Quick to accuse vs. quick to forgive

THESE are the two opposing attitudes that can be seen in God and in us. We are quick to blame and accuse others for whatever fault, defect, mistake others may commit, including those that we make up simply because of our biases and differences. But God is quick to forgive, even if there are some passing anger involved and corrective reminders given. 

 These opposing attitudes are highlighted in the readings of Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent. (Daniel 13,1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; Jn 8,1-11) 

 In the First Reading, we are told about how two old men who were judges plotted against the beautiful Susanna who refused to give in to their lustful desires. Susanna had to go through a terrible period of being accused falsely until Daniel the prophet saved her by exposing the malicious tricks of the old men. This is a sample of how we can go accusing someone, even falsely, if only to get what we want. 

 And in the Gospel, we are told about how some scribes and Pharisees dragged a woman who was caught in adultery to Christ. The purpose was to see if Christ would follow what was written in the Mosaic law that such woman should be stoned to death. Instead, Christ did nothing until the accusers left. He just told the woman to go free and to sin no more. This is a sample of how God can be quick to forgive. 

 We should be wary of our tendency to accuse and blame others. This can happen because we may want to deflect attention from our own mistakes or shortcomings, or because we fail to fully consider others’ perspectives or feelings. There are many other reasons why we tend to be quick to accuse and blame others. 

 What we should rather do is first of all to reflect before reacting, to try to see things from the other person’s perspective, or from where he is coming from. We should try to focus on the issue or problem involved rather than on the person himself. We should also try to give the others the benefit of the doubt. This would help us restrain our tendency to judge rashly and to be quick to accuse and blame others. 

 On the other hand, we should learn to be forgiving just as God himself is forgiving to everyone. In fact, Christ himself told us clearly that given the fact that we also have our mistakes and sins, we should be forgiving to everyone since only then can God be forgiving to us. 

 If Christ can offer forgiveness to those who crucified him—and there can be no worse evil than killing Christ who is God—why do we find it hard to offer forgiveness to others? 

 All of us sin one way or another. The awareness of this truth is not meant to depress us but rather to keep us humble and always feeling in need of God. We should be wary when we would just depend solely on our own resources to tackle this predicament. We need God. 

 The awareness of this truth should also help us to develop the attitude to forgive one another as quickly as possible, since that is the only way we can be forgiven. When we find it hard to forgive others, it is a clear sign that we are full of ourselves, are self-righteous, proud and vain. It is a clear sign that we are not yet with Christ. A true Christian is always a forgiving person!

Our resurrection to eternal life

THE readings on the Third Sunday of Lent remind us that we are meant for eternal life. In the first reading, from the Book of Ezekiel 37,12-14, we see how God promises to raise his people from their graves and fill them with his Spirit. 

 The Responsorial Psalm (130) practically asks us to trust in God’s mercy always, considering that we cannot avoid falling into sin. The Second Reading, from Romans 8,8-11, tells us that it is the Spirit of God that will give us true eternal life to our mortal bodies. The Gospel Acclamation, from Jn 11,25-26, reminds us that it is Christ who is the resurrection and the life, and if we believe in him, we actually will never die. 

 And the Gospel, from John 11,20-45, talks about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It clearly shows that Christ has power over death. 

 With all these truths of our Christian faith, what we have to do is to correspond to them as best that we can. And it can only mean that we should try our best to be eternity-ready all the time. 

 We should therefore be clear about this point. Our time here on earth is a time of transit toward eternity, from where we came and to where we are heading. That’s because we are creatures of God who is in eternity. We came from him, and since we have been made in his image and likeness, we are meant to be with him in all eternity. 

 Our definitive state of life is to be with God in eternity. We therefore need to be eternity-ready in our time here on earth. And we can approximate that state of life and prepare ourselves for it by trying to be with God always, following his will and ways as we go through the drama of our earthly life. 

 We should know how to flow with the times without getting lost along the way. While there are changing things as we flow with the times, we also have to know that there are things that are not supposed to change, that will always have permanent value and relevance to us. 

 We need to see to it that our thoughts and desires are immersed in the supernatural gifts of faith, hope and charity, those theological virtues that enable our earthly and temporal affairs to acquire spiritual, supernatural and eternal value. 

 That is why, we need to study and assimilate the doctrine of our faith, make it generate hope in our earthly pilgrimage, and fuel the love that catapults us to eternity, uniting us to God and others. 

 This is how we can link our time here on earth with the eternity of our definitive life. It’s a matter of the belief that there is God and that he is our creator who gives us our very existence and that he continually, without any gap or break, intervenes in our life. 

 We have to be more aware of this truth, and more important, know how to deal with it. We often take it for granted, or worse, we can think that our life can just be on our own, completely dependent on what and how we make it to be. 

 Or we can think that we can be with God at some time and can be on our own at other times. We need to outgrow this mentality, because it simply does not correspond to reality. Ok, it’s not easy. There’s deep and vast awkwardness especially in the beginning. But it’s not a problem that cannot be solved.

No worldly algorithm can outwit divine wisdom

WE, therefore, should be wary of our tendency to rely more on our human and worldly estimation of things. Rather, we should always choose to be guided by God’s will and ways, by his abidingly loving and merciful providence, which we should try our best to discern at every moment of our life. 

 To be sure, no human plan can surpass divine guidance. Divine wisdom always outsmarts worldly logic. And God’s plan for us and for the world is above all else. We need to be clear about this and do everything to live by this truth of our faith. 

 Especially nowadays, when we are facing an increasingly complicated world, we need to strengthen our belief in this truth, and cultivate the appropriate skills and lifestyle. We obviously should try our best to make use of whatever human knowledge we can get from our human sciences, but all this should be motivated and guided by our faith, hope and love for God and for everybody. 

 This is not to mention that when one is determined to follow God in the best way he can, he has to expect to contend with the most devious ways of the enemies of God and of our soul. 

 This was articulated, for example, in the Book of Wisdom where some ungodly people said: “Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraids us with transgressions of the law, and divulges against us the sins of our way of life.” (2,12) 

 But again, we should not worry too much. As long as we try our best to stick to God’s will and ways, we know that no opposition to God and to us can dominate us. What we have to worry is when we allow ourselves to be guided simply by some worldly doctrine and standards. 

 In this, we have been forewarned by St. Paul who said, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col 2,8) 

 And he went further to say that we should rely solely on Christ. “For in Christ,” he said, “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” (Col 2,9) 

 This is, indeed, a call for us to truly develop a strong and intimate relationship with Christ. In other words, to develop an authentic and effective spiritual life, since only then can we get some knowledge of divine wisdom and be guided by it. 

 In this regard, we have to acknowledge our need for a continuing formation that, at least, would cover the doctrinal, spiritual and ascetical aspects of our relation with Christ. 

 This is how we can aspire to acquire nothing less than the wisdom of God. We have to understand that formation involves assuming the very mind and heart of Christ, the very wisdom of God. It should lead us to center our lives on Christ’s love and to assume God’s plan with creativity and initiative. 

 Thus, the capacity for reflection is necessary so as to faithfully channel Christ’s love for everyone. We need to go through some philosophical and theological study of our faith, coupled with the appropriate cultural formation so we can be effective in transmitting God’s living word in the middle of the world. 

 This is how we can acquire the divine algorithm that would lead us to discover divine wisdom, rather than just a worldly one.