how not to be scandalized by anything in this life. 

 If we truly are good and saintly, we would not be scandalized by any evil that can hound us. It’s not that we are not affected by evil. Like anybody else, we are. At least, we would be annoyed and can get angry. We can even try to seek justice and retribution to anyone who might have done us wrong. But we would not respond evil with another evil. 

 Like Christ, we would know how to bear evil patiently. And more than that, like Christ we would be aroused to correct evil with charity, and even to love those who cause us evil. We would try to correct them with charity and seek their conversion. That is what is most important to carry out. 

 And even with those who have no more hope of conversion, like the evil spirits who already have made their definite choice to go against God and everything that comes from God, like Christ we would refuse to fall into hatred or any form of evil. We may have to defend ourselves against them, as we should, but we would not be baited to fall into lack of charity. 

 As Christ said, we have to love even our enemies. (cfr. Mt 5,44) So we have to be most careful when in our pursuit for goodness and holiness, we end up hating those who are not good and holy and who give us trouble. 

 That kind of goodness and holiness is not the goodness and holiness of God. They would be fake, and are based simply on our own gratuitous and unjustified ideas of goodness and holiness. It would be the goodness and holiness of the prude persons, the puritans, the self-righteous and hypocrites, etc. 

 We really need to learn how to suffer. The massive problem we have now is precisely that many of us do not know how to suffer. We complain and cry even at the slightest touch of suffering. We become sad and fall into a hard case of depression. Self-pity and idle passivity can dominate us, sinking us into a spiral of problems and predicaments. 

 Learning how to suffer is an art and skill that is available if we only care to notice. It’s all there as clear as noonday, its cause and meaning precisely defined, its antidote and vaccine abundantly provided. Our Christian faith sheds tremendous light on this mystery of our life. Christ is showing us the way, and is actually empowering us. 

 The most important thing to always keep in mind is do everything to bring souls back to God. We should not shy away from this mission, because God himself will do it with us if we would just care to cooperate with him.

How to be both idealistic and realistic

THESE should be the abiding traits we ought to have in this life. Given the fact that we are just having a pilgrimage toward our eternal destination in this life, we should see to it that we don’t lose sight of the idealism meant for us as well as the realism that properly considers the realities on the ground that we have to contend with on our way to our final destination. 

 And the way to combine these traits is simply to be like Christ or to be with Christ. Christ presents to us the highest ideal meant for us as well as “the way, the truth and the life” so we can successfully traverse this valley of tears and trials that we have in this world. 

 Idealism and realism need not be in contrast with each other, as many people tend to consider them. They ought to be united, since our life in this world, as has been said so many times, is like a journey toward our eternal destination. 

 It’s important that as much as possible we sharpen our idealistic attitude toward life, aiming at no less than what God wants us to be, i.e., for us to be like him, sharers of his life and very nature. We should nourish this idealism constantly, ridding it of false values and goals that many times are presented to us by some ideologies, cultures, etc., and overcoming whatever disbelief we have about it. 

 This idealism presented to us by Christ should be the dream of our dreams which we should pursue without pause as much as possible. If we pursue it with Christ, we would see that our dreams will, in fact, fall short, since Christ gives us much more than what we can expect to reach or achieve. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency not to anchor our idealism on Christ. That’s when we can tend to build some kind of ivory tower, enclosing ourselves in our own ideas, theories and doctrines that, while useful to a certain extent, will always need to be adapted properly to the objective realities on the ground. 

 That’s when we become armchair players in the drama of life, not realizing that ideas, theories and doctrines are no cold, frozen things, but are meant to be dynamic, subject always to some development, deepening, and evolution. 

 In our hot pursuit for the ultimate goal of our life, we should also be realistic. In this, we just have to follow what Christ once said: “Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” (Mt 10,16) 

 It’s indeed an overwhelming combination! But hard and even impossible as it may seem, we just have to try our best to achieve such condition, obviously with God’s grace, because as Christ himself warned us, in this world we would be like sheep in the midst of wolves. We just have to be clever without compromising our human and Christian integrity. 

 Is it possible? Is it achievable? We can always ask these questions, but in the end, we just have to reconcile ourselves with what Christ is telling us, since he himself will do it for us and with us. All we have to do is try our best to be like him who precisely epitomizes this most intriguing blend of shrewdness and simplicity. 

 Definitely this is a combination that will be very challenging for us to develop. But we can always try, like taking one step at a time in pursuing this goal. For this, we may have to spend some time studying on how to develop it, coming out with some plans and resolutions along the way.

