“Not to destroy souls, but to save”

THAT’S what Christ told his disciples, James and John, who, feeling aghast that the Samaritans were not welcoming to Christ, suggested that fire come down from heaven to consume them. (cfr. Lk 9,51-56) Of course, Christ rebuked them, telling them straight that they did not have the right spirit. 

 The proper spirit is precisely what Christ showed them and to all of us which is that of all-out charity, full of understanding, mercy and magnanimity. It’s a charity that can continue loving even the enemies and would enable one to continue serving everyone even to the extent of giving one’s life as a ransom for all of us. (cfr. Mk 10,45) 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to fall into what is termed as bitter zeal. While it’s true that we should try to be always zealous in our life, we have to make sure that our zeal is righteous, holy and charitable, not bitter, with a clear and proper sense of purpose, not just aimless. 

 Righteous zeal is always respectful of legal, juridical and most importantly of moral standards, especially that of charity and mercy. Bitter zeal wants instant results while ignoring legal and moral requirements, let alone the requirements of charity and mercy. It may pursue a valid cause, working for truth and justice, but without taking care of the appropriate means. 

 Bitter zeal makes a person hasty and reckless in his assessment of things. It fails to consider all angles, to listen to both sides, so to speak. He is prone to imprudence. In the end, it’s animated by the evil spirit of self-righteousness. 

 Inflammatory, incendiary words are its main weapons. Being belligerent is its style. It relishes in rousing controversies and sowing intrigues. It’s actually not as interested in looking for the objective truth and justice as carrying out one’s own personal agenda. 

 Especially when we engage ourselves in matters of opinion, we have to learn to practice restraint and moderation since no one has the exclusive ownership of what is right and fair. Opinions are views that are hardly based on absolute truths of faith and dogmas. They are more expressions of one’s preferences and tastes, and therefore we should expect a wide spectrum of differences, since things depend on people’s different temperaments, backgrounds, cultures, etc. 

 We have to learn how “bear each other’s burdens” as suggested by St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians (6,2). It’s the surefire formula of how to live genuine charity, one that is down to earth and easily and abidingly doable. 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to be magnanimous, knowing how to suffer since suffering is an unavoidable consequence of evil. Magnanimity is part of the charity as described by Christ. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” he said. (Mt 5,44) “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…” 

 We need to enlarge our heart, to make it more universal to accommodate everyone and any situation and condition properly. We should evade being caught by the grip of our strong views, and even our positions that we think are so essential that they are not anymore subject to opinion. 

 We have to see to it that our thoughts, desires and intentions, our words and deeds are always animated by charity. There should no negative elements in them. We have to have a good grip on our emotions, able to dominate and properly orient our biases, preferences and other idiosyncracies that constitute our differences and even conflicts with others. We have to learn to focus more on what we have in common rather than what divides us. We have to learn how to dialogue with everyone.

The world of spirits

ON the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, celebrated on September 29, we are reminded of this mostly overlooked world of spirits, mainly composed of angels and demons. What is even more disturbing is the personal impression that more people seem to be more aware and concerned about demons than about angels. 

 We need to strengthen our belief and awareness of the great help angels can offer us. They actually are powerful and very benevolent beings who play a very significant role in our life, providing us with protection, guidance and even communication with the divine. They make themselves effective intermediaries or messengers who carry out the divine will for our own good, offering us support in our earthly sojourn. 

 Angels are always attentive to our needs, even when we are unaware of them. They help us to face challenges, trials and difficulties in our life. They can inspire acts of love, compassion and forgiveness, especially in those moments when we find it hard to do them. 

 Regarding the archangels, our Christian faith considers them as powerful intermediaries between God and man. They are made as messengers of God for a specific purpose, playing a crucial role in guiding, inspiring and safeguarding individuals and the world in general. 

 The Archangel Gabriel, for example, was made to deliver a very important message of God to the Blessed Virgin that occasioned the very conception of the Son of God, our Redeemer, in the virginal womb of Our Lady. 

 The Archangel Michael is made as our powerful protector against evil spirits. He is actually seen as the warrior who leads the heavenly hosts against the forces of evil. He is considered a protector of the Church. He is also regarded as the angel of death who guides souls to the afterlife. 

 The Archangel Raphael, whose name means “God’s remedy,” was the one who helped the youth Tobias to carry out the errand of his father and to meet his wife and rid her of demonic possession, as well as healed the blindness of Tobit, Tobias’ father. (cfr. Tobit 12) We can just imagine what he can do for us! Thus, he is often associated with healing and often invoked for physical and emotional well-being. 

 It’s important that we be aware of the existence of these very powerful archangels who, for sure, would be most willing and most happy to help us in their own way. We just have to enliven our faith in them and develop the appropriate devotion. 

 Many great saints have benefited from the help of these archangels. For one, St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, entrusted to them the tremendous apostolic work he and the faithful of Opus Dei have to carry out till the end of time. 

 It would be good if we train ourselves to develop an intimate relationship with them. To be sure, only good things can come out of such relationship! They definitely would be a great help in our most important duty of seeking holiness and of cooperating with Christ in the on-going work of human redemption. 

 We cannot overemphasize the tremendous challenges we face in these areas and we should just seek the help of these very powerful allies who are all to willing to help us. We should just grow in our faith in them, supporting it with the appropriate acts of piety and devotion.

The “good life” can be a sweet poison

THAT gospel parable about the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus, reminds us of the danger of the so-called “good life” where due to our status, privileges and other endowments, we tend to live in our own world and can become indifferent and insensitive to the needs of the others. (cfr. Lk 16,19-31) 

 Let’s be reminded that the privileges, favors and blessings we enjoy in life are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. 

 We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. 

 This, sad to say, seems to be a common phenomenon these days. It can affect everyone, of course, but it especially affects the young ones who appear to be more privileged than those in the previous generations because of the many new things they are learning and enjoying now. And they feel entitled. 

 We should banish this temptation as soon as it makes its appearance felt in us. On the contrary, we should follow the example of Christ who, in spite of who he was, just wanted to serve. 

 We should develop the intense desire to have a special concern for those who have less in life, like the simple and the weak, the sick and disabled, the children and the poor. 

 This truth of our faith is somehow highlighted in that gospel episode where Christ preached about the need to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven, to care and not to despise the little children, and his intent was always to look after the lost sheep, regardless of the cost and effort involved. (cfr. Mt 18,1-5.10.12-14) 

 If we are truly Christian, we should have true and abiding compassion toward everyone, especially the poor and the needy. But we have to understand that compassion should have a universal coverage. It should not be limited to the sentimental aspects of things, nor simply the relieving of the economic and material needs of people alone. 

