Where is God when we suffer?

THAT’S one of the FAQs in life—frequently asked questions many people, even among pious folks, make when they are made to suffer one way or the other. It only reveals that their faith is not yet that strong and deep, since the obvious answer is that God is right in the middle of their suffering. 

 Let’s remember that God is always with us through his continuing providence over all his creation. In our case, as human persons, he is with us in a most intimate way, that is, in our heart and mind, in our soul. The problem is that we often ignore him or take him for granted. 

 As our Catechism puts it, providence are “the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward their perfection…By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made…(n. 302) 

 Furthermore, the Catechism says that “the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.” (n. 303) 

 In other words, God is always with us. He is constantly intervening in our life, directing us to him and showing us the way of how to live or go through the different experiences, situations and circumstances we can encounter in our life. He never abandons us. It’s rather us who can abandon him, again reprising St. Augustine’s observation that God is with us but we are not with him. 

 When we suffer, it’s not because God wants us to suffer. Suffering and eventually death are always a result, a consequence of sin, ours and those of the others. But God in Christ through the Holy Spirit shows us how to handle suffering. He is always with us when we suffer and assures us through Christ’s words: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33) 

 And St. Paul himself has assured us that the sting of death has been taken away (cfr. 1 Cor 15,55), because Christ has conquered both sin and death with his passion, death and resurrection. Thus, St. Paul teaches us that “if we have been united with him (Christ) in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6,5) 

 The precious lesson to learn from all this is that when we suffer, we should be guided mainly by our faith, and not just by our own human estimations. Otherwise, there is no other way but to go to the extent of questioning even the existence and love of God for us. 

 Yes, in this life, we can never escape from suffering and death, no matter how much we try. We just have to learn to suffer and die, the way Christ suffered and died for us, to convert our suffering and death into a way of our own salvation and a great help for the salvation of the others. 

 We should overcome our tendency to go through our suffering guided only by our feelings and many other natural and worldly factors. We have to learn how to be quick to suffer with Christ. That’s when we can manage to remain at peace and ever hopeful in the midst of our suffering. That’s when we can see how with God, everything will always work out for the good!

Injecting hope, boosting morale

THIS is the challenge I am having at the moment, what with a surge of people coming with problems of worries, fears, doubts, sadness and the like eating them up. Yes, the Covid pandemic plays a big part in this disturbing development. And so how can I inject hope and boost their morale when many people obviously are sinking in these departments? 

 I know that in the end the ultimate source of hope and morale is faith and trust in God who takes care of everything. But how can I effectively deliver this message to people in different kinds of conditions and situations? 

 I am no doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist. And so I don’t prescribe medication nor do some psychological or psychiatric therapy. As priest, I know my focus would be on the spiritual side of the people. But since people are body and soul, material and spiritual, I have to know a little—just the most basic—about medicine, psychology and psychiatry. 

 Yes, I can only give pieces of spiritual and moral advice, but I need to see to it that these pieces of advice would really sink in. To avoid should be to just indiscriminately dish out these pieces of advice not realizing, for example, that they are already overwhelming the person involved, or that they are regarded as impractical, etc. There can be many other possibilities when these pieces of advice would be found ineffective. 

 But first things first. I imagine that priests like me should really be spiritually strong and healthy to be truly helpful to the others. He should be knowledgeable enough of the many possible conditions that our wounded humanity can fall into and of how to relate these conditions to the original source and ultimate ideal of how we should be as created by God, redeemed by Christ and taken care of by the Church. That already presumes a lot of things—endless things, in fact. 

 We can never do enough in this regard, but we just have to try and try. Continuing study and nourishing one’s spiritual life are indeed a must. We have to study, for example, the different temperaments of the people, the kinds of consciences they have, so that with that knowledge, we can adapt those spiritual pieces of advice to the way people are. 

 The art of accompaniment that follows the law of gradualness has to be mastered. We should be very attentive to the immediate needs of the people before we can proceed to address the higher and more important needs. These immediate needs are often of the material and temporal type that have to be somehow resolved before we get into the spiritual needs. 

 We have to distinguish the different types of people also. Some can have delicate, even scrupulous conscience, that need to be handled very delicately and with a lot of words of encouragement, assurances and comfort. Others can have the opposite kind of conscience, the lax one that needs to be dealt with appropriately. 

 The most important thing to remember is that everyone should be convinced that it is God who takes care of everything, regardless of how things are in the world, and that there really is nothing to worry. 

 Definitely, for this spiritual and supernatural message to sink in, we cannot and should not neglect the spiritual and supernatural means. Recourse to these means should be given priority without neglecting the human and natural means.

A structured but open life

THAT’S what is ideal for us. Our life should have some structure, some routine to follow, some schedule kept, all for the purpose of seeing to it that our life gives due attention to all our needs—physical, mental, spiritual, social, etc. Such structure would insure that we make use of our time, giving us a sense of direction, and avoiding the dangers of idleness and wastage of time, energy and other resources. 

 But it should be a structure that is not rigid and too fixed, trapping us in certain ways and making us closed, deaf and blind to new things, to innovations, growth and development in the different aspects of our life. Actually, if handled well, such structure should rather facilitate the discernment of the new things and the readiness to adapt to them. 

 And the secret again is to come up with a structured life that is animated by the proper spirit of love. That’s what would make the structure living not dead, resilient and versatile not rigid. It should not be a structure that is simply mechanical in character, but one that is living and perceptive of the impulses of love that ultimately should come from God and from our abiding concern for the others and the world in general. 

 Obviously, such structured life would give priority always to the importance of prayer, to the living contact with God whose constant presence we should always be aware of, and whose will and providence we try our best to correspond. 

 We should never forget that our life is supposed to be, first and last, a life with God. It is never just our own life, lived only at the instance of our own will and designs. Even Christ himself, notwithstanding the tremendous mission he had to undertake, always found time to pray and to strengthen his obedience to the will of the Father. 

 We have to make this truth about our life more known, more appreciated and more actively pursued. We cannot deny that all around us are conspicuous pieces of evidence that show people are just living on their own, ignoring God in general, and therefore leading a life that can only show the marks of human frailty and proneness to sin and evil, even if it manages to appear impressive in human terms. 

 Precisely because of this condition, we can see around a lot of idleness, complacency, waste of time. And if there is some activity, burst of energy and intense pursuit of some goals, the most likely motives are those of pride, vanity, conceit, greed and all forms of self-indulgence. Without God, we cannot help but fall into sin. 

 In other words, all that energy and deployment of human powers are misused and misdirected in ways that often are sweet and deceiving. And so, their comeuppance would just be a matter of time. Everyone should be taught as early as possible to develop a properly-animated structured life. In this regard, the family, especially the parents, holds eminent responsibility. And so, we should realize that the proper formation and education of the families is of prime importance, since the families are the first schools of the people. 

 Let’s hope that we give the appropriate attention and energy in this direction, especially in a world that is fast becoming secularized, paganized, Godless!

