Christ: the one for all

IN the gospel, we can hear Christ declaring himself as the door of the sheepfold. (cfr. Jn 10,7-9) “I am the door,” he said. “By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.” 

 With these words, we are made to understand that he is the sole legitimate entrance to human salvation, the protector who safeguards the sheep (us) from harm, contrasting himself from false leaders and prophets who would only exploit the flock. 

 In other words, he depicts himself as the only and unique mediator, as articulated once by St. Paul when he said: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2,5) In short, his salvific mission and mediation have a universal scope, and not just meant for some people. 

 In this regard, we can cite some points from a Vatican document, issued way back in 2000, entitled “Dominus Iesus, on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church.” It responded and clarified certain theological trends that denied Christ’s exclusive mediation and proposed alternative and complementary revelations. 

 It’s definitely a delicate topic that has to be studied well and thoroughly. But first of all, it has to be studied in a way that is always guided by faith and not just by pure human reason that can present all kinds of theories, hypotheses and assumptions. 

 Let’s remember that the ultimate proof of the credibility of our Christian faith is the fact that Christ who is regarded as the fullness of revelation can truly be regarded as God because among the many good things he did, he finally resurrected from the dead. 

 Christ’s resurrection is the pivotal event that validates his claims about his divinity. It shows his power over death and the fulfillment of the prophecies that showed his relationship with God—that he is not just a man, a very special man, but first of all, he is God, the son of God who became man for our salvation. 

 We need to constantly strengthen this belief especially nowadays when there are many elements that tend to distract and weaken our belief in Christ. There even are open efforts to present an alternative to Christ. 

 We need to do everything to make Christ the constant focus and center of our life. May everything that we do, from our thoughts and desires to our words and deeds, begin with Christ as the inspiration, continue with Christ as our main help, and reach its target with Christ as the goal himself. 

 Let’s convince ourselves that any way of being and acting that is outside of this loop would expose us to deadly moral and spiritual dangers. Thus, right from the beginning of the day, as when we wake up, the first thing that should come to mind is regain this awareness that we need Christ always. 

 And so, we should develop the practice of making a morning offering to Christ of everything that will take place on that day as soon as we get up from bed in the morning. It’s what saints and many other people have been doing to set the proper human and supernatural tone to their daily affairs, giving them a sense of direction and purpose for the day. 

 The effort to give the first thought of the day to Christ is all worthwhile since it corresponds to the fundamental reality that our life is always, from beginning to end, a shared life with Christ and therefore also with God the Father, Creator, and God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. Christ should be our all! (cfr. Col 3,11)

“Go out to all the world and tell the Good News”

THAT’S from the Gospel of St. Mark (16,15), words that Christ addressed to his remaining 11 apostles (Judas already quit) soon after his resurrection. In no unclear terms, he commanded them to go to the whole world and to preach the Good News, that is, the Gospel. 

 Now, if we truly feel that we are among his disciples, as we should, we should also feel that these words are also addressed to us. We are also being asked to get out of our own little world, trapped in our own personal affairs, to go global, spreading God’s word worldwide. 

 Here, Christ is giving what may be described as the Great Commission, a call to action for believers to spread the message of salvation through him. Let us remember that Christ is the only mediator between God and man (cfr. 1 Tim 2,5) 

 We need to do this with utmost care and prudence, with utmost discernment and obedience to God’s will and ways, considering that in the world we can encounter all sorts of people with all kinds of beliefs and worldview, some atheists and agnostics, others with religions that offer another god. 

 We need to learn the art of proper inter-religious dialogue to explain as best that we can the unicity and salvific universality of Christ which we have to uphold, explain, defend, etc. 

 Everything has to be done always with charity, because even in the bitterest of differences and conflicts in beliefs, it is charity that will win over. Charity upholds and defends the truth about the role of Christ in our life, and it contains the whole and ultimate truth about ourselves, despite whatever. 

 But we should cultivate the urge to reach out to as many people as possible. While it’s true that we are always limited by certain conditions, we have in our humanity blessed by God’s grace the capacity to go beyond those conditions. Yes, we may be limited by some circumstances, but through God’s grace, we can be given the strength to rise above them. 

 For this, we can use the modern technologies, such as the internet and the social media, as a “pulpit for the whole world.” We have to avoid falling into a parochial or tribal attitude toward our apostolic duty. While it’s true that because of our personal conditions, each one of us will have a particular niche in his apostolic activity, everyone should try to have a universal apostolic concern. 

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

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

 For this, we need to be patient, persevering, creative and versatile. We have to learn how to “waste time” with everyone, especially those who may be very different from us in terms of temperament, social and economic status, etc. 

 We should not wait for some favorable circumstances before we do apostolate. To do apostolate should be like our heartbeat. We should feel its urge the way we feel the urge to breathe, eat and drink.

God’s initiative to draw us to him

THAT’S what Christ said very clearly. “No man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draws him,” he said. (Jn 6,44) These words remind us that there is such thing as divine providence. We need to be most aware of it so we can do our part in corresponding to God’s constant intervention and guidance over us so we can attain our ultimate goal and perfection in life. 

 As our Catechism puts it, providence are “the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward their perfection…By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made…(n. 302) 

 Furthermore, the Catechism says that “the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.” (n. 303) 

 We need to understand that as God’s creatures, our creation is still in the making. We are still being formed and led to our perfection, which is none other than to be God’s image and likeness, children of his and sharers of his divine life in the eternity of heaven. He is continually directing and shaping us as he wants us to be. But we need to correspond as best that we can. 

 We have to realize then that God is constantly intervening in our lives, a reality that we should always acknowledge and correspond to properly. There is nothing in our life where God is not present or where he is inactive. 

This is the objective truth about the relation we have with God. For this, we have to be guided first of all by our faith rather than by our mere human powers that can only go so far. It is through faith that our intelligence, will and all the other faculties we have can discern this most wonderful reality of our life here on earth that can already give us a taste of eternal life here. 

 That is why, we need to cultivate our spiritual life, our relation with God which is otherwise called as our religion, that has to be constantly nourished through a life of piety that should be kept as vibrant as possible. 

 Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to fall into self-indulgence that has no other possible end than tragedy. We would be easy prey to our weaknesses, the many temptations around and sin itself. 

 That is why the Catechism tells us that “Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs.” (n. 305). We should not dare to live solely on our own, something that we need effort to uphold, since our tendency is to think that we can simply be on our own. 