When our dormant weaknesses get enkindled

WE have to be wary of this possibility. Given how things are nowadays, we should be prepared to deal with this phenomenon that, sad to say, is getting more common. We should realize that instead of feeling sad when such thing occurs in us, we should rather somehow welcome it, since it is an opportunity and an invitation to grow more in the virtues and to make progress in our pursuit for both human and Christian maturity. 

 As St. Paul once assured us, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8,28) Yes, the secret is always to refer these occurrences to God. We should never dare to deal with them solely by our own selves, relying only on our own strength that can only go so far. 

 We should not be surprised that we have these dormant weaknesses. These are our vulnerabilities that have been hidden or inactive because we have managed to put them under control so far, or because we simply did not realize we have them. 

 We may have impressive talents and other qualities, but let’s not forget that we all have “feet of clay.” (cfr. Dan 2,33) Just a little disturbance, and the whole edifice of our humanity would just crumble down. 

 When our dormant weaknesses get stirred up, the first thing to do is to pray, to refer them to God, asking for help and strength. And then let’s do all that are needed to confront this problem properly. 

 Obviously, we would need some concrete help from outside. We should not just handle this thing on our own. We need counselling and accompaniment, both human and supernatural, material and spiritual. 

 There’s always hope even in our worst scenario. And that’s because God never leaves us, but continues to love and care for us, in spite of all. He gives us everything we need to handle this situation. 

 We should be quick to realize this truth of our faith, and act accordingly. Let’s avoid aggravating the situation by avoiding falling into discouragement, depression or self-isolation, a fertile ground for the devil to tempt us into worse conditions. The devil obviously wants us to be alienated as much as possible from God and from others. Rather, like the prodigal son, let’s return to God asking for mercy which he readily gives. 

 We should not doubt that we have our human and worldly limits. And yet in spite of that, neither can we doubt that deep within us is, at least, the desire to go beyond our limitations. And there’s objective basis for that desire. 

 We have to learn how to react according to our Christian faith when our dormant weaknesses get enkindled. We should never just rely on our own estimation of things that would often lead us to be scandalized, to feel bad and discouraged, and to run away from the one who precisely can resolve everything for us, including those problems we cannot anymore resolve. 

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God even as we do our best to develop the appropriate virtues and norms of prudence. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

Learning the art of sifting and discerning

WITH the way the world us currently developing, with so many things coming out that can easily grab our attention and interest, we really would need to hone our skills at sifting and discerning, since these developments can easily give us a lot of dangers even if initially they can offer, or at least, promise to give us a lot of good. 

 These are skills that are urgently needed these days. With so many things competing for our attention, we need to know which ones we ought to give priority or which ones are truly God’s will for us. We cannot deny that there are many things that can look like they come from God but are not. 

 For this, the first thing to do is always to be guarded, and not just allow ourselves to be easily held captive by the many charms these new developments offer. We need to be clear about what the real and ultimate purpose of our life is, that is, to be properly anchored and focused, so that no matter how things go, we would not get lost or confused. 

 To be properly anchored and focused means to have God as the be-all and end-all in all our human activities and affairs. More specifically, to have love for God and for everybody else as the motivating principle of our life. 

 That’s when we would be able to distinguish what is essential from what is non-essential, what has absolute value from what only has relative value. We would have a proper sense of priority that would guard us from falling into self-indulgence which is actually the very opposite of true love. 

 Let’s never forget that we have a very strong tendency toward self-indulgence. That is why Christ clearly told us that for us to follow him, which is what is proper to us, we need to deny ourselves and to carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 We should not ignore this clear indication Christ gave his disciples. We have to strongly convince ourselves that such indication never undermines our humanity. What it would rather do is to purify our humanity, put it on the right path in pursuit of our ultimate goal, and eventually elevate it to the very life and nature of God himself as we are meant to have. 

 This habit of self-denial would enable us to do God’s work, which is actually meant for us as his children, sharers of his life and nature, while being easily flexible and adaptive to the varying challenges and circumstances of the times. We have to be wary of our tendency to be trapped into some closed system of routine, if not to be imprisoned in our comfort-zone. 

 Self-denial will obviously involve certain detachment from things. That is why we should intensify our union with Christ as we immerse ourselves in the things of this world. We can do that if we know how to pray always, converting everything into a form of prayer, a form of engaging ourselves with God. 

 For this, we certainly need to train ourselves and to acquire a certain discipline, so that our union with Christ would be kept alive. We have to realize that our life is supposed to be always a life with Christ and for Christ. 

 Only then can we learn how to bear all things to achieve the fruitfulness of Christ who gained our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection. The paradox of dying in order to be fruitful would become a reality in our life.

