Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Love requires sacrifice

WE have to be clear about this. Love will always require
sacrifice. Where there is no sacrifice, there cannot be love. Love
grows only to the extent that we are willing to make sacrifices.
Without sacrifice, we sooner or later will be swallowed up by our own
egoism, our own selfishness.
  
            And this selfishness can take the form of laziness,
attachment to certain things to the point of self-absorption, etc. We
have to be ready to do battle against these anomalous tendencies of
ours.
  
            We should always remember that the very essence of love is
self-giving. In love, the lover needs to lose himself in his beloved.
He has to be identified with his beloved. And this will always involve
self-denial.
  
            The self-giving and losing that love requires would
actually enrich the person in his dignity. This way of loving conforms
to what Christ himself said: “Whoever would save his life will lose
it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 16,25)
  
            That’s why Christ himself said that if anyone wants to
follow him, that person has to deny himself and, in fact, should carry
the cross also. Otherwise, he cannot love. And true love is
personified in Christ himself.
  
            In other words, we can only love truly when we identify
ourselves with Christ who precisely commanded us to love one another
as he himself has loved us.      We have to understand that only in
Christ would we manage to keep our love alive and vibrant, always
fresh, new and creative. It’s a love that is open to anything, and
willing to go through all the challenges, trials, difficulties, etc.
  
            To be sure, Christ is not sparing in inspiring us with his
love and in sharing his love with us. If we bother to be open
ourselves to him, to love the way Christ has loved us should not be a
problem. Christ makes himself and his ways of loving readily available
to us. That is why we need to actively look for him, as he himself
told us. “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find…”
(Mt 7,7)
  
            We need to see to it that everyday we pattern our love
after Christ’s love for us that is so full of sacrifice that it went
to the extent of offering his life for us. We can do this if everyday,
we would always look for opportunities to makes sacrifices by ways of
serving others the way they need to be served, unafraid of the
inconveniences involved.
  
            We should never forget to deny ourselves in something
everyday if we want to keep our love alive. That self-denial should be
inspired by Christ’s example. It should not be done simply for its own
sake, for the sake only of self-denial. That would dehumanize us. This
distinction between a Christ-inspired self-denial and a self-denial
that is only for its own sake is important.
   
            When we find something required by love hard to do, all we
need to do is to go to Christ, asking for his help, for his grace.
Thus, difficulties should be understood as an invitation to go to
Christ, not to ignore him and spend our time brooding uselessly.
  
            It would greatly help if we meditate on the very passion
and death of Christ so that we can appreciate the necessity of
sacrifice in loving. There Christ shows us how to love by suffering in
obedience to his Father’s will. There we will find the true meaning of
suffering and sacrifice and their intimate relation to love.


Monday, January 29, 2018

The art of listening

WE need to learn this art. It plays a crucial and
strategic role in our life. In many instances in the gospel, Christ
told people after preaching, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
(Mt 11,15)

             Let us try to avoid Christ’s reproach, “Though seeing,
they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand...For their heart has
become calloused.” (Mt 13,13.15)
  
            We need to realize first of all that of all the words that
we have to handle, we have to give priority to the word of God as
recorded especially in Sacred Scripture. That’s simply because that
word contains all the truth, the saving truth that we need to know.
  
            God’s word is always relevant to every situation we can
find ourselves in. God’s word should inspire and guide our human word,
be it a word of our common sense, or of our philosophies, theologies,
sciences, arts and technologies, or of our culture and history, etc.
  
            Remember what the Letter to the Hebrews says of God’s
word: “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing of soul and
spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart.” (4,12) God’s word is both the first and the last word, as well
as the word in between.
  
            When Christ said that he who has ears to hear, let him
hear, he is actually inviting us to listen closely to his word and try
our best to discern and fathom its true intent.
  
            Let’s take that invitation seriously. We have to develop
the habit of meditating on the word of God in some regular if not
abiding way. This recommendation is somehow expressed in the very
first of the psalms:
  
            “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel
of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat
of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law
he meditates day and night.” (1,1-2)
  
            And in meditating on God’s word, let us always ask the
Holy Spirit to prompt us or to tell us what and how to understand that
word. It cannot be denied that there are many who have also meditated
on God’s word on their own, without the help of the Holy Spirit, and
have come out with their own interpretations, their own spins and
biases.
  
            Pertinent to this point, this is what Christ said of the
Holy Spirit: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you
into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative, but
whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is
to come.” (Jn 16,13)
  
            And as St. Paul said, anyone taught by the Spirit would
know how to combine spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (cfr. 1
Cor 2,13) In other words, our thoughts and words would not simply
remain in the purely human or worldly terms. They become thoughts and
words of the Spirit as well.
  
            It’s when we learn how to listen to the word of God, with
the help of the Holy Spirit, that we achieve what is said of the good
soil in the parable of the sower and the seed.

            “The seed falling on good soil,” Christ said, “refers to
someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who
produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was
sown.” (Mt 13,23)


Sunday, January 28, 2018

How do we gain credibility?

IT’S a question every priest, consecrated person and
anyone with some special vocation and mission in life should ask
himself frequently. If politicians, salesmen and advertisers
continually examine themselves against this standard, how much more
those of us who are entrusted with a divine mission to serve the
People of God in their spiritual needs!
  