 This basic truth about our need to live under God’s providence should be inculcated on everyone as early as possible, giving out the appropriate means to make this ideal a reality. As the day wears on, we should be asking questions like, “Lord, what do you want me to do now, etc.?” 

 Asking this kind of questions should be like an instinct to us. It definitely would help us to make good use of our time, to have a keen sense of order that would set the proper priorities over the many things we have to deal with everyday. 

 What definitely a wonderful world we would have if all of us learn to live under God’s providence!

Always with God as times change

IT’S unavoidable. We should not be surprised by it. In fact, we should expect it. But let’s see to it that we do not get lost. We should still be clear about where we came from, what the meaning and purpose of life are, etc. We should never miss these existential and ultimate considerations even as we go along the changing fashions, trends and cultures of our times. 

 That way we can still distinguish between what is good and evil, what has absolute and relative value, what is safe and dangerous among the different elements we have to face. The important thing is that we are clear about where we are going, how we are managing to get to our real destination amid these varying conditions that can be very confusing and deceptive. 

 I must confess that I belong to the generation of the Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole songs, and a sprinkling of classical music of Chopin and Mozart. And through the years, I have been enjoying the different kinds of songs that became popular—from the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Rey Valera, Adele, etc. 

 Nowadays, I am listening to the likes of Billie Eilish and those Pinoy comedians who sing Pilipino songs (Tagalog, Bisaya, etc.) in Korean tunes. They provide innovations that elicit mixed reactions, and are often met with both admiration and disappointment, both applauded and criticized. 

 Well, that’s a fact of life. We just have to learn how to accept it and learn to deal with it properly. But we need to recognize that navigating the changing currents of life requires anchoring our souls to something firm and steady. It’s now becoming clearer that we need strong core values—our foundation—to keep us stable when life becomes confusing. In short, we need to have some kind of a ‘safe harbor’ mindset. 

 We have to be wary of the danger St. Paul once warned us about when he said that we should be “no longer like children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and their cunning and craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” (Eph 4,4) 

 In other words, we should not be naïve who would just mindlessly go along where today’s current fashion and trends would bring us. Rather, we should always be circumspect, acting with careful consideration of the different elements involved in a certain matter. Yes, we have to stay guarded and vigilant as well as cultivate a practical wisdom that applies smart and realistic thinking in our daily life. 

 In all this, what is crucial is, of course, to stick with God always. Only with him can we be properly vigilant. It’s a vigilance that is an effect of keeping our love for God and others burn more and more. Without this impulse, we will surely be easy prey to the confusing, alluring and deceptive things of our times. This, of course, will always involve demanding on ourselves more and more. 

 We just have to be vigilant always. That is why the Bible is full of reminders about this need. “Be watchful,” St. Paul says, for example, “stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Cor 16,13) St. Paul practically has given us a good program of how it is to be watchful always. 

 Let’s learn the appropriate skills and art of being watchful both in good times and bad times and also in ordinary times when things appear to be neutral yet. Let’s sharpen our skill in examining our conscience, in reading the signs of the times, in assessing the different circumstances of the day, etc.

Freedom of spirit

LET’S hope that more and more of us get familiar with this freedom of spirit which is actually the true freedom meant for us. It’s not a freedom that is guided only by our own estimation that is steered only by our reason, by some social trends and ideologies, and much less by our animal instincts and urges. 

 To arrive at this knowledge about our true freedom which is the freedom of spirit, we need to ask ourselves the existential questions of where we came from, what the meaning and purpose of our life are, etc. For this, we just have to go from the natural and social sciences and to launch into the philosophical, metaphysical and theological. 

 This freedom of spirit is where we act in accord with God’s truth and goodness. It is exercised at the instance of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Our freedom is not simply the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of our own. Our freedom attains its perfection when directed toward God, the sovereign Good, from whom we come and to whom we are destined to share in his very life and nature. 

 This is the freedom that was won for us by Christ who redeemed us from the bondage of sin. That is why St. Paul said: “For freedom Christ has set us free.” (Gal 5,1) And it is in Christ that we share in the truth that would set us free, as again articulated by St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians where he said: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (3,17) 

 This is the kind of freedom that springs from an inner habit of virtue and not merely from some external command. This is when we do things under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and doing it willingly, with our whole heart. 

 This can only mean that our true freedom is the result of our docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the promptings of the grace of God, making us free and effective collaborators in God’s continuing work of human redemption that would complete our creation by him. Our freedom is not meant only to achieve an earthly and temporal goal. 

 In other words, this freedom of spirit enables us to grow in docility to God’s grace, and to collaborate freely with God, serving others with love and building a society on the basis of truth, justice and charity. It also protects us from the slavery of sin, from worldly pressures and false liberties that lead to license. 

 We can have this freedom of spirit if we live by faith in God. It is made alive especially through the sacraments—Baptism, Penance and the Holy Eucharist. It is nurtured in prayer and the continuous growth of the virtues. 

 The role of prayer is crucial because that is where we can discern and embrace God’s will. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, said in effect in this regard that we must pray to be able truly to know what God wants. (cfr. 8,27) 

 It’s clear that this freedom of spirit is a matter of being docile to the promptings of grace. It is what perfects our natural freedom, aligning it with the will and the ways of God. It’s important that we form our conscience according to the truths of our faith. For this, a lifelong formation of conscience is needed. Our freedom of conscience should be the freedom of spirit!

The instinct of seeking God always

WE need to cultivate this instinct. It does not come automatically through the working of our biological make-up. It requires the grace of God and our effort. And for that, we have to learn how to deal with the interplay of the supernatural, natural and infranatural forces that are at work in us. 

 Yes, we need faith, the grace of God, plus the attitude of humility and obedience on our part to be able to feel the need to seek Christ always in our life. We also have to learn how to be guarded against our weaknesses, temptations and the sins and mistakes we commit that would definitely spoil our effort to seek God as an instinct. 

 It’s always God who makes the initiative for us to have this instinct of seeking him always. But we have to try to be discerning, receptive and responsive to this reality. And this can only happen if we are first of all humble enough to acknowledge that we are not our own being. 

 That is, that we just did not come from our own parents and the long line of our ancestry. Nor did we just come into existence in some spontaneous way. All of us and everything else in existence have a beginning. This consideration should lead us to the realization that we and everything else must have come from a being who has no beginning, who has always been existing from all eternity. 

