WE have to understand that as Christian believers, we view our life not simply as a physical or biological life, nor a sociological or temporal life. Our life is life with God, a supernatural life born and nourished in faith, hope and charity.
Yes, even while we are still here on earth, immersed in the things of this world without being worldly, we are already meant to share the supernatural life of God. Our life should not only be natural. It also has to be supernatural.
Living by faith is an indispensable characteristic of Christian life. We may be subject to hormones and other physical factors, we can’t escape from the effects of our culture, our business, politics, etc., but in the end our life is governed by faith.
Living by faith can mean thinking like God. If our life is a participation in the life of God, we can’t help but think the way God thinks. Our reasoning is not completely our own. Our reasoning should reflect God’s reasoning.
That may sound strange, I know, but that’s what it actually means. We simply don’t use our reason, actuating it in anyway we can. We use reason, but reason enlightened by faith.
Faith can mean many things. It is first of all a supernatural gift. It’s not something we create and develop. It’s given and received. It can only be lived in grace. We have to ask for it, echoing the apostles” “Lord, increase our faith.” (Lk 17,5)
But it can also mean doctrine or teaching, revealed by Christ and now authoritatively taught by the Church. Thus, faith can mean studying and familiarizing with the doctrines to the point that these become flesh of our flesh.
The faith should be the leaven of all our thoughts and desires. Since our Lord has something to say to everything we do, our faith is always relevant in our life. Our faith is never distant and abstract to our affairs. It is concrete and practical, it is in the core of all our concerns.
Establishing and nourishing this connection comprises the essence of what
it means to live by faith. Faith is not a special-occasion event. A permanent feature, it flows with life itself.
It certainly does not supplant reason and everything natural and human. What it does is to purify reason and the natural and human elements in our life. Then it elevates them to the supernatural order, since we are meant for that.
To be able to live by faith, we need to interpellate it with our reason. That’s why we have to realize that there’s always a need to keep a dialogue between our faith and reason. This is a need of ours.
The basis for this dialogue is the fact that faith in itself is always in need of understanding, and so it needs reason to act on it. At the same time, our reasoning cannot help, unless something extraneous intervenes, but to enter sooner or later into the world of faith.
Keeping this dialogue is a skill we all need to learn. It is not just an intellectual or purely theological affair, though the use of the intelligence or our theology figures prominently.
Better said, this dialogue is done best through prayer, a loving conversation with God in our heart, even if that conversation cannot help but be theological also. Because the moment we try to understand our faith, we would be doing theology.
But this theologizing should never undermine, but rather reinforce the father-and-son-loving-conversation character of the dialogue between faith and reason. Theology should never be pursued outside of prayer.
In fact, theology is always needed. It is the language and necessary tool of our faith. With it, we get to discern endless implications of our faith. Thus, our faith becomes active and transformative, never passive and of little effect.
Doing theology is to live by faith. It makes us know and love God better.
It helps to conform our life to God’s life, that is, to get connected with him. It widens our perspectives, and deepens our beliefs and convictions.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Apostolic zeal
I WONDER how many people realize that their life as Christian believers involve them to be apostolic, that is, constantly concerned with bringing souls to God. There appear signs many are completely ignorant of this life’s purpose.
To do apostolate is a necessary consequence of being a follower of Christ. Our Lord did not preach about holiness only. He wants everyone to help everybody else attain sanctity. Otherwise, one’s claim of sanctity is empty.
In no unclear terms, Our Lord said: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father…, teaching them to observe all things…, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28,18-20)
While given directly to the apostles, these words are actually meant for all those who profess to believe and to follow Christ. The whole exciting, overwhelming world of Christianity as lived and taught by Christ is entrusted to all of us to share and spread among ourselves.
Actually, the apostolate is the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. It’s not some achievement or success in the professions or in politics or in just any human endeavor. It’s apostolate, helping one another achieve holiness.
This truth simply corresponds to the ultimate truth about ourselves. We are not just creatures with earthly ends. We are children of God, made in his image and likeness, meant to participate in his very own supernatural life.
That’s why, we are basically a religious being. Even if such awareness may
be stifled by a number of reasons, there is in us a basic thirst for God, who is beyond what our nature can give and make us understand.
We just have to learn to foster and nourish this thirst and hunger for God, by being able to relate everything that we do to God. Apostolate is about relating everything to God. Otherwise, we are deceiving ourselves.
Besides, it is in our nature to care for one another. No man can ever live alone. He necessarily lives with others. He needs others. This is true not only in our material needs, but also in our spiritual concerns.
This is the big challenge we are facing today. Many of us are entangled with earthly affairs, with visions and horizons that do not go beyond the physical limits of our present life.
There is a crying need for Christian believers who are so consistent with their faith that their every action and involvement in earthly matters leads others to the realization of God’s existence and his loving plan for us.
For this, a genuine spiritual life is needed, for the apostolate cannot be other than an overflow of one’s life with God. Separated from God, one would never feel the urge to do apostolate. He can only be held captive by mundane matters.
