That our joy may be complete

THIS was what Christ promised to give us if we are united to him, like a branch to the vine. “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love,” he said. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15,10-11) 

 With these words, we are clearly told where our true and complete joy will come from. It’s from Christ, from God, and not just from some earthly and temporal source. It’s a joy that we can always have in any season or weather, fair or foul. It’s a joy that transcends whatever earthly and temporal condition we may be in. Whether we are up or down, successful or defeated and lost, we can still have that joy. 

 We need to work out our true union with Christ to have this kind of joy. To be sure, Christ is already with us. We should just be with him. And it’s not difficult to be with Christ, because he is already with us always. Being the pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity, he cannot be absent from us. It’s rather us who can dare to ignore and resist him. We have to be wary of that tendency and do something about it. 

 For this, we really have to activate our faith that, if lived well, can always give us hope, in spite of tragedies that we can encounter in life. Faith lived well also gives us the ability to love everybody, whatever the conditions may be. A faith-based love makes everything beautiful and lovable, even if by worldly standards things are bad and ugly. 

 And to realize that faith is something that is freely given to us by God should reassure us that whatever effort we make to live it will always produce its expected fruit. It is a God-given gift that is as abundant, or even more than the air we always have around. We should never hesitate to live it as best that we can. 

 It surely would be helpful if we frequently meditate on the life and example of Christ as we go through all sorts of situations in his earthly life, and especially on his passion and death where the culminating expression of peace and joy can be contemplated and imitated. 

 Obviously, what is ideal is for us to be able to assume the very identity of Christ who offers himself not only the way proper to us, nor the truth, but also the very life. (cfr. Jn 4,16) So for us to be completely one with Christ is not a gratuitous, baseless assertion. It is actually what is meant for us. And we have been given all the means for us to achieve that ideal. 

 With Christ we can manage to be happy and at peace all the time. But we have to develop the proper attitude and practices to make that ideal real. And one thing that we can do is that at the end of each day, before we retire, we should make a good examination of conscience where at the end we seek reconciliation with God, regardless of how the day went. 

 We should sleep every night in the arms of God, at peace and happy!

Be ready to leave everything behind

WE have to understand very well this particular aspect or requirement of an authentic Christian life. That’s because, most likely, our first impression of it can be misleading. To be sure, to be ready to leave everything behind does not mean that we should have no concern at all about the things of this world. We do have such concern and interest. In fact, we should. 

 But yes, to leave everything behind has been more than amply taught and commanded by Christ himself. For example, to the rich young man who wanted to be perfect, Christ told him in no unclear terms, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Mt 19,21) These words obviously would give us the impression that we should possess nothing. 

 In another instance, Christ specifies what is required to be worthy of him. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10,37) 

 Christ even uses the word “hate” to emphasize what is needed to be his disciple. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14,26) 

 Still in a more graphic way, Christ spells out what is involved in following him. When someone said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father,” Jesus to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead…No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9,59ff.) 

 When Christ called the apostles to follow him, these men for one reason and another left everything (relictis omnibus). Christ spelled out what is involved in following him. One has to deny himself and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 Still more, Christ said that the kingdom of God is like a treasure found in a field or when one finds a pearl of great price that would provoke one to sell all he has to buy that field or pearl. (cfr. Mt 13,44-45) 

 St. Paul lived this indication well when he said, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil 3,8) 

 But in all these citations about leaving everything behind for Christ, it does not mean that we should have no concern or interest in the things of this world. That’s because the things of this world are precisely the means, the occasion, the instruments we have to use to show our faith, hope and love for God and for others. 

 That is why Christ in his priestly prayer before his passion and death said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (Jn 17,15-16) 

 What is clear is that while being in the world, we should be detached from the things of the world. Our heart should be completely with God. This is what is meant by being ready to leave everything behind for Christ. And with God, we would have everything else actually!

The rejected stone is the cornerstone

THAT stone is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rejected by the leading men of his time here on earth. They always tried to find fault in him. He was subjected to all kinds of suspicion. And finally, they managed to execute him. 

 And yet Christ is actually our savior, the cornerstone that would put everything in our life together and in order. He is the stone that would give our spiritual edifice its strength, power and effectiveness in achieving its ultimate and supernatural goal. 

 The rejection of this stone, the rejection of Christ, continues to take place in spite of the clarity of the identity and importance of Christ in our life. Many of us continue to ignore him, to take him for granted or just to give him a pittance of importance in our life. It’s amazing indeed that in spite of our knowledge about who he really is, many of us continue to reject him. 

 We truly need to be wary of this tendency of ours to practically reject Christ. We may profess to believe in him and to follow him, but very often this profession remains only as such. It’s hardly converted into action, much less, into our life itself. Very often, we are only good in words and intention, but not so much in deeds and lifestyle. 

 Many of us still prefer to rely on our own powers, our own fortunes and privileges, to chart whatever kind of destiny we like to pursue, as if our own lives are absolutely and solely our own. This may not be professed openly if only to be socially or politically correct. But at bottom, that is what is happening around. 

 These days, I have seen videos of how former celebrities and big names who enjoyed tremendous popularity in the past end their lives in utter misery. These videos usually have the titles of “The life and sad ending of so-and-so.” 

 While the final judgments can only belong to God, and while we should always regard these personages in charity, always keeping them in our prayers, we cannot deny that the so-called “sad ending” of their lives is mainly due to their rejection of Christ, if not openly, then practically. We should try to avoid getting into the same path in our life. 

