Detachment in the life of a disciple

TO be sure, a certain detachment from the things of this world and even from people is required of us if we want to be a true and effective disciple of Christ. He himself said it quite clearly: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26-17) 

 We obviously have to understand these words properly. We are men and women with material and emotional needs. We cannot let go of our loved ones if we want to retain our humanity, and of course, of our Christianity. But we have to realize that meeting these human needs should be animated by the proper spirit of love that Christ is showing and giving us. It should not displace such spirit. 

 Again, let’s be reassured of what Christ promised us if we observe the proper priorities in our life. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mt 6,33) And, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) 

 We need to have a certain detachment from persons and things to be able to give our heart entirely to God, and with him, we actually have everything else we need. As St. Teresa of Avila put it graphically, with God we have enough—“solo Dios basta.” 

 So the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things of this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of God. 

 To be a disciple of Christ, we have to give everything of ourselves to him and to the tasks such discipleship entails. This will allow the very power of Christ to work on us. So instead of hindering our apostolic work, that detachment that Christ requires of his disciples would only enhance that work. 

 Detachment does not remove our involvement and engagement in our human, earthly and temporal affairs. It simply puts them in the right context and the right direction. It frees us from unnecessary baggage. It improves our vision and understanding of things, and predisposes our heart to the real love which can only be a sharing in God’s love. 

 We should not be afraid to go through the required sacrifices and self-denial that this proper sense of detachment would involve, since these can only lead us to the joy and peace meant for us. We need to do better than have a shallow and narrow view of our earthly life, giving knee-jerk reactions to things. 

 We need to give due attention to this duty of rectifying and purifying our intention, filling it with love, and expressing it with generosity and heroism even. We should do away with any ulterior motive we would be tempted to have. Our problem is precisely our tendency to take this duty for granted, and so we open ourselves to the subtle forces of pride, greed, lust, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, etc. Christian detachment protects and liberates us from these dangers.

Remembering our dead

WE should be most thankful that as a people, we Filipinos still have a deep and strong devotion to those of our brothers and sisters who have gone ahead of us to eternal life. Sad to say, in some places that are often blighted by the virus of the so-called progress and modernity, such regard for the dead is waning, if not is practically lost. 

 We know in our heart of hearts that the death of a person never means some kind of banishment not only from our memory but also from existence itself. We somehow believe, even before we are taught by our Christian faith, that the dead continue to live on, but in another state which we actually call as our definitive life for all eternity. 

 We believe that our life here on earth is not the definitive one. It is something like a training and testing ground for our definitive life with our Creator. And we are convinced that we are not making up this belief. 

 Just the same, we have to revisit and restrengthen our belief in the Christian doctrine of our faith about the so-called ‘Last Things.’ In fact, we need to feel at home with it, since it would certainly play an important role on how to arrange and direct our life here on earth. 

 The doctrine of the ‘Last Things’ refers to what would happen to us at the end of our life here on earth. These ‘Last Things’ are death, judgment, hell and heaven, with purgatory as a transitory state. 

 With death, I suppose we cannot question that anymore. It is a daily occurrence. But we may have to exert some effort to believe in the Christian faith about judgment, hell and heaven. 

 Yes, there are truly such things. Even if we are to go by our human reasoning alone, we would find our life here on earth completely useless and meaningless if there would be no judgment, hell and heaven. 

 But we have to be careful with tackling this matter with our reason alone. Without the light of faith, our reason can give us all sorts of explanations. It can lead us to some exciting insights but in the end, it can lead us nowhere. It can only give us so much light. It cannot capture everything. 

 The gospel is full of references to these last things, and we are always encouraged to be watchful in this life so that we tread the right path to our destination. Yes, our life here is like a journey, a pilgrimage to our definitive home which is actually in heaven where God is, from whom we came and to whom we belong. 

 Said in another way, our life here on earth is all about the ongoing creation of our own selves with God as the Creator and us as our own co-creator with God. That’s because God wants us to correspond to what he wants us to be, that is, to be his image and likeness, to be his children, meant to share in his divine nature and life. 

 In a sense, our creation is a joint venture between God and us, and the completion of this venture would be at our death and at the end of time when, hopefully, we can, with God’s grace and our effort, truly become God’s image and likeness and the dignity of being God’s children definitively achieved.

The Solemnity of All Saints

THIS Solemnity is not only an occasion to celebrate the success stories of holiness of those who are already in heaven, and are recognized and canonized by the Church as saints. It is also a strong reminder that all of us are called to holiness. And the way to holiness is clearly spelled out by Christ himself when he preached about the beatitudes. (cfr. Mt 5,1-12) 

 Everyone can be a saint because God calls all and empowers all to be so. Ever wondered why Christ chose his apostles practically randomly? He, for example, would just pass by Matthew in his tax collector’s table and say, “Come, follow me,” without as much checking on Matthew’s background. 

 Same with brothers Peter and Andrew, and James and John. Christ would just call them, and without asking any question they simply left their nets, for they were fishermen, and followed Christ. 

 In the end, he would also call Judas Iscariot who would later betray him. Christ, being God, would have known that Judas would turn him in. But that did not deter him. He called Judas just the same to be one of his 12 apostles. 

 The only reason I can find for this behavior of Christ is that he has the right to call anyone and everyone to follow him. And that’s simply because, as God, he has that right since all of us come from him and belong to him. As redeemer, he calls everyone to follow him. 

 Yes, everyone is called to holiness, because everyone is a creature of God, and as such is therefore created in the image and likeness of God, adopted a child of his, and meant to participate in the very life of God. 

 There is a basic and inalienable equality among all of us insofar as we are God’s creatures and children called to holiness. Regardless of our position and state in life, whether we are priests, religious men and women, or ordinary lay faithful, we have the same calling and purpose in life. 

 Corollary to this truth is that there is also a basic and inalienable quality of everything in the world to be an occasion and means for our sanctification. To be holy does not mean that we only spend time praying, going to church, availing of the sacraments, etc. 

 To be sure, prayer, the sacraments, the doctrine of our faith, obedience to the Church hierarchy are important and indispensable, but these would hang on thin air if they are not supported and made as the goal and expression of a sanctified life that is consistent to the teachings and the spirit of God as lived in the middle of the world. 

 And given our wounded condition, we have to understand that the road to sanctity will always pass through the ways of suffering in this life. Thus, Christ preached about the beatitudes where what we usually consider as human disasters or clear disadvantages and inconveniences according to worldly standards are converted into a source of joy, a means of our redemption, a path to heaven, narrow and difficult though it may be. 

 They expand our understanding of what would comprise as our true happiness by including those situations which we normally regard as unsavory and therefore to be avoided as much as possible and hated. 

 We need to study well the content and spirit behind the beatitudes by looking closely at the example of Christ. There we will have the reassurance that all the suffering and sacrifices that we have to go through would be all worth it.