 It should cover the whole range of human needs in their proper order of importance, foremost of which is our need for God. We have to learn to distinguish between the pressing and precious needs of man, and to cope with the tension that sometimes arises in our effort to put these two kinds of human needs together. 

 When we happen to have the “good life,” we should take the initiative to look for ways of how to get involved more in the lives of others, helping them in any way. Like Christ, our heart should flow always with compassion, quick to notice the needs of others and to respond to them. 

 It’s an example that we should all try to imitate. One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of thinking always of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help. 

 It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about.

Always hope in God

NO matter what happens, we should always continue hoping in God, since God never fails. His love for us remains constant in spite of our infidelities, failures and sins. In fact, it is in these predicaments that his love for us gets even more desirous as dramatized in the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep and the prodigal son. 

 Yes, there’s always hope even in our worst condition. If Christ can resurrect the dead, the worst condition that we can find ourselves in, what else can he not do to save us? 

 Even if we are rotten to the core in terms of our speech and behavior, there is always hope. And so, we just have to be patient which does not mean that we do nothing. We have a lot to do, because God’s grace and mercy would have no effect if we are not receptive to them by at least making an effort to correspond to his will. 

 We need to foster this hope as we go through the rapidly changing circumstances brought about by all sorts of developments, personal, social, political, economic, technological, etcetera. We need to foster this hope as we face new things that can be mysterious to us, especially at the beginning. 

 Our hope should be properly based. We cannot simply root them out by our human powers alone and the many other resources provided by nature. They are never enough to tackle with what we have to tackle, since we have to contend not only with material and natural goals and challenges, but also spiritual and supernatural ones. 

 A hope based on God surely delivers, though it can have God’s ways of delivering that are mysterious and therefore puzzling and disturbing to us. Just the same, we just have to learn to flow with God’s ways. 

 Thus, a certain amount of detachment and abandonment is needed here. We cannot be sure of everything. But with that hope based on God, even in our mistakes and failures, we would be brought to where we should be, and that is, with him and our eternal destination, beyond whatever mundane and temporal fate we may have here. 

 Remember St. Paul’s words: “All things work together for the good for those who love God.” (Rom 8,28) Of course, loving God presumes hope, for without hope we cannot love God truly. 

 And so, let’s not be unduly entangled with earthly things. Yes, it’s true that we have to be immersed in our temporal affairs, for after all, they are also the means and occasions that would somehow determine our eternal destiny. But they themselves are not what would bring about our eternal destiny. It’s God’s grace whose mysterious ways we just have to learn to correspond as best that we can. 

 Our correspondence to God’s grace may have all sorts of defects and imperfections, but as long as it’s done with good faith, with our best efforts that can always be better, with eagerness to say sorry and to make up when we commit mistakes, I suppose God, being a very good father to all of us, will understand and pick us up where we fall or where we are found wanting. 

 There’s no point belaboring our failures and defects. God’s mercy will take care of everything as long as we at least are open to God’s mercy. We need to work on our conviction that we are children of God so that we do not fall into unnecessary fears and doubts as to how our earthly affairs and our life itself would go. Fail or succeed, they will always be for the good.

Beware of our unholy curiosities

WE have to be guarded against this danger that is becoming more common, especially considering that we are now having practically a bombardment of new things that can easily trigger our curiosity. 

 We are reminded of this danger in that gospel episode where Herod was curious about Christ after hearing so much about him, and was eager to see him. (cfr. Lk 9,7-9) We know that his curiosity was motivated more by fear and envy than by anything else. 

 We have to see to it that our curiosity should be anchored on knowing God more and more and on how we can follow his will and ways. Outside of that motive, we can only be playing with fire. 

 We know that we are by nature curious. That’s how we start our quest for knowledge. Let us just remember that there are two basic kinds of curiosity, the good one and the bad one, the healthy one and the unhealthy one, one that is inspired by love for God and others and another that is simply driven by self-love and self-indulgence. 

 We need to examine ourselves as to the kind of curiosity we have, and let us try to choose the right one. The good one will always bring us closer to God and to others. It will increase our love for them and our willingness to serve them, regardless of the effort and cost it may involve. 

 The bad one usually can give us instant perks but in the end traps us in a very subjective, self-indulgent world. It is prone to be simply idle, since it would lead us to be oblivious to our duty towards God and others. In a sense, it is like a sweet poison. 

 To have curiosities is a normal thing to have. But we just have to see to it that our curiosities are purified and properly directed. That way we would know whether to pursue them or not. And if we have to pursue them, we also would know how to do it. We just cannot allow our curiosities to lead us by mere spontaneous and mindless reactions. 

 Let’s always keep in mind that our curiosities usually start at the sensible level. What we see, hear or feel would provoke us to be curious about a certain thing. Or they can start also at the intellectual level. What we already know and understand can trigger further curiosities. 

 It’s good to be continually curious, since that is how we grow in the different aspects of our life. We just have to make sure that they are properly managed. And even before managing them, that they are properly motivated and derived. 

 Yes, there are curiosities that just break into our consciousness by accident. These happen more often among the young. But as we grow older and accumulate more knowledge and experience, we will realize that our curiosities become more intentional than accidental. 

 What we need to do is to see to it that our curiosities are always referred to God. They should not be allowed to follow a Godless path. That would be inviting danger. With God, we would know if our curiosities have a valid reason to be pursued. We would know where these curiosities originated, whether from him, or from our flesh, the world, or the devil. 

 With God, we would know what proper resources we can use to pursue these curiosities, as well as how to handle the other weaknesses that may be triggered and stirred because of them. These can be our weaknesses of pride, vanity, lust, greed, etc. 

 In other words, we would be exercising the virtue of prudence in dealing with our curiosities. We would tame them, purifying and directing them to our proper end.

Total detachment and apostolic life

IF ever we wonder why Christ told his apostles to take nothing with them when they were sent out to preach the Kingdom of God (cfr. Lk 9,1-6), one plausible answer is that that was how Christ went about his redemptive mission. He took nothing with him, starting with his own birth in a manger all the way to his burial in a borrowed sepulcher. And in his journeys, he simply depended on what his friends gave him. 

 If the apostles—and then we, if we want also to be Christ’s apostles as we should—were to truly follow Christ, then they and we should have the same lifestyle as that of Christ. This will make sure that our whole life would be fully dedicated to continue the redemptive mission of Christ, pursuing it with seamless continuity and consistency. 