            In this Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons, let us
pray that the Pope, bishops, priests and those with some special
divine vocation and mission be always credible in their preaching and,
more importantly, in their lifestyle.
  
            I imagine that to be truly credible, we have to be vitally
identified with Christ so that what was said of him can also be said
of us. Let’s remember that when he entered a synagogue in Capernaum
and began to preach, the people were astonished because he preached
with authority unlike the scribes. (cfr. Mt 7,29) He always attracted
big crowds.
  
            We priests, religious and all those with special vocations
should aim at acquiring the credibility of Christ. This will obviously
require that we learn to assume the very mind and heart of Christ.
This would presume, aside from being sacramentally conformed to Christ
as head of the Church and receiving a special vocation, that we pray
always, thoroughly study the doctrine of our faith, wage constant
struggle and renewal, etc.
  
            The idea is that we live out what Christ first told the
apostles—that those who hear the apostles, actually would hear Christ
and the one who sent Christ. (cfr  Lk 10,16) There should be a stable
consistency between who we are and for whom we work.
  
            Everyday, we have to see to it that we grow in our
identification with Christ to such an extent that we can confidently
say that we are only thinking of God and of the others, that we are
only talking about God and that everything else that is earthly and
temporal is always related to God. That should be orbit of our
thoughts, words and deeds.
  
            Let us hope that we can arrive at that point when we can
feel very much at home with the things of God and the spiritual needs
of the people, and when we can talk with ease and with conviction
about God and the people.
  
            Let us hope that, like Christ, we can offer the proper
truths of our faith relevant to a particular issue or concern. And
that we can convey these truths with charity, knowing how to adapt
them properly to the concrete circumstances of the people, times and
place.
  
            Let us hope that people can see in us Christ himself. Our
lifestyle should be such that people get inspired to love Christ and
everybody else more and more when they see and listen to us.
  
            This is not an easy thing to do, of course. In fact, it
can seem to be impossible. But with God’s grace and our humble and
constant effort, we can hack it. Christ has given us everything so
that his presence and redemptive work can still continue with us and
through us.
  
            We just have to train ourselves to abidingly identify
ourselves with Christ and with the people. For this, we have to submit
to an appropriate plan that would help us to revolve our thoughts,
words and deeds around Christ and the needs of the people.
  
            And so we have to find time for quiet and intimate
meditations and reflections, ever strengthening and sharpening our
awareness of God’s presence and his will and ways.


Friday, January 26, 2018

Frequent confession draws more favors

THE story of the paralytic who was brought to Christ by
his friends in a very dramatic way, and whose sins were forgiven first
before he was cured of his illness (cfr Lk 5,17-26), clearly shows how
Christ is interested first in forgiving sins before giving other
favors, like some miraculous cures.
  
            Or said in another way, from our point of view, if we
would just show some repentance over our sins, there is no doubt that
God’s mercy will always be given us. More, such show of repentance can
draw more favors from God.
  
            This is a point worth taking serious note of. God is
always merciful and compassionate. The more open we are to his mercy,
especially by going to frequent confession, the greater the chances
also are of receiving more favors from him.
  
            Of course, we can go to him anytime to ask for mercy. But
if we do that through the sacrament of confession, the forgiveness of
our sins becomes more assured, because it will be Christ through the
confessor who will assume our sins and die to them in order to
resurrect. That’s how our sins are forgiven.
  
            When we go through the process of going to confession,
Christ will be more impressed with our faith, just like he was
impressed with the faith of the paralytic and his friends who went
through a complicated way to get to Christ.
  
            “When Christ saw their faith,” the gospel related, “he
said, ‘As for you, your sins are forgiven.’” (Lk 5,20) Christ, of
course, is willing to forgive even if we only show some signs of
repentance without directly asking forgiveness from him.
   
            He is that merciful and compassionate, as shown, for
example, in the case of the widow whose only son died. (cfr. Lk
7,11-17) Without being asked, he volunteered to raise the dead son.
  
            The same when he saw a crowd and felt that they were like
sheep without a shepherd. (cfr 9,36) Again it was the same case when
the crucified thief beside him simply asked him to be with him in
paradise. But he would be more moved to be merciful and compassionate
if we importune him.
  
            When we go to confession, we would be actually begging him
for forgiveness. And we do it by going through some complex process of
duly preparing ourselves for it, arousing a deep sense of contrition
and atonement for our sins, looking for a confessor that sometimes can
be difficult to achieve, considering the scarcity of priests and their
heavy schedule, fulfilling the penance given to us, etc.
  
            These would practically reprise the hard way the paralytic
and his friends managed to get near Christ. In the face of all this,
for sure the heart of Christ would melt in compassion and would be
moved to do more than what we ask or expect. We should not lose sight
of this aspect of the merciful and compassionate heart of Christ.
  
            That is why it is all worthwhile to develop the habit of
frequent confession. Aside from forgiveness of our sins, through
frequent confession we can get more favors from God. It would also
truly make us a better person, since a lot of virtues would just be
developed even without our noticing them.
  