 This is when we can start to realize that there must be a God who is responsible for the creation of the whole universe. And as we try to know more about him who reveals himself to us in various ways and continuously, we would eventually get the picture of who we really are, what we are supposed to be, and how our relation with God should be. 

 This is when we can feel the need to seek Christ and to be with him always. He is actually everything for us. We need him more than we need air, food, etc. He is our basic need because not only are we just any creature of his who needs him for existence, but we are the most special ones since we have been created by him in such a way that we become his very image and likeness, meant to share his very life and nature. 

 If we only would realize this basic truth about ourselves, then there is no doubt that we would feel the need to be seek him and be with him all the time. We just cannot be on our own. And by being with him, we would avoid drifting aimlessly in life. We would have a complete picture of the purpose of our life and of the whole universe. 

 For this to take place, we should understand that our freedom is best exercised when it is used to seek God first and always. We would realize that we are actually given a choice of whether we choose to be with God or simply to be on our own. 

 What can help us in this is when we learn really to have a personal and intimate relation with God by means of prayer and the other practices of piety, especially the reception of the sacraments. We would also feel the need for an appropriate means of continuing formation, considering that we often find ourselves inconsistent, vacillating and irresolute in our resolve and commitments. 

 Let’s hope that we can truly develop this instinct of seeking God always.

“Lord, you will show us the path of life”

THAT’S the responsorial psalm of the Mass of the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A. It’s taken from Psalm 16,11. It’s again another reassurance from God that despite the complexities of our life today that offers us all sorts of pathways that can be both alluring and deceptive, in the end it is the Lord who will show us the true path of life, the path that leads us to our eternal life. 

 We should not be too worried with what we have to contend these days. As long as we stick with Christ through the many instrumentalities made available to us, we can feel sure that we would be on the right track. Obviously, this would involve a lot of effort and sacrifice, and nothing less than the cross of Christ itself, but the final victory is guaranteed for us. 

 The challenge for us is how we can closely follow Christ who not only shows the way but also leads and accompanies us along the way. This, in essence, is what holiness is all about, holiness lived in our day-to-day routine. 

 This can mean that we should try our best to imitate Christ in our thoughts, feelings, words and deeds. If we manage to do that, it would surely have the effect of us loving God and everybody else, irrespective of how they are to us. It would involve a love that would lead us to develop other virtues and to grow in them, like the virtues of humility, justice, integrity, solidarity, charity, etc. It’s a love that would keep us going and growing. 

 If we follow Christ closely, we would know how to do our daily work well, honestly and fairly. As a consequence, we would be sanctifying our work itself and the world in general from the inside. In a sense, we would be making the Gospel present in all our temporal affairs, be they brilliant or humble and hidden. What truly matters here is the love we put into our work, and not so much the success of our work in terms of money, fame, etc. 

 But we might ask: can we really deal with Christ directly? The answer is: of course, we can always talk with Christ. It should be the most normal thing to do, since in the first place Christ who is God is always with us. While we cannot always have anybody to talk to, and sometimes we can even forget to talk with our own selves, God on the other hand is always with us and is always willing to listen and talk to us too. 

 That’s his nature. That’s his desire. God is the very support of our own existence, and that of everybody and everything else. And he, mind you, does not support our life only in a passive way. He’s full of love, of solicitude, of attention and concern. He’s actually hot with us. 

 St. Augustine said, “to know where God is may be difficult, but to know where God is not, that is even more difficult!” Christ himself reassured his apostles, “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28,20) 

 We just have to learn how to acknowledge this reality. Our problem is that we restrict our grasp of reality to what is observable only to the senses, and captured by our feelings. Our thinking is often so dominated by these human faculties alone that it fails to enter into the spiritual and supernatural realities. We need to do something about this problem.

Our need for the real bread

EVEN if we are told that we do not live by bread alone, (cfr. Mt 4,4) Christ is also concerned about feeding us with bread. This was dramatized in that gospel episode about the multiplication of bread (cfr. Jn 6,1-15). When he saw the large crowd who followed him closely and realized that they must be hungry already, he asked his disciples to feed them. 

 While it’s true that our ultimate need is to eat the very Bread of Life, the one that is Christ himself turned sacramentally into a bread, and the one that gives us eternal life, we are made to understand that neither can we ignore our immediate need for the ordinary bread. 

 We are both body and soul. We cannot be one without the other, although it is our spiritual soul that is more important since that is the very principle of the life proper to us. Still, the needs of the body also have to be met. 

 We just have to make sure that we observe the proper priority regarding these two kinds of bread. We cannot deny that we have the strong tendency to get hooked with one of them at the expense of the other. We tend just to worry about the material bread while practically ignoring the prime importance of the real bread which is the Bread of Life. 

 We, who believe in Christ, of course, know that this Bread of Life is Christ himself who, even if he died and resurrected on the third day and ascended into heaven, continues to be with us with his living presence, offering us the merits of his redemptive work and giving us his very own self as the imperishable food that brings us to our ultimate state—our eternal life in heaven. 

 He does not leave us only with some picture or souvenir or symbol. He is truly and really with us even while he sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. And he accompanies us in our earthly sojourn, giving us the ultimate means we need to tackle whatever we may encounter in this life. 

 It’s a madness of love to which we have to correspond as best that we could. God himself gives us the grace in abundance to enable us to correspond to that love. We should not be scared of the tremendous prospect before us. But it’s up to us if we choose to love him or not. We should do everything to make use of what God is making available to us. 

 We are told that if we are generous with God, God will even be more generous with us, for he cannot be outdone in generosity. He assures us that whatever little we give to him with our whole heart will yield us a hundredfold. It’s always good to keep this divine assurance in mind. 

 That is why we have always been encouraged to develop and grow in our Eucharistic piety. We are prodded to know and appreciate more deeply the real nature, character and purpose of the Holy Eucharist, studying and assimilating the relevant doctrine, actively participating at Mass, receiving Christ worthily in Holy Communion, paying pious visits to the Blessed Sacrament, etc. 

But we should not stop there. Being the Bread of Life, Christ actually is showing us how to deal with all the situations, issues, challenges and trials that we can encounter in life. And we have to be quick to discern his will and ways.

