Only with God…

WE should never forget that only with God can we properly

deal with our own weaknesses, and the many temptations and sins

around. Only with him can we manage to resist the devil himself.

Without him, we are easy prey, a sitting duck. Our earnest desire

should be how we can be with God always, our union with him as strong

and vibrant as ever.

  

            Let’s not forget that if our first parents, still in their

state of original justice and therefore in theory should have been in

close union with God, managed to sin, how much more us who are already

born with original sin and whose lives here on earth will always be

hounded by all forms of evil!

  

            In the case of our first parents, we know that in spite of

their very good condition, there was a moment when they failed in the

proper exercise of their God-given freedom and chose to listen to the

devil rather than to remain faithful to God. And so they fell.

  

            We have to understand that without God, the proper

exercise of our freedom would be out on a limb, and it would just be a

matter of time before we fall into sin. It is that automatic. We would

have no sufficient defenses against our real enemies. We may even

think that our enemies are our friends and allies.

  

            We should never forget that our freedom is a very

intoxicating endowment God has given us. It should only be exercised

with God as its beginning and end. Otherwise, we will only misuse and

abuse it and lead us to sin. We should constantly make the effort to

choose God instead of what we simply like by ourselves.

  

            We need to see to it that our union with God should, as

much as possible, be abiding, completely sealed with no opening, no

matter how minuscule, that can allow our weaknesses, the sinful

allurements of the world and the devil himself to enter. We have to

remember that as St. Paul warned us, we are actually ranged against

powerful enemies in this life. (cfr. Eph 6,12)

  

            Only with God can we be keenly aware of the many dangers

that lurk within us and around us. Only with him can we resist the

temptations and be unaffected by our weaknesses and the sins around.

              In other words, we really need how to pray always. This

means we have to know how to convert everything into prayer, always

relating everything to God—our joys and sorrow, our work and rest, our

successes and defeats, etc. Yes, everything can and should be a

material and occasion to pray.

  

            We should be in constant awareness of God’s presence in us

and around us. And our relation with him should be driven by love, by

desire to be with him and to do his will. We have to feel the need for

him. In fact, he should be our greatest need, without whom we should

feel completely empty. Nothing should replace or substitute for him in

our mind and heart. We need him more than we need air.

   

            What can show that we are truly with God is that in spite

of the drama of life, we will always feel driven to praise him, to do

a lot of good, to practice the virtues, to serve others. We would know

how to be patient, to be forgiving. There is some kind of excitement

and at the same time a deep sense of peace and confidence and joy that

the world cannot give.

  

            We would know how to sanctify our work and all the other

circumstances of our life, whether they are good or bad as regarded in

human and worldly terms. We would know how to flow with the times

without getting confused and lost.

When in difficulty and discouragement

WE cannot deny that our life has a lot more to offer and

challenge us than what we can handle and cope. We should not be

surprised by this fact of life. We have to acknowledge this reality

and just try our best to be amply prepared for it, developing the

relevant attitudes and skills.

            And the good preparation can start by reminding ourselves

of that beautiful story of the two disciples who were on their way to

Emmaus. (cfr. Lk 24,13-35) Like them, we can feel sad and depressed,

all hopes of a good life dashed, our expectations sharply

contradicted. They pinned so much hope on Christ to be their savior

from bondage to a foreign rule. But all that crashed with Christ’s

crucifixion.

            We just have to remember that Christ never abandons us and

is, in fact, all ready and prompt to come to our aid, albeit in ways

that we may not realize, at first, just like what happened in that

story of the two disciples.

            We should not allow our feelings of sadness to be so

dominant and pervasive that we shut off Christ’s many and often

mysterious ways of helping us. If we do not pose a deliberate

impediment to Christ’s ways, there is always hope. In our darkest

moments, some light will always come piercing and dispelling the

darkness away.

            In so many ways, Christ will remind us, as he did to the

two disciples, about the meaning of all human suffering, and of how

our suffering can be a way to our joy, to our fulfillment as a man and

as a child of God. He will explain to us why we have suffering in this

life and how we can take advantage of it to derive something good from

it.

            And like the two disciples, let us feel reassured by these

truths of our faith. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he

talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Lk

24,32) they said in amazement.

            And let’s make sure that we do not stay away from Christ

and from our faith. It would be unfortunate if we would not allow

Christ to finish his work with us. Like them we should say, “Stay with

us.”

            We would have the great fortune if we beg him always to

stay with us. Like them, we would have the privilege of recognizing

Christ as he is. This can happen if we go all the way to receiving

Christ in the Eucharist, just like that moment when the two disciples

recognized Christ when he broke bread with them.

            When we are in difficulty and on the brink of

discouragement, overwhelmed perhaps by the burdens in our life, let us

try our best to remain calm and be prayerful, so that the beautiful

story of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus can be played out in

our life. Let us avail of the sacraments, especially Confession and

the Eucharist, so that what we cannot handle can be taken care of by

Christ himself.

            We should have a good control of our emotions and our

other human faculties that certainly cannot cope with all the

mysteries of our life so that these do not give problems to our faith

and trust in God’s ways.

            And, yes, we have to learn to suffer. In this life, there

is no other way but to suffer. This is simply the consequence of all

the sins of men. But if we unite our suffering with that of Christ, we

can look forward also to our resurrection and victory over sin and

death with Christ.

            We should just be sport in this life, always managing to

be in good spirit, cheerful and optimistic, even if the circumstances

are dark and painful.

