POPE Benedict has just proclaimed the Year of St. Paul, starting last June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. He’s asking us to listen to St. Paul , to know what he is trying to tell us today. The Pope assures us St. Paul has a lot to say and show.
Yes, sir, this business of listening and talking to saints is an idea we have to be more familiar with and adept at. Saints are no mere historical figures. They are alive and are more relevant to us now, albeit in a mysterious but no less real way.
Try to visit the Christian doctrine on “communion of saints,” and you’ll see how we continue to get linked in a vital way with every member of the Church, be he in heaven, here on earth, or still purifying himself in purgatory, sharing spiritual goods among ourselves.
If we enter all out the world of faith and spiritual reality, the limitations of time and space pose no problem. Death and distance do not separate us. We continue to get together in a phenomenon called in theology as “communion.”
Let’s remember that there’s something spiritual in us, enabling us to go beyond our physical, material and natural dimensions. With God’s grace, we can enter a deeper and richer universe.
We really have to be more consistent in our thinking with faith. Our tendency is still to be stuck in some dichotomy. At one time, we feel pious and religious, and at another time, we are utterly worldly. We have to bridge the gap.
The Pope tells us that with the fearless character, generous fidelity and heroic ministry of St. Paul, as recorded in the Bible, we are taught to adapt ourselves to his mind and spirit, because this is how we can identify ourselves with Christ.
“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” (1 Cor 11,1) he boldly said. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” (Gal 2,20) he added. This identification with Christ by all of us is what the Church and the world need today.
Our world is in crying need of an effective evangelization, of which St. Paul is the poster boy, where Christ can be brought to all our human affairs, and vice-versa, where all our human activities can be linked to Christ.
Christ cannot and should not be confined to some people, to some moments and events of our life. Christ belongs to all of us, just as we all belong to him.
St. Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles highlights this truth. And for this he was not afraid of any suffering and pain involved in the endeavor. “Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress or famine or nakedness or danger or persecution or sword?” (Rom 8,35)
He knew how to be all things to all men, bravely bringing the word of Christ to friends and foes alike. He contoured his teachings according to the mentalities of the people he preached to.
St. Paul represents a believer who has grown “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph 4,13) As such, he had no business other than to do Christ’s command for him to reach out to the Gentiles, that is, to everyone.
This is what we have to understand well. After due thought, we should realize we have no business other than to do God’s will. And this is none other than our own sanctification and that of all others. This is what salvation means.
We have to leave behind our childish ways, our pagan or inconsistently Christian ways. We have to update our knowledge of the doctrine, bring to par the state of our attitudes and virtues. We have to embark in a sustained apostolic work.
These duties should be ordinary and commonplace, not esoteric. They are really no big deal. And we should learn to carry them out with competence. At this age of super-advanced technologies, it’s a crime to be amateurish in this much more important aspect of our life.
Whether we are in business or politics, in sports and entertainment, at home or in public places, we should know how to be like St. Paul . We have to know how to bring Christ to all.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Otherness
POPE Benedict in one of his speeches used this term, otherness, to characterize what is in the depth of our being. Let’s quote him and start to familiarize ourselves with this essential and crucial note about ourselves.
"Man," he said, "is characterized by his otherness. He is a being created by God, a being in the image of God, a being who is loved and is made to love. As a human, he is never closed within himself. He is always a bearer of otherness and, from his origins, is in interaction with other human beings."
In short, we are meant for others, and ultimately for God, the Final Other for whom we are destined. We have to be more aware of the practical implications of this truth.
We have to be wary of our strong tendency to think only of ourselves, our own interests, projects, achievements, our own family, clique and class, culture, etc., and to succumb to an I-me-mine mentality, instead of a we-us-ours attitude.
Let us remind ourselves very often of the truth that our true joy is not in self-contentment and satisfaction. Our true development is not in our self-perfection. Life is not about ourselves. We are designed to be men-for-others.
Our life, our authentic joy and perfection always involve God and others. They are achieved when day to day, moment to moment we seek to be with God and others, if not physically then in our mind and heart.
We have to go beyond our comfort zone, our personal and professional elements, and even our social, cultural and human affairs. While we cannot escape from them—in fact, we have to be immersed in them—we also have to find a way not to be held captive by them.
We are meant for something greater always, no matter how much we are endowed and have achieved. Thus, in a recent speech Pope Benedict said that we are beyond our sciences, no matter how well developed they already are. Let’s listen to him again:
"Human beings always stand beyond what can be scientifically seen or perceived. To overlook the question of man’s ‘being’ inevitably leads to refusing the possibility of research into the objective truth of being and, effectively, to an incapacity to recognize the foundation upon which human dignity rests."
We are also beyond our culture and history. "Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God," (Mt 4,4) our Lord said. In fact, we are meant for God.
We should not be enclosed by the limits of what is known and experienced by us so far. We are actually a mystery, regardless of how much knowledge about ourselves we have already accumulated.