            Frequent confession would make us more simple and humble
and at the same time stronger and more able to handle our weaknesses,
to resist temptations and to make up for our sins.
  
            The only requirement here is that we be sincere in our
motives, because playing games with God can only lead to far graver
consequences for us.


Thursday, January 25, 2018

Lying vs. being discreet

THEY may look and sound the same but they actually are
worlds apart from each other. One destroys the truth. The other
protects and defends it, and even promotes it.
  
            Lying can sound like the truth since it can cite facts and
data, but the intention is to deceive others. Being discreet may be
quiet on some facts and data without denying them. The motive behind
is not to deceive but to help others appreciate a relevant truth.
  
            That’s simply because human as we are, we get to know and
appreciate the truth in stages. We hardly can take the whole truth in
one go. And so we have to know and handle the truth with discretion.
  
            To distinguish between lying and being discreet would
require us to have a proper understanding of what truth is, where to
find it and how to find it. It is also a matter of how and when to
present it.
  
            It also involves the question of motives. Truthfulness and
discretion are not just a matter of producing facts and data,
blabbering them indiscriminately. They necessarily have to consider
the intentions and the circumstances also.
  
            Most importantly, truthfulness and discretion will always
uphold charity even if in a given moment such effort would involve a
lot of sacrifice. It’s charity that would dictate the terms of
discretion in telling the truth.
  
            The forcefulness of truthfulness and discretion is never
one of pride and arrogance, of wanting to dominate and control others.
It is rather to uphold the dignity of the person as image and likeness
of God and a child of his. It is working for the common good and not
just for one’s own interest.
   
            To be sure, truthfulness that would know how to
distinguish between lying and being discreet would require nothing
less than for us to have a vital, intimate relation with God who
reveals himself to us fully in Christ, who in turn is made present to
us now in the Holy Spirit.
  
            Christ himself has told us where to find the truth. “I am
the way, the truth and the life,” he said. (Jn 14,6) And even more
explicitly, he said to Pilate: “Everyone on the side of the truth
listens to me.” (Jn 18,37)
  
            The obvious basis for this is that God, of course, being
the creator of all things in the world, would know everything. He is
the very foundation of reality, the very measure and standard of
truth. Nothing is true, in the proper sense of the word, true, where
God is ignored, if not mocked. It is God where truth and charity
become identical.
  
            Truthfulness that would know how to distinguish between
lying and being discreet just cannot be a matter of our own estimation
of things, no matter how well supported we feel our assertions are.
  
            We always need to refer things to God and try our best to
see and understand things and later to talk about them the way God
sees, understands and would talk about them.
  
            This can only happen if one has a personal relation with
God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. This will involve constant
prayer, thorough study of the doctrine of our faith, developing the
whole range of virtues all throughout our life, especially the virtue
of humility.
  
            This will involve the supernatural means like having
constant recourse to the sacraments and an active cooperation in the
continuing redemptive work of Christ through personal apostolate. That
way, we truly get in touch with the people in the most objective way!


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Caring for our body

IT certainly would be a wrong or questionable spirituality
that would consider the body as intrinsically bad or the source of
evil. There had been heresies that held this kind of belief in the
past. But even up to now, traces of such heresies exist.
  
            We need to remind ourselves strongly that the body is an
essential part of our nature as created by God. It is originally good.
It is meant to be good. We are a unity of body and soul.
  
            Somehow St. Paul affirms this truth when he said: “Your
bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. And he
is God’s gift to you, so that you are no longer your own masters. A
great price was paid to ransom you. Glorify God by making your bodies
the shrines of his presence.” (1 Cor 6,19-20)
  
            Even if in death, there is some temporary separation of
body and soul, there will also be a reunification of these two
constitutive parts of our being in our definitive state either in
heaven or in hell.
  
            There is some kind of mutual relationship between the body
and the soul. The state of the body both reflects and influences the
state of the soul. And vice-versa. That’s why there is such a saying
that “when the body is well, the soul dances.”
  
            We need to take care of our body, giving it its proper
nourishment and rest. And resting does not necessarily mean doing
nothing. It can mean a change of pace, of things to do that somehow
gives the body a period of relaxation and of recovering its strength
and vitality.
  
            Resting can mean doing some physical exercises like brisk
walking or biking that somehow oils the joints and makes one feel
light. When the body is properly taken care of, one not only can work
better, nor can undertake more rigorous activities. It enables one to
better handle his spiritual activities like praying, making
sacrifices, developing virtues, bearing weaknesses, resisting
temptations, handling pressures and problems.
  
            We should see to it that as much as possible we avoid
overworking the body to such an extent that we experience what is
called as a burnout. While it’s good that at the end of the day we get
tired, since that would mean that we have been working hard, we just
the same should avoid getting burned out.
  
            Neither should our resting and relaxing deteriorate into
some kind of body cult where the intention for resting is not so much
to recover our strength to get back to work as to indulge in vanity.
  
            Our resting and relaxing should sharpen our desire to go
back to work as soon as possible as a way of expressing and developing
our love for God and for others. When we notice that this is not the
case, we should react immediately, rectifying our intentions and
asking for God’s grace so that we return to our work with so much
eagerness of love.
  
