Desire for God despite our spiritual blindness

THE story of the blind Bartimaeus who reacted strongly upon hearing that Christ was passing by (cfr. Mk 10,46-52) reminds us that despite our blindness to spiritual and supernatural realities, there remains in the heart of man, as created by God, an innate desire for him. 

 This truth of our faith is clearly articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says: “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself.” (#27) 

 Just the same, this desire for God can be thwarted by a variety of reasons and, thus, cause bad consequences. So, let’s just prepare for the worst scenario and try our best to imitate Christ himself who, in redeeming us, prepared himself for the worst. In fact, he already knew about his death and how it was to be. 

 Toward this end, we should just make sure that our love of God is always vibrant. We have to make it grow day by day. We have to feel that love so intensely such that it is actually what would energize us in any endeavor we have. 

 We have to see to it that we do not take this love for granted. This is the best and ultimate weapon we have to prepare for the worst scenario in our life. With this love, we would be willing to go through what Christ himself went through—suffering all the indignities of the world and ultimately dying on the cross. 

 But then, after death, there is the resurrection, the final victory that is meant for all of us, irrespective of how we fare in this life. 

 Just the same, given our fickle and fragile human condition here on earth, we have to feel the need to feed our desire for God daily. We know all too well that such desire, when we have it, would not last long unless we do something to keep it burning. We are notorious for being easily carried away by merely worldly and temporal interests. 

 Toward this end, we should avail of certain spiritual exercises, like prayer, sacrifices and mortifications, recourse to the sacraments, continuing spiritual and doctrinal formation, etc., to develop in us a true and deep devotion, sharpening our attraction always to Christ. 

 It’s important to realize that the net effect of all these should be a strong and abiding feeling of intimacy with God, a strong attraction to him. We should not allow our attractions to stop at the level of some earthly and temporal goods only. It should be God and his will and ways that should attract us most. 

 Let’s always remember that if it is not God who attracts us, then it would be something else. And that something else can be none other than what is opposed to God. Remember Christ saying, “Whoever is not with me is against me…” (Mt 12,30) 

 We should be always mindful of our need to have the proper focus in our life. We should do everything to be able to have that focus, given the fact that in our earthly life, we cannot help but get immersed in so many earthly and temporal things. We need to sharpen our longing for God in every circumstance of our life. 

 In this way, we can remain faithful in pursuing the real and ultimate purpose and mission of our life.

“With great power comes great responsibility”

THAT’S an aphorism from the movie, The Spiderman, which serves as a moral axiom. It highlights the need to use whatever power or capability one has, for a greater good, and not as a means of entitlement. 

 To be sure, that axiom must have been inspired by what Christ told his apostles. “You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them, and their princes have power over them. But it is not so among you. Whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister. And whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all. For the Son of Man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister…” (Mk 10,42-45) 

 These words came as a clarification when two of the apostles asked for the privilege to have special places in heaven. The request was quite impertinent as it was made immediately after Christ foretold his forthcoming passion, death and resurrection. These two apostles must have been more focused on the future resurrection of Christ than on his passion and death. 

 These words of Christ are a good warning for us, since we cannot deny that we have the tendency to feel entitled the more honors, power and privileges we enjoy in life. We should do our best to be most guarded against this danger and do everything to develop a keen sense of humility and gratitude for all these blessings. More than that, we should realize more sharply that these blessings are meant for us to work harder and serve others more and better. 

 Let’s remember that to serve is the language and the action of love. It authenticates any affirmation of love that we make, converting it from intention to tangible reality. 

 This is the attitude meant for us, with God himself as the exemplar. Imagine, Christ served us by dying on the cross. Before that, he shocked his apostles when he insisted that he be allowed to wash their feet. That was to give example to them, and us, so that what he did we would also do. 

 The angels too, superior to us in nature, are made to serve us, following a divine law articulated by Christ himself when he said: “Let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest, and him who is the chief as the servant.” (Lk 22,26) 

 Christ is the very epitome of this proper attitude. Being God, he emptied himself to become man and to bear all the sins of men by dying on the cross, all for the purpose of saving mankind. (cfr. Phil 2,7) 

 He reiterated this point when he lamented about the domineering sense of entitlement of some of the leading Jews of his time while praising the poor widow who put all that she had into the temple treasury. (cfr. Mk 12,38-44) 

 While it’s true that we obviously are entitled to our rights, we should not feel entitled to privileges and favors that are above our rights and needs. If they come and we cannot avoid them, then let’s be thankful. 

 But let’s be reminded that these privileges, favors and blessings are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. We need to be truly guarded against this danger.

A core criterion of authentic discipleship

THOSE words that Christ told his disciples about what it is to be an authentic disciple of his must have shocked them. 

 “Amen I say to you, there is no man who has left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who shall not receive an hundred times as much in this time: houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the life to come life everlasting.” (Mk 10,29-30) 

 With these words, we are practically told that an authentic disciple should prioritize Christ above all earthly affections and securities, as echoed in similar teachings of his about self-denial and cross-bearing. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 These words are like a test to see if one values the Kingdom of God over natural bonds, which can sometimes hinder divine service and dedication. They are not meant to nullify the value of our natural bonds here on earth but rather to put them in their proper place, not allowing them to undermine one’s discipleship to Christ. 

 Christ, being God, who commanded us to love our parents and the things of this world in accordance to his will, could not contradict himself by telling us to abandon absolutely our parents and temporal affairs. What is meant is that we should give priority to Christ first, without neglecting our duties toward our natural bonds. 

 These words of Christ that describe how an authentic disciple should be is like a test of a disciple’s sincerity, probing if we are willing to detach from earthly things for Christ’s sake. 

 We definitely need to learn how to give ourselves totally to God and to the others, since we cannot deny that we have a strong tendency to put some strings attached whenever we have to give something to the others. 

 We have to make an effort, always asking, of course, for the grace of God first of all, so that we can learn to assume this attitude with respect to our self-giving. In the end, this will make us to be like Christ who gave himself totally to us, including giving his life for our sins. 

 Let's remember what he told his disciples once: "Freely you have received, freely you have to give." (Mt 10,8) Gratuitousness should characterize our self-giving to God and to others, just as gratuitousness characterizes God's love for us. Such gratuitousness will actually gain us much more than what we give away. 

 In this regard, we have to do some continuing battle against our unavoidable tendency to be calculating in our self-giving. Not only do we have to contend with our personal weaknesses in this regard. We also have to contend with a tremendous cultural environment, so prevalent these days, that not only is not conducive to this attitude of Christian generosity but is also hostile to it. 

 We constantly have to rectify our intentions when we have to give ourselves to God and to others—be it things, a service, or matter of attention and affection. This is especially so when our giving is for God. Let's never forget that God cannot be outdone in generosity. 

 We should always be encouraged to give ourselves to God and to others gratuitously without strings attached, without conditions. Even if instead of being reciprocated properly and requited, our love is misunderstood and rejected, we just have to go on loving. The only reason for loving is because that is what true love is. It is this love that is the real essence of God, of whom we are his image and likeness.