 We need to change our ways. Christ is indispensable to us. He is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. He is the one who will lead us to the perfection of our humanity, since as long as we are still here on earth, we are still being formed and led toward the fullness of our humanity in Christ. 

 To accept Christ in our lives, of course, requires faith, hope and charity, which are gifts given to us by God. But for these gifts to work in us, we need to be humble, to always feel that we come from God and that we belong to him. We need to follow his will. Better said, we need to make his will our will in order to seal that unity of spirit that is meant for us. 

 To accept Christ in our lives is what would actually constitute as the ultimate piety we ought to have. Our piety should not just be limited to our relation with our parents and with our other loved ones. It has to start and end with God.

Knowledge should lead us to love

WE have to be clear about this point. We should try our best to know as much as we can, but seeing to it that our knowledge leads us to love that is proper to us. It should be that love that ultimately comes from God. We should not dare to know things without being concerned about loving them the way God loves them. 

 Knowing without loving, or without loving in the proper way, can only lead us to see and understand things improperly and most likely to be judgmental. The most simple and obvious example of this phenomenon is to see how a toddler who starts to know things misses a lot of things for him to behave properly. He can be attracted to fire not knowing it can do him harm, for example. 

 And as the toddler starts to grow in age and knowledge, he of course starts to improve in his behavior. But since knowing and loving proper involve a process and take time, it usually happens that whatever growth of knowledge that growing child has leads him to make rash judgments or judgments that fail to consider many other, and even, more important aspects of any issue at hand. 

 We really have to be most wary of the need to animate our desire for more knowledge with the love that comes from God. Only then can our knowledge become true knowledge. Yes, we have to understand that our knowledge can only be true when it goes with charity that comes from God. 

 St. Paul said something in this regard: “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.” (1 Cor 8,1-3) 

 We have to see to it that the more we know, the more we ought to love the way God loves, as shown to us and even commanded of us by Christ himself. If our knowledge, which can get very considerable, leads us to be judgmental of others, impatient and irritated by others, etc., we have to convince ourselves that that knowledge, no matter how significant in human terms, is not yet true knowledge. 

 The real knowledge would always make us more patient, understanding, compassionate, merciful of others. It certainly prevents us from pride, vanity and conceit, since we would realize that everything that we know and have are things we received from God in the end. 

 In this regard, St. Paul said: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Cor 4,7) Yes, the more knowledge we have, the more humble we ought to become. 

 And given the tremendous reality that governs our life, considering that our life is not simply natural but also supernatural, we should realize that our knowledge would always be incomplete. In fact, the old philosopher Aristotle once said, “The more you know, the more you don’t know.” 

 It is precisely because of this condition that the more knowledge we have, the more humble we should also be. Humility in our knowledge allows the love that comes from God to enter and to grow in us. 

 The very intellectually gifted should see to it that their knowledge makes them more humble and infused with God’s love as shown by Christ and put into effect by the Holy Spirit.

Basis for meekness

WE know that if we have to be like Christ, as we should since he is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, we have to be meek. He himself said it in no unclear terms. “Learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart,” he said. (Mt 11,29) 

 Meekness may appear to us in our human and worldly standards as a quality for weak, defeated and poor people. Nothing of that sort actually enters into the definition of meekness as defined by Christ himself. It’s a virtue that requires nothing less than heroic strength that can take on anything in this life, no matter how it goes, including of course the worst scenario that our life can get into. 

 When we are meek with the meekness of Christ, we can manage to be patient, understanding, gentle, tolerant, etc., when things and times get rough and difficult. Meekness prevents us from falling into sadness, anger, bitterness, fear, shame. It prevents us from rotting in frustrations and disappointment when things don’t go our way. 

 Meekness will always make us hopeful and optimistic, always looking at the brighter side of life and for solutions to problems rather than getting entangled with our problems and mistakes. 

 Meekness enables us to be accepting of things and situations as they are, without over-reacting to whatever defects or bad elements these things and situations may have. Obviously, meekness should encourage us to do something about them. And where we cannot anymore find any human solution to some of our problems, meekness helps us to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. 

 And the basis for all this is because in the end God takes care of everything. What we cannot do, what we cannot anymore solve, God in his infinite and merciful wisdom and providence can always do something for our own good. 

 That’s why we really need to strengthen our faith that fuels our hope as we continue to get on with our life here on earth, and sharpen our charity that in the end is what is truly essential to us. We are made for love, for charity, since that is the essence of God and we are supposed to be his image and likeness. 

 So, we really need to develop this virtue by seeing to it that we are always guided by our Christian faith and not just by any worldly principle or spirit. Of course, to be active in our faith, we have to learn how to pray all the time to the point that we are always recollected and become real contemplatives even while we are in the middle of our earthly affairs. 

 We should always be in God’s presence, and be aware that in every moment of our life, whatever the situation is, God is actually intervening in our life since he continues to create and redeem us. Said in another way, God is continually training and at the same time testing us to be what he likes us to be—his image and likeness, children of his, meant to share in his very own divine life. 

 If we would just be constantly aware of this condition in our life, we have no reason to fear and have every reason to be happy, at peace, cheerful, calm, quick to ask forgiveness as well as to forgive. That’s what meekness is all about.

Upgrading our defenses

WITH all the powerful and engaging developments we are having these days that can truly give us a lot of advantages and convenience, we should also be aware that the same developments can easily gratify our weaknesses and plunge us into the pit of perdition. There is a lot of sweet poison around that can become something like a friendly fire to us. 

 For this, we have to upgrade our defenses by revving up our love for God and for others, seeing to it that that love is converted into practical and practicable means, freeing it from being merely theoretical and intellectual. 