The art of risk-taking in these times

WE always have to take some risks in this life. It’s an unavoidable part of our life. And that’s simply because we always have to deal with many unknown variables and even pure mysteries in life, plus the fact that there are just so many things to consider that are often competing with each other as well as being so complex as to challenge our capabilities, and we would find it hard to cope with all of them. 

 And now that we are in some sort of new normal due to this COVID pandemic that is making drastic changes in the whole world, we have to contend with things that can be so new that we would not even realize that they have to be considered. We find ourselves in the dark. 

 This is where we really should try to remain calm and in strong grip of our emotions, especially our fears and worries, so that we can handle the situation better. We have to be wary of the danger of the negative reactions we can give to these new challenges, like falling into sadness, depression, self-pity and the like. 

 Of course, that calmness should not just be a psychological trick that we use, though it in itself is already helpful. Our calmness should be anchored on more solid ground which is nothing other than on our strong faith and hope in God’s providence. 

 Let’s remember that fears and worries would just make things worse for us. They are an unnecessary luggage to carry in our pursuit for what is prudent for us in these times. They are really a drag that can actually be avoided if we have the right attitude toward these new challenges. 

 What we should rather do is strengthen our faith such that it can give us always the impulse of hope and the assurance that whatever happens everything will just work out for the good if we are with God. 

 Though we have to study the issues and problems well, making some consultations if necessary, and doing everything to make us feel that we have done our part to come out with a good decision, we know that we can still be wrong. 

 There are times when we ought to refrain from making a decision or a judgment about a certain issue. But in those other times when we ought to make a choice for one reason or another in spite of the tentativeness of our position, then we should be ready to take some risks. 

 The important thing is that we be always with God. Our decisions and judgments may be wrong at the end, but at least, if we have done our part in studying things, then it would just be ok. We are not expected to be always right. Mistakes and misjudgments can always happen in spite of our best intentions and best efforts. At least, we can say that those mistakes and misjudgments were done in “bona fide,” in good faith. 

 We should just be sport and game in all of this, and try to learn the precious lessons we can derive from whatever experience we can have while taking some risks. It’s also important, that whatever happens, we should always try to remain at peace and cheerful, which is what we are meant for. The moment we lose our peace and joy, we are actually in trouble!

Setting and pursuing goals

IF we want our life to be exciting, full of suspense, and yet sure of where it is going and how it is going to end, we should develop the habit of setting goals and pursuing them as actively as possible. 

 That way, we would never have a dull moment in life. And if handled properly, such habit would protect us from any fear or doubt. We would always feel confident even if we have to go through the unavoidable difficulties, mistakes, failures, etc. 

 We should not allow ourselves to be floating and drifting aimlessly in life, since even in our worst condition, we would always have an objective purpose in life that can never disappear in our life. 

 And that is that whatever situation we may be in, we should always be focused on God, relating everything—the good and the bad, the big and the small, the ordinary and the extraordinary—to him. 

 Obviously this ultimate and constant purpose of our life should be broken into the more immediate goals, or what we may call the short-term and long-term goals, that should be subordinated and inspired by the ultimate goal. 

 That way, we will always have the confidence that we are on track and that we are making some progress. That confidence alone is enough source of joy and sense of fulfillment and of being rewarded for all the effort, sacrifices, pain, etc. that would be involved in the pursuit of our goals. 

 Yes, we would always feel that everything then would be all worthwhile. We would most likely make St. Paul’s words also our own: “I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air.” (1 Cor 9,26) We would be fighting to reach the finish line. 

 Everyday then, we should make some plan where we would be clear about the daily goal to reach. We need to bring this business to our prayer so that we can see things more clearly under the light of God’s presence and will, and minimize the possibility of being tricked by our tendency to fall into pure self-indulgence. 

 Let’s remember that God is always intervening in our lives and we should try to be most perceptive and prompt in knowing what he wants us to pursue in any particular day. It could be some improvement or growth in our life of prayer, or sacrifice, or some virtues, or in the apostolate. Whatever it is, we should be clear about the goal to reach for that day and start to set the appropriate things in motion. 

 And all throughout the day, we should pause from time to time to check if we are still on track, if there are things to correct or needed, etc. That way, we somehow would be less prone to get diverted by some distractions. Hopefully we can exude the welcoming air of a man on the go, a man with a clear sense of purpose, that would also inspire others. 

 As said earlier, this business of setting and pursuing goals would make our life meaningful, filling us with a sense of joy and confidence. And in today’s world where we see a lot of people idle or just coasting along, by developing this habit of setting and pursuing goals, we would be giving good example and spreading inspiration around!

“Bear each other’s burdens”

IF we are looking for a surefire formula of living true charity, one that is down-to-earth and easily and abidingly doable, one that would really nail it, we should follow this piece of advice from St. Paul who said in his Letter to the Galatians that we “bear each other’s burdens.” (6,2) 

 He clearly said that it is “in this way that you will fulfill the law of Christ,” which is none other than the law of love. Let’s not look any further and imagine doing extraordinary things to show the charity that we are supposed to live. All we have to do is to look at the neighbor nearest us at any point in time and help him bear his burden, whatever it is. 

 Our usual problem in this regard is to think that charity is doing some things for God but neglecting to consider the needs of the others. And if we happen to consider the others, we most likely are choosy as to what and how to help. We may even avoid the others, or take them for granted if only to escape from getting entangled with the duty to help them in some way. 

 It’s true that we cannot always extend the concrete help the others need. This may happen most of the time. But we fail to realize that we can always help them by our prayers and sacrifices which can always be done anytime, anywhere. 

 In other words, our mind and heart are not really focused on the others all the time which is our way of directing us to God and loving him directly and always. As St. John said in his first letter, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (4,20) 

 We really should see to it that we are always attentive to everybody’s needs, that we cover their weaknesses, etc., because this is the way we can truly say that we are loving God, that we are living in charity as we should. 

 Obviously, this will require effort and a certain self-discipline, since we have to contend with our own limitations and weaknesses, not to mention the tremendous variety of differences and conflicts that we can have with others. 

 But we have to realize that it is in this kind of condition that we can truly develop and live charity. Charity is not lived only when things are nice and favorable to us. It is rather better developed, shown and lived when it is done in conditions that are difficult to us, and opposed to our personal liking. The greater the sacrifice involved in bearing the burdens of the others, the more authentic our charity would be. 

 As said earlier, while we cannot always express that charity in material terms, we can always do so in the spiritual and supernatural terms. Every time we think of them, anticipate their needs, try to do something about it, or at least to offer prayers and sacrifices, we would truly be loving them and loving God. 

 So, we need to examine where our thoughts and desires direct themselves. Are they just revolving around ourselves? Or are we always thinking of the others? Let’s hope that we can say we are always thinking of the others, ever ready to bear their burdens in any way we can.