 It will avoid being diluted with merely earthly ulterior motives. It will be fully focused on the spiritual and supernatural goal of our life. Whatever temporal good we can encounter in our mission should only be a consequence of pursuing our apostolic mission. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to get entangled in earthly goods and treasures, which is always a proximate danger because we—clerics, especially—can easily be lavished with money by the people. We need to be constantly guarded against this danger. We should have nothing superfluous in our life. This lifestyle would actually free us from unnecessary burden in carrying out our apostolic duty. 

 Another plausible answer why Christ told his apostles to take nothing with them in their apostolic work is that it would only be in this kind of life when the tremendous powers Christ gave his apostles can be properly exercised. 

 According to the gospel, Christ gave his apostles the power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases and heal the sick. These powers can only be exercised if one has the very mind and spirit of Christ. Let us do our part in corresponding to this stupendous truth of our faith. 

 And the only way to do that is to give our all to God. Let us be generous and magnanimous as God is overwhelmingly generous and magnanimous with all of us. There has to be that mutual dynamic of love and self-giving that has been initiated by God himself. God loves us first, and we have to learn to love him in return, a love that is also expressed in loving everybody just as God loves everybody irrespective of how they are! 

 This is a call to generosity. “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give,” Christ told us. (Mt 10,8) Christ himself embodied this principle when he, being God, became man, and not contented with that, he went to the extent of offering his life to conquer all our sins. He finally gave himself to us in the sacraments, especially in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is a real madness of love. 

 Everyday, let us grow in our identification with Christ. Let’s hope that slowly but steadily and surely we can feel the conviction that we are becoming “other Christ” (alter Christus), if not “Christ himself” (ipse Christus). 

 Let’s not be afraid of the effort and the sacrifices involved in this process. It will all be worthwhile. If we truly try to identify ourselves with Christ, we would be confident that Christ himself would give us the same peace and joy that he had as he went through his own passion and death on the cross.

How we can be Christ’s brothers and sisters

CHRIST defined it very clearly. When told that his mother, Mary, was in the crowd wanting to see him while he was preaching, he said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” (Lk 8,21) 

 It was not, of course, meant to demean his mother, but rather to praise her. That’s because if there was anyone who fitted perfectly the description of who his mother and brothers were, it could be none other than Mary. She heard the word of God and acted on it consistently and to the limit. 

 We, too, if we want to be a member of God’s family, should learn how to hear the word of God and to act on it all the time. This will take a lot of effort, together of course with God’s grace, for us to achieve, given the way we are. That is why we have to start to do something about this as early as possible. 

 The first thing to do is to know where we can hear the word of God and how we can act on it. It’s actually knowing and acting on God’s will every moment of our life. God’s will is known by studying the doctrine of our faith. What can also help is to be familiar with the living testimonies of saints who had managed to know, love and obey God’s will. 

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

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

 That’s because he is always intervening in our life. It’s a matter therefore of discerning it by having presence of God all throughout the day, if not, a conversation where we can ask him directly what he wants us to do in any given moment. 

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

 We have to remember that our will is meant to be engaged with the will of God, its creator and lawgiver. Our will is the very power we have been given by God that enables us to unite ourselves with God in the most intimate way. All the other aspects of our life are also governed by God-given laws but, by themselves they cannot bring us into intimate union with God, unless moved by our will that is animated by God’s grace. 

 We cannot and should not expropriate our will to simply be our own. We are meant only to be stewards of it, not its owner nor its designer, creator and lawgiver. It has to submit itself to the will of God, otherwise it would be working without proper foundation and purpose. 

 Everyday, we have to find practical ways of how we can unite our will with God’s will. Our will should not just be floating around on its own, thinking that it is how it enjoys its freedom. Let’s be careful with that mindset which, unfortunately, is very common these days.

We are meant to give and share

THAT’S the lesson we can get when Christ said that “no one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.” (Lk 8,16) 

 And he continued by saying that “there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light,” practically warning us that there is really no point keeping secrets because in the end everything will be known. 

 We should be as transparent as possible. The only exception is when, given our limited and wounded human condition, we need to practice some discretion since certain matters are subject to confidentiality for one legitimate reason or another. 

 And then Christ rounded up the whole thing by saying that “to anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” This obviously is a very clear indication that we really need to give and share what God has given and shared with us. 

 We need to understand that our life, whether considered in its purely natural aspect or in its supernaturally oriented spiritual dimension, that is, particularly our Christian life, is by definition a shared life. It’s a shared life with God and with everybody and everything else. 

 I think we need to be reminded of this fundamental truth about ourselves, since there are now many tricky factors around us that tend to undermine this important character of our life. They make us think our life is just our own. 

 In fact, I would say that we need to develop the skills not only to protect and keep this property of our life, but also to continually reinforce and enhance it. That’s because our life is always a dynamic affair, with new challenges and changing circumstances. 

 We cannot remain naïve and think that our life more or less would just automatically be a shared life. Some people say so, because they claim we cannot avoid sharing our life with others. 

 To a certain extent, that assertion is true. But neither can we be blind to the fact that we and the world in general have ways, often subtle and deceptive, that effectively negate this shared characteristic of our life. 

 But why is our life a shared life? Firstly, because that’s how we are made, how we have been hard-wired. That we have intelligence and will, that we have feelings, memory, imagination, etc., can only show we are meant to be with others, we are meant to go out of our own world. They are not there just for our own private enjoyment. 

 But more importantly, especially for those with Christian faith, it’s because God created us that way. We are the image and likeness of God, elevated through grace to be nothing less than children of his. 

 And since God is love, is self-giving, we therefore cannot be other than that—that is, we are meant to love also and to give ourselves to others. Thus, God’s commandments to us always exhort us to love, first Him, and then everybody else. 

 We actually are sharers of God’s divine life. Of course, with the misuse of our freedom, we can lose that most sublime privilege. But there is no doubt, through faith, that we are meant to share in God’s life. 

 And we should give our all in sharing what we have with God first, and then with everybody else as a consequence!

The “good life” can be a sweet poison

THAT gospel parable about the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus, reminds us of the danger of the so-called “good life” where due to our status, privileges and other endowments, we tend to live in our own world and can become indifferent and insensitive to the needs of the others. (cfr. Lk 16,19-31) 

 Let’s be reminded that the privileges, favors and blessings we enjoy in life are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. 

 We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. 

 This, sad to say, seems to be a common phenomenon these days. It can affect everyone, of course, but it especially affects the young ones who appear to be more privileged than those in the previous generations because of the many new things they are learning and enjoying now. And they feel entitled. 

 We should banish this temptation as soon as it makes its appearance felt in us. On the contrary, we should follow the example of Christ who, in spite of who he was, just wanted to serve. 