 If only to have some idea of how to convert our love into something that would give us effective protection from all the temptations around, we can cite what Christ told us. “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves,” he said. (Mt 10,16) 

 We should have this combination of shrewdness, cunning and cleverness, on the one hand, and innocence, simplicity and as much as possible, total absence of malice, on the other hand. This is the perfect foil to the wiles and tricks of our usual enemies: our own weaknesses, the allurements of the world, and the devil himself. The ideal is for us not to be scandalized by anything. Instead we should have the strong desire to do good always. 

 Impossible? Unfeasible? Definitely it is if we are to rely only on our human powers. This combination can only take place when we truly have an earnest desire to identify ourselves with Christ. 

 Only then can we be exposed to all kinds of temptations and still manage to remain unscathed, if only in the most essential part of us, our soul. It’s a given that we may be dirtied externally, but if our defenses are good, we can still remain clean and pure internally, which is what matters most. 

 We have to remember that our best condition to be in is when we approximate as much as possible our identification with Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 For this purpose, we cannot overemphasize our need to do everything for us to keep presence of God all throughout the day, having an abiding conversation with Christ, assuming Christ’s will and intentions. We have to see to it that our love for God and others remains hot and burning. A lukewarm love can easily attract temptations. 

 We have to overcome whatever awkwardness and resistance we may have against this ideal. The truth is that we are meant to be like Christ, to be “alter Christus” (another Christ), if not “ipse Christus” (Christ himself). 

 On the practical side, we have to see to it that our curiosities are under control. We should not allow them to go in any which way. For this purpose, we should see to it that our greatest and abiding curiosity is to see the face of God in everything, echoing what a psalm says, “I long, Lord, to see your face.” (27,8) 

 Our curiosities should not be focused only on earthly and temporal things, no matter how legitimate they are. If not related to our curiosity of God, they can turn into a very subtle temptation to us. 

 We certainly need to sit down and meditate on this ideal so we can process it slowly and make it a driving motive in our dealings with all the powerful developments we have around these days.

Accepting but moving

THIS should be the attitude to have in this life. We have to learn to be accepting of whatever fate, situation, condition and circumstance may fall on us, whether it is favorable or not, advantageous or not, but also having the mind of moving on to pursue the ultimate purpose and essential goal in our life here on earth. 

 That way, we avoid creating unnecessary problems for us as we keep the necessary focus in our life. We have to learn how to suffer when bad things come our way, as well as how to avoid getting spoiled when we are favored with good things. We have to learn how to be accepting of these. 

 But we should continue to move on, making the pertinent plans, strategies and resolutions, and using the appropriate means. We should not stop at any point even if we face what may seem to be an impenetrable wall. 

 Yes, there will be predicaments where no more human solutions can handle. But with our will, with our prayers, with our faith God in God in his providence, we also know that nothing is impossible. As they say, where there is a will, there is always a way. 

 To be avoided is to rot in some self-pity when bad things come or to get self-satisfied when good things come. We have to move on, knowing that the ultimate goal is something that can never be reached definitively as long as we live. It can be reached only in the afterlife. 

 In either case, we have to see to it that we manage to be calm, cheerful and confident, not unduly affected by the condition, whether good or bad, that we may be in at the moment, while also thinking of the next move we have to make. 

 It’s for this reason that we have to learn how to be immersed in the things of this world without being trapped by them. It’s a delicate balancing act of being immersed and somehow also being detached from the things of this world that we have to learn. 

 For this, we have to be very clear about our constant and ultimate goal which is something spiritual and supernatural. We have to understand that this goal transcends our earthly and natural condition, and that in pursuing it we would always need the supernatural help of grace from God. We cannot hack it using our human efforts alone. 

 And we also have to be clear that the things of this world, whatever and however they are, whether good or bad to us, favorable or not to us, only serve as a means, occasion, reason and an instrument to pursue our ultimate goal. We should not be unduly immersed in them as to be trapped by them. 

 That is why we have to learn how to be recollected and contemplative in the middle of the world. This is the proper condition for us. While here on earth, our mind and heart should somehow already be in heaven with God. And this condition is not impossible to attain since God is always with us. All we need do is to learn to pray and to live out as fully as possible the divine gifts of faith, hope and charity. 

 In this way, we would know how to be accepting of anything in this life while at the same time able to move on to pursue our ultimate goal.

Not to over-react

WE all commit mistakes in this life. We fall into sin from time to time. We suffer failures and misfortunes. Many other miseries can hound us in this life and they can form even some kind of perfect storm. We can even feel that God himself is against us. But in all these, we should make sure that we do not over-react. It would just make things worse than they already are. We over-react when feeling bad, sad, irritated, etc. after each fall lasts much longer than they should. 

We over-react when we freeze into fear and shame or burn in bitterness and anguish rather than start looking for remedies. We over-react when we do not accept and acknowledge our weaknesses, our limitations, our woundedness and sinfulness, and learn how to live with them with all the proper precautionary protocols. 

 Behind these forms of over-reactions can be a subtle form of pride and perfectionism in ourselves. In this case, our desire not to commit any mistake or sin is stretched out unrealistically. If our first parents, created in the state of original justice, managed to fall, how can we expect not to fall when we are born already with original sin? 

 Let’s remember that as St. John said in his first letter, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1,8) And St. Paul tells us that “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly place.” (Eph 6,12) 

 Our over-reaction can also be due to an overly sensitive temperament or a scrupulous conscience. If not corrected, these will always lead us to exaggerate our reactions to the negative things in life. That is why we need to have continuing formation so we can see and judge things more objectively and fairly. 