Source and giver of comfort

IT’S always good to read slowly the gospels and the other books and letters contained in the Bible because in them are contained precious lessons that we often take for granted. In fact, it is highly recommended that we spend time meditating on them in a place conducive to such exercise, so that we can more easily discern those spiritual and supernatural lessons that are meant for us. 

 Among the passages that struck me lately are those of St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. He literally is telling us where to find comfort and how we can give it ourselves to others. The pertinent words are the following: 

 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. 

 “For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.” (1,3-6) 

 Thus, it’s very clear where to find our comfort. It is in God. We should just enliven our faith to accept this truth. We should just believe this truth of our faith as articulated by St. Paul even if we do not fully understand how such truth can be true. 

 Remember that we are meant more to believe than to understand, even as we try to understand things as fully as possible. On this, St. Augustine made that famous dictum: “Crede ut intellegas” (Believe that you may understand). 

 That’s because the fullness of the reality that governs us transcends the natural and rational order. It involves things spiritual and supernatural. It involves mysteries that exceed our understanding. 

 Thus, we need to understand that our sense of comfort should also be a function of our faith more than just that of reason and feelings. It should be a matter of grace more than anything else. 

 It does not mean that such sense of comfort would have no effect on our reason and on our feelings and bodily dimension. It simply means that such sense of comfort would truly give us a sensation of relief, of reassurance and confidence, even if we are not exempted from feeling bodily and natural pain and suffering. It’s a sense of comfort that can bear all things. 

 This is the sense of comfort that is proper to us. It is a realistic one that considers all the dimensions governing man’s life, considered in their proper order. It also considers all the possibilities that can happen to us in this life. 

 We have to stay away from a fantasy-kind of comfort that is purely pegged on our feelings alone or on some worldly values without inputting the most important value of the spiritual and the supernatural. 

 If we have this sense of comfort, we would have no worry whatsoever. Come rain or fire, we would still have comfort. It’s important that we understand the true character of comfort and where to find it, so that we can help in giving it to others who may have a very limited if not erroneous understanding of comfort.

The quest for beauty

DEEP within us, there is an undeniable yearning for what we consider to be beautiful. Undeniable too is that fact that while many times such yearning is satisfied, there are also occasions, and they can be quite many also, that it is frustrated and disappointed. 

 But if we have the proper understanding of what beauty really is, then we will realize that beauty can always be found everywhere. Yes, even in situations where in our human estimation we consider as ugly, beauty can still be found. 

 The secret is to peg our quest for beauty on God. With him, everything is beautiful, or at worst, can be made beautiful. Without him, even what we consider in our human estimation as beautiful is actually not so. Beauty is where God is. And since God is everywhere, beauty can also be found everywhere. That is, if we know how to look for God. 

 Our problem is that we often separate beauty from God. And because of such separation, beauty has transformed, in the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “into a path that leads to the ephemeral, into banal and superficial appearances, or even a flight toward artificial paradises, which disguise and hide interior emptiness and inconsistencies.” 

 It’s a sense of beauty that is pegged merely on us, who in our limited and wounded nature, cannot find beauty everywhere, especially when some pain and suffering are involved. 

 We need to expand our understanding and appreciation of beauty. If by beauty we mean only the physical beauty of a scenic landscape, the romantic hue of a sunset, or a Miss Universe, then we are missing not only a lot of things but also the one thing that is most necessary to us. 

 There is beauty in persons, things and situations that otherwise are regarded as unbeautiful or ugly if seen only in the physical or strictly human and natural level. It is the beauty that comes straight from God who offered his son on the cross as a ransom for our salvation. 

 We need to expand our understanding and appreciation of beauty by including the most important element of beauty. And that is the love for God, and because of that love, it is also the love for others. 

 If we truly love God, then we should reflect his love and his attributes that can only be described, in the least, as beautiful. If out of his love for us, he sent his Son to us, and the Son had to become man and to suffer death on the cross, then we can say that there must be beauty in suffering and in death. 

 We need to understand and appreciate beauty from the point of view of our faith, more than simply from the point of view of our senses and our intelligence. To be sure, our faith does not reject the standards of beauty that go along the lines of the senses and the intelligence, but it goes beyond them. 

 That’s why we have to learn to be quick to discern the elements of beauty in what otherwise are considered as ugly when seen in purely human terms. Physical pains, sicknesses, problems, difficulties, deaths, etc., while truly unattractive and worthy of avoidance, can possess a certain beauty if seen with the eyes of faith. 

 Again, the secret is to peg our sense of beauty on God.

Daily conquests

IF our life is truly inspired by Christian faith, hope and love, we would know that our life would always involve some daily conquests, whether big or small, if only to make ourselves more and more like Christ. That’s actually the be-all and end-all of our life. Our life would never be in some static, idle mode. It would always be in a dynamic mode with the dynamism provided for by our Christian faith, hope and love. 

 We have to understand that our life here on earth is a training and testing ground for us to see if what God wants us to be is also what we would want ourselves to be. It is God who is actually shaping us to be another Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. And we have to correspond as best that we can to God’s creative and redemptive work on us. 

 We should debunk the idea that we are just on our own, and that our life is what we alone make it out to be. That idea cannot explain many fundamental things about us, like how we came to be, why we have a yearning for a happiness without end when we know we cannot achieve it ever in this life, why we have intelligence and will that connect us to a spiritual world and would lead us to a supernatural reality, etc. 

 The correspondence that we need to do toward God’s continuing creative and redemptive work on us is what would give rise to the need also to have some daily conquests. That’s because we need to defend ourselves against everything that would undermine such correspondence. And this everything involves our own weaknesses and sins, the tempting and sinful allurements of the world, and the tricks of the devil. 

 Let’s remember that our life here on earth can be described also as a warfare. We have enemies to contend with. The Book of Job says it explicitly: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare…” (7,1) 

 And the enemies we have are no mean ones. As St. Paul would put it, “We are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6,12) I think that’s plain to see. 

 Besides, we need to make some progress in our pursuit of the goal God has made for us—that we be like Christ. Paraphrasing a Sound-of-Music song, there will always be mountains to climb, streams to ford, rainbows to follow. We have to grow in the virtues and in the consolidation of the means we need to reach our goal. 

 Thus, we need to see if we are growing in humility, obedience, fortitude, justice, prudence, purity, etc. We need to see if our life of prayer and sacrifice is getting stronger and is truly leading us to be like Christ more and more. We need to see if we are increasingly assuming Christ’s desires, intentions and passions. Do we have a burning desire for holiness that always goes with a growing apostolic zeal? 

 Our daily conquests should lead us to echo St. Paul’s words: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2,20) There should be an awareness that such phenomenon is taking place in our life!

The art of constant and abiding prayer

WE have to learn this art of constant and abiding prayer since that is indispensable to us. We are meant to be praying always, just like what St. Paul told us that we pray without ceasing. (cfr. 1 Thes 5,17) 

 That’s simply because it is when we pray that we stay united, as we should, with God and with everybody else. It’s when we pray that we can manage to do things right. Without prayer, the only thing possible for us is simply to rely on our own powers that cannot go far before we go astray. 