Of course, that spiritual life is developed through prayer and sacrifice, our usual way to identify ourselves with Christ. Together with this, we need to avail ourselves of the sacraments and assimilate Christ’s doctrine.
Plus, a good grounding of present situation and crisis we are facing today. What makes people ignore God, commit sin almost without any sense of guilt, simply concern themselves with purely earthly affairs, should be known.
Apostolate, while a phenomenon of grace, also requires our utmost efforts to grapple with real problems besetting people. Thus, it can only flourish in an atmosphere of friendship, of trust and confidence with an apostolic friend.
There should be a scientific effort to know the causes of the crisis. For this, n interdisciplinary approach is most welcome, since things now are complicated, and problems can have multiple causes.
There is need for today’s apostles to be mature and knowledgeable of things around us, never naïve with the things of this world. They should be beyond
being easily scandalized.
They should be able to give a credible witness and defense to their faith. In all this, they should ooze with charity and understanding, always encouraging, staying away from unnecessary conflicts and resentments.
To do apostolate is a necessary consequence of being a follower of Christ. Our Lord did not preach about holiness only. He wants everyone to help everybody else attain sanctity. Otherwise, one’s claim of sanctity is empty.
In no unclear terms, Our Lord said: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father…, teaching them to observe all things…, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28,18-20)
While given directly to the apostles, these words are actually meant for all those who profess to believe and to follow Christ. The whole exciting, overwhelming world of Christianity as lived and taught by Christ is entrusted to all of us to share and spread among ourselves.
Actually, the apostolate is the ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. It’s not some achievement or success in the professions or in politics or in just any human endeavor. It’s apostolate, helping one another achieve holiness.
This truth simply corresponds to the ultimate truth about ourselves. We are not just creatures with earthly ends. We are children of God, made in his image and likeness, meant to participate in his very own supernatural life.
That’s why, we are basically a religious being. Even if such awareness may
be stifled by a number of reasons, there is in us a basic thirst for God, who is beyond what our nature can give and make us understand.
We just have to learn to foster and nourish this thirst and hunger for God, by being able to relate everything that we do to God. Apostolate is about relating everything to God. Otherwise, we are deceiving ourselves.
Besides, it is in our nature to care for one another. No man can ever live alone. He necessarily lives with others. He needs others. This is true not only in our material needs, but also in our spiritual concerns.
This is the big challenge we are facing today. Many of us are entangled with earthly affairs, with visions and horizons that do not go beyond the physical limits of our present life.
There is a crying need for Christian believers who are so consistent with their faith that their every action and involvement in earthly matters leads others to the realization of God’s existence and his loving plan for us.
For this, a genuine spiritual life is needed, for the apostolate cannot be other than an overflow of one’s life with God. Separated from God, one would never feel the urge to do apostolate. He can only be held captive by mundane matters.
Of course, that spiritual life is developed through prayer and sacrifice, our usual way to identify ourselves with Christ. Together with this, we need to avail ourselves of the sacraments and assimilate Christ’s doctrine.
Plus, a good grounding of present situation and crisis we are facing today. What makes people ignore God, commit sin almost without any sense of guilt, simply concern themselves with purely earthly affairs, should be known.
Apostolate, while a phenomenon of grace, also requires our utmost efforts to grapple with real problems besetting people. Thus, it can only flourish in an atmosphere of friendship, of trust and confidence with an apostolic friend.
There should be a scientific effort to know the causes of the crisis. For this, n interdisciplinary approach is most welcome, since things now are complicated, and problems can have multiple causes.
There is need for today’s apostles to be mature and knowledgeable of things around us, never naïve with the things of this world. They should be beyond
being easily scandalized.
They should be able to give a credible witness and defense to their faith. In all this, they should ooze with charity and understanding, always encouraging, staying away from unnecessary conflicts and resentments.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Governance
THE word is out and we have to actively spread it around. Now that the elections are over and the public officials have been sworn in, we have to focus on the delicate and demanding task of governance.
This is a serious matter that needs to be studied thoroughly and pursued relentlessly by all of us.
We cannot allow the running of towns, cities and provinces, let alone, the whole country to go to the dogs of mere popularity, alleged charisma, strong connections, clever publicists, pressure groups, lobbyists, and the like.
We cannot allow the governance of our government units to be spoiled by useless politicking, shameless maneuvers to wrest power for oneself, etc. I hope we can outgrow this, or at least, that we have enough people who have the weight to correct things when they tend to go the politicians’ crazy ways.
Thanks to our progress in communications technology, more and more people can now have their voices heard, and a greater and quicker consensus on issues, can be achieved.
We have to go beyond feudalism, improvisations, amateurism and knee-jerk reactions to problems and challenges. In this, we have to understand that everyone is involved: the officials and the citizens in general, as well.
We have to retrieve the idea of governance from being an exclusive concern of some people alone. At this time, governance has to be a concern of everyone. Not, of course, in the sense of an anarchic free-for-all.