 We should develop the intense desire to have a special concern for those who have less in life, like the simple and the weak, the sick and disabled, the children and the poor. 

 This truth of our faith is somehow highlighted in that gospel episode where Christ preached about the need to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven, to care and not to despise the little children, and his intent was always to look after the lost sheep, regardless of the cost and effort involved. (cfr. Mt 18,1-5.10.12-14) 

 If we are truly Christian, we should have true and abiding compassion toward everyone, especially the poor and the needy. But we have to understand that compassion should have a universal coverage. It should not be limited to the sentimental aspects of things, nor simply the relieving of the economic and material needs of people alone. 

 It should cover the whole range of human needs in their proper order of importance, foremost of which is our need for God. We have to learn to distinguish between the pressing and precious needs of man, and to cope with the tension that sometimes arises in our effort to put these two kinds of human needs together. 

 When we happen to have the “good life,” we should take the initiative to look for ways of how to get involved more in the lives of others, helping them in any way. Like Christ, our heart should flow always with compassion, quick to notice the needs of others and to respond to them. 

 It’s an example that we should all try to imitate. One deep desire we should have is that of making as some kind of default mode that attitude of thinking always of the others, wishing them well all the time and doing whatever we can to help. 

 It’s obviously not easy to do, but we can always try. With God’s grace and with our persistent effort, we can little by little and day by day hack it, such that it becomes second nature to us to think and feel for the others. That’s what compassion is all about.

Getting dirty is a fact of life

WE should not be surprised by this reality. No matter how much we try to keep ourselves clean—physically, mentally, spiritually, etc.—we always manage to get dirty in one way or another, sooner or later. That’s part of our limited and wounded condition here in this world where we are expected to go supernatural from natural, spiritual from the merely material, etc. 

 We should just learn how to deal properly with this condition, never losing hope since God, our Father, will always understand us and is eager to offer us mercy and whatever else we need to gain our eternal destiny. 

 We are somehow reminded of this fact of life in that gospel parable where Christ talked about a dishonest steward who, trying to save his employment, had to do some cheating and yet was praised by the master for having the wisdom of the children of the world which is greater than that of the children of light. (cfr. Lk 16,11-13) 

 Obviously, that parable would give rise to the question of whether God, who must have been personified in some way by the rich man, would just be ok with some cheating, with being dishonest, with being calculating as a leverage for one’s personal gain and interest. 

 I suppose what the parable is trying to tell and teach us is that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual. 

 This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance in human justice may be regarded as a saving grace in God’s eyes. 

 We may have to handle dirt in our life and deal with situations that are fraught with moral irregularities, but as long as we do not compromise what is essential, which is love that comes from God as shown by Christ who became like sin without committing sin (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), then things will just turn out ok. 

 In this life, in this world, we just have to be ready to get dirty without compromising what is truly essential in our spiritual life. Evil is unavoidable in this world, and we just have to know how to deal with it, always focused on going toward our eternal destiny with God in heaven. 

 We should not worry too much about the dirt, because we have been given all the assurances that if we are with God, everything would just turn our right. The challenge now is how to handle the many evil things that will always get mixed up with the essential good of this life and of this world that all come from God. 

 Evil does not have the last word, unless we let it. It is the good that will have the last word. And so, we just have to learn how to go through such things as cooperating with evil materially, not formally, if only to change things for the better. 

 We have to learn to distinguish between what is a tolerable cooperation in evil and an intolerable one. With the former, we should feel the obligation to do whatever we can to clean up what is evil in a given situation, system or structure. 

 So, we have to be ready to properly live this unavoidable condition of our life here where evil and its increasingly powerful structures are sprouting around like mushrooms.

The perfection of Christian morality

TO be upfront about this point, it is when we do everything for the glory of God when we can truly achieve the perfection of Christian morality. Our human acts should not just be done to pursue a purely natural goal, no matter how legitimate it is, as in being interested only in achieving efficiency, effectiveness, profitability, etc. It should all be done for the glory of God. 

 Aside from the matter of our human acts, which should in itself be in accordance to God’s laws, 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. Otherwise, they are bad, or at least dangerous. 

 This is so, since God, being the Creator, is the standard for everything. And more than the standard, he is, in fact, the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself. 

 Nothing is good, true and beautiful, nothing is fair and just, nothing is perfect if it is not done with God and for God. In short, we need to refer all our acts to God. We have to make this affirmation very clear in our mind and do everything to make that ideal a reality. 

 It is actually when we do everything for the glory of God that we achieve the best condition of our life, where we can find peace and joy despite the challenges, trials and the possibility of committing mistakes in our life. It is when we do everything for the glory of God that we can work better. 

 We should see to it that we have the proper intention in all our human acts, avoiding simply being 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. 

 We need to actively purify our intentions, since we have to contend with many spoilers in this regard these days. In fact, we just have to look around and see how openly opposed many people are of directing their intentions to God. 

 We really need to train ourselves to make God the beginning and end, the Alpha and Omega, of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We need to rectify our intentions and keep that rectitude all the way to the consummation of those intentions. 

 This will indeed require a lot of discipline. Very often we are simply dominated by worldly values, like efficiency, profitability, practicability, etc., which if not inspired by love for God will always fall short of what is proper to us. 

 Given our unreliable condition, rectifying and purifying our intentions should be a constant concern of ours if we truly are interested in achieving the perfection of Christian morality. 

 In the end, the perfection of Christian morality is when we do things with God and for God. And that means we do things with God’s grace, identifying ourselves fully with him.

Leveraging our sinfulness

IT’S a given that we are all sinners. No matter how much we try to be sinless, we still manage to fall into sin one way or another, sooner or later. We should just acknowledge this condition of ours, and do what we need to do to properly deal with that fact of life. 

 We are assured that God’s mercy is always available. We should not waste time in availing ourselves of it everytime we fall. We know that as dramatized in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son, it is God’s joy to forgive. In fact, our repentance causes, as those parables illustrated, a great joy in heaven. 

 We should just imitate the example of that woman who barged into a dinner party where Christ was and gave him the finer details of devotion by washing his feet with tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with ointment. (cfr. Lk 7,36-50) Christ praised that woman and faulted the host of that dinner party for being judgmental. 

 That woman used her sinfulness and the mercy she received from Christ to show great love and devotion to Christ. This is what we should also do, considering that we too are doubtlessly recipients of God’s mercy for our sinfulness. That would help us to be more consistent in our love for God, and to grow stronger and more resistant to our weaknesses and the many temptations around. 

 We can always expect God’s mercy no matter how grave our sins are. Precisely, St. Paul expressed this truth when he said: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom 5,20) It’s always worthwhile to keep this assurance of St. Paul in mind given our earthly condition that is so prone to temptations and sins. 