With faith, miracles can happen

THAT’S the conclusion we can draw from that gospel episode where a woman with a 12-year illness was cured instantly, and a dead girl was made to rise back to life again. (cfr. Mt 9,18-26) 

 These two miraculous events highlight Christ’s power, showing us how a strong faith can have a transformative power, and how Christ, without doubt, has authority over death. Both events reinforce Christ’s identity as our Savior, and that he is capable of healing what is sick, restoring what is lost, and ultimately conquering death itself. 

 These two events also show how compassionate and merciful Christ is towards the suffering and the desperate. They also highlight the fact that Christ always responds to our needs of healing and restoration, a clear expression of love. 

 But we have to remember that it is faith that would let us enter the spiritual and supernatural world, enabling us to receive God’s favor, and letting us share in God’s wisdom and power. Remember those stirring words of Christ: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from there, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you.” (Mt 17,20) 

 Without faith, in spite of our keenest intelligence, we will miss much of the more important aspects of our life as we would only be restricted to the here and now, the material and the temporal. We would be left with our own human devices that can only do so much. 

 Especially in our special needs and persistent human miseries that nowadays are getting more common, we need to follow the example of the men and women, the blind, the lame, the deaf, the sick, etc., who did all to get close to Christ and to beg. Some even had to climb to the roof and cut a portion there to be able to be near Christ. 

 This is the pattern we have to follow. We have to eagerly seek Christ and importune him with all our might, accompanying our pleas with external signs of our fervent faith and love for him. 

 We need to understand that as the very beginning of our life with God, our life in the Spirit which is a supernatural life more than just a natural life, our Christian faith has to be taken care of, nourished and developed to full maturity. 

 We need to be more aware of this duty and develop the appropriate attitude and skills to carry out this responsibility effectively. We have to go beyond mere good intentions or being merely theoretical in order to be truly practical and vitally engaged with this obligation. 

 Faith is a tremendous gift from God who starts to share with us what he has, what he knows about himself and about ourselves. It gives us the global picture of reality, covering both the temporal and the eternal, the material and the spiritual, the natural and supernatural dimensions of our life. 

 Faith contains the medicine and the remedy to all our spiritual inadequacies and illnesses. It is what is required for miracles to happen, as attested many times in the Gospel. 

 Yes, it is only with a strong and insistent faith that we can see the impossible becoming possible, and to see and even experience the many marvels God always likes do for us. Miracles happen even up to now because God’s love and care for us never ends!

Abundant harvest but few laborers

THAT gospel episode where Christ appointed 72 other disciples and sent them to places where Christ intended to visit (cfr. Lk 10,1-12.17-20) reminds us that if we too consider ourselves as disciples of Christ, we should also realize that this commissioning is also addressed to us. 

 We need to give utmost attention to this task because first of all, as disciples of Christ, we cannot help but also get involved in the continuing work of human redemption of Christ. He is practically begging us to do so, especially when he said: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” 

 That’s because if we are truly Christians, we should be involved in Christ’s mission here on earth. Christ’s mission and concerns should also be ours. We have to realize that Christ treats us the way he treats himself precisely because we are patterned after him. 

 That’s also why we have been endowed with intelligence and will which, together always with God’s grace, would enable us to know and love others the way Christ loves all of us. And in this regard, we know that Christ’s love goes all the way to offering his life for us. That’s how we should love one another. That’s how we as disciples of his should be willing to love everybody, including our enemies. 

 In that gospel episode, Christ told his disciples of what they should only bring along, as well as the difficulties and dangers they should expect along the way. “I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals,” he said, somehow making them to understand that he would take care of whatever conditions they might find themselves in pursuing this task. 

 Yes, there would be suffering, but in the end, Christ would know how to turn everything negative into something constructive and redemptive. He was implying that he would be sharing his powers with them. As it turned out, the disciples where amazed at what they accomplished. "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name," they said. 

 We have to realize more sharply that we need to be burning with zeal in carrying out our apostolic duty. That’s because the apostolic panorama and challenge is getting increasingly tremendous and complicated. Yes, we should always ask for God’s grace to fulfill this duty, but we need to acquire the appropriate attitudes and skills as well. 

 Nowadays, with all the absorbing developments around, it is very easy for us to think that we are doing many things when, in fact, we are falling into the deceptive dynamics of self-indulgence. 

 We have to be most wary of this danger that is clearly becoming widespread. Self-indulgence is a constant threat, especially these days when good and evil are so mixed up that we would mostly likely be left confused and easily taken by sweet poisons that today’s new things readily offer. 

 We need to be very discriminating in dealing with these new developments, knowing how to discern what is good and useful for the apostolate from what can simply be a distraction which can appear to us also as something useful. The ways of evil usually assume the appearance of some good. 

 Thus, we should try to come out with a concrete apostolic plan everyday, so that however things go during the day, we can have clear apostolic goal to pursue, and thus fulfill the task Christ is entrusting us.