We are not God’s puppets

WE are children of God, and not his puppets or robots. The

freedom he gives us is real freedom because it can even enable us to

go against the true nature, source, meaning and purpose of freedom

itself. We can use it—or better said, misuse or abuse it—to go against

God himself.

            While it is true that God is always on top of things, he

allows us to use our freedom the way we want it. Remember those famous

lines in the Book of Ecclesiastes that articulate this truth: “There

is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the

heavens…” (3,1)

            Even if he is on top of everything, he does not treat us

as his puppets or robots whom he controls. He treats us as his

children, for that is how he has created and designed us. We are

supposed to be his image and likeness.

            As such, his dominion over us is a dominion of love. It is

a dominion that is akin to that of the parents over their children,

but much, much better than that. In fact, it is infinitely better.

            There is some forcefulness involved there, but one that is

not coercive. There is obedience and docility involved also, but one

that does not compromise freedom. When we obey God and follow his will

and ways, we do it because we want it and we know that it is good for

us. Yes, there is some fear involved, but not of the servile kind, but

rather of the filial type.

            This dominion of love comes as a result of the abundant

and gratuitous outpouring of God’s goodness over us—his grace, his

blessings, his inspirations, etc. He is full of compassion, slow to

anger, quick to forgive.

            He provides us with everything that we need, especially

the things that we most need in our quest for true happiness, our

ultimate salvation, our fulfilment as image and likeness of God,

children of his.

            It is because God loves us first that we learn to love him

and others in return. It is this love that enables us to live and use

our freedom properly. And this love-inspired freedom leads us to our

true joy where truth, beauty and everything that is good for us are

integrated.

            This love-inspired freedom makes us realistic with the

realities of our earthly life where there will always be mixture of

good and evil, successes and failures, joy and sorrows, health and

sickness. It’s not afraid of suffering. In fact, it welcomes

suffering. Neither does it spoil us when we happen to have good things

in life.

            We understand that freedom as the freedom of the children

of God, where we are willing to unite our will with the will of God.

We would never feel that we are enslaved or tied down by God.

            The unavoidable conditionings that our earthly life

entails will never be regarded as limitations. They would be assumed

willingly and lovingly. They would be regarded as means and occasions

to further our development as a person and a child of God, despite the

cost, inconveniences and sacrifices that they may involve. In short,

they are seen as what would enhance our freedom, not what would deter

it.

            To be sure, God does not want us to be mere puppets and

robots of his. He wants us to be like him, full of love and goodness.

We just have to understand that for our freedom to be true freedom, we

have to live and exercise it always with God’s will and ways in mind.

            That is why we need to develop a close relationship with

him who actually initiated an intimate relationship with us. It was he

who started that relationship. We just have to try our best to

correspond to that relationship, in spite of our weaknesses and

mistakes.

Always seek conversion

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THIS is something the sense for which we really need to

develop consciously and deliberately. Given the temper of the times

that would desensitize us strongly of this need, we really have to

remind ourselves constantly that we need conversion all the time in

our life, and then come out with a practical, doable plan to respond

to that need.

            This is simply due to our very precarious condition in

life. No matter how good, pious and saintly we think we are, we cannot

deny that in this life we will always be assailed by the enemies of

God and of our soul.

            We have our weakened flesh to contend with, in the first

place. Then the world around us is full of temptations. And the devil

will always be scheming for our downfall, setting up traps everywhere

for us.

            As the Book of Job would put it, “The life of man upon

earth is a warfare.” (7,1) We have to get over the myth that in this

life we can achieve a stable state of sanctity and that therefore we

do not need to struggle anymore.

            The opposite is quite true. The closer we get to God and

the more determined we are in seeking holiness, the more vicious and

deceptive would also be the temptations to block us in our way.

            At best, whatever state of holiness we can achieve in this

life will always be tenuous. From morning till night, in all our

waking hours, we need to be guarded always even as we busy ourselves

doing our responsibilities. Even in our sleep, we need to entrust it

to the protection of our guardian angels, the saints and God himself.

            This is no paranoia, but rather an objective recognition

of out earthly condition that will always be hounded by our

weaknesses, the many temptations and sins around. We have to be

realistic in all this.

            We cannot deny that we always have the tendency to simply

be on our own, to be guided only by our own lights, and to make

ourselves in the end to be our own god. Even if we know that we are

nothing without God, our Creator and everything, we still manage to

detach ourselves from him at least from time to time.

            And given the galloping pace of the worldly development

that can give us the sensation that we are powerful enough to be on

our own, we really need to be injected with a strong dose of humility

to put ourselves in our proper place before God. We often do not

realize that we are acting out again the unfortunate story of the

tower of Babel. (cfr. Gen 11,1-9)

            It would be good if from time to time, we pause and

consider again our earthly condition. We have to realize that we

always need God, and that the more blessed we are and the more

accomplished we get in this life, etc., the more we need to be with

God.

            To arrive at that realization, we certainly need constant

conversion. And that’s simply because, even if at the beginning there

is no malice involved in ignoring God because we would be easily

fascinated by our own achievements, sooner or later we end up

forgetting and going against God.

            We cannot deny that we can be very good in rationalizing

our errant actuations. And before we know it we can already build our

own make-believe world, made all the worse when we happen to count on

a growing number of like-minded people. We may even reach a point of

invincible conviction that we can be on our own, totally without need

for God.

            Yes, we may need some extraordinary effort to cure us of

such almost-incurable blindness. But a daily practice of making

examination of conscience, and regular recourse to the sacrament of

confession may just do the trick for us without going through heavy

dramas.