We have to find a way to enter into a living, not just conceptual or theoretical, relationship with God. We have to find a way to transcend beyond, but not avoid, our material and temporal conditions to enter into a loving relationship with God.
We have to learn to find God in the very things that we handle everyday, even if these things are the pots and pans in the kitchen. Finding him is not a matter of escaping from the world with all the mundane things involved there or escaping from our present life.
God is in everything. He is waiting for us in our domestic activities, our professional life in offices, business and politics, in schools, farms, shops, etc. Wherever we are, God is there waiting for us.
In our present age of frantic developments, we still can manage to find God if we know how to discern the spiritual and moral implications of the technical details involved in our work.
This would mean allowing God to enter into our life in all its aspects, and not shutting him off, plunging ourselves to the logic and dynamism of our human world.
What enables us to be a "bearer of otherness" is our spiritual nature, our intelligence and will that let us enjoy freedom whose proper operation is to want, to love. On this point, the Pope again said:
"Man is not the result of mere chance, of converging circumstances, of determinism, of chemical inter-reactions. Man is a being who enjoys a freedom which transcends his nature and is a sign of the mystery of otherness that dwells within him."
"Man," he said, "is characterized by his otherness. He is a being created by God, a being in the image of God, a being who is loved and is made to love. As a human, he is never closed within himself. He is always a bearer of otherness and, from his origins, is in interaction with other human beings."
In short, we are meant for others, and ultimately for God, the Final Other for whom we are destined. We have to be more aware of the practical implications of this truth.
We have to be wary of our strong tendency to think only of ourselves, our own interests, projects, achievements, our own family, clique and class, culture, etc., and to succumb to an I-me-mine mentality, instead of a we-us-ours attitude.
Let us remind ourselves very often of the truth that our true joy is not in self-contentment and satisfaction. Our true development is not in our self-perfection. Life is not about ourselves. We are designed to be men-for-others.
Our life, our authentic joy and perfection always involve God and others. They are achieved when day to day, moment to moment we seek to be with God and others, if not physically then in our mind and heart.
We have to go beyond our comfort zone, our personal and professional elements, and even our social, cultural and human affairs. While we cannot escape from them—in fact, we have to be immersed in them—we also have to find a way not to be held captive by them.
We are meant for something greater always, no matter how much we are endowed and have achieved. Thus, in a recent speech Pope Benedict said that we are beyond our sciences, no matter how well developed they already are. Let’s listen to him again:
"Human beings always stand beyond what can be scientifically seen or perceived. To overlook the question of man’s ‘being’ inevitably leads to refusing the possibility of research into the objective truth of being and, effectively, to an incapacity to recognize the foundation upon which human dignity rests."
We are also beyond our culture and history. "Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God," (Mt 4,4) our Lord said. In fact, we are meant for God.
We should not be enclosed by the limits of what is known and experienced by us so far. We are actually a mystery, regardless of how much knowledge about ourselves we have already accumulated.
We have to find a way to enter into a living, not just conceptual or theoretical, relationship with God. We have to find a way to transcend beyond, but not avoid, our material and temporal conditions to enter into a loving relationship with God.
We have to learn to find God in the very things that we handle everyday, even if these things are the pots and pans in the kitchen. Finding him is not a matter of escaping from the world with all the mundane things involved there or escaping from our present life.
God is in everything. He is waiting for us in our domestic activities, our professional life in offices, business and politics, in schools, farms, shops, etc. Wherever we are, God is there waiting for us.
In our present age of frantic developments, we still can manage to find God if we know how to discern the spiritual and moral implications of the technical details involved in our work.
This would mean allowing God to enter into our life in all its aspects, and not shutting him off, plunging ourselves to the logic and dynamism of our human world.
What enables us to be a "bearer of otherness" is our spiritual nature, our intelligence and will that let us enjoy freedom whose proper operation is to want, to love. On this point, the Pope again said:
"Man is not the result of mere chance, of converging circumstances, of determinism, of chemical inter-reactions. Man is a being who enjoys a freedom which transcends his nature and is a sign of the mystery of otherness that dwells within him."
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Life and God’s word
WE have to find the vital connection between our life and God’s word. The latter is the real, ultimate and constant nourishment of the former. What a pity if we just go on living with nary any relation to God’s word.
This is what we are seeing nowadays. There’s so much ignorance of the saving word of God. And if there’s any knowledge or recourse to it, it’s often distorted by confusion, error, inadequate attitudes and misunderstanding.Even among our educated class, there’s that widespread misunderstanding, an urban legend that God’s word is just meant for a few people, or that it’s quite irrelevant and inapplicable to their affairs.
Our life seems to be fed and developed solely by purely human words and knowledge. They can be scientific and practical, impressive and high-grade in their technological know-how, but they miserably fail to feed our soul. They’re just incapable of doing so.
They only feed our body and anything material and social about ourselves. These aspects are, of course, necessary. In fact, these are what we first are conscious of, before we are aware of our spiritual needs.