While it’s true that the public officials are given the mandate to lead, the beauty of a democratic state is that everyone is encouraged to participate in any way one can in the governance of state affairs in the different levels.
In short, while leaders and officials have to improve on their governing skills, there should also be effort to involve more and more people in the task of governance.
Everyone should support this. Surely, a lot of due education and formation is needed here. And it’s truly welcome to have a mushrooming of institutions developing in a scientific way this craft of governance.
Even the remotest “barangay” cannot afford to be marginalized in the global march for development in all its aspects. We have to get our act together. Failure in this, given the present context, can constitute a grave criminal act.
The institutions promoting this art have devised ways of how leaders can develop a vision for their respective unit, translating it into workable plans, with clearly specified means, resources and timeline.
Standards are made, developments and improvements are monitored, accomplishments are certified. This may look like an elementary exercise in the beginning, but then once the take-off point is reached, things can really become different and exciting.
It obviously will be a growing art, subject to the vagaries of trials and errors, and so we also have to learn to be patient and to coordinate. But the objective need is there. We cannot wait until things get irremediably bad.
In this regard, it should be noted that on the leaders and officials is invested a sacred trust they should try their best to carry. Their personal qualities and dispositions play a crucial part in determining the kind of leadership they are going to make.
They should try their best to sharpen their talents, develop those where they find themselves lagging in, always conscious that a continuing improvement of their own selves is at the beginning of any good transformation in society.
The virtue of prudence is especially crucial. Leaders and officials should sharpen their prudential skills—consulting, dialoguing with different parties, studying, making decisions, reviewing, adapting, etc.
Besides, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church reminds us that the first thing everyone should do to effect a change in society is “to renew oneself interiorly.” (552)
We are persons, not machines, and therefore not ruled by impersonal determinism but by the right use of freedom.
This, to me, is indispensable. Regardless of how savvy one may be in the technical part of governing, if he fails in this first requirement, things won’t go very far. Power and its cohorts can easily spoil persons.
This is a serious matter that needs to be studied thoroughly and pursued relentlessly by all of us.
We cannot allow the running of towns, cities and provinces, let alone, the whole country to go to the dogs of mere popularity, alleged charisma, strong connections, clever publicists, pressure groups, lobbyists, and the like.
We cannot allow the governance of our government units to be spoiled by useless politicking, shameless maneuvers to wrest power for oneself, etc. I hope we can outgrow this, or at least, that we have enough people who have the weight to correct things when they tend to go the politicians’ crazy ways.
Thanks to our progress in communications technology, more and more people can now have their voices heard, and a greater and quicker consensus on issues, can be achieved.
We have to go beyond feudalism, improvisations, amateurism and knee-jerk reactions to problems and challenges. In this, we have to understand that everyone is involved: the officials and the citizens in general, as well.
We have to retrieve the idea of governance from being an exclusive concern of some people alone. At this time, governance has to be a concern of everyone. Not, of course, in the sense of an anarchic free-for-all.
While it’s true that the public officials are given the mandate to lead, the beauty of a democratic state is that everyone is encouraged to participate in any way one can in the governance of state affairs in the different levels.
In short, while leaders and officials have to improve on their governing skills, there should also be effort to involve more and more people in the task of governance.
Everyone should support this. Surely, a lot of due education and formation is needed here. And it’s truly welcome to have a mushrooming of institutions developing in a scientific way this craft of governance.
Even the remotest “barangay” cannot afford to be marginalized in the global march for development in all its aspects. We have to get our act together. Failure in this, given the present context, can constitute a grave criminal act.
The institutions promoting this art have devised ways of how leaders can develop a vision for their respective unit, translating it into workable plans, with clearly specified means, resources and timeline.
Standards are made, developments and improvements are monitored, accomplishments are certified. This may look like an elementary exercise in the beginning, but then once the take-off point is reached, things can really become different and exciting.
It obviously will be a growing art, subject to the vagaries of trials and errors, and so we also have to learn to be patient and to coordinate. But the objective need is there. We cannot wait until things get irremediably bad.
In this regard, it should be noted that on the leaders and officials is invested a sacred trust they should try their best to carry. Their personal qualities and dispositions play a crucial part in determining the kind of leadership they are going to make.
They should try their best to sharpen their talents, develop those where they find themselves lagging in, always conscious that a continuing improvement of their own selves is at the beginning of any good transformation in society.
The virtue of prudence is especially crucial. Leaders and officials should sharpen their prudential skills—consulting, dialoguing with different parties, studying, making decisions, reviewing, adapting, etc.
Besides, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church reminds us that the first thing everyone should do to effect a change in society is “to renew oneself interiorly.” (552)
We are persons, not machines, and therefore not ruled by impersonal determinism but by the right use of freedom.
This, to me, is indispensable. Regardless of how savvy one may be in the technical part of governing, if he fails in this first requirement, things won’t go very far. Power and its cohorts can easily spoil persons.
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