            We also need to learn how to handle the unavoidable
tiredness and even sickness and ultimately death that will always be
part of our life. They are a state of weakness that can be a rich
source of sacrifice that can be pleasing to God if offered and
suffered with him.
  
            We have to remember that these situations—tiredness,
sickness, etc.—are not merely physical conditions. They also have a
spiritual dimension that can be handled properly if we pray.
  
            Let’s remember Christ’s words: “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11,28)


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

With the strength of Christ

THERE’S no question that we all have to be strong and
tough in our life. To survive, to face and tackle all the challenges,
that is what is needed. If we are weak, we simply would be swept away
with the slightest difficulty we meet.
  
            We just have to understand that the strength we need is
not just something physical or emotional or intellectual. While these
kinds of strength have their role to play, we should aim at developing
and achieving the strength that comes from Christ.
  
            It is this strength that made St. Paul gush: “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) It was this
strength that enabled him in any and all circumstances to learn the
secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
   
            To be sure, this strength is the strength of love that is
the very essence of Christ. It is this kind of love that, as St. Paul
again said, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.” (1 Cor 13,7)
  
            We have to aspire for this kind of strength. It is this
strength that knows how to be weak for the sake of the weak, and to
how to be all things to all men if only to save some.
  
            This strength of Christian love will certainly require us,
with God’s grace, to go beyond our natural and infranatural
conditionings. These conditionings will always be with us, but we
should try our best that we do not get completely trapped by them.
  
            That is why we have to be ready to make sacrifices and
self-denials, as Christ himself has told us if we want to follow him.
(cfr. Mt 16,24) The cross will always be needed by us so we can go
beyond our natural and infranatural limitations and conditionings to
enter into the supernatural life of God.
  
            This cross can come to us in different ways and forms. It
can be a sickness, a physical inconvenience, some emotional and
psychological pains, a problem in the family, our differences and
conflicts with others, a crisis in one’s professional life, a failure
in business, etc.
  
            If borne with Christ, these crosses would unleash the
power of the redemptive love of Christ. We can echo from our heart the
same words of St. Paul—that we can do all things through Christ who
strengthens us.
  
            In this regard, inspired by faith in God, we just have to
be game in the drama of our life, taking things in stride, whether
they are good or bad. In this way, we can live out what St. Paul
himself experienced.
  
            “We are treated as impostors,” he said, “and yet are true;
as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as
having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2 Cor 6,8-10)
  
            There is a certain kind of immunity to any kind of
difficulty when we have the love of Christ. We should just focus on
drowning evil with an abundance of good in this world, not afraid of
anything.
  
            Everyday, let us try to grow, no matter how little, in the
strength of Christ’s love. We are always given a chance to do this by
the events and concerns of our daily life. We should so face them
squarely with Christ that at the end of the day, we can say, “I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.”


Saturday, January 20, 2018

Working for God

YES, that’s how our attitude should be when we work. We
have to work for God and not just for men. St. Paul said so: “Whatever
you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not
for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance
from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
(Col 3,23-24)
  
            We need to be clear about this, and make the necessary
adjustments or even radical changes in our attitude toward our work.
We should not downgrade the objective dignity of our human labor and
just treat it as if it were just purely a human affair.
  
            Our work, by definition, is also a work of God. And that’s
simply because our whole life itself is always a life with God. At
least, it is supposed to be like that, unless we stray from that basic
truth about ourselves.
  
            The creator cannot be absent from his creatures. In our
case, since we have been endowed by God with the capacity to know and
to love, due to our spiritual faculties of the intellect and the will,
we are supposed to enter into a knowing and loving communion with God,
our Creator.
  
            We are supposed to live our life and do our work fully
knowing that we are working with God and for God. That is just how the
cookie crumbles. That is the ideal way of working.
   
            Our work then becomes our contribution to the abiding
providence of God over all his creation. As the masterpiece of God’s
creation, we are supposed to be working with God and for God,
responsible stewards of his, in a manner of speaking. We are meant to
cooperate with him in his continuing work of taking care of his
creation.
  
            We need to strive to live by this basic truth about
ourselves and spread it as widely as possible. The great majority of
the people all over the world are still ignorant of this truth. And
even for those who in principle know it, do not know how to translate
it into actual reality.
  
            That is why our work often produces a lot of
problems—pride, vanity, greed, envy, discord, to name a few. We are
seeing these problems around. They have become the common effects of
our work nowadays.
  
            When we would be more aware of this truth, even if we
still can commit errors due to our human limitations and the many
temptations around, there would be an effort to make our work a source
of real goodness, of love and compassion, of energy for unity among
ourselves, etc. We would strive for utmost competence and diligence.
   
            We need to start with our own selves in learning and
living by this basic truth of ourselves. Are our motivations and
intentions for working the right one? Do we know how to relate the
temporal and technical aspects of our work to God? Do we realize that
our work is our usual way of giving glory to God? And that it is our
usual way also of sanctifying ourselves and others?
  
            I believe we have to discuss these questions more often
and more openly, if only to make ourselves more literate in this
crucial aspect of our life, especially in our relation to God and to
others.
  