 We have to be realistic about our human and temporal condition in this life. We have to learn how to be accepting of things even as we continue to struggle calmly to pursue our ultimate goal to be with God, which is a supernatural affair that is hounded not only by our natural limitations but also by some infranatural elements like the wiles and tricks of the devil. 

 We have to strengthen our faith and trust in God, in his most powerful, wise and merciful providence. He allows certain negative things to happen for a reason, since he knows how to derive a greater good from them. As St. Paul said, “God works all things together for the good of those who love him.” (Rom 8,28) 

 We have no reason to worry too much, much less, to fall into depression and despair. We just have to learn to be sport and game in this life, especially when we happen to suffer some defeat and loss. 

 Might be good to go through what the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us about our earthly condition: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” (3,1-4)

Preparing for death

EVERYTIME a dying person asks me about how to prepare for death, I would be both happy and nervous because I know the task is not easy at all to carry out. It’s a very delicate one, requiring me to be clear about what death really is all about, but presenting it according to how the dying person concretely is. The last thing to happen is to scare that person. The proximate aim is to make that person feel good about death and be welcoming to it. 

 It should be made as clearly as possible that death is actually a happy event. If we are guided by our Christian faith, we know that when death comes, it’s like God our Father and Creator is now calling us to come home, to come to our definitive eternal home with him, from whom we came and to whom we always belong. 

 It means that our life here on earth, where God is training and testing us to be what he wants us to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, to be a child of his, meant to share in his very own divine life—has ended. No matter how our life on earth ends, when death comes it can only mean that in the eyes of God we are already ready for the ultimate homecoming. 

 Death is God’s call, not ours. Irrespective of how it comes, regardless of whether it is the most painful, cruel, irrational one, it can only mean that God sees us ready for death. Let’s remember that God is a most loving father to all of us. Anything that happens to us in this life, including the way we die, has a reason that in his mind and will is always for our own good. 

 As a father, he will always be merciful and compassionate to us, no matter how undeserving we seem to be according to our human standards. That’s why one of Christ’s most crucial teaching is to love even our enemies, because God loves everyone. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Mt 5,45) 

 That is why it behooves us to try our best to be guided always by our Christian faith, because outside of it we would only be left to our own devices that, no matter how excellent they are in human terms, cannot anymore cope with the prospect of death that we cannot anymore undo. 

 We have to make this Christian truth about death to filter down from our convictions to our feelings and even instincts. For this, we need time to process this truth slowly to such a point that we be guided by it everyday, since death can come to us anytime. It can come like a thief in the night. (cfr. 1 Thes 5,2) 

 Part of this preparation for death is to make ourselves ready to face God who will ask us for an accounting of what we have done with what he has given us. We should try to have a daily rehearsal for this eventuality by making a daily examination of conscience every night before going to bed. 

 This way, we can afford to be at peace and happy whatever the situation may be in our earthly sojourn.

From distraction to destruction

THE two words can look and sound almost the same, and the reality behind them are just as much. That’s why we need to be most careful. It’s very easy to slip from a passing distraction to a total wreck of a destruction in ourselves. 

 There is a good distraction and a bad one, a healthy distraction and a sick one that can lead us to our perdition. We have to be most discerning with the way we handle things nowadays, because they can either give us good openings and opportunities or lead us to take sweet poisons. 

 And the secret is always to be closely united with Christ with whom we can put ourselves properly guarded. With him we would know what really comes from God and what comes from something else. 

 Let’s always remember that evil cannot stand on its own. It will always need the cover of something good to inject us with its toxin. We need to be clever, as Christ himself told us, without losing our innocence. (cfr. Mt 10,16) We should not be naïve. That is why we have to be most discerning of the spirit behind each thing that we handle and each event that can take place in our life. There is a good spirit and a bad one. 

 When we are with Christ, we would always be prudent in the use of things in general. There is always an element of detachment and of keeping distance even as we immerse ourselves in the things of the world. This detachment is for us to see if we are doing things according to God’s will and not being swallowed by the dynamics of worldly forces that can be very engaging and irresistible. 

 For us to be prudent, it is indeed advisable that we pause from time to time to check on how we are taking things in general, on how things are developing and on how our intentions are. We know quite well that things can change in the process. What may be good at the beginning can start to stray somewhere along the way. 

 Indeed, we may start by looking for God in the things that we do, giving him glory and conforming ourselves to his will and ways. But along the way, we can start giving in to our own desires, our own will and ways. From loving God, we can easily slide to loving self. We are very notorious in this tendency. 

 That’s why we really need to pause and check ourselves often. We have to see to it that we manage to keep our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing. In other words, we have to realize that whatever we do, whatever the situation is, we somehow would still be in contact with God. Somehow everything should be a form of prayer. 

 For this to take place, we certainly need a kind of plan or program to keep our spiritual life alive and vibrant even as we go through the drudgery of the routine things or the excitement of new and challenging things. 

 But we need to discipline ourselves to follow that plan, knowing that no matter how good that plan is, if we fail to deny ourselves and carry the cross, as Christ himself told us, (cfr. Mt 16,24) we cannot keep our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing, and thus become prone to a distraction that can lead us to our destruction!

Giving due attention to the family

BECAUSE of our current condition where we are restricted in our movements and somehow forced to stay home most of the time, we can say that we have more time to spend with the family which is a good and welcome development. We should try to exploit this turn of events to the hilt. 