 Christ himself has shown us the way. Even if he had to do many things, going to different and far places preaching, performing miracles, giving advice to his disciples, etc., he always managed to find time to pray. He attracted a lot of people who liked to listen to him and to ask for favors, and yet he managed to get away from it all from time to time in order to pray. 

 If he had to wake up early, way before dawn, to pray before going through a heavy day, we would do so. If he had to dismiss the admiring crowd to pray, we would do it. And especially when he had to go through his most agonizing passion and death on the cross, he managed to pray. There was nothing in his daily activities that prevented him from praying. 

 We should try to follow the example of Christ. For this, we have to strengthen our belief that we need to pray always and that doing so is actually practicable in all situations and circumstances in our life, in fair weather or in bad. God is always willing to give us all that we need in order to pray always. We just have to do our part. 

 We need to make some kind of plan for the day, week, month, etc. so that we can attend to all our concerns properly, always giving priority to prayer. It is important that we managed to have time for a serious and intimate conversation with God daily, since that would strengthen the spiritual and supernatural bearing we ought to have. 

 Let’s see to it that our prayer is a real encounter with Christ. Christ is everywhere, and more than that, he is always full of love for us. He is actually always intervening in our life. He can never be indifferent to us, even if we misbehave. In fact, it’s when we get into trouble, whether self-inflicted or otherwise, that he gets more attentive and solicitous to us. 

 We should just learn to be discerning of his constant interventions in our life. And that means that we should always try to have presence of God all the time, and through the things we do, get involved in or that happen and affect us, we should always try to see what God is trying to show or tell us. 

 Of course, for this to happen, we have to have that basic attitude of looking for him always so we can find him, and finding him we can manage to love and serve him, and out of that love, we can manage to love and serve everybody else properly. 

 We can use some vocal prayers for this, or some ejaculatory prayers to keep us in the state of prayer always.

When we commit mistakes

WE all commit mistakes. That’s an undeniable fact of life. They can vary from small to big, minor to major, something just mechanical or typographical to something mortally spiritual and immoral. They can simply be accidental or maliciously intentional. This is not to mention that are there those we know and those we are not aware of. 

 We have to learn how to deal with them, since whether we like it or not, they are an unavoidable part of our life. While it’s true that our initial and spontaneous reaction to our mistakes is that of disappointment, frustration, sadness and the like, we have to see to it that we get past that stage as soon as possible. There’s no use staying long there, rotting away in guilt feelings, since it would not be good for us. It would not be healthy for us. 

 Let’s be quick to look at the positive side of all this negative aspect of our life. We know that God allows us to commit mistakes because of the misuse of our freedom, our weaknesses and limitations, and, of course, the many temptations we have around. But let’s remember that God is always in control and knows how to derive good from evil. So let’s not worry more than we should. 

 On our part, we should just strengthen our faith and trust in God, reinforcing our conviction that God is always a father to us. He knows us very well, including our weaknesses, and he understands why we commit mistakes and, thus, gives due allowance for them. 

 Though he may be angry for a while, it is undeniable that he is eager to forgive us and to give us the appropriate graces to repair and heal what is defective and sick in us. In this, we should have no doubt. We should be quick to pick up the pieces, begin again and move on. 

 Let’s always keep in mind those reassuring words of St. Paul: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” (Rom 5,20) And, “In all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8,28) 

 Indeed our mistakes can occasion many good things in us. They can show us where we are weak at and thus direct our attention to these areas where we should give the appropriate action. 

 If we are humble enough, these mistakes can also lead us to get closer to God, since they would make us feel more vividly our great need for him. Yes, our mistakes can nourish our humility, reversing that notorious tendency of ours to be proud and conceited. Indeed, our mistakes can serve as a strong stimulus for our sanctification. 

 The important thing to remember is that we consider our mistakes from the point of view of our faith, and never just from our own ideas. This latter way can only lead us to despair and other worse possibilities. 

 It would be helpful to realize deeply and always that before God we are always like little children irrespective of the high status we may be enjoying at present. Especially when we commit mistakes, we should feel the need to go to him rather than run away from him, which can only make things worse. 

 Yes, our mistakes can be and should be a blessing in disguise for us!

Humanizing and Christianizing technology

MANY economists and other analysts highly recommend that the youth of today must be convinced that their chances of being gainfully employed will increase significantly if they take less interest in diploma-oriented college courses in the traditional universities and colleges. 

 They should rather take technical courses that will prepare them for employment in the construction industry, health and wellness sector, agribusiness sector, tourism and travel and other labor-intensive industries. 

 This suggestion is, of course, well taken. It’s obvious that the developments and the needs of the world these days require a lot of technical training and labor-intensive skills. There is hardly anything today that does not increasingly involve technical expertise. Otherwise, we would just be left behind. 

 But we should never forget that this plunging into the technical and labor-intensive world would require the appropriate training in its humanization and Christianization. We cannot deny that neglecting this dimension of education, or even just taking it for granted and giving it only a lick-and-a-promise attitude, would lead to a disaster for all of us. 

 All parties—the government, the churches, the schools, the families, etc.—should help in forming an educational system that would give the proper human tone and Christian spirit in this pursuit for this increasingly sophisticated technical training. 

 We should be wary of our tendency to simply give a knee-jerk reaction to the challenge we have today by only attending to the technical aspect of our educational system without giving it the corresponding human and Christian spirit. 

 For example, the students should be taught how they can relate the technical things they are learning to their personal integrity and development, to their duties towards the family and society in general. Most importantly, they have to learn how they can relate their technical training to their spiritual and moral health, and to God. 

 We should not be deceived by the argument that the technical training should mainly if not only respond to our economic needs. That would make us not much better than robots, or worse, not much better than prostitutes who offer their services simply for pleasure and economic gain. 

 Our technical training should be such that it would foster a more intimate relationship with God. It should strengthen our spiritual life and our piety, rather than drying them up. It should foster greater personal, not impersonal, relation with others, starting within the family and then with everybody else. It should make us more aware and more skillful in fulfilling our duties toward the common good. 

 We cannot deny that the powerful advantages of our technologies these days can easily lead and trap us in a world of pure self-indulgence, feeding our weaknesses of pride, greed, lust, deception, corruption, etc. 

 These days, we have to be aware of some shifting of world power due to the emergence of the so-called big techs. It’s a highly dynamic and evolving issue that we have to learn to get a handle on. And this issue has to be given its true human and Christian spirit, otherwise it will play the game of the devil who is an expert is seduction. 

 Indeed, we have to promote technical training these days. It should include the oldies who are still not quite adept at technical things. But we should never forget the human and Christian requirements that this training greatly needs!

Restraint and decisiveness

A TRULY prudent man would know how to practice both restraint and decisiveness in his judgments, reactions and actuations. He is not simply restrained and moderate if only to play safe. Neither is he just bold and decisive to make his point clear. 