            Slowly but steadily, without letup, let’s help one another
acquire this proper understanding and attitude toward our work and its
corresponding skills. What a world it is going to be if we work in
this way!


Friday, January 19, 2018

Our spiritual and supernatural bearing

WE should always remember that our life is not just lived
in the level of the physical and material dimensions. It is not even
lived in the social level in all its aspects—economic, political,
historical, etc.
  
            Our life has a prominently spiritual dimension that
requires us to nourish the way we think, judge, reason and ultimately
to love. These are the functions of our spiritual soul. It’s in this
dimension that the supernatural aspect of our life enters.
  
            Our spiritual soul with all its faculties (our
intelligence and will) enables us to go beyond our material and
natural world. It is what connects and engages us with others, be they
things or persons or a supernatural being. It is what enables us to
enter into communion with others.
  
            We just have to remember that our spiritual soul is not a
self-generated being. It is a creature, created by God the Creator. It
is what would make us realize that we come from God and should remain
with God for its proper vitality. We have to realize deeply that we
cannot live properly without him.
  
            That is why we have to see to it that to live properly as
a human person we need to establish and continually reinforce our
spiritual and supernatural bearing. This duty has priority over all
the other duties we have in this life. We may call it the mother duty
from where all our other duties and responsibilities, as well as our
rights and dignity, spring.
  
            We should do everything to establish, recover and maintain
this spiritual bearing and supernatural outlook. We should see to it
that more than anything else, we should be guided by God’s will and
ways that are shared with us through his gifts of faith, hope and
charity. We just cannot rely on our own counsel.
  
            Given the way we usually are, we really need to exert
great effort to comply with this duty of keeping a spiritual and
supernatural bearing in our life. Fact is we tend to rely simply on
our own ideas, opinions, preferences. We easily allow ourselves to be
swayed by social trends and fads, hardly questioning their foundations
and orientations.
  
            That is why we need some time everyday to do some deep
thinking and reflection that should lead us to meditate on God’s word
and works, and to pray, that is, to enter into conversation with God.
Otherwise, we would not be able to enter the spiritual and
supernatural dimension of our life. We would simply remain in the
peripherals and the superficial aspects of our life.
  
            In this, we certainly are not inventing things and playing
make-believe. Though God is the most mysterious object of our
thoughts, he is the most real being that we can ever think of. That’s
because being the creator of the whole universe, he is the very
foundation of reality. We just have to accustom ourselves with the
dynamics of the spiritual and supernatural world.
  
            We obviously need to be humble to acknowledge this basic
reality of the spiritual and supernatural world and try our best to
correspond to it. For certain, we need to constantly ask for God’s
grace which is actually given in abundance so that we would always
feel the need to take care of our spiritual bearing and supernatural
outlook.
  
            That is why we have to learn the art of being recollected
and of being a true contemplative right in the middle of the world. We
have to learn to turn our worldly and temporal affairs as means, not
obstacles, in our abiding connection with God.


“My words will not pass away”

THIS was what Christ said, reassuring us that even if he
went away and the world itself would disappear, he would still be with
us, guiding and directing us to our ultimate destination. “Heaven and
earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21,33)
  
            Let’s remember that Christ’s words are no ordinary words
that would just come and go. His words are eternal, effective and ever
relevant to everything that happens in our life. His words will always
shed light and give meaning to every event, situation and predicament
we can have in this life.
  
            The Letter to the Hebrews says as much: “The word of God
is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (4,12)
  
            The Letter to the Hebrews continues by saying: “Nothing in
all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and
laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (4,13)
  
            We have to realize that we need to be guided by God’s
words rather than by our own thoughts, reasoning and estimations of
things. No matter how brilliant and clever we are, we can only go so
far in understanding things in this world, many of which are very
mysterious to us.
  
            We have to develop a fondness for the words of God. This
we can do as long as we exert due effort and continually ask, with
humility, for the grace of God. Without these requirements, we can
easily be swept away by the many alluring ideologies in the world.
  
            It’s when we listen and live by God’s words that we attain
our human and Christian maturity. And as St. Paul would say, we would
then be like infants no longer, “tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning
and craftiness of the people in their deceitful scheming.” (Eph 4,14)
  
            It’s important that we spend time developing a liking and
an intimacy with the words of God. We have to read and meditate on
them daily, and use them as the spirit behind all events, activities
and concerns that we have during the day.
  
            We have to understand that God’s words are not meant to
give us the technical solutions to our problems. They are meant to be
the soul and the spirit of all our concerns and activities.
  
            Christ himself did not have all the technical solutions to
the problems during his stay here on earth. In the end, he had to
offer his life since he could not anymore find the solution to the
extreme case of injustice inflicted on him. But his death was not
actually a defeat. It occasioned the supreme victory over sin and
death with his resurrection.
   
            This is how we have to look at God’s words. They contain
natural truths and can give natural solutions to our natural problems.
But what they have are, first of all, supernatural and redemptive
truths that can ultimately solve our humanly insoluble problems with
sin and death and that can bring us to our eternal destination where
we truly belong.
   