 Just the same, we can also say that due to the same reason, we may be so eaten up with all kinds of concerns and challenges that we can neglect our duty to give due attention and, in fact, can give bad influence to the family. We have to be ready to counter this possibility. 

 Whatever it is, it is important that we realize that the family be given utmost care and attention since it is the primary school of each individual and the basic unit of society. How a person is and how a society in general is depends or reflects the kind of family there is. If the family is strong and healthy, then a person and society would also be strong and healthy. Otherwise, a person and a society can only be weak and sickly also. 

 We need to give quality time to the family. Thus, we have to come up with plans and strategies so that the family can be as it should be—where the rudiments of love in all its aspects are learned and developed. We should not just be improvising in this responsibility. The concern for developing the true spirit of love should be addressed as seriously as possible. 

 It’s in the family where we learn how to be concerned with one another. We should see to it then that the culture of love, concern, compassion, mercy, understanding, etc. is strongly established there. Everything should be done such that everyone in the family learns and acquires as fully as possible all the qualities that are proper of a human person and a child of God. 

 It would be good if the parents establish a healthy family atmosphere where everyone feels loved and is enabled to love. The specifics of this lifestyle can lend itself to a variety of possibilities, but I suppose what is needed is to have a lot of time together—as much as possible taking meals together, praying together, and just having regular family get-togethers. But more than anything else, it is in forming a healthy spiritual life among the members that should be given priority. 

 That way everyone gets to know each other very well and would be in a better position to help each other. More than that, each one gets to have a good relationship with God. And the dynamics of love, which can be complicated given our unavoidable differences and conflicts, can be played out. A certain intimacy with each other is developed. This is an ideal condition to have since we are made for that. 

 Especially these days when life is becoming more fast-paced and there is always the tendency to simply be casual in our relationship with others, the need for a healthy family life should be felt and pursued very seriously. 

 This is a good investment whose returns cannot be matched by any material benefits. We should do everything to make family life healthy and vibrant, so that everyone would be happy and be properly oriented in life.

A Pentecost reminder

WE end the wonderful liturgical season of Easter with the celebration of the Solemnity of Pentecost. We are reminded that what Christ promised about the coming of the Holy Spirit to keep the work of human redemption going has taken place. 

 We should feel good and happy with this truth of our faith that assures us that whatever happens in our life, the Holy Spirit continues to be with us and to help us achieve our true and ultimate purpose of our life. 

 Yes, we should feel good and happy that we are given a clear indication of what our true goal in life is and of how we can attain it. We should banish whatever fears and doubts we may have in this regard. We are never left alone by God. We are never orphaned by Christ our Redeemer. God is alive and the redemptive work of Christ continues to take place because of the Holy Spirit. 

 We should give time to consider these truths of our faith more slowly and deeply, if only to help enable ourselves to do our part in this business of human redemption. Yes, we also have a big role to play in this, even if the main role belongs to God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. 

 It cannot be denied that we are God’s most special project, so to speak, since we have been given the dignity of being nothing less than God’s image and likeness, children of his and meant to share in his very own divine life. 

 These are tremendous truths of our faith that we should study well and assimilate as best that we can. They truly can fill us with a most ineffable joy, though at times we may get skeptical about it, since we can regard them as being too good to be true. But that’s just how things are with us in our relation with God! 

 We need to learn to be most attentive and discerning to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who continually intervenes in our life. He it is who will lead us to the whole truth and to things that are to come, as Christ himself assured us. (cfr. Jn 16,13) Can there ever be a greater deal than this that Christ has given us? 

 When we manage to perceive the abiding promptings of the Holy Spirit, we would see and understand things most objectively. We would know how to react to things. We would have a better knowledge of our own selves and of others. Let’s never forget that even if we know a lot about ourselves and others, we all continue to remain a mystery to ourselves. The Holy Spirit will help us cruise through that mystery. 

 May it be that discerning the interventions of the Holy Spirit in our daily life becomes an instinct in us as well as a working culture all over the world. I know that that may sound like a pipe dream, but we can always try to do something about it. We just have to start with our own selves. 

 We can ask ourselves, how are we dealing with the Holy Spirit? How can we be more aware of his presence and continuing promptings in our life? Do we realize that we need a daily plan and strategy so as to make ourselves most attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

Our unity of life in Christ

LET us remember what Christ said so clearly. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can only have life, let alone, consistency and fruitfulness in our life, if we are united to him. Outside of him, we can only expect death, inconsistency and sterility. 

 Yes, only in and with Christ can we have the real principle of unity and fruitfulness in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize this basic truth about ourselves. 

 This, of course, is a truth of faith, not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in Christ. 

 It’s a phenomenon that can call to mind two contrasting dramatic stories in the Bible. One is the story of the Tower of Babel, and the other is the story of Pentecost. 

 In the episode of the Tower of Babel, those who survived the flood have multiplied and have gotten so intoxicated by their powers and good fortune that they now want to reach heaven by their own efforts alone, by building a tower. 

 God intervenes, as he always does in our life, and confounds them by making them speak different languages so that they would not understand each other anymore. The project ends in total failure, and new troubles emerge for the people. 

 The story of Pentecost offers a counterpoint. We have different people speaking different languages. But since they believe, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is how they get to understand each other. 

 They are not made into a uniformed mass. The differences are respected and even fostered. And yet there is unity among them, with a certain focus of attention that is a result of such unity. 

 We have to reiterate the truth that we need Christ who is our “way, truth ad life” with God to have a solid, genuine unity of life and an unwavering focus even in the midst of so many things in our life. 