 Depending on the circumstances of a given situation, a truly prudent man would know how to restrain himself and how to be decisive. If facts are clear and the pieces of evidence are strong, then he would not hesitate to make his views clear and to take the appropriate action. 

 Otherwise, he would prefer to keep quiet and discreet, or at the most would just keep some tentative views and opinions which are usually kept to himself until things become clear in a way that would warrant a clear-cut judgment and action. 

 This kind of prudence can only come about as a result of one’s identification with Christ who would inspire him to always judge, react and act with charity. Yes, if prudence has to be true prudence, it always has to be animated by charity, the one that was shown and commanded by Christ to us. 

 If we take another close look at the life of Christ, we would see that he was both restrained and decisive in his ways. When some people, who were impressed with his words and miracles, wanted to make him king, he managed to get away. He also tried his best to adapt his very mysterious teachings to the capability of the people by using parables and common-life examples. 

 And while he could read the minds of people, he saw to it that any clarification and corrections he made was done both with clarity and delicacy. There was a forcefulness to them, but of the kind that was animated by charity. 

 We have to learn to develop this kind of prudence that would give due consideration to our capabilities and limitations, as well as to the available facts and pieces of evidence. What is most important is that everything is always referred to God, and any judgment, reaction and actuation we make is done always in the presence of God. 

 That’s when we can most likely make fair and balanced judgments, and our reactions in words and actuations to issues and things would always be marked by charity that never compromises the truth. 

 In fact, when push comes to shove, a truly prudent person would be willing to suffer whatever consequences may come. This was the prudence of Christ himself who preferred to suffer and die on the cross rather than compromise his mission of saving us from our state of alienation from God due to sin. 

 To be sure, the restraint, moderation and discretion in true prudence is not simply for self-preservation. They would purely be out of charity, out of due consideration to the conditions of the moment. They do not undermine that decisiveness and boldness that are also an integral part of true prudence. 

 To develop this true prudence, we certainly need to familiarize ourselves with the teachings and example of Christ. We have to develop the appropriate attitudes, skills and virtues, like study and reflection, consultations, tact, etc. Effort and struggle against our weaknesses and temptations would be involved here. 

 And more than these, we need to avail of God’s grace that usually comes to us through the reception of the sacraments.

In a world of growing diversity

WE have to brace ourselves for the challenges of the world of growing diversity that we are living in. It’s not only growing diversity that we have to contend with. It is also a complicated one. 

 That’s because aside from our natural differences which are already quite challenging, we also have to contend with our man-made, artificial differences and conflicts that are even more challenging. 

 We have to deal, for example, with our nature-provided differences in temperaments, in race and language, our cultural and historical backgrounds, our age and generational categories. In these areas alone, there are already difficult issues to tackle, like racism, generation gaps, tribalism and elitism, and the many other forms of discrimination, the clashes of social classes, etc. 

 Then we have differences and conflicts in opinions and beliefs related to business, politics and even religion, as well as to culture, lifestyles, mentalities, vested interests. And with the emergence of our powerful modern technologies, this diversification has become more rapid and confusing. 

 Before all this diversity, we should try our best not to feel so intimidated as to either freeze in helplessness or to react with wild or even violent attitudes and actuations. Things would just get worse either way. 

 What we should rather do is to face this challenge calmly because only then can we see the good opportunities this diversity is actually presenting to us. This diversity is actually giving us new openings to discover new things about ourselves and everything else. It can be a stimulus for progress, growth and advancement in our own personal lives and, more importantly, in our collective life. 

 The basic attitude to have is to see where this diversity can lead us to initiate complementarity amid our differences. Yes, our differences and even conflicts need not be a force of division among ourselves. They can engender a greater and deeper sense of unity if we can only find a way of making these differences and conflicts play along the terms of complementarity. 

 This would require that we should always have a positive attitude toward this diversity. And the basis of this positive attitude can be our Christian faith in God’s omniscient providence that can allow this diversity to take place to derive a greater good. 

 Of course, without this Christian faith, we most likely would have a negativistic attitude toward anything that may appear to be outside our worldview. We would not be game and sport about the whole affair, and would fail to develop the art of creativity and inventiveness. 

 We should try to find a way of how through this diversity we can develop a sense of solidarity among the different and even conflicting agents and elements in a given situation or issue in order to achieve a certain common goal. 

 To be sure, given the fact that we are all human beings, there must be some goals or good that we can share in common, even if these goals are low in the hierarchy of human goals. We can always start somewhere for us to work together not only in spite of but rather because of our differences and conflicts. 

 For this, of course, we should try to restrain emphasizing the differences and conflicts that divide us. We should rather focus more on how our differences and conflicts can somehow work in tandem, in solidarity, to attain a shared goal.

Alienated from God, alienated from others

THE month of February usually evokes the theme of love since it’s when we mark Valentine’s Day. This event—quite embarrassing to admit, given our Christian identity—would even overshadow the spirit of Ash Wednesday that starts the Lenten season. 

 Actually, these two events need not compete with each other but should rather mutually reinforce each other if we only know how to handle them properly. And that is, that we always consider them under the light of our faith. Outside of our Christian faith, there is no way a mutual relationship can be established between the two. 

 Fact is, love for many, especially the young ones, would only mean the mushy type, the one that is based mainly if not only on feelings, looks and appearances, or on what they call some magic that has nothing to do with faith-based commitment. It’s a highly perishable type of love that cannot stand the whole gamut of the realities of life. It’s a love that is developed and lived more in fantasy, in a make-believe world, than in the real world. 

 It’s time to remind everyone that true love can only come from God whose essence, which we also share, is precisely love. “Deus caritas est, God is love,” as St. John said. (1 Jn 4,8) And this love is shown to us in the concrete in Christ who makes it available to us in many ways, especially through the sacraments. It is this love that connects the sentiments of Valentine’s Day with those of Lent. 

 A love that is not a participation of the love of God can never be a true love. It may manage to attract us and to give us a lot of conveniences and advantages, but sooner or later its fraud would be exposed. 

 We cannot deny that when we are alienated from God, we would also be alienated from others, even if things may appear otherwise. It cannot be otherwise. Let’s remember also that we can be good at pretending, which is what devils are also very good at. 

 Nowadays, there are many reports based on some medical studies about young people falling into depression. And they somehow put a good part of the blame on the social media where the young ones would not know how to handle their reactions of anger, envy, sadness and other negative things toward what they see in the social media. 

 As a result, they tend to isolate themselves and become victims of their own dark and negative thoughts. Thus, the number of people with mental illness and even of suicide has increased lately. 

 We need to reiterate this basic truth about ourselves: that we need God, that we can only learn to love properly if our love is based on the love of God. God not only defines what true love is. He gives us the means to live it properly. True love cannot be found anywhere else. 

 We have to do everything to help everyone, especially the young ones, to develop a true relationship with God. This will require a lot of effort—explaining the doctrine of our faith, giving accompaniment and ongoing formation, developing the proper attitudes and virtues, etc. 