But without feeding our soul by God’s word, we can have a tree rich in foliage but deficient in roots, a body without soul, a real monster and anomaly that can only invite trouble. We can be very practical, efficient, running fast—but outside the track.
We have to be more consistent to our faith, and recognize the indispensable importance of the word of God. We have to develop the appropriate attitudes, practices and habits.
The word of God is the genuine good news. It’s God sharing his knowledge and wisdom with us. It’s the beginning of how our life ought to be—supernatural and not just merely human and natural.
This means always exercising our faith, and subordinating all our human efforts to God’s word. In fact, we have to orient all of them to it. There’s nothing in our life that is not and cannot be related to the Bible.
We have to find a way to relate our everyday lives to the Bible text, and vice-versa, the Bible text to our everyday lives. We have to frequently ask ourselves, how can we read the Bible with our lives and our lives with the Bible?
This will require a lot of training, of course. And for this purpose, everyone who can should help. We have to open the ways, the bigger and more accessible the better, for others to follow to interrelate our life and God’s word.
Someone observed that because of the malls and the internet, among many other things that just seem to pop up in our present age, there’s also the diminution if not the loss of spiritual life, including of course the interest in the Bible.
There may be a lot of truth to that observation, but it’s not meant to be taken as an iron law. At best, it’s a social phenomenon that can be rectified. Thus, it presents us with a problem, which is actually a challenge.
Among the first things we have to do is to revise our attitudes toward these new things in our life. When we consider these things as purely human or technical without any relation to God, then we are starting with the wrong step.
We cannot get stuck in the technical and practical level. We have to go much further. We have to discern the role they play and the place they occupy in Christ’s redemptive mission. We have to see God in them.
Obviously, a lot of purification has to be done, knowing that these new things come with a lot of elements that are foreign if not hostile to God’s plans. There’s a lot of greed, vanity, etc. in them.
But to ignore them completely, and not to see God in them would be fatal to our Christian life. This is the challenge we face now. We have to learn how these new developments relate to God’s word, and vice-versa, identifying both the positive and negative aspects.
These new developments have to be seen in the context of religion, with due highlight on the good more than on the bad features. We cannot be fundamentalist or purely traditionalist in approach.
This is what we are seeing nowadays. There’s so much ignorance of the saving word of God. And if there’s any knowledge or recourse to it, it’s often distorted by confusion, error, inadequate attitudes and misunderstanding.Even among our educated class, there’s that widespread misunderstanding, an urban legend that God’s word is just meant for a few people, or that it’s quite irrelevant and inapplicable to their affairs.
Our life seems to be fed and developed solely by purely human words and knowledge. They can be scientific and practical, impressive and high-grade in their technological know-how, but they miserably fail to feed our soul. They’re just incapable of doing so.
They only feed our body and anything material and social about ourselves. These aspects are, of course, necessary. In fact, these are what we first are conscious of, before we are aware of our spiritual needs.
But without feeding our soul by God’s word, we can have a tree rich in foliage but deficient in roots, a body without soul, a real monster and anomaly that can only invite trouble. We can be very practical, efficient, running fast—but outside the track.
We have to be more consistent to our faith, and recognize the indispensable importance of the word of God. We have to develop the appropriate attitudes, practices and habits.
The word of God is the genuine good news. It’s God sharing his knowledge and wisdom with us. It’s the beginning of how our life ought to be—supernatural and not just merely human and natural.
This means always exercising our faith, and subordinating all our human efforts to God’s word. In fact, we have to orient all of them to it. There’s nothing in our life that is not and cannot be related to the Bible.
We have to find a way to relate our everyday lives to the Bible text, and vice-versa, the Bible text to our everyday lives. We have to frequently ask ourselves, how can we read the Bible with our lives and our lives with the Bible?
This will require a lot of training, of course. And for this purpose, everyone who can should help. We have to open the ways, the bigger and more accessible the better, for others to follow to interrelate our life and God’s word.
Someone observed that because of the malls and the internet, among many other things that just seem to pop up in our present age, there’s also the diminution if not the loss of spiritual life, including of course the interest in the Bible.
There may be a lot of truth to that observation, but it’s not meant to be taken as an iron law. At best, it’s a social phenomenon that can be rectified. Thus, it presents us with a problem, which is actually a challenge.
Among the first things we have to do is to revise our attitudes toward these new things in our life. When we consider these things as purely human or technical without any relation to God, then we are starting with the wrong step.
We cannot get stuck in the technical and practical level. We have to go much further. We have to discern the role they play and the place they occupy in Christ’s redemptive mission. We have to see God in them.
Obviously, a lot of purification has to be done, knowing that these new things come with a lot of elements that are foreign if not hostile to God’s plans. There’s a lot of greed, vanity, etc. in them.
But to ignore them completely, and not to see God in them would be fatal to our Christian life. This is the challenge we face now. We have to learn how these new developments relate to God’s word, and vice-versa, identifying both the positive and negative aspects.
These new developments have to be seen in the context of religion, with due highlight on the good more than on the bad features. We cannot be fundamentalist or purely traditionalist in approach.
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