 We just have to learn how to strengthen our relation with Christ, overcoming our natural awkwardness and difficulties, knowing how to pray, studying and assimilating the doctrine, availing of the sacraments, rectifying our intention, developing the virtues, observing proper priorities, etc. 

 We need to be more aware of our duty to establish, build up and strengthen the unity in our life. We only have one life, made up of many parts, aspects, stages and levels, and subject to all sorts of conditions, big and small, favorable and unfavorable, etc. The challenge is how to put all these things together in harmony. 

 Strengthening that unity of our life insures us that we would be on the right track toward the goal proper to us, that we would be effective in what we are doing, and healthy and resistant to anything that can weaken us or lead us astray. 

 Everyday we should be conscious that amid the mind-boggling diversity of conditions and circumstances defining our daily life, like the pressures and challenges we have to contend with, we are consistently working out this unity of life. 

 We have to avoid getting distracted or entangled by things that, while unavoidable and also important to us, do not comprise our ultimate end. We have to be wary when we get confused and disoriented, and succumb to the worldly appeals to be merely practical, influential, rich, famous, etc.

Chaste sex?

WHY not? In fact, that’s how sex should be if we have to remain truly human and a child of God. Sex is a human act that is meant not only for our own good but also and primarily as a means to glorify God. Yes, to put it bluntly, sex is also meant to work out our own sanctification, which is the real purpose of our life here on earth. 

 Sex is not just an expression of our animality, a function purely of our hormones and instincts, a pursuit for dopamine. It’s supposed to be guided rationally and most especially by faith, hope and charity. 

 We have to overcome the idea that chaste sex is a contradiction in terms. Sad to say this is how many people regard this God-given human power. It’s time to extricate sex from such primitive mind-frame, and put it on the path where it is supposed to be, a path that leads us to God. 

 In this regard, of course, we have to deal with this very delicate issue properly. Enough with treating it as some kind of taboo that should not be talked about. Obviously, we have to be discreet and prudent in discussing it, but it should be tackled head-on. 

 I find it quite funny that about the only time sex is openly discussed in public is when it is about the different techniques one can use to derive the greatest pleasure from it. That’s how sex education is done these days. But about how sex can be made chaste or a means of our sanctification, there is almost complete silence. 

 And because of that set-up, the anomalies that issue from this human faculty of ours have proliferated beyond recognition. Self-abuse, pre-marital sex, infidelities, sex addiction, and all kinds of perversions are practically exploding, and they now involve children and old people, and even those we normally expect not to get involved in this kind of problem. This problem has been a quiet pandemic for a long, long time already. 

 Abetting this problem now, of course, is the easy access to pornography which, thanks and no thanks to our new technologies, has already created a formidable network that is now very difficult to resist. It has caught many people in its web. 

 We have to bring out more often the true beauty of sex as a gift from God that is governed by certain laws that are meant to give us our true joy, not the fake, deceptive and harmful one. And we need to talk more about how sex can be lived or resorted to according to God’s will. 

 Obviously there is need to talk more about the practical means of discipline and self-control in order to make sex chaste, given our weakened or wounded condition here on earth. But these prudential norms should be portrayed in a positive manner. 

 Also there is need for practical and immediate guidance especially to the young ones who are already feeling the stirrings of sex, and also to those who have some special needs with respect to sex. Let’s hope that we can count on a good number of people who can carry out this delicate task. 

 We should try our best to put up a working culture of chastity around. This should not be a laughing matter anymore. It may require some major effort at readjusting our understanding of this matter and our ways of handling it, but it would be all worthwhile.

What should be normal in us?

THE quick and short answer to that question is for us to be like Christ, to be “another Christ” (alter Christus), and even “Christ himself” (ipse Christus). This is what should be normal in us. It is not presumptuous of us not only to aim at it but also to assume such awareness now, even if it will always be an ongoing and tenuous affair all throughout our lifetime. 

 God, our Father and Creator, wants it that way, since he wants us to be his image and likeness, children of his, meant to share in his very own divine life not only in heaven but also while we are still here on earth, struggling in our way to reach our definitive eternal status in heaven. 

 It is not overbold of us to think that way. It, for sure, is not making ourselves fall into some psychological anomaly. It is what is meant for us. It is what is proper to us. In fact, to be like Christ would constitute the fullness and perfection of our humanity when everything that is good and proper to us is achieved. 

 It’s when we can faithfully channel in our lives the very essence of God which is love and all goodness as personified by Christ himself. It’s when we can echo St. Paul’s words: “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2,20) 

 We have to start to feel at home with this ideal of normality that is meant for us. We have to overcome whatever awkwardness or, worse, unbelief and resistance we may have about it. For us to reach the fullness of our humanity, we just cannot depend on our human powers, no matter how impressive they may be in human terms. We just cannot depend on our intelligence, our ideologies, our political consensus, our sciences. 

 While we have to use to the hilt all our human powers, we have to see to it that they are animated by the very spirit of Christ who makes himself “the way, the truth and the life” for us. (cfr. Jn 14,6) 

 Let’s not allow them to work simply on their own, based and motivated only by what we see and feel, by what we understand through our intelligence that is not yet guided by our Christian faith. We need to exert effort to refer them to Christ and to be guided by him always. 

 This may require that we be always recollected in our activities. We should avoid just acting on instincts, on what we consider to be what comes naturally, what is commonsensical. Not even should we act according only to some social and cultural norms. All these, of course, have their valid and objective values, but they need to be animated properly by the spirit of Christ, otherwise they can only go nowhere despite the excitement they can give us. 