Not angels, but angelic

WE, of course, are not angels who are pure spirits and who have already made their definitive choice to be with God completely for all eternity. We are, of course, with a body that has a soul that is not only a vegetative or animal soul, but rather a spiritual one that has to be properly animated by the spirit of God in whose image and likeness we have been created. 

 That is why we have to see to it that the bodily and material dimension of our being should be properly enlivened by the spirit of God. As a unity of body and soul, with the soul that is the principle of life, we need to have our soul vivified by the spirit of God. Our soul should go beyond the vegetative and animal levels of the spirit. That is what is meant to be angelic. 

 In other words, we should aspire to be spiritual rather than remaining in the carnal level of our life. That is the ideal that we should aim at. It’s not a matter of suppressing our sensual, material and earthly condition, but rather of going beyond that level. That’s where the road to the fullness of our humanity can be found. That’s where we are freed from the constricting world of our senses, emotions and passions. 

 St. Paul said something to this effect. “Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4,22-24) 

 In another instance, St. Paul talked about talking or preaching in a spiritual way and not just according to human and worldly wisdom. “My message and my preaching,” he said, “were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Cor 2,4-5) 

 More clearly, he said: “We speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” (1 Cor 2,13) 

 This is a big challenge for us all. We have to learn to think, speak and act in a spiritual way, and not just mainly conditioned by our sensual, material and worldly aspects. 

 Nowadays, properly spiritualizing the bodily dimension of our life is a big challenge. We are now witnessing a lot of confusion, if not outright error, in this area. There are those who do not know anymore whether they are male or female. And in some official forms, there is now the distinction between “gender at birth” and “current gender,” as if genders can change. 

 And this confusion can affect those who can be least suspected. Just the other day, someone mentioned to me that he saw someone with “abs” (a muscular man who regularly goes to the gym) holding hands and kissing another one with “abs.” 

 Same-sex attraction, of course, is a fact of life. It’s part of our wounded condition in life. And this can take place early in life, as when one is still in grade school and high school. 

 There should be a way of how to handle this delicate issue as early as possible. That is why apart from clarifying the issue in a formal way, there should be a way of tackling this issue in a more personal way in the context of the family, schools, parishes, etc.

A culture of dialogue and consensus-building

WITH all this very toxic air brought about by our differences and conflicts in matters of opinion and preferences, especially in the area of politics, we should be very concerned about how to cultivate a culture of dialogue and consensus-building. 

 In this regard, we should be willing to engage in dialogue with all the parties involved in a particular issue, considering those who think differently from us as capable of telling us things that can contribute to a better understanding of that issue. 

 We should be attentive to them even if we don’t like them, allowing them to make their point before we make our own. And since at times, we can meet someone who is uncontrolled and irritating in expressing his views, we should exert effort to remain calm and avoid adding toxicity around by being uncontrolled and irritating ourselves. 

 Hopefully, when we manage to enter into a respectful dialogue with the different parties, we can proceed to build some kind of consensus among the different positions expressed. In this regard, it would be good to find common ground and to be open to some legitimate compromise that can focus on shared goals. 

 In all this, we need the proper spirit that would enable us to do these things. And that spirit is none other than the spirit of Christ who actually is the foundation and model for building culture of dialogue and consensus by uniting us in him, “the way, the truth and the life.” 

With him we can manage to break down walls of division. We can practice mutual listening, respect for diversity while sharing the pursuit of the common good. With him, we can manage to practice temperance, restraint and moderation in pushing our own ideas if only to allow other views and opinions to be expressed and considered also. 

 Yes, to be truly prudent in this regard, we should know how to practice both restraint and decisiveness in our judgments, reactions and actuations. We should not simply be restrained and moderate if only to play safe. Neither should we be bold and decisive to make our point clear. 

 Depending on the circumstances of a given situation, we would know how to be truly prudent, knowing when to be cautious, when to hold back, and when to take bold action. If facts are clear and the pieces of evidence are strong, then we should not hesitate to make our views clear and to take the appropriate action. 

 Otherwise, we should prefer to keep quiet and discreet, or would just keep some tentative views and opinions until things become clear in a way that would warrant a clear-cut judgment and action. 

 This kind of prudence can only come about as a result of one’s identification with Christ who would inspire us to always judge, react and act with charity. Yes, if prudence has to be true prudence, it always has to be animated by charity, the one that was shown and commanded by Christ to us. 

 If we take a close look at the life of Christ, we would see that he was both restrained and decisive in his ways. When some people, who were impressed with his words and miracles, wanted to make him king, he managed to get away. He also tried his best to adapt his very mysterious teachings to the capability of the people by using parables and common-life examples. 

 And while he could read the minds of people, he saw to it that any clarification and corrections he made was done both with clarity and delicacy. There was a forcefulness to them, but of the kind that was animated by charity. 

 Let’s be truly Christian to develop a culture of dialogue and consensus-building especially in our political affairs.

Devotional wonder vs. disbelief or unbelief

LIKE Nicodemus who could not fully figure out what to be “born again” means, (cfr. Jn 3,7-15) we can find ourselves incredulous in the face of certain truths of our faith that really are hard to understand, let alone, accept. In cases like this, we just have to have some devotional wonder or awe, rather than disbelief, or worse, unbelief. 

 To have this devotional wonder, and even awe, means that we should just have a faith-filled response to God’s works, mysteries, and presence that inspires adoration, love and a deeper union with him. This is not mere curiosity but a spiritual posture of humility and veneration before a supernatural reality. 

 We are not expected to understand everything that is of the spiritual and supernatural nature. But with faith, we can accept them, and only then can we start to understand. St. Augustine once expressed this position when he said: “Credo ut intelligam” which means “I believe so that I may understand.” 

 St. Anselm of Canterbury also held a similar view by saying “faith seeking understanding.” He believed that faith precedes understanding and that belief is a necessary step toward a deeper comprehension of God’s nature and the supernatural world. It’s important that when we consider the truths of our faith, we do it with some wonder and awe. Let’s avoid downgrading them by treating them like truths of reason alone. 

 With the truths of our Christian faith, we should pray rather than just study, expressing amazement and gratitude from the heart. It would be good if we can spend some time of silence to meditate on these truths, talking to God in the depths of our heart and listening to him as well. These practices should be learned as early as possible. They are indispensable if we want to be consistent to our Christian identity. 

