Deep and solid trust in God’s providence

THAT’S what we need in our life here on earth. Given our limited, not to mention wounded, condition, we should see to it that whatever happens in our life, we should have a deep and solid trust in God’s providence. We are always in his hands, and even in situations where we cannot find anymore solutions in this world, we should never doubt that God has assured us that everything would just be all right as long as stick with him. 

 This was once dramatized in that gospel episode where Christ’s disciples were buffeted by big waves while they were in a boat. Christ appeared to them, walking on the sea, reassured them that it was he and not a ghost, and miraculously the tumultuous water became calm. (cfr. Mk 6,45-52) 

 God will always provide for our needs and limitations. He will, in fact, do everything to snatch us from the worst evil that can happen to us through the most effective and wise redemptive work of Christ. 

 God always provides for our needs. He is a very compassionate God who cannot tolerate to see people suffer. That gospel story has a very happy, uplifting ending. 

 And yet, if I may, we can ask the question—that if God is that compassionate and generous, then why is there so much suffering, poverty and misery around? It would even look like God is completely indifferent to this sad condition worldwide. It would look like many people are left to rot in their miserable condition. 

 The answer, of course, is that, yes, God is always compassionate. He cannot tolerate seeing people suffer. He will always provide for all our needs. He even went to the extent of becoming man in Christ who had to offer his life to attain the greatest need of mankind—our salvation. With that supreme act of compassion and generosity freely done, what other need do we have that would not be taken care of by God? 

 The truth is that God has provided us with everything. From our life with all its natural endowments to the air and water, to the abundant food from plants and animals and other resources, he has given them all for us to use and to live with the dignity of being children of God. 

 The problem is that we do not know how to manage them, how to care and help one another. There is so much indifference and self-indulgence, the germs that would develop into a worldwide pandemic of social injustice and inequality. 

 And when we are faced with our limitations and a state of helplessness, we should just be ready for them and know not only how to deal with them but also how to derive something good from them. In these instances of the hard predicaments, for example, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems. 

 We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross.

All the way to the limit

THAT gospel episode about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes where Christ shocked his disciples when he told them to feed the big crowd with the very few things they had on hand (cfr. Mk 6,34-44) clearly reminds us that we should just give whatever we have, all the way to the limit, in pursuing God’s will for us. That’s because, as often said, we should just do our best and God will do the rest. 

 We should not be afraid when we would already find ourselves at our wits’ end, knowing that we are always in God’s hands. He knows what to do when we would already feel we are at our breaking point or at the end of the rope. 

 Let’s keep this truth of our faith alive so we can continue moving on despite whatever difficulty or failure may come our way. We should never give up. We should put away all forms of doubts and hesitation. With a sporting spirit and good sense of humor which should be the effects of our living faith, we know that even the impossible becomes possible. Christ proved it, and the saints who followed him closely did the same. 

 The important thing is for us to always keep in touch with Christ who is always around, ever eager to help us. Let’s hope that we can sincerely echo St. Paul’s words: 

 “Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8,38-39) 

 We should just give and give. That’s the real language of love that is supported by a deep faith and a working hope. No matter how melancholic or phlegmatic our temperament may be, there should be in our mind and heart something that burns and drives us to action all the time. 

 We just have to train ourselves how to give our all, which is a tall order. But what is clear about this matter is that it is actually a call to enter into the will and ways of God which are supernatural. We are being asked to go beyond, but not against, our natural self. This is a call for us to approximate our identification with Christ. 

 If that pursuit for identification with Christ is strong in us, for sure we will also feel assured that everything would just be ok since Christ himself said: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) 

 We need to beg God’s grace to be able to meet this Christian standard. We just cannot rely on our human powers to abide by it. It actually is an invitation for us to take a leap to the supernatural world of God where God wants us to be, since we are his image and likeness, meant to share in his very life and nature. 

 We need to develop a keen sense of generosity and self-giving that is also a result of detachment. Let’s never forget that whatever we have comes from God who wants us to work for the common good. Thus, we hear St. Paul saying, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4,7)

The world and our sanctification

WE need to know the important relation between our temporal affairs in the world and our most important duty and responsibility of our own sanctification. We need to realize more deeply that our sanctification is done always in the world, which is the arena for us to tackle the test of whether we would like to be with God or simply to be on our own. 

 This means that if we truly love God, we should not run away from the world and the many challenges it presents to us. Rather we should love it, immerse ourselves in it, make use of what is true, good and beautiful in it and purify it of what is not. 

 It would clearly be a wrong understanding of what and how it is to love God if we equate loving God with running away from the world, or worse, hating it. The negative and evil things we can find in the world should only spur us to love the world the way God loves it—sending his only begotten Son to it. In other words, we have to be “alter Christus” to love the world properly. 

 Our sanctification therefore should have an effect on the way we carry out our temporal affairs and on the world in general. It just cannot be purely spiritual, mainly in the level of intentions and desires only, or exclusively personal understood as individualistic, with hardly any relation to the others and to the world in general. 

It should not be confined only to isolated and sacred places. It should be knowledgeable about the different issues and problems in the world, unafraid to complicate one’s life and even to get dirty without compromising what is essential in our relation with God. 

 The effect of our sanctification on the world can obviously take on an infinite number of ways and forms. Its impact on the world can be through our charity work, or through the humanization and Christianization of the different sectors and aspects of our society. 

 Aside from its effect on the person and the family, it should leave a sanctifying mark on the world of business, politics, education, sports, entertainment, social life, etc. It should make a better world, more worthy to be offered to God from whom it came, asking us to take care of it. 

 In business alone we need to advocate for an ethical behavior in governance, challenging corruption and greed, and promoting transparency as essential components of just leadership. We need to look into how we can have fair labor practices that ensure employees of dignified and respectful treatment. We have to do something about proper stewardship of God’s creation that avoid environmental degradation. 

 In politics, the duty of sanctification should promote unity and understanding among all people, avoiding polarization and division, relieving cases of injustice and giving due protection to the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized members of our society. We need to uproot corruption and lack of transparency in the government. It should work to inject integrity into the lives and work of our politicians. 

 In entertainment, sanctification can mean promoting wholesome and uplifting content, reflecting God’s design for human dignity and creativity. It should eradicate obscenity and signs of moral decay. Sadly, we have a lot of this kind of dirt these days. 

 Sanctification in the middle of the world can mean praying for our leaders, asking God to guide them with wisdom and justice. Some advocacy work should be encouraged so that policies and practices that reflect gospel values can be promoted. Perhaps, faith-based initiatives that promote social justice, good education and community development can be developed.