How to keep the flame of love burning

THERE’S a Gospel Acclamation that can give us the idea of how to keep the flame of love, notorious for being fickle given our wounded condition, ever burning. It’s from the Acts of Apostles where it says: “Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.” (16,14) 

 God, whose very essence is love, has made this love known to us by its incarnation in the Son made man, Jesus Christ. More than that, this love can also be ours as long as we precisely would open our hearts to listen and make as our own the words, the teaching and example of Christ. 

 It’s a love that goes all the way, and remains unfazed regardless of whatever condition we may have in this life. Yes, it’s a love for all seasons, always taking the initiative to reach out to others, again regardless of how the others may be toward us. 

 As St. Paul would put it, it’s a love that is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (cfr. 1 Cor 13,4-7) 

 In other words, it’s a love that would lead us to always think well of others, to be willing and happy to serve others, again regardless of how they are to us. It’s a love that would enable us to love even our enemies. 

 It always thinks ahead of what to do for the others. It does not wait for some favorable conditions to come before it is given. Yes, it is given gratuitously, without counting the cost nor expecting any reward. It’s quick to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. 

 With this kind of love, we will never have a dull moment in our life. We would never run out of ideas and initiatives. We would always feel hot and energetic, if not always bodily or emotionally, then always spiritually and morally. It will always keep us going, irrespective of the varying circumstances of our life. 

 It’s a love that goes beyond the limitations of our natural powers, since it can only be generated and kept with the grace of God. That is, if we listen to Christ’s words, follow his example, and incarnate him in ourselves through the sacraments, etc. 

 This means that we should animate our human powers with God’s grace, and not let them remain on their own, relying only on natural elements. For this, we need to wage continual struggle since we cannot deny that we also have a strong tendency to depend solely on the natural rather than on the supernatural. 

 To be sure, this kind of love would keep us always calm, happy and cheerful, confident and hopeful. It would always prod us to be generous in our self-giving. It is this kind of love that would already give us a foretaste of the bliss we can expect in our definitive home in heaven when we become truly one with God as we should. 

 We need to spread this Good News more widely and think of ways of how this kind of love can be pursued effectively by all. We have to assure everyone that our ideal condition, the perfection and fullness of our humanity would be achieved if we learn how to have this kind of love.

When God tests our faith

WHEN that happens, the thing to do is to stick more strongly to our faith in God and in his loving and merciful providence. We should never over-react by worrying, fearing, and worse, by losing our faith. We should never doubt God’s love and care for us all. 

 When God tests our faith, we should consider it as an opportunity to grow more in our faith. Let’s follow the example of the Syrophoenician woman in the gospel whose request for the healing of her daughter was at first denied. (cfr. Mk 7,24-30) 

 When Christ told her: “Suffer first the children to be filled, for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs,” she answered, “Yes, Lord, for the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children.” 

 That’s when Christ was so happy with her response that he told her: “The devil is gone out of your daughter.” And true enough, when the mother went home, she found her daughter already well.

 We should always feel the need to sustain and ever strengthen our faith which is the bedrock of our Christian life. Without it or with a weak faith, we most likely will compromise our entire life. 

 We need to be more aware of this duty and develop the appropriate attitude and skill to carry out this responsibility effectively. We have to go beyond mere good intentions or being merely theoretical in order to be truly practical and vitally engaged with this obligation. 

 We have to remember that in developing and strengthening our faith, we need to commit our whole selves to God. We should not just be sentimental, emotional or intellectual about it. We have to give our whole selves in good times and bad, 24/7. We have to involve all our powers and faculties, our past, present and future. 

 Faith is not simply an intellectual assent to some truths. It is an act of our entire being wherein we integrally and entirely commit ourselves. If we truly have faith, we will show it in every action of our life. 

 We will consistently refer everything to Christ, look for him, find and talk to him, seek his guidance, follow his will and ways, and put him as the goal of all of our activities. This has to be distinguished from fanaticism, because faith requires a living union with God, while fanaticism can mimic the appearance of faith, but is not based on that living union, but rather on something else. 

 If we truly have faith, we will always make Christ present wherever we are. Irrespective of our human condition, we can always exude a certain aura of wisdom, goodness, charity and kindness, mercy and justice, and power, etc. 

 Faith is something much deeper and more complete than a simple affirmation of some truths. It produces an effective and operative presence of the love of Christ among men. It makes us plant the seed of love in each heart. It leads us to discover all the good things in the world where God himself has placed us so that we may be holy. It also points us where the dangers are. 

 Let's strengthen our faith always by spending some moments everyday in mental prayer, living always in the presence of God, waging continuing ascetical struggle to develop virtues and fight against our weaknesses and temptations, studying and assimilating the doctrine of our faith, pursuing a lifelong plan of formation, etc.

Inner purity more than just following rules

THAT’S what we can gather from the Gospel of St. Mark (7,14-23) where Christ said, “There is nothing from without a man that entering into him, can defile him. But the things which come from a man, those are they that defile a man.” 

 Further down, he explained: “Everything from without, entering into a man cannot defile him, because it enters not into his heart, but goes into the belly, and goes out into the privy, purging all meats.” Rather, he said, what can defile a man are the things which come out from him. 

 That’s when he listed what can come out of the heart of men: evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 

 This gospel episode teaches us that in order to have inner purity, we should take care of our heart, making it clean, pure and full of love, compassion, and the whole gamut of virtues. 

 Thus, in the Book of Proverbs, we have this invitation from God, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” (23,26) This invitation should be clear in our mind and heart, and we should do everything to be able to correspond to that invitation properly. 

 Nowadays when our heart is glutted with so many worldly things, it is really a tall order to say, yes, to this invitation. But with God’s grace, which we can always receive with due humility on our part, there is no doubt that we can do it. 

 We have to remember that our heart is actually the very seat of our thoughts, desires and conscience. It’s that part that contains our whole being, and therefore the most precious part we have. Our whole identity, both in its stable and dynamic states, is found in the heart. 

 It’s the source of what our mouth would say as articulated by Christ once when he said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mt 12,4). It is what gives the motives for our thoughts, desires, words and deeds. 

 It’s also where we hear the voice of God as well as that of the devil, where we discern the spirit of God and that of the evil one. It’s where we make our decisions, promises and commitments. 

 Obviously to get a handle on our heart, we need to go to God. Our human estimations can never be enough. They can even be dangerous, since they are often very limited and, worse, biased. We have to be wary of the powerful pull these worldly and human estimations can exert on us. 

 This is where strict self-discipline is most needed. We cannot deny the fact that we are often dominated by passions inside us and fashions outside us. We have our usual weaknesses of pride, laziness, attachments, etc. Thus, we need to undertake a continuing struggle, using all kinds of spiritual armory to wage this daily battle and aim at nothing less than conquering our heart for Christ. 

 It’s where the dynamics of our faith, hope and charity is played out. But it can also be where merely worldly values, passing and relative, can dominate. Thus, it is where our interior struggle is done, where our choice to be with God or to be by ourselves is made. 

 Let’s see to it that our heart is always with Christ. Let’s make it a habit of doing regular examination of conscience in God’s presence. For this we would need some moments of silence and recollection, distancing ourselves for a while from the din of the world and the madding crowd.