 But let’s always remember that the divine gift of faith can only come to us if we are truly humble. Humility involves a certain giving up, a certain dying that actually gives rise to a better life, just like a seed has to die before it grows and bears fruit. 

 Disbelief or unbelief, on the other hand, is the obstinate refusal to believe the divine or supernatural truths despite sufficient evidence from revelation, miracles, (especially Christ’s resurrection from the dead) or teaching. It is the basic sin that prevents the forgiveness of other sins, as articulated in the Acts of the Apostles: “Everyone who believes in him (Christ) receives forgiveness of sins.” (10,43) 

 We need to be always guarded against disbelief or unbelief. And this we can do if we stay rooted in Sacred Scripture, regularly reading and meditating on it. We should really learn how to pray, asking God always for guidance and strength that we need. It is also a good idea to surround ourselves with believers who can support and encourage us. We should never be just by ourselves. 

 Also helpful is recalling those special occasions when we experienced how God has been faithful in our life, how his unwavering love, power and faithfulness have touched and inspired us deeply. 

 When even a trace of disbelief comes to mind, we should be quick to nip it in the bud. Let’s follow what St. Anselm once advised: “If one can understand, one should thank God; if one cannot, one should bow one’s head in veneration rather than sound off trumpets.”

The need to be born again

CHRIST said it very clearly. When a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to him by night, telling him that he must be from God because of the signs he was showing, Christ answered: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3,3) 

 And when further asked how one can be born again, he simply said: “Amen, amen I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3,5) 

 What Christ wanted to tell Nicodemus, and to us now, was that all of us need a profound spiritual regeneration, which is a supernatural transformation through water and the Spirit. This would involve dying to sin and rising to a new life in Christ. This is usually accomplished sacramentally in Baptism where one recovers the divine life that is meant for us as God’s image and likeness, sharers of his life and nature, but which we lost due to sin. 

 We have to understand though that this need to be born again is not just a single emotional event, but a continuous, daily process of turning away from sin by embracing the cross the way Christ embraced the cross, and conforming our life to Christ through a working faith, humility and recourse to the sacraments, especially the sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. 

 In other words, to be born again is to willingly link ourselves with God who in the Spirit continues to be with us, always intervening in our life, showing us his will and ways, in manners both discernible and understandable as well as mysterious and inscrutable. This is what is meant to be born in water and Spirit. 

 Water refers to the sacrament of baptism that signifies that we are willing to link up with God in the Spirit, and everything that is involved in such a link-up—fidelity to Christ, following his teachings, etc. 

 That’s why our Lord told Nicodemus, “Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 

 It is the Holy Spirit who will guide us, and all we have to do is to be docile to the Holy Spirit, a relationship that does not undermine our freedom, but rather enhances it. 

Let’s remember that our freedom is never absolute, since we as man, as persons, are not absolutely by ourselves only, but creatures, who receive our existence and everything in it, like our freedom, from God. 

 We need to be clear about this point, because many times we believe that we just have to live our own life, in complete and absolute autonomy from God and from others. We often consider our relationship with God and others as purely optional, developed at the instance of our own convenience, etc. 

 And we often depend only on what we have—our intelligence, our talents, our privileges, our looks, our wealth and fame, our earthly powers. These endowments, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can go anywhere and nowhere. The only way we can be on the right track is when we are living and doing things with the Holy Spirit. 

 We really need to be born again and develop what is called as the Life in the Spirit, the life that is proper to us!

Divine Mercy Sunday

THE Second Sunday of Easter or the Octave of Easter is designated as Divine Mercy Sunday. The Ordo describes it as “a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that humankind will experience in the years to come.” This devotion t the Divine Mercy was promoted by St. Faustina Kowalska, canonized by St. John Paul II on April 30, 2000. 

 We all know that God’s mercy is abiding and is forever. There is nothing that can’t be tackled by it. God is not scandalized by anything. His mercy can take on anything. Not even our most grievous mistakes and most stupid blunders can frustrate it. 

 St. John Paul II once said that while our capacity to do evil can be infinite because of our spiritual nature, God’s mercy can always limit it. So, we should not be too alarmed by any evil, no matter how ugly and persistent, because God’s mercy can handle that. 

 Always given readily and in abundance, this divine mercy has to be dispensed always in the context of truth, justice and a charity, a combination that is always tricky to the human instruments through whom it is dispensed. The possibility of mishandling it is always there. 

 Let’s remember that Christ not only preached what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, but also assumed all the sinfulness of man by offering his life on the cross. He came to save, not to condemn. He was slow to anger, quick to forgive. 

 He would make use of any sign or trace of goodness, no matter how slight and mixed up with many other bad elements, to elicit a conversion. His mercy is the overflow of love that in the words of St. Paul “is patient and kind...does no insist on its own way...does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13 4-7) 

 This is the standard that any human instrument charged with dispensing divine mercy should follow. But this standard, let’s be clear about this, is not just abstract idea, a frozen theory and principle, a historical character buried in the past. This standard is a living person, always present in our lives, actively intervening and loving, and easily accessible. 

 The challenge is precisely in identifying ourselves with Christ. It’s in adopting his mind and attitudes, his skills and willingness to suffer for the sins of man. We just can’t rely on our own theories and human systems of dispensing mercy, nor on our own estimation of what is fair and just. 

 We need to enter the very mind and heart of Christ. We need to reproduce “in vivo” the very sentiments, desires and concerns of Christ in us. This is something not only possible, but is also very practicable, because the grace of God is given to us abundantly. What is simply needed is our generous and even heroic correspondence driven by faith and charity. 

 To enter into his mind and heart, we have to be willing to deny ourselves and to carry the cross, as Christ himself clearly indicated to us. A lifestyle that is alien to self-denial and sacrifice can never be welcoming to Christ and to his mercy. We would miss the true essence of divine mercy even if we can appear, by human standards, to be kind and merciful. 

 Let’s remember that it is through the cross that we can savor God’s wisdom about his infinite mercy. We would know how to weigh and assess things, make judgments, give timely counsel and effective advice to the penitents.

From the rejected stone to the cornerstone

THAT stone is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rejected by the leading men of his time here on earth. They always tried to find fault in him. He was subjected to all kinds of suspicion. And finally, they managed to crucify him. 

