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!