 We should just acknowledge our sinfulness which is a clear mark of a good, humble, if not a holy a person. When one acknowledges his own faults and weaknesses, and more so, of his own mistakes and sins, he is truly getting real and is not deluding himself into living a self-contained, make-believe world. 

 And if he does something about them, being sorry and atoning for them, learning from them and developing the appropriate virtues, then he is corresponding to God’s will, which is what is most important in our life. 

 This is the beauty of this attitude which we should try our best to cultivate in ourselves. Acknowledging our sinfulness attracts God to us. Ever full of mercy and compassion, as shown by Christ himself, God can never be indifferent to our weaknesses and predicaments. He will rush to help and comfort us, and will always offer forgiveness. 

 We should also remember that Christ has a special affection for those who have fallen into sin. He may be angered as an initial reaction, but mercy will always prevail. He would be willing to go to great lengths just to save a sinner. 

 On our part, we should be quick to go to Christ whenever we fall. We may feel shame and fear at the beginning, but we should try to overcome that merely human reaction as quickly as possible. We should let the truth of faith about God’s mercy guide us. 

 Acknowledging our sinfulness does us a lot of good. It deepens our humility, keeps us simple and prevents us from falling into further complications, leading us to a working spirit of penance that would purify us and make up for our sins. It puts us in the proper condition for further spiritual growth, giving us greater intimacy with God and closer relationship with others.

“Wisdom is vindicated by all his children”

THAT was the conclusion Christ drew from what he told the men of his time. (cfr. Lk 7,31-35) “To what shall I compare the people of this generation?” he asked. “They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’” 

 Then he continued: “For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” 

 The same observation can also be found today. And it’s even a worse scenario. Instead of following the teaching of Christ and now of the Church, many are into flagrant self-indulgence, covered with all sorts of distractions, helplessly entrapped in worldly things. The things of God, the concern for eternal life, for a supernatural life, for sanctification, etc., are simply thrown out of the window. 

 Here, Christ defines what true wisdom is. It’s precisely in following the teachings and the ways of Christ. It’s not just knowing the Christ’s teachings, but rather in putting these teachings into practice. 

 We really need to declare an unrelenting war against our self-indulgence which has become a very formidable problem we all have. Yes, this has always been a problem to us, but these days it is much more so. 

 With the many new wonderful things that can instantly give us convenience, comfort, pleasure and satisfaction, many of us are trapped into the very sticky web of obsessions, addictions and the many other forms of self-indulgence that feed on our weaknesses, like lust, pride, conceit, gluttony, unhinged curiosities, envy, etc., etc. 

 We just have to give a cursory look around to see how bad this problem is. Many people are just looking at their cellphones most of the time. There are reports saying that many young people often forget their meals and lose sleep because of what they do in the Internet. It’s clear they are terribly hooked there and it seems it’s now next to the impossible to get them out of there. 

 As a result, many duties and responsibilities are left unattended. Disorder and chaos are fast gaining ground as priorities are skewed. Superficiality has now become a mainstream lifestyle, reinforcing the trend toward consumerism, materialism where ethical and moral considerations are ignored or even flouted, i.e., regarded with contempt. 

 Yes, many people are now living in their own world, detached from the realities of life. Their spiritual and social life, their relation with God and with others are now all but non-existent. At best, they give only appearances of these unavoidable aspects of life, enough to meet at least certain external expectations. 

 Our sanctification should be a constant concern of ours. For this, we just have to see to it that everything in our life—our work, for example—should have as its main purpose the achievement of holiness, and not just the fulfillment of some technical requirements and the attainment of some worldly goals, no matter how legitimate they are. 

 And the secret is always to do everything with Christ and for the glory of God. We should not just do anything with our own intention and on our own effort alone, because such way of doing things negates the plan that God, our Father and Creator, has for us. We should be guarded always against this strong tendency of ours to do things simply on our own. 

 This is how we can have true wisdom!

God’s love and mercy have the last say

THAT’S what we can draw from that gospel episode where Christ brought to life the dead son of a widow in the city of Nain. (cfr. Lk 7,11-17) He was just passing by, and he saw the dead body carried away for burial. Without asking any question, he was moved with compassion and then proceeded to resurrect the dead body, returning the son to his mother. 

 Of course, the people were floored with amazement. As the gospel narrates, “fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has arisen in our midst,’ and ‘God has visited his people.’” (Lk 7,16) 

 With this gospel episode, we have basis to believe that no matter how we are in our life, in the end it will be God’s love and mercy that will have the last say. No questions asked! 

 And this belief can be reinforced by what St. Paul once said: “Where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly.” (Rom 5,20) Even more, we should not forget that right at the moment when Christ was about to die on the cross, he offered forgiveness to those who crucified him. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23,34) 

 This should give us a lot confidence in our life where, in spite of our efforts, we cannot help but fall into some anomaly and sin, one way or another, sooner or later. This confidence in God’s love and mercy, however, should not lead us to take things easy and, worse, to abuse God’s goodness. 

 They should rather prod us to ever do our best in following God’s will and ways. And when we fall, we should be quick to recover by asking for forgiveness and for making atonement for our sins. 

 We should remember that while God’s love and mercy will have the last say, the requirements of justice will never be set aside. But it’s a justice that is divine, always animated by compassion and mercy.  

 Why is that so? The plausible answer is that no matter how we behave in this life, we continue to be God’s children. It’s like in any normal family. The children may be misbehaving, but the parents, while clarifying things and perhaps giving some measure of punishment, will always love their children. They will do everything to save their children. 

 And that is what God is precisely doing with us. And he now wants us to be like him. That’s why Christ said: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34) And that love for one another is precisely expressed in its ultimate form when Christ said: “Forgive and you shall be forgiven.” (Mt 6,14) That’s why Christ also said that we should not forgive only 7 times, but 70 times 7, meaning always. (cfr. Mt 18,21-22) 

 At the end of the day, justice has to give way to mercy. If we follow Christ, this is what we should do. In his most unfair trial, Christ remained silent when he could have defended himself abundantly. But he remained quiet and allowed the erratic wheel of human justice to roll on. 

 He did it only for one sole purpose—to redeem us. He had to pay for the debt we could not pay. He had to assume all the sins of men, die to them so that with his resurrection, we also would have a way to recover our dignity as children of God if we also die with Christ.

Sorrow vs. sadness

ON the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, liturgically celebrated on September 15 that immediately follows the celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we are reminded, with the help of Our Lady, about the distinction between sorrow and sadness that can befall us anytime. 