 And yet Christ is actually our savior, the cornerstone that would put everything in our life together and in order. He is the stone that would give our spiritual edifice, both individually and collectively, its strength, power and effectiveness in achieving its ultimate and supernatural goal. 

 The rejection of this stone, the rejection of Christ, continues to take place today in spite of the clarity of the identity and importance of Christ in our life. Many of us continue to ignore him, to take him for granted or just to give him a pittance of importance in our life. It’s amazing indeed that in spite of our knowledge about who he really is, many of us continue to practically reject him. 

 We truly need to be wary of this tendency of ours to effectively dismiss Christ. We may profess to believe in him and to follow him, but very often this profession remains only as such. It’s hardly converted into action, much less, into our life itself. Very often, we are only good in words and intention, but not so much in deeds and lifestyle. 

 Many of us still prefer to rely on our own powers, our own fortunes and privileges, to chart whatever kind of destiny we like to pursue, as if our own lives are absolutely and solely our own. This may not be professed openly if only to be socially or politically correct. But at bottom, that is what is happening around. 

 These days, I have seen videos of how former celebrities and big names who enjoyed tremendous popularity in the past end their lives in utter misery. These videos usually have the titles of “The life and sad ending of so-and-so.” 

 While the final judgments can only belong to God, and while we should always regard these personages in charity, always keeping them in our prayers, we cannot deny that the so-called “sad ending” of their lives is mainly due to their rejection of Christ, if not openly, then practically. We should try to avoid following the same sorry trail in our life. 

 We need to change our ways. Christ is indispensable to us. He is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. He is the one who will lead us to the fullness and perfection of our humanity, since as long as we are still here on earth, we are still being formed and led toward our complete identification with Christ. 

 To accept Christ in our lives, of course, requires faith, hope and charity, which are gifts given to us by God. But for these gifts to work in us, we need to be humble, to always feel that we come from God and that we belong to him. We need to follow his will. Better said, we need to make his will our will in order to seal that unity of spirit that is meant for us. 

 To accept Christ in our lives is what would actually constitute as the ultimate piety we ought to have. Our piety should not just be limited to our relation with our parents and with our other loved ones. It has to start and end with God, since without God everything would just be vanity.

From the finite to the infinite

ALL these stories about the appearances of the risen Christ to his disciples simply remind us that in spite of our limited condition here on earth, we are meant to enjoy an infinite state of life in our definitive life in heaven. And this infinite state of life is actually assured of us as long as we keep at least a shred of faith in Christ. 

 We should therefore keep this idealistic attitude toward our life in general even as we also have to be realistic about it, considering the many limitations and varying conditions that characterize our existence here on earth. In a sense, we have to be both idealistic and realistic in this life. And the secret is nothing other than to keep ourselves close to Christ, knowing, loving and serving him. 

 That’s when all the material, temporal and other negative elements in our life, like our weaknesses, mistakes and failures, our sins, etc., can enjoy the redemptive character of Christ’s mission here on earth, converting them into means of our own salvation, of our own reconciliation with God, of regaining our original dignity and identity as children of God, sharers of his divine nature and life. 

 That’s when all the perishable elements in our life can acquire an imperishable character. That’s when we can leap from the finite character of our earthly life to the infinite state of our definitive life in heaven. And this can take place as long as we see and understand things in a theological way, that is, with faith, hope and charity, and live according to it. 

 We have to cultivate this theological mind, which is actually necessary for us but which we have to do freely. Theological thinking is actually not an optional thing. With this theological thinking, we would be able to see Christ in everything. 

 This finds basis on the fact that God is everywhere. He is our creator who gives us and the whole world our existence and keeps it. With Christ who is the Son of God who became man to redeem us, God identifies with each one of us. 

 The Catechism expresses this truth in this way: “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us...the Son of God has in a certain way united himself with each man...” (CCC 521) 

 Also with this theological thinking, we would be able to relate everything to God, as it should, regardless if in human terms it is good or bad. 

 As a creation of God, everything in the world can and should actually lead us to him. Nothing in it is non-relatable to God. Everything in it comes from him and belongs to him. There is no dead spot in it where God is absent or irrelevant. 

 Our sciences, arts and technologies can only discover the laws and the ways of nature that have been created by God. We do not create these natural laws. We just discover them and make use of them. 

 As such, we have to at least thank God for whatever usefulness we can find in the things of the world. But more than that, we should try to discern how the things of this world play in the all-embracing providence of God over his creation, since we also have a role to play in that providence. God somehow makes us as his living and loving instruments in governing the world. 

 This is how we can turn the perishable to the imperishable, enabling us leap from the finite character of our earthly life to the infinite state of definitive life in heaven.

The Mass as an Emmaus experience

WE are familiar with that gospel story about two men on the way to Emmaus (cfr. Lk 24,13-35) They were clearly disturbed about what just happened to Christ who was crucified. Then the risen Christ approached them, incognito at first, and started explaining things to them. It was only when he broke bread with them that they recognized him. 

 Somehow, this episode reminds us of what can actually happen everytime we hear Mass. It practically provides us with a scriptural blueprint for the Holy Mass that mirrors its two main parts: the Liturgy of the Word, where Christ opens the Scriptures, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where he is recognized in the breaking of the bread. 

 And just as the encounter of the two disciples with Christ transformed their despair into burning faith, pushing them to a work of mission, the Mass also sends us to “go forth” and reach out to others in a vigorous work of apostolate. 

 We should therefore take good care of the way we prepare for Mass and the way we participate in it. We should put ourselves with the proper disposition, eager to know more about our Lord by going through the readings and the prayers, and to capture the living presence of Christ who asks us to continue with him the work of human redemption. 

 We need to exert effort to grow in our love for the Holy Mass. Human as we are, we should not take this concern for granted, since we always have the tendency to get so accustomed to celebrating or attending Mass as to become complacent, like a rock where water would just pass by without absorbing anything. 

 We have to constantly remind ourselves of what the Holy Mass really is. It is not just a ceremonial, a dramatization of past events in the life of Christ. It is the very sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, sacramentally renewed in an unbloody manner on our altars under the appearances of bread and wine. 

 In short, the Holy Mass is substantially the same as the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It has the same Priest and Victim, and the aims and fruits are identical. Only accidental differences distinguish the two. 

 We attend the Holy Mass to identify ourselves with Christ as our Savior, and to make our own Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We should not be mere spectators in the Holy Mass. We should make that sacrifice our own together with Christ, and we offer it to God in the Blessed Trinity, again together with the merits of Christ’s work of redemption. 