            Let us promote a culture of gospel-reading and meditation
everyday. A few minutes with the gospel daily can go a long way in
putting our life on the right path. We should not miss the great
treasure we have in the gospel. We can use the new technologies to
promote this culture.


Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Carefree with Christ

THAT’S right! We can afford to be worry-free and as
carefree as a bird if we only know how to be with Christ, trusting
always in his unconditional love for us, his ever-merciful and wise
providence over us.
  
            Even in our worst predicaments, when we are beset with all
sorts of problems that humanly speaking are already insoluble, we can
still manage to be cheerful, calm and confident about our life. Christ
takes care of everything. He knows exactly what to do. Even from evil
things, he can derive some good.
  
            Remember his reassurances. “In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (Jn 16,33)
“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Mt 28,20)
“You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your
head will be destroyed.” (Lk 21,18)
  
            Still more: "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Lk
12,7) "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on
the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget
you.” (Is 49,15)
  
                In many instances, he reassured his disciples not to
be afraid of him when he would appear to them in some mysterious ways.
He is always solicitous of our needs and compassionate.
  
            We just have to know how to stick with him especially in
our trying moments. Let’s do everything to live always in his presence
and mindful of all his reassurances. Let’s always be humble enough to
feel our constant need for him and to avoid feeling that we can just
be all right by ourselves.
  
            To be carefree with Christ is important to us since that
is the ideal condition for us to be able to do a lot of things out of
love for God and for others. Let’s remember that we are to develop
that love, and that love has to be shown in deeds, not only in words
and good intentions.
   
            When we are carefree with Christ, we can do all kinds of
things, even those which we feel we are not good at. When we are
carefree with Christ, we can manage to face all sorts of trials and
challenges, and enabled to handle them properly. We would know to cope
with all the difficulties in life.
  
            With Christ, things become doable or bearable, the
impossible becomes possible. In this regard, he again assures us:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11,28-30)
  
            We should not allow ourselves to be dominated simply by
our human doubts and fears. Christ is always around. He is always
there for us. We need to discipline our feelings and emotions that
often go on their own ways, without being directed by our faith.
  
            This is the challenge we have, part of the self-denial
that Christ is telling us to do. We need to listen to Christ rather
than to the impulses of our instincts and emotions only or primarily,
and even to the strong forces of the social and cultural trends
around.
  
            We need to see to it that at any given moment, we truly
can feel that we are carefree—that is, carefree with Christ.


Monday, January 15, 2018

Smoke and mirrors

IT’S the act of “obscuring or embellishing the truth of a
situation with misleading or irrelevant information.” This is now, sad
to say, a common phenomenon, especially in the press and in the social
media, with all kinds of bloggers and trolls dominating the
cyberspace.
  
            That is why we have a proliferation or, better said, an
infestation of the notorious “fake news.” There is now so much
contentiousness in the spreading of news items and in the exchanges of
opinions that we would not know anymore which one is true, fair and
with some basis.
  
            News-reporting nowadays is not anymore objective
news-reporting as it is now openly opinion-making, since biased,
selective slants and spins are clearly, if subtly, used in the
process.
  
            The worst area that is affected by smoke and mirrors
happen to be, to my mind, in the homilies at Mass, where instead of
the word of God being proclaimed, some man-made theories and opinions
are retailed.
  
            These past days, I have heard homilies that do not sound
anymore like homilies. A lot of trivias, stories, anecdotes and jokes
dominated the homilies, and instead of reinforcing the word of God,
they detract from it. The people remember, as their take-home message,
the trivias and the jokes and not anymore the word of God.
  
            This is unfortunate because this is clearly a misuse of
that liturgical part of the Mass. And that’s why from time to time,
the homilies stray into areas that instead of fostering love,
understanding and unity, they sow division and confusion. This happens
when the homilies assume a partisan political character.
   
            Not only that. Nowadays, the distinction between a homily
and eulogy is getting blurred. Instead of talking about Christ, the
homily dwells more on the deceased. Christ is relegated to the
background, if ever he is considered at all.
  
            The same during wedding Masses. Instead of talking about
the sanctity of marriage as taught by Christ, the focus is on the
couple—how they met, how they fell in love, etc. Nothing wrong to talk
about these things, but it should not be in the homily.
   
            The homily, of course, has to be relevant to certain
current issues. But it should be made clear that it is the teaching of
Christ that is expounded, not just some social, political or economic
theories and observations. Even in Masses of fiestas and memorials of
saints, it should be Christ who should be clearly proclaimed. The
saints play only a supporting role.
  
            There may not be bad intention involved here. In fact, a
lot of good intention can be presumed. But just the same, with good
intention, we can still do things wrongly.
  
            This, of course, is a big challenge to the homilists,
since it would require them to know the connection between God’s word
with the issues at hand. Yes, a certain sound theology is needed here,
one that effectively applies God’s word to these issues in a way that
these issues get inspired by God’s word.
  
            For this, the homilists need not be intelligent and
observant fellows, but true men of God, whose hearts are both with God
and with men, are both in heaven and on earth. They need to present
the living Christ to the people during the homily.
  
            They are not there to strut their stuff, to show off their
talents. They have to be no less than “alter Christus,” head of the
Church, not some performers or actors or scholars only.