 It is important that we know this distinction so that we would also know how to handle these two conditions that definitely can significantly affect our lives. First of all, we should realize that we are meant to be joyful always, irrespective of how things go. And this can only take place if we truly are with Christ who said: 

 “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15,10-11) 

 We need to see to it that we manage to be with joy, the joy of Christ, especially when we encounter the unavoidable suffering in this life. Joy is actually what is proper to us. This is where the distinction between sadness and sorrow can be made. 

 St. Thomas Aquinas once said that “sadness is a vice caused by a disordered self-love, and this self-love is not a special vice, but the general root of the vices.” We need to distinguish it from sorrow which is a kind of low feeling over the loss of someone or something or over some negative and difficult conditions that we can have. But it’s a low feeling that does not take away the joy of being with Christ. 

 That is why there can still be joy in suffering, in the cross, if we only know how to be with Christ in those situations. This is when we can be in sorrow but not in sadness. The former still has joy while the latter has lost it. With Christ, and with Our Lady who fully identified herself with her Son, we can manage to find meaning and the assurance of redemption, in suffering and all the way to death. We can still manage to have joy. 

 The challenge for us is how to be with Christ and with our Lady whenever we encounter difficulties and other negative conditions in our life. Yes, we can find joy in suffering only if we identify ourselves with Christ. With him, suffering becomes an act of selfless love that can take on anything. 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. 

 This self-denial and carrying of Christ’s cross will enable us to see that suffering is obviously the consequence of all our sins—ours and those of others. Embracing suffering the way Christ embraced his cross unites our suffering with the redemptive suffering of Christ. 

 Our motive for it is like that of Christ. It’s the desire to conquer that suffering and ultimately our death through his death and resurrection. It’s obeying God’s will just like Christ obeyed his Father’s will. “Not my will but yours be done.” 

 This is where we can be in sorrow but not in sadness.

Why we should exalt the cross

ON the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of Christ, which falls on September 14, we are given an occasion to consider once again the importance and indispensability of the cross in our life. Let’s savor some words of the readings used on that feast’s Mass. (cfr. Jn 3,13-17) 

 “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” 

 These words certainly tell us how the Cross of Christ embodies God’s love and mercy for us in spite of our undeniable wretchedness. It’s where we can deal properly with our wounded, sinful condition here on earth. 

 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 has to offer his life on the cross! 

 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 might ask, if Christ is God, why did he have to go through all that suffering and death? Why not just say, “Everything is now all right, guys.” As God, nothing is impossible with him. With a simple movement of his will, with a flick of his hand, everything would be as it should be. 

 I must say, it is a good question to ask. Indeed, nothing is impossible with God. He does not have to do anything spectacular to repair what was damaged. A word from him, and everything would be as he wants it to be. 

 Be that as it may, the fact is that Christ chose the way the Father wanted it. “Not my will, but yours be done,” Christ said. (Lk 22,42) And I imagine the reason behind this is because God respects our human nature as it is, as it has been created by him, capable of loving and hating, and also capable of being faithful and unfaithful and faithful again after some conversion. 

 The return to fidelity, given our nature, will unavoidably involve suffering and death which Christ took to himself. It shows us the way of how to go about the consequences of our sins. 

 That is why, it’s always recommendable to meditate often on the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, so we would learn to have some healthy abhorrence against sin and temptations, as well as to develop the capacity to suffer calmly with Christ to make up for our unavoidable sins. 

 This is the purpose of the cross in our life. It is to instill in us the proper attitude and virtues with respect to our sin, before it is committed and also after it is committed. Christ’s cross atones for our many sins, satisfies the requirements of divine justice, and demonstrates God’s unconditional love. 

 With Christ’s cross, sin and death are conquered, and we are liberated from the bondage of sin. With it we are offered a path to eternal life!

In constant conversation with God

“CAN the blind lead the blind?” Christ asked. (Lk 6,36) Obviously not. Sooner or later, both would fall into a ditch. We may find many ways of how to deal with this predicament, since it cannot be denied that one way or another, in one form or another, we all have a certain blindness since we cannot see, much less, understand everything. 

 In the sensible and natural level alone of our life, yes, we can know a lot, but still our knowledge would not be that complete and definitive. It would always undergo some development and evolution. This is not to mention the spiritual and supernatural realities where most of the times we would be at a loss. 

 I have actually seen a number of times two blind men walking together, one leading the other with a white cane on hand, and perhaps a guide dog as company, and managed to reach a short destination. But definitely their mobility is very limited. 

 On another level, we can have all sorts of sciences, philosophies, ideologies, skills and technologies that can greatly help us to navigate the vast oceans of our life in this world. Indeed, with them we can get to know a lot and to accomplish many great things. Still, they cannot penetrate the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 What is needed is to have faith which, first of all, is actually given to us by our Creator. All we have to do is to correspond to it in the best way we can. With our intelligence and will and the other faculties we have, we are actually equipped to precisely receive that faith and to act accordingly. 

 And this means that without neglecting our natural ways of knowing, we need to always have a conversation with God who, as our Creator and Father, is always with us not only in some passive way but rather in a very active way, since he continues not only to maintain our existence but also to intervene in our lives, inspiring us and prompting us as to what to think, say and do all the time. 

 These constant interventions of God in our life are what is known as his providence over all his creation, especially over us, since we are made stewards of his creation. We therefore need to train ourselves in corresponding to God’s providence. And this is where we really need to know how to have a constant conversation with God. 

 We have to learn to overcome first our initial awkwardness and disbelief with respect to our relation with God. With humility and meekness, we can manage to do that and to open ourselves to God’s interventions. We can learn to perceive and discern his promptings which we can hear in our consciences. 

 But for this, we need to study the basic doctrines of our faith which already have been authoritatively put up and taught by the Church, and to start to develop a life of practical and effective piety where we train our heart and mind and all the other powers we have to be receptive to God’s will for us. 

 Thus, we need to study the Word of God which, as the Letter of the Hebrews describes, is “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…” (4,12) 

 As to how to converse with God, I suggest to meditate on the Psalms, which St. Ambrose described as a “gymnasium for the soul,” a place for spiritual training and growth, teaching us how to pray, communicate with God, and cultivate fellowship with God and others. They also are a source of comfort and inspiration.

Loving our enemies

CHRIST clearly said, nay, commanded us to do so. (cfr. Lk 6,27) We, of course, could not help but be incredulous by these words of Christ. Why oh why should we love our enemies when our very basic common sense would tell us the opposite? 