 Our abiding attitude and disposition in attending the Holy Mass is to seek forgiveness, an increase in God’s grace and ultimately, eternal life. In the Mass, we adore God with Christ’s adoration, we make up for our sins with Christ’s sacrifice, we pray with Christ. 

 There in the Mass the best expression of our shared life with God is achieved while here on earth. What belong to Christ become ours, and what belong to us also become Christ’s. In the Mass are where all our thoughts, words and deeds assume a supernatural and eternal value. That is why the Mass should be the center and root of our life. Everything in our life should be offered there. 

 In the Mass, we enjoy a certain “oneness in time” with Christ on the cross. We become contemporaries of his. Time and space are done away with in a mysterious way, so we can be with Christ on the cross. And united and identified with him in the Mass, we become co-redeemers with him for ourselves and for everybody else.

Keeping an intense desire to see Christ

LET’S be like Mary Magdalene, a repentant sinner turned loyal disciple, who went early, even while it was still dark, to visit the tomb of Christ. When she found the tomb empty, she was, of course, heartbroken and went immediately to tell the other disciples. When the others came and saw the empty tomb, they could not do much, so they left. But Mary Magdalene stayed behind. That’s when she finally met the risen Christ. (cfr. Jn 20) 

 There is something in Mary Magdalene that is worth taking note of. More than that, there is something in her that is worth following. And that is none other than to have an intense desire to see Christ always, no matter what the conditions of our life are. 

 Like what happened in this gospel episode, Christ will always come to meet us and to give us some specific instructions. In this case of Mary Magdalene meeting Christ, she was told to tell the other disciples that he was going to ascend into heaven. 

 There should be no day, not even a moment, where we can have no concern about looking for Christ. This may require some drastic effort, but it really is something to learn since it is what is proper and ideal for our life. There is nothing in our life where Christ is not involved. 

 We have to be most wary of our tendency to think that in our life there are times and occasions when Christ can be ignored and left out. This usually happens in our daily affairs, in our routinary work, or in such human concerns like politics, business, recreation, etc. It’s precisely in these areas where we most need Christ, and where Christ, to be sure, is most interested to meet us and to guide us. 

 We therefore need to develop an intense desire to look for Christ. 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 Christ, 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. 

 The plan definitely should include practices that will foster our spirit of sacrifice, penance and purification, given the obvious fact that no matter how much we try to be good, we would always be hounded by our weaknesses and the temptations around, and the possibility of falling into sin is high. This spirit of sacrifice would help us discipline ourselves in order to rally all our faculties for the service of God and of everybody else. 

 The plan should include a daily effort of ascetical struggle where, aside from fighting evil, we should aim at growing in our love for God and others, by developing the virtues as well as always strengthening them. It should help us to develop a growing concern for the others, doing personal apostolate wherever we are and whatever the occasion and circumstance may be.

The empty tomb

IN the gospel of the Mass on Monday within the Easter Octave (cfr. Mt 28,8-15), we are given a vivid description of the immediate aftermath of the empty tomb that gave rise to different reactions. 

 When some holy women discovered the empty tomb where Christ was buried, they immediately went to inform the disciples, joyful yet also fearful. But along the way, they were met by the risen Christ himself who made them literally ecstatic, overwhelmed with joy. 

 But the guards of the tomb were deeply disturbed by what took place. They also went to report to the chief priests who bribed them to fabricate the story that the disciples stole the body while they slept. 

 All this simply shows that the things of God will always cause different if not conflicting reactions of belief and unbelief with disbelief playing in the middle. It shows how this supernatural gift of faith can be received by us. 

 We just have to know where and who to believe and who not to. The episode of the empty tomb is actually a test of where to base our faith. Would it just be anybody who can appear to us as reasonable, or would we look for the one with real authority? 

 We know that the authentic authority to teach the truths of our Christian faith belongs to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church which is the living teaching office entrusted by Christ to the apostles and their successors, the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Pope. 

 This authority ensures the faithful transmission of the Gospel, guarding against error and providing definitive interpretations of Scripture and Tradition. No individual or community can claim this mandate for themselves. It comes from Christ through the sacrament of Holy Orders, empowering the ministers to “in persona Christi” (in the person of Christ). 

 The Pope, when he speaks “ex cathedra” (from the chair), that is, in fulfillment of his office as pastor and teacher of all Christians, possesses the infallibility promised to Peter when defining a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church. 

 That is why, we should always make it a habit to refer ourselves to this teaching office of the Church to see if we are truly dealing with a truth of faith, and not something that is just a human invention. 

 Nowadays, we have to be wary of the flurry of false prophets and demagogues who make their own interpretation of the truths of Christian faith. They can appear and sound credible through a smart use of words and persuasive techniques. But if their teaching on truths of faith does not channel what the Church Magisterium teaches, then they can only be false. 

 A false doctrine can sound good and can come up with fair promises and assurances, but they actually lack the power to make things happen. They can contain many theoretical truths and can also be supported by a lot of data, facts and other so-called scientific findings, but they lack the most crucial element—the proper spirit. 

 A true doctrine is not some clever human wisdom that can yield at best some worldly results. It goes far beyond that, though it can be accessed and lived quite easily if one simply has faith. A true doctrine always requires faith! 

 Thus, in Psalm 119,100, we read these consoling words: “I discern more than the elders, for I obey your precepts, Lord!”

The best news of all time

HELLO! Happy Easter to all! 

 Once again, we are on this most resplendent and happy day when we commemorate and celebrate the final conquest of sin and death with the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 It marks the fulfillment of God’s salvific plan and forms the very foundation of our Christian faith. Remember St. Paul saying: “If Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain.” (1 Cor 15,14) We come to believe what Christ teaches us because he conquered death through his resurrection. He must be God whose words we should believe. 

 This is the best news of all time. We are assured of victory in Christ as long as we show at least a little of faith in him and also a little of repentance for whatever mistake and sin we commit. 

 Let’s always remember that time when one of the thieves who was crucified with Christ expressed his desire to be with Christ in Paradise. He did not even explicitly say sorry for all the crimes he committed. But Christ did not delay in saying, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 23,43) That’s how magnanimous God is with his mercy for us! 