 But this would be all worthwhile. Let’s hope that even as we grapple with the more immediate needs and challenges of our daily, we do not neglect our more important duty to develop this relationship with God!

When praises come our way

YES, we have to learn how to handle praises and accolades that may come our way. Since we often are motivated to do our best in whatever task we do, it’s very likely that sooner or later, one way or another, we would be receiving praises from others. We should always be prepared to handle them properly. 

 And that means that we should not allow these nice things, no matter how flattering and intoxicating to our ego, to go to our head. On the contrary, we should feel humbled by them, since what actually took place was that God’s power and grace made those beautiful things, for which we are praised, happen. 

 We, at best, only cooperated. We only were instruments and tools, since all good things can only come from God. (cfr. James 1,17) On our own, without God, the only thing we can achieve is evil that sometimes can appear impressive according to our human and worldly standards. But that so-called accomplishment actually would be very harmful to us, taken in our true dignity as children of God, image and likeness of his. 

 And so, like the servant in one of the parables of Christ, we should just say when praises come to us that we were only doing what we were supposed to do. It was simply our duty. (cfr. Lk 17,10) Nothing special about it really. 

 When we allow these praises to go to our head, it can only show that we have been doing things with the improper intention, that we were simply looking after our pride and vanity, or that we were looking for entitlements and privileges, etc. 

 But when we do things with the proper intention, that is, doing things always for the glory of God and nor for our own glory, we would be reaffirming what St. Paul once said: “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you have not been given it?” (1 Cor 4,7) 

 So, when praises and expressions of adulations come our way because of our good work, let us remember St. Paul’s words: “He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (2 Cor 10,17) The same idea is actually echoed in a prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours: “The wise man must not glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just.” 

 All those exhortations about humility, about self-denial, about having to pass unnoticed, etc., are not meant to plunge us into darkness and a joyless life. They are not meant for us to simply drift into passivity, or to sink into fear or despair. They are meant to give us the glory proper to us. They are meant to make us truly happy, active, liberated. They are meant to prevent us from living in a bubble, in a fake, fantasy world. 

 This is the problem and challenge that we have these days. We tend to forget or ignore the origins of things and simply allow ourselves to be carried away by the impulses of the current state of the world, now mostly intoxicated by our own so-called accomplishments and achievements.

Some signs of holiness

IF we live by our Christian faith, we know that holiness is the ultimate and constant purpose of our life. It is what we should pursue and achieve consistently and unrelentingly in anything that we do—from our thoughts and intentions, to our words and deeds, from their most intimate and personal level to their most global dimensions. 

 St. Paul expressed it clearly when he said, “God’s will is for you to be holy.” (1 Thes 4,3) And Christ himself said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5,48) 

 We have to understand then that for us to be holy, we have to be united and identified with God who revealed himself to us in Christ. He makes himself available and accessible to us through the many instrumentalities in the Church that was established by Christ himself. These instrumentalities can be the sacraments, doctrine as summarized in the Catechism, the different spiritualities and charisms in the Church, etc. 

 With these instrumentalities we would be able to convert everything in our life as an occasion and motive to pursue and achieve holiness even while we are still journeying on earth toward our definitive home in heaven. 

 Let’s see to it that our work, for example, should have as its main purpose the achievement of holiness, and not just the fulfillment of some technical requirements and the attainment of some worldly goals, no matter how legitimate they are. Remember Christ saying, “What does it a profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.” (Mk 8,36) 

 We should see to it that the Christ-and-Church provided instrumentalities lead us to have a living encounter with Christ, something that can happen only when we activate our faith, hope and charity through a functioning life of piety. 

 This life of piety, of course, is nourished and maintained when we learn to pray and to have recourse to the sacraments, to undergo continuing formation, to continually develop virtues and wage a lifelong struggle against our weaknesses, temptations and sins, etc. 

 That life of piety should give us the awareness that we are always with Christ in all the circumstances of our life. It should make us understand that holiness is not so much a matter of fighting against the negative elements in our life as of growing more and more in love for God and for all souls. 

 It should lead us to understand that holiness is more a matter of being consistent in our love for God and souls in the little and ordinary things, which comprise the bigger part of our life, than in showing that love in the big and extraordinary events, trials and challenges that come only few and far between in our life. 

 If we are truly with Christ and thus enjoy a certain degree of holiness, we would know how to handle any situation in our life, be it good or bad according to human standards. There would be a palpable manifestation of the different virtues—humility, patience, hard work, prudence, compassion, mercy. 

 We would always be driven by the desire to give glory to God in everything that we do. And to be sure, our love for God is always accompanied and expressed in our effective love for others, for everyone, irrespective of who they are and of how they are to us. We would be willing to suffer for others, etc.

The good accepting attitude

WE need to know and to develop the right accepting attitude in our life. Things can get so complicated that if we do not know what this right accepting attitude is, we surely would be lost. 

 We know that there are things that are beyond our control. In fact, most things are, I believe. There are personal weaknesses we cannot avoid, and people, events and things that are not to our liking. We will always have differences and conflicts among ourselves, not only in matters of taste and opinion, but also in some serious matters like our core beliefs and faith. 

 We have to know how to deal with this unavoidable condition in our life. And one way of doing that is precisely to know how to accept things as they are without, of course, neglecting the duty we have to do whatever we can, if given the chance, to put them right if they are wrong, or to make them better if they are not good enough. 

 Obviously there are situations when we should just let things be, since there is really no need to change them. We have to learn to live in a world where a great range of diversity in terms of cultures, lifestyles, mentalities, attitudes, etc. would always be around. 

 Part of a good accepting attitude is the ability to be flexible and resilient without getting confused and lost about what is absolutely right or wrong, true or false, real or unreal. We have to know how to adapt ourselves properly to different kinds of people and our own condition. 

 This would presume that we have a firm grounding on what is absolutely right and wrong, good and evil. And this could only mean that we believe in God, in a Creator who is the original author of all things in this world. He is also the one that takes care of everything all the way to the end of time and of the world. 

 Yes, a good accepting attitude would include the firm belief that God takes care of everything through his constant providence over all his creation. He knows what to do in any condition that we and the world would get into. 

 We should not regard this belief in divine providence as some kind of fatalism where we believe that events are fixed in advance such that we are powerless to change them. We are free beings, and we somehow are responsible as to how our life and world should turn, even as God himself is in complete control also of everything, whether things turn good or bad according to our human standards. 

 A good accepting attitude would include a good sporting spirit that knows how to let go of certain things and to move on in spite of whatever. It makes one calm, with a good sense of confidence and direction, knowing that while there are things that are beyond one’s control, God is always in control and knows how to derive good even from evil. 

 The sporting spirit that is part of a good accepting attitude would just be game with whatever setbacks, difficulties and all forms of suffering that may come our way. With this accepting attitude, we would know that more than us, it is actually Christ who bears all the pains involved. We would just focus on what can be done if there are things that need to be done.