 We truly need to pause a little to find why Christ, who is supposed to be the embodiment of love, the very essence of God, would say so. And the only answer we can find is that precisely God, who is full of love, cannot hate anyone or anything. And Christ showed it to us by offering his life for all our sins. He even offered forgiveness to those who crucified him. 

 Whenever we have to deal with our enemies in whatever form they can come to us—whether in the form of persons or contradictions, difficulties, trials, failures, etc.—we should be quick to acknowledge that we are actually given a chance, an invitation to grow in love, to conform our love to the real love that Christ has shown us. 

 Let’s also remember that Christ himself commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34) Our love can only be genuine when it channels the very love Christ has for all of us. We need to go beyond our human ways of loving in order to adopt the love Christ has for us. 

 For this, the challenge we have to face is how to free ourselves from the controlling grip of our senses and reasoning, of our own human consensus and estimations of things, and to let ourselves be guided by the mysterious ways of our faith, full of wisdom and charity albeit always accompanied by sacrifices. 

 This would require nothing less than God’s grace which we can always safely presume is given to us freely and abundantly. What we have to demand on ourselves is a lot of humility, of simplicity and obedience. Pride makes us deaf and blind, insensitive to the ways of God, and makes us our own guide, instead of God. 

 To be sure, if we follow this commandment, we would be loving God and others the way Christ himself has loved his Father and all of us. It’s a love that is totally inclusive on the part of the lover, though it may be rejected by the beloved. 

 It’s a love that would convert and transform us into another Christ, if not Christ himself (alter Christus, ipse Christus), for love, the real love that comes from God, has that power of making the lover united and identified with the beloved. 

 That is why God became man, and Jesus Christ emptied himself completely to assume our human nature in its best and worst conditions. This love shown to us by Christ is the standard of our love. Therefore, loving others the way Christ loves us is loving Christ in others, and thus transforms us to Christ. 

 To be concrete about all this, we can practice and develop this love simply by being demanding on ourselves while being very understanding, forgiving, lenient on others, always trying to find excuses for them, eager to carry their burden. 

 Especially now in the contention-prone areas of politics and social media, where all kinds of ideas and comments come, including the most reckless, thoughtless, mannerless ones, we have wonderful opportunities to live and develop this true love. 

 Let’s try to examine ourselves on how our attitude and behavior are when confronted with unpleasant views and resistance from others. Can we really say that we are truly loving our enemies?

Who we are in the eyes of God

IT would be good if all the time we have it clear in our mind who we really are, what our true identity and dignity are, in the eyes, in the mind and heart of God. It would help us to stay calm, confident and happy despite the ups and downs of our earthly sojourn. 

 We are God’s beloved! His love for us, to put it bluntly, is the same as his love for his own self. And that’s because we have been created in very image and likeness, meant to share his very own life and nature. 

 In spite of our human limitations that are due first of all by our lack of faith in our true identity and by the misuse of our freedom and all the other God-given powers, God never fails to love us just the same. He would go to such extent as to become man, to preach the Good News to us, and ultimately to offer his life for us. That way, he himself bears all our sins and conquers them with his resurrection. 

 To top it all, he remains with us all throughout time, his real presence and the ever-ready offer for our redemption are made available in the sacraments, especially in the Holy Eucharist. He knows our weaknesses, he knows that we continue to fall, and yet he is all there, ready to forgive us and to make us new again. 

 These considerations should always be in our mind. That is the real challenge because we all know that our thoughts and intentions, more often than not, are guided simply by our human reasoning, based mainly on feelings, on worldly standards, etc., rather on the gift of faith that God himself gives us. 

 God wants to share who he is and what he has with us. But it is us who fail to correspond to such tremendous gift and truth. It would be nice if from time to time, we pause and consider again this most wonderful truth about ourselves. 

 That awareness, nay, conviction, would help us to live good and happy lives, able to deal properly with whatever human situation and condition we may find ourselves in. We can have the strength to say “No” to temptations, and if ever we fall, we would not hesitate to go back to God, convinced that God’s mercy would always be given to us. 

 More than that, we would have the power to do a lot of good, to continue working with Christ for the redemption of mankind. Yes, we would be able to “bear all things and conquer all things.” 

 Yes, there’s really no reason for us 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. 

 God always knows what to do in any situation we may find ourselves in. He may allow some evil to come to us, an evil that can do us no harm unless we let it, but God knows how to draw good from evil. 

 We should just remember who we are in the eyes of God!

Developing our constant need for Christ

THIS is the lesson we can draw from that gospel episode where people with all kinds of sicknesses went to see Christ for healing. (cfr. Lk 6,12-19) But for us, we should not wait for some serious illness or difficulty to beset us before going to him. 

 We should go and be with him all the time, both when we feel high, which can be corrupting, and when we feel low, which can be discouraging and depressing. Even in our so-called normal times, when things seem to be just ok, we should all the more feel this need to be with Christ. 

 We are meant to be with Christ always. Without him, we actually would just be relying on our undependable human estimations and devices which can only go so far. And to be sure, Christ is actually always with us. We should just do our part to acknowledge his presence and constant interventions in our life, and be guided accordingly. 

 And even in our worst condition when we find ourselves held captive by a serious fault and sin, we should not forget that Christ, who is a Good Shepherd always in search for the lost sheep, is actually doing his best to recover us. We should not make it hard for him to find us. With humility, let us ask for forgiveness which he will readily give and regain our true dignity as a child of God. 

 This need for Christ is actually impressed in our nature which God created. Yes, believe it or not, we have a natural longing for God, though such longing can be thwarted by a number of reasons.

 This is how the Catechism explains this point. “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.” (27) 

 As to how such natural desire for God can be thwarted, the Catechism says: “But this ‘intimate and vital bond of man to God’ can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.” (29) 

 We have to see to it that this natural longing for God is always protected, developed and pursued all the way to its last consequences. We should always feel the necessity for God, an abiding hunger and thirst for God. 

 We have to realize that we need him always, that we need to refer everything that we are, that we have, that we do—from our most private and hidden thoughts, desires, intentions to our most overt and big actions—to him. 

 We need to realize that everything has to begin and end with him. He should be the inspiration and the purpose, as well as the pattern and the way from the start to the end of things. He is the very author of everything in reality, the creator of the nature of each creature, be it living or inert, etc. 

 We need to see to it that we develop a real hunger and thirst for God to such an extent that we would really feel the corresponding urges. Our yearning for God should not just be a spiritual or intellectual affair.

A great reason to rejoice

YES, indeed, we have great reason to rejoice as we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s on this day that we are somehow assured that God and man share the same life and nature! That God can become man and that a woman can be the mother of God simply prove that. 