Sunday, January 14, 2018

Our great treasure in the Sto. Nino

WE really have to be most thankful that even up to now we
as a people still have a great devotion to the Sto. Nino. Instead of
waning through the years, this popular piety we have toward the Child
Jesus has grown.
  
            Yes, there are still things that should be made right and
purified, (I suppose we will never run out of them), but we cannot
deny that this devotion has helped us greatly in a world and in times
that are increasingly secularized and paganised. Think of the many
so-called liberal people in the world who have considered faith,
religion and piety as obsolete.

            Thanks to God the image of Christ as both a child and king
has truly so captured the Filipino heart (especially the Cebuano
heart) that whatever situation we may find ourselves in, whether good
or bad humanly speaking, we still keep our Christian faith and try our
best to live by it.
   
            Let’s hope that this devotion continues to develop and to
spread more widely, especially among the young ones who are most
vulnerable to the faith-killing and piety-numbing ways of the world
today. In this, we have to use both the human and supernatural means
of prayer and sacrifice, and to involve as many people and
institutions as possible.
  
            That the Sto. Nino is both child and king somehow reminds
us that we need to be like a child to attain our ultimate kingly goal
of human maturity and Christian perfection. As we grow older, more
exposed to the world and gaining a lot of experience, we need to be
more like a child, deepening and enriching our spiritual childhood in
Christ.
  
            Let’s always remember what Christ himself said: “Unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18,3)

            Yes, children and heaven are almost synonymous to each
other. No wonder we feel like we are in heaven every time we see
children around. Every time a baby is born, we are very happy because
we somehow know that he just did not come out of his mother’s womb,
but rather from the very hands of God who created him before the
parents procreated him.
  
            In spite of the many limitations of children, what makes
them always desirable is their pure, innocent heart, incapable of
malice, ambition, pride and haughtiness. They are a source of many
other good things.

            Their heart is always trusting in the Lord always, just
like a little kid is always confident with his father. Faith and hope
easily grow and acquire strength when nurtured in a child's heart.
It's this attitude that leads them to go on and move on no matter
what, for life to them could only be an adventure of discoveries.

            It's this kind of heart that makes them transparent,
sincere and simple, not afraid to be known as they truly are. They may
still lack the subtlety of prudence and discretion, and be prone to
spontaneity, but they hardly mind these deficiencies.

            They are only interested in doing what they think is good
and enjoyable. Suggestions and corrections do not humiliate them.
Rather, they welcome these suggestions and corrections.

            Children are humble, teachable, flexible and docile. You
can tell them anything, and they always tend to believe and obey.
Attainments, achievements and successes do not spoil them. Neither do
difficulties, temptations and failures crush them and plunge them to
sadness or bitterness.

            They are easy to motivate, to be consoled, to be
optimistic. Falls and mistakes are easily forgotten. They only leave a
mark that becomes a source of precious lessons for them to learn. They
are quick to heal when wounded.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

When misunderstood and misjudged

WE should not be too surprised when we are misunderstood
and misjudged by others. There are a million reasons why these can
happen anytime, given the way we all are. But we should be ready to
react properly when these things happen to us. Truth is, if we know
how to, we can even take advantage of those occasions
  
            We have to be clear about the following point. That we get
misunderstood and misjudged by others does not give us the right to do
the same to them. That would be following the discredited law of
Talion. We should not respond to these situations simply on the
impulse of our gut reactions. It would just make things worse.
  
            We need to be calm and figure out what the most prudent
way to react is. Very often, we need to pause and pray, bring matters
in the presence of God, asking for his light and guidance. We have to
learn how to hold our horses. What we cannot understand and handle,
let’s leave them in the hands of God who knows what to do with
everything.
  
            In the meantime, let us console ourselves with the thought
that by being misunderstood and misjudged, we actually liken ourselves
to Christ who suffered the most extreme case of being misunderstood
and misjudged and who converted that predicament as our way of
salvation. With him, we also will have a way out of this predicament.
  
            That consideration would calm us down and help us avoid
experiencing unnecessary anguish and dangerous bitterness. It would
foster a spirit of sportsmanship such that setbacks like these would
only sharpen our desire to play better, so to speak, and not to waste
time brooding and entertaining bad thoughts and judgments.
  
            There will always be precious lessons for us to learn when
we are misunderstood and misjudged. Let’s never forget that if certain
bad things happen to us, it is because God at least allows them to
happen. And if they happen, it is because God wants to convey
something good, a saving message for us or that he wants us to derive
something beneficial to us.
   
            These occasions of being misunderstood and misjudged
actually give us precious insights about our weaknesses and the
weaknesses of others. They give a good picture of the fragile
condition that we all are in. But at the same time we would also know
that there is a way of handling this condition properly.
  
            We have to be quick to go to God asking for light. We
should avoid just getting stuck with our own devices. We are
completely helpless before certain mysterious things in our life. Only
in him can we have a good understanding of our situation, knowing why
God allows it to happen. Only in him can we repeat St. Paul’s words:
  
            “We are pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not
destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Cor
4,8-10)
  
            Let’s remember that as St. Paul said: “God works all
things together for the good of those who love him, who are called
according to his purpose.” (Rom 8,28) So, the crucial thing to be and
to do is to be with Christ and to follow his will, no matter what.
  