To vaccinate or not?

THIS is the burning question at the moment. While the general response should be, yes, we should, there are serious questions and issues raised around this matter. It’s usually the public officials who are pushing the official line that we should get vaccinated. And I think that’s very understandable. 

 But some people, who also have their own credentials, say otherwise. They talk about a sinister conspiracy being hatched in this matter, about a certain plan by some powerful men to control people’s lives, to eliminate certain people due to overpopulation, etc. 

 Others, who are in the medical and research field, say that the vaccines presently made available are still in their experimental stage. Their effectivity is put in doubt. In fact, there are reports of some terrible side effects of a few of those who have already been vaccinated. 

 Still others claim that some of these vaccines being developed make use of tissues from aborted babies, raising the question about the morality in the use of these vaccines. In this point, a sharp debate is ongoing. 

 Obviously, these claims just cannot be dismissed outright. But we need a lot of time and expertise to sort out which ones are true and which ones are false. Sometimes we get the sensation of being between the devil and the deep blue sea, of being between a rock and a hard place, of being damned if you do and damned if you don’t. 

 We are indeed all thrown into confusion, which should remind us of the story about the tower of Babel. (Gen 11,1-9) Could this present state of public dilemma and perplexity a reprise of that biblical story that gives us a painful lesson about humility and about always acknowledging God’s power properly? 

 Especially now with our powerful communication technologies, we find ourselves awash with all sorts of information and data, many of which are contradicting each other. And we cannot be so naïve as to think that all these pieces of information and data are presented to us with the purest of intentions. So, who would not be confused? 

 We are aware that there are some people who, with their hidden agenda and in pursuit of their selfish interests, can take advantage of some extraordinary situations like what we are having these days. With their power and resources, they can easily weaponize certain things to meet their goals. 

 Let’s remember that Christ told us that while we should be as simple and innocent as doves, we should also be as shrewd, clever, wise and cunning as serpents. (cfr. Mt 10,16) Yes, we have to do some deep study, research and consultation here, but this will take time and the proper attitude. 

 In the meantime, what we can always do is to pray that we get enlightened somehow. In this life, we are not expected to judge all things correctly, to make the proper decisions all the time. We are expected to make errors, to commit mistakes, though we should try our best to avoid them. 

 What is truly essential is that whether in the end we are right or wrong on some issues, we should all be with God. We should follow our conscience that is properly formed and informed. 

 So, whether we should get vaccinated or not will be call by each one’s conscience, by one’s perception of what God is telling him. After all God knows everything and can derive good from evil. Even our mistakes will work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

Are we ready to spread Christianity around?

THAT’S a question we can ask ourselves as we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in our country. After 500 years, we have reason to believe that we have somehow “arrived” at a significant level of Christian life. The drama involved in that period must have taught us precious lessons, must have raised us to a certain level of Christian maturity, if we can call it that. 

 Now, are we ready to spread and share our Christianity with other people, not only within our country but also in others? Let’s remember that if we truly have imbibed the Christian spirit, we would surely be given that same mandate Christ gave to his apostles before he ascended to heaven to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mk 16,15) 

 As appropriately articulated in the motto of the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in our country, we have been “gifted to give.” How are we giving ourselves from the abundant gifts we have received from God all through these 500 years of our Christianity? 

 Obviously, it’s a question that we have to ask ourselves individually first, before we start figuring out what we have done in this regard as a Christian nation. Do we truly have an apostolic concern? Do we feel the urge to share our Christian belief with others? Do we know how to convert everything in our life into a means and an occasion to do apostolate? 

 And from our own personal examination, we can start asking whether our Christianity has spread more widely. Is there a rise in conversions? Is there a rise in vocations? Are we sending more missionaries to other countries? Are we producing more saints? 

 The answers to these questions may not capture the whole picture of the matter but they can give us some indicators about how we are faring in this regard. These indicators would be enough for us to know what to do, what resources would be needed, what direction and focus we need to take, etc. 

 We have to realize though that we should not be so much interested in numbers and in areas covered as in the quality of Christianity that we are spreading and sharing; Are we ready to tackle today’s challenges and the complex religious issues? 

 All these considerations should move us to be most serious in living our Christian life. Are we mastering the Christian doctrine such that we can readily answer the questions arising from the many religious issues around? We may have to figure out the doctrinal literacy of the average Christian faithful we have. 

 The more tricky part would be how to develop, enhance and maintain the life of piety that would always serve as the basic dynamo in spreading Christianity around. This definitely would need a lot of spiritual direction and accompaniment of the people involved. Do we have the appropriate systems and structures for this? 

 It is important that our Church leaders be in the forefront in coming up with a wholistic plan to turn this beautiful motto of being “gifted to give” into a living reality. Obviously, they have to know how to orchestrate well the different charisms that are already in place and working in their respective circumscriptions. 

 Most importantly, we need to offer a lot of prayer and sacrifices to be able to correspond properly to Christ’s mandate to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Mediator, intermediary, intercessor

WE have to learn to distinguish among these three terms which play important and distinctive roles in our life. We have to know which one is most important to us and which ones play some secondary but helpful roles. 

 To start, a mediator is like a bridge that links two ends together. An intermediary tries to act like a bridge but lacks some requirements that would effectively link the two ends. An intercessor simply helps one party from one end to reach the other end. 

 All three agents play in our human drama of sorting out and settling our unavoidable differences and conflicts that can vary in character from the not-so-serious to the very serious, from matters of opinions only to those of core beliefs, and ultimately from the natural to the supernatural. 

 As social beings, we need to relate ourselves to others, first to God who is our original Father being our Creator, and then to everybody else. It’s in these relationships that we need a mediator, an intermediary and an intercessor. 

 Strictly speaking, a mediator can only be applied to one who can link us to God. In this relationship, we in theory would not need an intermediary, since an intermediary cannot be both God and man that can truly offer the link between the two ends of the natural in us and the supernatural end that we are supposed to attain. 

 In this relationship between God and us, there can only be one mediator who should be both God and man. And that could only be Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God and God himself, as well as man who was born of the Virgin Mary. 

 Thus, in the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy, he clearly said: “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus…” (2,5) It is only Christ who is the one perfect mediator between God and us. 

 And that’s because he is the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and therefore is a divine person. And this divine person assumed also our human nature. Thus, Christ is first of all a divine person with two natures, divine and human, a perfect bridge that links God and man. 

 As man, Christ adapted himself all the way to the worst condition of man that is caused by sin if only to recover man to his original dignity as image and likeness of God, a child of his and meant to share in God’s divine life. He did this ultimately through his passion, death and resurrection. 

 An intermediary may be resorted to in settling the differences and conflicts among ourselves, although we may loosely use the term mediator for this purpose. But let’s be cautious about intermediaries as Pope Francis warned us in his latest encyclical, “Fratelli tutti.” 