 But we should avoid tempting God by getting ourselves spoiled by his ever-available mercy. Rather, we should make use of that assurance of his love that can conquer whatever evil there is in the world, to do a lot of good, to fill ourselves with the love that is nothing other than the love of God for all of us. Tempting God would just be fooling ourselves and would surely earn us harsh punishments. 

 Let us process slowly this truth of our Christian faith that with Christ’s resurrection we have been made a new creation. His resurrection unites us with his death and resurrection, enabling us to die to our old sinful selves and live a new life in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit for transformation, purpose and hope in God’s coming new world. 

 As a new creation through Christ’s resurrection, we are given a fresh start where the old ways of sin pass away and are replaced by a divine life that is made possible by acquiring anew our identity in Christ. 

 We, indeed, need to meditate and process slowly this tremendous transformation that is given to us because, for sure, we would most likely consider these effects of Christ’s resurrection on us as just incredible. 

 We need to realize that Christ’s resurrection which came as a result of his passion and death on the cross can also take place in our life if we also experience the cross of Christ. St. Paul said something pertinent to this when he said: “If we have been united with him (Christ) in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6,8) 

 The death referred to in his regard is our death to sin. This means a spiritual transformation where we are no longer controlled by sin by identifying ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection through faith and repentance. Death to sin means we offer ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness, actively putting our sinful desires to death while living only for God. 

 Of course, struggles with sin can continue. Death to sin does not mean an instant sinless perfection. It simply gives us a new direction in life. Thus, as a new creation, we should live our life, with all its drama, only with Christ and for Christ.

The Last Supper

THE Mass of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated in the evening of Maundy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper, the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. It also marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum. It’s a joyful Mass, distinct from the somber services on Good Friday, and includes unique elements like the washing of the feet and a procession of the consecrated host. 

 It is held in the evening to align with the Jewish Passover tradition. In includes some unique rituals like the washing of the feet of twelve persons to symbolize Jesus’ command to serve and to be humble always. There is also an Altar of Repose where the consecrated hosts are carried in procession for adoration, somehow replaying Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. Then the altar is stripped bare, and the church becomes quiet, leading into the silence of Good Friday. 

 And thus begins the Easter Triduum, a three-day liturgical celebration, beginning with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday, continuing through Good Friday (Passion of the Lord), and culminating in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, ending with the Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday that commemorates Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection. 

 All these celebrations are considered as one continuous liturgy. And while everyone is encouraged to participate as actively as possible in all of them, there is no obligation for us to attend, except the one of the Easter Sunday. 

 We just have to remember that the Easter Triduum is the most solemn three-day Christian observance that marks the core of our Christian faith and the culmination of the liturgical year. Its significance lies in reliving Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, beginning with Last Supper, moving through his crucifixion, and culminating in the triumph of the Resurrection at the Easter Vigil. 

 In all of these, what is shown is God’s tremendous love for all of us that is able to conquer whatever evil we may commit. But, of course, with at least a trace of our cooperation. This Easter Triduum is a great occasion for us to savor this love of God for us which is not meant to spoil us but rather to prod us to correspond as best that we can. 

 The principle to follow here is that God’s love for us should be repaid also by our love for him and for everybody else. We are called to respond to God’s total, gratuitous, and merciful love with a similar total self-giving, even it involves great sacrifice. We should avoid responding to that love with ingratitude or indifference. 

 This, of course, means that we have to learn to give ourselves entirely to God and to others without counting the cost or expecting any reward, trusting that God will never fail to provide us with what we truly need. 

 This also means that we should learn to love with a universal scope, extending our love to everyone, including enemies, since God is kind even to the ungrateful and gives special attention to the lost, as dramatized in the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son. 

 This definitely would require us to go through a lifelong process of developing virtues with the view of becoming more and more like Christ and assuming the very spirit of love of God in whose image and likeness we have been created. 

 Let’s hope that these considerations are not lost as we go through the celebration of the Easter Triduum that starts in the Evening Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday.

God always knows what is in our heart

THAT’S why we have no reason at all to keep things to ourselves alone. Everything we have in our mind and heart is known by God. We would be fooling ourselves if we think we can keep things from God. What we should rather do is to learn how to always be with God, especially in our thoughts and desires, from where all our words and deeds would spring. 

 This truth of our faith was highlighted in that episode where Christ told his disciples who among them would betray him. (cfr. Mt 26,21-25) “Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me,” he said. Then Judas asked: “Is it I, Rabbi?” To which Christ simply said, “You have said it.” 

 Let’s always remember that we by nature are not only rational, but also relational. The mere fact that we have intelligence and will can only mean that we are rational beings meant always to enter into relation with others. Of course, in our relation with others, the most important and indispensable one should that with God who, being the Creator, is the very essence and personification of truth. He knows everything. 

 This is where we have to consider more deeply certain duties that we have. We cannot be passive and indifferent to our relationships. Our growth, our maturity and perfection depend on how well we take care of this essential aspect. Otherwise, we would end up not only in error but, worse, also betraying and denying God himself. 

 We have to actively purify our mind and heart so as to put them in proper relation with God, and from God with everybody and everything else. We just cannot allow them to drift in any direction, blindly obeying the forces and impulses of the flesh and the world. They have to be directed. 

 We have to understand then that we are made to enter into relations with God and with everybody else. Having relations is not a marginal or optional aspect of our life. It is essential to us. Even in our conception and birth, we need parents, we need a family, then a community, and all sorts of persons, both individually or collectively considered. And most especially, we need God. 

 We need to understand therefore that truthfulness can only start with our proper relationship with God. Other than that, our truthfulness, even in what we may consider as its best form, would always be suspect and vulnerable to elements that undermine the truth. 

 In short, we can only be truthful and sincere when we are with God who revealed himself in fullness insofar as we are concerned in his Son who became man, Jesus Christ. 

 Thus, Christ clearly said that he is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through him.” In other words, we can only be truthful through him. We can only find the proper way for whatever is good for us through him. We can only have the real life, proper to us, in him. 

 Christ said it very clearly. “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.” (Mt 5,37) 

 Truthfulness therefore starts with our relationship with God, and with how well we maintain that relationship. This is something we have to realize more deeply, since very often we get contented with mere human criteria for truthfulness, that are often subjective, incomplete, imperfect, and vulnerable to be maneuvered and manipulated. And with that, the next thing to happen is to betray God, like Judas.