            This should be our reaction whenever we are misunderstood
and misjudged. This is not hard to do. We just have to practice it
more often, because as they say, “practice makes perfect.”


Wednesday, January 10, 2018

God and the world

WE need to clarify a few points about the relation between
God and the world in general. While it’s true that a number of gospel
passages picture the world as bad, it does not mean that God and the
world are inherently opposed to each other.
  
            On the contrary, God and the world should merit the same
love, since we can only have one love, and our love for God should be
the same but much more if not infinitely more elevated than our love
for the world.
  
            Our love can only be one because love is only possible
with God who is the source, pattern, end and energy for love. Our love
should start and end with God, and everything between the start and
end of our love should simply be a means and an occasion to love God.
This should be made clear to everyone as early as possible.
  
            Yes, it’s true that we need to be careful with the world,
because of the many dangers it contains. St. John articulated this
warning very well when he said: “For everything in the world--the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not
from the Father but from the world.” (1 Jn 2,16)
  
            As corollaries to this truth of our faith, Christ tells us
that if we follow him we will be hated by the world, that we have to
conquer the world with him, etc., etc. But these do not take away the
fact that the world is a creation of God and therefore good, though
spoiled by our sin.

              And precisely because the world has strayed from God, God
has to send his only Son to save it. Again St. John expressed this
very well when he said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.” (3,16)
  
            The point to make is that we ought to have the same
attitude of God toward the world, as shown to us concretely by Christ.
When we have Christ’s mind and heart, we will love the world and do
everything to bring it back from its alienated state to him from whom
it came and to whom it belongs.
  
            We would not be afraid of the world that much, because
with Christ we can conquer it insofar as it is opposed to God. Rather
we have to love the world the way God loves it, without being worldly.
  
            This means that if we truly love God, we should not run
away from the world and the many challenges it poises on us. Rather we
should love it, immerse ourselves in it, make use of what is true,
good and beautiful in it and purify it of what is not.
   
            It would clearly be a wrong understanding of what and how
it is to love God if we equate loving God with running away from the
world, or worse, hating it. The negative and evil things we can find
in the world should only spur us to love the world the way God loves
it—sending his only begotten Son to it. In other words, we have to be
“alter Christus” to love the world properly.
  
            We have to understand that loving the world will
necessarily involve a lot of suffering and self-denial. We should not
be afraid to bear all this. Christ has assured us we will always win
with him in our war of peace and love with the world.


Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Glorifying God is our best moment

THAT’S right! It’s when we manage to glorify God always in
our thoughts, our words and deeds, that we would have the best time
here on earth, the highest “high” we can ever attain in this life.
That’s simply because glorifying God constitutes the best act of love
we can give God who is our Creator and Father.
  
            Glorifying God can only signify that we are giving
everything to him, everything in our life that includes not only the
good things but also the repented bad and negative things all the way
to our death.
  
            It is an act of total self-giving and submission to him
who is everything to us. Through it, we empty ourselves completely to
fill ourselves only with God. It is where we unite ourselves to him
completely and share in his own glory.
  
            This act of glorifying God presumes that we do it out of
love, out of freedom, and of total gratuitousness that corresponds to
God’s total and gratuitous love for us.

            Let’s remember that God himself through Christ has to
empty himself by becoming man, out of sheer love for us. This is the
language of love. One empties himself to fill himself with his
beloved. We achieve this self-emptying and God-filling when we manage
to glorify God.
  
            We should see to it that whatever we do, we should try our
best that we manage to glorify God. St. Paul precisely said as much:
“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory
of God.” (1 Cor 10,31)
  
            We may have to make a very deliberate effort to do this,
especially in the beginning. Hopefully, time will come that after
doing this many times, it will become a habit to us, something that we
do automatically.
  
            To be sure, glorifying God will not reduce our humanity,
much less, distort it. On the contrary, it will enhance our humanity,
and make it reach its peak development. It can only mean that we can
take on anything in this life, whether it is humanly considered as
good or bad, big or small, ordinary or extraordinary, etc. With the
proper understanding of our faith, everything can be made an occasion
to glorify God.
  
            It will make us above the ups and downs of life even as we
go through the twists and turns of life. It will give us joy and
peace. A sense of confidence permeates our whole life.
   
            We need to do some rehearsal to make glorifying God a
habit in us. We have to activate our faith to be able not only to
relate everything to God, but, more importantly, to use them to
glorify God.
  
            We have to stay away from being restricted by relying only
on some human standards of achieving joy and peace. We have to rely on
our faith that gives us the whole picture and provides us with all the
necessary means to achieve joy and peace while here on earth. That
way, we can manage to glorify God.
  
            Let’s remember that the more we empty ourselves and give
ourselves to God, the more we will unite ourselves with him, the more
he fills us with his graces. St. Bernard expressed this truth
beautifully when said: “Nothing is lacking when everything is given.”
   
            Yes, everything has to be given, including our rest and
recreation, our problems and failures, our difficulties and trials.
Nothing is useless in terms of glorifying God. Everything can be made
use of!