 We have to make some drastic changes in our understanding of what should be normal in us. At the moment, what we readily see is a normality based only on some human consensus. The standards and criteria used are simply mundane and temporal that can never cope with everything that our life can pose. 

 What should be normal in us is to be like Christ, to have his mind and heart, his desire and mission. After all, he is the pattern of our humanity.

Servants and messengers in Christ

When Christ said that “no servant is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him,” (Jn 13,16) he obviously does not mean that we cannot outdo and outshine our superiors in our work and social status. It’s obvious that many are the cases where the servants and messengers outrank their superiors—be they parents, teachers, bosses, etc.—after a time. 

 Rather what Christ tries to convey with those words is the fact that insofar as those relationships of master-servant or master-messenger remain as such, no servant can be greater than his master, nor the messenger greater than the one who sent him. It’s only when fate and fortune make changes in their respective statuses that we can expect an inversion of their roles and positions in society. 

 What Christ tries to convey here is that in our relationship with him and with God, we will always remain a servant and a messenger to God through Christ, and we should just do what God through Christ would want us to do. We cannot and should not reverse the roles, by making God follow what we want. 

 In this particular instance, Christ is trying to tell us that we should be like him who acted as a servant and messenger of his Father for our own good, for our own salvation. He is highlighting the fact that he is simply acting at the instance of his Father who is also our Father God. That way, when we follow Christ, we follow God in effect. 

 That is why Christ repeated so many times that he who sees and listens to him sees and listens to God himself. And if we follow Christ to the point of becoming like him, then anyone who sees and listens to us sees and listens to Christ and to the Father. 

 We need to be more aware of this responsibility of ours to be like Christ in being a servant and messenger of his Father God who is also our Father. While we may enjoy some privileged positions in the world, we should never forget that we are meant to be a servant and a messenger insofar as our relationship with God through Christ is concerned. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to easily fall into pride, vanity and conceit whenever we enjoy special status in our life here on earth. We should strengthen and continue reinforcing our conviction that we are actually nothing without God and that we need to continually keep an intimate relationship with Christ in the Holy Spirit. 

 We have to make some readjustments in our understanding of being a servant and a messenger. It should not be pegged only on some worldly and temporal standards. Rather, it should be understood in the context of the role of Christ in our life, he who is the “way, truth and life” for us. 

 To be sure, understanding being a servant and messenger that way would never be regarded as some kind of downgrading our status. Rather, it would lead us to realize that we are achieving the fullness of our dignity as the “image and likeness” of God, children of his, meant to share in God’s very own life that is supernatural. 

 If this truth of faith is clear in our mind, there is no doubt that we would be most eager to become servants and messengers of God through Christ in the Holy Spirit!

Charity amid evil

MAKE no mistake about it. If we are truly Christian, if we want to be like Christ as we should, then we should continue to live charity even when confronted by evil or, worse, even when we suffer at the hands of evil in any of its forms. 

 Christ showed this to us in its purest form, live, during his passion and death. In spite of the worst injustice given on him, in spite of all the insults, mockeries, physical blows, crowning with thorns, and ultimately his crucifixion, while it’s true that he suffered so much that he at one point complained to the Father—“why have you forsaken me?”—in the end he offered forgiveness to everyone—“for they know not what they do.” 

 This is the charity that Christ commands us to live—“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.” (Jn 13,34) That is why, earlier he told his disciples to love even their enemies and to do good even to those who hate them, blessing those who curse them, and praying for those who mistreat them. (cfr. Lk 6,27-28) 

 That is why St. Paul, in his paean on charity, re-echoes the same sentiment when he said: “Love is patient, love is kind…it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Loves does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth…” (1 Cor 13,4-6) 

 We have to learn to have this charity which can only take place if we are truly eager not only to follow Christ but rather to be like Christ himself. We have to remember that with our human powers alone, there is no way we can live this kind of charity. 

 This charity is supernatural. It is the effect of grace, of our vital identification with Christ who is all too eager to identify himself with us. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that we can live this kind of charity with our own ideas of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, that is, with our own brand of justice. 

 Obviously, this supernatural and Christian charity does not neglect the requirements of justice, but it’s a justice that always goes together with mercy, with patience, with the willingness to bear the burdens of others in whatever forms those burdens can take. 

 I was watching the other day some videos of past local news reports about crimes—theft, robbery, snatching, etc. I obviously commiserated with the victims, but I also felt a different kind of commiseration with the culprits who, when arrested by the crowd, were truly treated very badly as if these men had no more right to live. 

 It was all clear that what were done were wrong, but that fact does not entitle anyone, if he is truly Christian, to inflict another wrong by going ballistic into revenge or making even. A wrong is never corrected with another wrong. 

 This is a point that we need to make clear, especially now when we are celebrating the 500 Years of Christianity in our country. We need to live this point about charity if we want to show that after 500 years of Christianity, we truly have grown significantly in our Christian life by living the charity shown, taught and commanded to us by Christ himself!

Deepening our Marian devotion

NOW that we are in this Marian month of May during this wonderful celebration of the 500 years of our Christianity, perhaps we can review how our devotion to our Lady, the Mother of God, Mother of Christ and our Mother, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, is, if only to see how we can deepen and strengthen it some more, considering that our Lady plays a crucial role in our Christian life. 

 She is the epitome of motherhood who knows how to be a mother even to God and to all of us. All that because of her perfect identification of her will to the will of God, giving us a concrete example of how a human being can be so identified with God’s will that she becomes God’s perfect image and likeness as God wants her and also us to be. 