 With the Virgin’s birth, we are given a preview of the greatest work on earth—the salvation of mankind—accomplished by the Son of God made man and with the full cooperation of a woman, the Blessed Virgin. Mary paved the way for the salvation of mankind by giving birth to the Redeemer who would ultimately conquer sin and death through his sacrifice. 

 The Virgin Mary is the “new Eve” who with her full obedience of faith to God’s will “cured” the disobedience of the original Eve. She is the best example for all of us in terms of how we have to trust in God and follow his will. 

 While only Christ is the mediator of salvation, Mary somehow is the closest person who cooperated in human redemption. She continues to play this role with her ever-powerful intercession, presenting our needs and prayers to God. She is regarded as our spiritual mother, guiding and protecting us and the Church. 

 She is truly a mother to us too, ever solicitous of our needs and most interested in our own salvation. This she does with her invincible fidelity to the will and ways of God, showing us also how to be faithful even if there are things that we do not understand or are contradictory to our liking. 

 She faithfully mirrors the life and mission of Christ. She is the ideal model of a true disciple of Christ. She followed Christ with thoughtfulness, reflection, obedience and faith, and now inspires us to follow Christ also with similar devotion and dedication. 

 We should not hesitate to go to her, asking for her intercession, whenever we are faced with challenges and trials that are difficult or even impossible to tackle and resolve. Like her, we may be subjected also to the most painful of suffering, but let’s never forget that there is glorification assured as long as we are faithful to Christ through Mary. 

 With Mary, we are brought closer to Christ. As one saint would put it, she is the “shortest, safest and surest way to Christ.” She is the one who knows Christ best and how to deal with him properly. She certainly helps us to understand Christ’s teachings and to live them out in our daily lives. 

 With her, too, precisely because of her full identification with the will of God, we would find ourselves drawn with love to everybody else. She would put our love and concern for the others in synch with Christ’s love for all of us. 

 It, indeed, is highly recommendable that we develop a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin. We would have nothing to lose. On the contrary, we would have everything to gain. With her we can face all kinds of conditions in life and yet manage to have faith, hope and charity burning in our hearts. 

 To be sure, with her we can manage to become more patient, kind and forgiving, contributing to stronger and more loving relationships with those around us. Let us be truly Marian to be truly Christian!

The best deal is when we give our all

WE should have no doubt about this. We may at first be scared when Christ told his disciples, and now us, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children and brethren, and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-27) 

 We have to be most careful when considering these strong words of Christ who even went to the extent of commanding us to love our enemies. What he is actually trying to tell us that is that for us to be truly his disciple, to be fully identified with him, especially in the task of continuing the work of human redemption, we have to give our all to him. Nothing and no one should undermine that proper relation we ought to have with him. 

 We have been assured that as long as we are with him, everything else in our life will be taken care of. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” he said, “and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Mt 6,33-34) 

 God, who created everything and loves them all the way, even to the extent of becoming man and offering his life for us and for our sins, cannot tell us to hate anyone or anything. When Christ says about “hate,” referring to our parents and loved ones, he must have meant it as us not making anyone and anything to undermine our love for him. 

 To be a true disciple of Christ, to be a full Christian as we should be, involves a certain detachment from people and things, a certain emptying of ourselves to be properly filled with what is proper to us—the very spirit of God in whose image and likeness we have been created, and in whose life and nature we meant to share. 

 Yes, in a certain sense, our life here on earth can be described as a matter of emptying ourselves of our own selves, of our own egos, and of any worldly attachment, so we can be filled with God, with love, which is what is proper to us. 

 We can somehow know that we are truly emptying ourselves properly when we can also see a certain growth of love and practical concern for the others, even if great sacrifices are involved. It’s when we would be willing to complicate our life for God and for the others that we can say we properly emptying ourselves and filling ourselves with the spirit of God. 

 To be sure, to give ourselves completely to God and to others is not easy. We need nothing less than the grace of God and our generous and prompt correspondence to it. But it’s not impossible. 

 We just have to learn to give ourselves to God and others more and more each day. We can ask ourselves, for example, “Today, what can I give more to God and to the others?” “What else have I been keeping to myself rather than giving it away to God and to the others?” 

 For sure, we will have some answers to those questions and start to act on them. In this way, the attitude and practice of giving our all, even if in instalment basis, can be achieved. Let us not fail to see the best deal Christ is proposing to us.

Let’s be adaptive but properly focused

WHEN Christ said, “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; otherwise, not only will the new one be torn, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old,” (Lk 5,36) we are somehow reminded that in our life there is always need for continuing adaptation due to the rapidly varying situations, circumstances and conditions that we are having these days. 

 He reiterated this point when he said, “Nobody puts new wine in old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and run to waste, and the skins will be ruined.” (Lk 5,37) 

 We cannot overemphasize this need to adapt. We just have to learn how to go about it without getting lost with regard to the real and ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. Yes, we have to be adaptive, but also consistent and properly focused. 

 This would really require of us to have the very wisdom of God as shown to us by Christ who knew how to adapt himself to the varying conditions of man and yet always focused on fulfilling his mission of human redemption. 

 As St. Paul would describe it, we have to learn to be “all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel.” (1 Cor 9,22-23) 

 We cannot overemphasize this need to adapt. And we just have to learn how to deal with it, considering that it will demand of us a lot of sacrifices. Perhaps that’s one reason Christ told us that if we want to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 This aspect of an authentic Christian life should be taught as early as possible to everyone. While it’s true that each one is somehow defined by his own peculiar personality, temperament and character, we need to realize that as persons we are meant to relate with each other and, thus, need to learn to properly adapt with everyone and with everything. 

 We can always manage to be all things to all men because we are governed not only by physical and biological laws. We have a spiritual nature that can take on anything, especially when that spiritual nature is animated by the very grace of God who is ever willing to give it to us. With God’s grace, even the impossible becomes possible. 

 We should try our best to assume the very mind and heart of Christ, because as St. Paul again said: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) This definitely would require of us to spend time meditating on the word and example of Christ with the view of eventually assimilating the very spirit of Christ in us. 

 Aside from meditating, we need to develop the relevant practices and virtues that Christ himself is showing us. He was always prayerful, self-mortified, unafraid of sacrifices and consistently zealous to carrying his mission. 

 He knew how to proclaim the Good News in ways that can somehow be easily understood, or at least appreciated, by the people. In other words, we need to have a vibrant spiritual life, an ever-growing intimacy with Christ who makes himself available to us not only in the gospels, but also and most especially in the sacraments. 

 Let’s hope that we never get tired in following the example of Christ so that we can truly be adaptive to all the varying conditions around as well as be properly focused in pursuing the real purpose of our life.