 The quote is as follows: “As religious leaders, we are called to be true ‘people of dialogue’, to cooperate in building peace not as intermediaries but as authentic mediators. Intermediaries seek to give everyone a discount, ultimately in order to gain something for themselves. The mediator, on the other hand, is one who retains nothing for himself, but rather spends himself generously until he is consumed, knowing that the only gain is peace.” (284) 

 A human mediator can only be effective if he tries his best to act like Christ.

Give without counting the cost

IF we are truly followers of Christ, then whatever we give to others, especially to God, is done without counting the cost. It should purely be gratuitous, given as a gift. 

 If our understanding of giving is that of a gift, we would know that what we give is not just some objects, but rather our own selves. Our giving ourselves as a gift to others then becomes the purest expression of love. 

 We have to do everything so that our self-giving to others conform to this ideal of being a gift—given without counting the cost and with the understanding that what we are giving is not just some objects, but our own selves. 

 This is the language of love that was first initiated by God to us and that has generated an endless cycle of love, of gratuitous self-giving to God and to one another. It is important that we feel this tremendous love of God for us so that we can return love with love, with God as the first object of our love and all the others as a consequence. 

 Let’s remember that God’s love for us accounts for everything that is good in us—our life, our talents and the many other endowments and blessings that we may not even realize. And more than this, God has given us his own self by making us his image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life. 

 And even if we have damaged that original gift, God has given us his own Son who became man to save us. In other words, God has given us the greatest gift, no less than his own Son who, aside from becoming man like us, had to offer his life on the cross as a ransom for our sins. 

 We have to learn how to be most aware of this reality of God’s gift to us so that we can learn also how to give ourselves as a gift to him and to everybody else. That’s why Christ told us, “freely you have received, freely give.” (Mt 10,8) 

 Christ concretely expressed this way of gratuitous self-giving in the new commandment he gave us that we have to love one another as he himself has loved us. It’s a love, a self-giving that is completely gratuitous without counting the cost nor expecting any reward. 

 But given our human condition that is marked by our proneness to getting spoiled by any gift given to us, we have to make sure that we try our best to live by what God has intended our love to be—that it be given without counting the cost, without expecting any reward and that it should also arouse in us the same urge to give ourselves as a gift, without counting the cost nor expecting any return. 

 In this way, we generate a world of pure love, of purely gratuitous self-giving that would be a true image of how our definitive state of life in heaven with God would be. Let us not allow ourselves to be frustrated in this endeavor by the usual problem that we ourselves make in this regard. Let us simply give and give, being generous, magnanimous, merciful, compassionate, since this kind of self-giving will in the end conquer all things, bear all things, endure all things. 

Loving in good times and bad

THAT’S how our love should be. It should be stable and firm in all kinds of weather and season in life. It should remain alive and throbbing in any circumstance and condition. It should be universal in scope, excluding no one in its concern. 

 Whether at work or at play, at home, in the office, church or beach, the loving should continue to beat. Whether we are doing something intellectual or manual, technical or artistic, we have to see to it that it’s love that drives us. Or as expressed in the marriage vows, it should remain unfading “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…till death do us part.” 

 When we do our daily accounting in the examination of conscience before going to bed, we should see to it that through all the drama of the day, whether things went well or not, the net effect or the bottom line should be that there is growth in our love. It’s like having a profit or at least a make-even in our business transactions. We should try to avoid incurring some loss. 

 We would know that a growth of love is achieved at the end of the day because when things are going well, we would be most thankful to God and to everybody else, and resolve to do more things, more self-giving. 

 We avoid getting self-contented that would put a stop to our serving God and others which is how love is concretely expressed. When love is genuine and strong, it will never say enough in its self-giving. 

 Also, when love is genuine, it will never count the cost involved in self-giving, even when not only is it rejected but also when it is violated. When love is genuine, we would consider what would appear in human terms as a loss as actually a gain, following what Christ said that he “who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or field for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) 

 And when times are bad as when we committed a mistake or even a sin, love is shown when we are quick to ask forgiveness from God and from anybody whom we may have wronged in some way. More than that, love is also manifested when we have the desire to make up for whatever mistake, failure or sin we may have committed. 

 Or when we find ourselves in some difficult situation as when we are in some crisis, love is shown when we are willing to bear it, convinced that by so doing we would actually be identifying ourselves very closely with Christ in his redemptive passion and death on the cross. Love is also shown when we are convinced that by bearing these difficulties, we would be helping others in their spiritual struggles. 

 Love is also manifested when in spite of being misunderstood, insulted and given unfair treatment, we still continue to think and act well towards those who may have done these things. We would be quick to forgive and be magnanimous, never wanting to give in to the urge for revenge or to make even. 

 We should be loving in both the good times and bad!

Another Epiphany

THE feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which falls on February 2, can be considered as another epiphany, another manifestation of Christ as our savior. This time, the manifestation is done not to the three magi anymore, but to two characters, Simeon and Anna. 

 The feast is a good reminder to all of us, Christian believers, that we have a duty to present Christ to everyone as he truly is to us—the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity that has been damaged by sin. 

 While this duty is incumbent on every Christian believer, it is more so to clerics and other consecrated and religious persons. The priest, for example, is sacramentally conformed to Christ as head of the Church. It is his concern that the sacramental Christ in him be transformed into the living Christ—obviously with the constant help of God’s grace. Otherwise, he will be an empty suit. 

 He has to assume the very mind and heart of Christ, the sentiments, mission and concerns of Christ. As the sacramental image of Christ as head of the Church, a priest has to act like a mediator, a bridge that connects two ends—God and men. He therefore has to be intimately identified with both God and men, which is a never-ending task that requires grace and everything that a priest can do. 

 Like Christ, he has to have the mind of God and assume the conditions of men, since this is the very heart of Christ. This, of course, can be hard and very demanding, but it is not impossible. With training and determined effort, this can be done. On God’s part, his grace is never lacking. In fact, it is poured out abundantly. 

 We who believe in Christ should feel the need to make Christ alive everywhere. And given the new normal we are having these days, we have to learn how to present him by making use of the new technologies we are having these days. 

 We should feel the same urgency that St. Paul felt when he said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. (1 Cor 9,16) It’s a cry that also has to spring in each one of us, who now participates in the abiding duty of preaching and teaching the word of God according to our personal circumstances. 

 This is the challenge we have today. How do we craft a new approach, style or strategy for the continuing need of evangelization these days? How do we keep them adapted to the new sensibilities of the men and women of today? How do we make Christ alive in the new technologies? 

 For sure, the Holy Spirit continues to animate the Church and inspire certain people, giving them the relevant charism, so that the Church’s vital activity of evangelization continues. But all of us have to do our part. 

 First, we need to sharpen and intensify our awareness of our duty to evangelize. This task involves all of us. We cannot keep on living only for our own interests. We have to be men for others. And that can happen when we go all the way to doing the task of evangelization, among many others. 

 The problem with how to make Christ alive among ourselves today centers on how to make our preachers and evangelizers—from the clergy down to the religious and committed lay faithful—credible!