Going beyond our human and natural justice

THAT’S how true love is! It, of course, does not do away with natural and human justice, but it does not get stuck with it either. It goes further. Human and natural justice somehow involves self-interest that is of the good kind. But charity enables us to give our all even at the expense of what is legitimate to us according the standards of human and natural justice. It is willing to suffer injustice. 

 Charity, in fact, is what perfects human and natural justice. But make no mistake about it. It should be the charity as shown, nay, commanded, to us by Christ himself. He showed this charity in its purest form when he offered his life as a ransom for our sins. It’s a charity that is purely gratuitous and most magnanimous. He suffered the greatest evil here on earth, and in return, he offered forgiveness and mercy. 

 How is this charity a perfection of our justice? It perfects our justice since it does not so much get stuck with what wrong we committed as it renders the best consideration of who we really are. We might commit many mistakes, even grave sins, but we continue to be children of God. And it’s for that reason that it, as shown by Christ, is willing to suffer for us and die for us if only to pay for whatever sin we commit. 

 This, of course, does not mean that we should do away with our human and natural justice. We can and we should pursue the requirements of our human and natural justice. But we should not get stuck there. We should continually ask for God’s grace to acquire the relevant spirit, attitude, virtues and skills of how to raise our sense of justice to the level of divine charity. 

 We need to see to it that we learn how to go beyond our human and natural justice by being merciful the way Christ is merciful with everyone of us. And everyday, we actually are given many opportunities to live mercy that goes beyond our brand of justice. 

 When we take the initiative to love and understand people, irrespective of how they are and what they may have done, we are already practicing mercy. When we are quick to disregard differences and just work for the common good, when we try to find excuses for the weaknesses if not the mistakes of others, we are clearly being merciful. 

 We should try our best to be above purely human considerations in our dealings with others, and just follow the example of Christ. That way we would know how to make our human and natural justice give way to mercy, the ultimate expression of charity. 

 I wonder if our idea of what Christian life ought to be includes this very important factor of mercy and charity. Only when we have these desires to dispense divine mercy to others can we sincerely say that we are truly Christian, another Christ if not Christ himself, as we ought to be. 

 In our daily examination of conscience, let us try to see if we have been doing something concrete in this regard. Are we willing to bear the sins of others, in an effort to reflect Christ’s attitude toward all of us who are all sinners? Are we quick to forgive and bear the consequences of the mistakes people commit even as we try to sort out things according to our human and natural justice?

Infidelity a fact of life

WE, of course, should try our best, without giving up, to be faithful all the way to the end. No matter how many times we fall, we should just get up as many times as necessary, and just move on. We might arrive at our proper destination with a missing eye, hand, leg or whatever, but, at least, we should see to it that we reach our final goal. 

 Our infidelity should not be a surprise to us. Right from the start of humanity, with our first parents who were already in the perfect state of original justice, infidelity took place. When the plan of divine salvation started to take place, cases of infidelity also came about. 

 And even among the disciples of Christ, there was one who betrayed him, and another one who denied him. And cases of infidelity continue to take place, ad nauseam, even up to the present. 

 That is the bitter truth and the harsh reality of our human condition. But we should not worry so much about it because God’s mercy is always available, ready to be given in abundance as long as we do our part, no matter how small. 

 With the way we are, we should just try our best to continue struggling, to always feel the need for repentance and conversion, and to never get tired of having to begin and begin again. 

 Yes, as long as we struggle, we can be assured of our fidelity to whatever commitment we have entered into. The ideal situation should be that we are always in awe at the presence of God in our life, making him the principle and objective of all our thoughts, words and deeds. 

 When we have a strong faith in God as our father, whose love and mercy are always ready to be given, we can have the conviction also that it is always worthwhile to just begin and begin again. 

 Whatever failures or sins we may have committed, no matter how grave and ugly they are, we just have to go to him, asking for forgiveness and he will forgive us. We just have to move on. 

 Remember the parable of the prodigal son. That spoiled brat finally came to his senses after suffering so much for his stupidity and decided to go back to his father even if he would not anymore be considered his son. The father welcomed him back with great joy and restored him to his dignity. 

 The important thing is just to come home. We may have strayed from the right way and have done it knowingly and freely, and therefore with guilt. But God is always a father. He will never reject his son. 

 In other words, we should just come home. It’s understandable that we can present ourselves to God with shame and fear, but let’s be reassured that God will always take us back and would be most happy with our return. 

 We should just be realistic about our wounded condition here in this life but never fail to remember that God is bent to bring us back to him no matter how many times we fall. For our part we should just know how to renew ourselves always by going through the lifelong process of having to begin and begin again. 

 The attitude to have is to never surrender. We should just get up after every fall, say sorry for every mistake and sin we commit, continue asking for grace and polishing our virtues and skills in the ascetical struggle, and just move on. God always understands, always forgives, and is eager to help us in every way if we would just be receptive to him.

Never tempt God

WITH all the assurances that God will take care of everything, especially when we are in most need of help and mercy, etc., we might be tempted to think that we can do anything, including intentionally doing bad things, since God will forgive us anyway. 

 This is what tempting God is all about. We would be testing his patience and limits. We fail to realize that God’s abundant and gratuitous goodness, his ever-available mercy and all the graces that he is eager to share with us, is meant for us to get closer to him, to love him more, to do a lot of good in accordance to his will and ways. They are not meant to spoil and corrupt us, thinking we can just do anything. 

 In the Bible, there are a number of cases of tempting God that, of course, ended very badly. The Israelites, for example, tempted God multiple times, questioning his presence and provision, leading to consequences like fiery snakes and 40 years of wandering. (cfr. Ex 17) 

 There was also the case of the couple Ananias and Sapphira who tempted God by lying about their donation, leading to severe consequences. (cfr. Acts 5) Of course, Christ was tempted directly by the devil who was immediately dismissed. (cfr. Mt 4) We have to be wary of the dire consequences that tempting God can cause. It can lead to loss of faith and spiritual dryness. 

 What we should rather do, given God’s overwhelming love for us, is to try our best to love him in return. His love for us should teach us how to love in return, how to love him and everybody else in return. 

 And if we really want to be in love, let’s fill ourselves first of all with the source of love who is none other than God. “Deus caritas est,” God is love, as St. John says, indicating the ultimate essence of God. And since we are his image and likeness, we cannot be other than men and women full of love, of God’s love. 

 We have to be wary of distorting this fundamental truth about ourselves by simply generating our own kind of love that will always be limited, highly conditioned, effective only under what we consider to be favorable conditions. 

 We have to make the effort to feel the love of God for us which he pours on us abundantly. That’s simply because unless we feel that love and get moved by it, we cannot manage to love as we ought to love. Let’s always remember that Christ himself commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. Christ makes himself the standard and source of our love. 

 Otherwise, what may happen is that we may just rely on our own self-generated kind of love that can only do so much. For example, our self-generated love would not know how to be patient for long with trials and sufferings, how to love and be merciful with those who give us trouble. It would be a love that tends to tempt God. 

 Everyday, we should work out this need of filling ourselves with God’s love, since this does not come to us automatically. In the first place, we have to contend with our human and natural limitations that simply cannot cope with the fullness of God’s love. 

 This is not to mention that we are also burdened by the effects of our sins and weaknesses, the environment of temptations and other conditionings that would make us not only insensitive and resistant but also hostile to God’s love.