 We are often incredulous, even skeptical, about this possibility. But she managed to do it. Obviously, she was given the necessary graces for that. But she also corresponded to those graces with everything that she had, reflecting in the most perfect way the redemptive mission full of suffering of her son. How our Lady was and continues to be should also be how we should be. 

 And she is all there to help us achieve that dignity of being true children of God who can even be a mother of God and a spouse of God as our Lady was the most dutiful daughter of the God the father, mother of God the Son and spouse of God the Holy Spirit. 

 Let us just imitate our Lady’s perfect faith shown especially when she said, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum,” (Be it done to me according to your word) during the Annunciation. With that faith which for sure she could not understand completely, she put herself entirely under the designs and dynamics of God’s will of love, of redemption, toward mankind. 

 Let’s try our best that we can channel Mary’s faith in our life. We can do that despite our limitations, weaknesses and even our sins, because God’s grace and mercy are always available and are given to us in abundance. All we have to do is to avail ourselves of them. 

 We have to understand that by doing this we would be enhancing our humanity and would be approaching the ideal condition that God wants for us—that is, that we be his image and likeness, and sharers of his divine life. It is an overwhelmingly tremendous prospect for us, but that’s what God wants for us, and we should just try our best to correspond to that will of God. 

 Our Lady as our mother can truly help us. Thus, it would be good if we can bring her to all aspects of our life, since we would need her in everything that we are, that we have and that we do. She also is our best defender before God, considering that despite our best efforts, we somehow would fail somewhere. 

 Let us try our best to live well all the Marian practices of piety—the Rosary, the Angelus, pilgrimages to Marian shrines, etc.—using each one of them to develop a greater love and affection for her. Let us aim at reaching that point where we can truly feel her presence and her motherly care for us.

Assuming the identity of Christ

WE have to be clear about this point. We are meant to assume the identity of Christ. And that is not a gratuitous, baseless assertion, much less, a fiction or a fantasy. It is founded on a fundamental truth of our faith that we have been created by God in his own image and likeness. 

 And this truth of faith has been vividly shown to us since it is acted out in the whole history and economy of salvation that culminated in Christ offering his life and his very own self as the Bread of Life so we can have the eternal life with him, and so that he and us can be one. 

 This history and economy of our salvation is still an ongoing affair insofar as we are concerned. We have to work it out so we can have our salvation or the perfection and completion of our humanity. 

 Of course, insofar as Christ is concerned, it’s already a done deal. He assures us of our salvation as long as we go along with him. We have to understand that it is only in him and with him when we can have the perfection and completion of our humanity, or when we can truly be God’s image and likeness as he wants us to be. 

 And this going along with Christ involves nothing less than us assuming the very identity and life of Christ. This point can be proven by the fact that Christ did not only offer us a Way so we can follow him, nor a Truth so we can know him, at least intellectually, but rather a Life so that he and us can truly be one. 

 We have to arrive at that point where we can make St. Paul’s words as our own too: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” (Gal 2,20) 

 We just have to learn to set aside whatever difficulty or awkwardness we may have in dealing with this basic truth of faith about ourselves. We have to try our best to know Christ and to adapt his very own mind and will, his own ways, behavior and reactions to whatever situation we may find ourselves in. 

 What is also clear is that Christ is actually already living with us. He is in us as the pattern and perfecter of our humanity, and the savior of our damaged humanity. We just have to learn to live with Christ. He is never far or indifferent to us. Even in our miserable and wounded condition, he continues to be with us, showing us with greater solicitude. It’s rather us who tend to ignore and contradict him. 

 So let’s know Christ more and more by meditating on the gospel where his life and teachings can be found. Let’s master the doctrine of our faith. Let’s avail of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, where Christ makes himself Bread of Life for us to eat so that even while here on earth, we can already enjoy the eternal life promised by him. 

 Let’s start reinforcing our awareness that we are Christ, each one of us. It would not be a psychological anomaly. If we assume the identity of Christ, then like Christ we would be humble, merciful, patient, and ever concerned about the salvation of mankind.

See things with faith

THAT’S how we should see things and react to them. We have to be wary of our tendency to be guided only by our senses, feelings or our reasoning that is not yet enlightened by faith. These can only capture the externals and appearances of things. They can hardly perceive, if ever, the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life. 

 Yes, we have to be wary of them because they tend to dominate the way we see and understand things. They usually have a certain aversion to anything spiritual and supernatural. To subdue and discipline them, we really need to humble ourselves to allow the light of faith to enter our mind and heart, and hopefully to educate our senses, feelings and reasoning. 

 When we manage to see things with faith, then we can see a lot more than what our senses, intuitions and feelings can perceive and what our mind can understand. And that’s simply because faith is a divine gift, a sharing of what God the creator and our father knows about anything and everything. We need to take care of this faith. 

 With faith we can find meaning, reason and purpose for everything that happens in our life, including those which we usually consider as bad occurrences in our life. With faith, we know that God continues to govern everything with his all-wise and merciful providence, and that there is nothing in our life that he cannot take advantage of to draw everything to himself. Everything, including the bad things, will work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 When we see things with faith, our vision would be broadened and more penetrating. We can be accepting of the mysteries and things we do not understand in our life. 

 With faith, we can manage to have hope as we go through the drama of our life here on earth. We would also be able to live charity even in the midst of the severest of difficulties and trials we can have. With faith, we can love everyone, regardless of how they are to us. We can be generous with initiatives, reaching out to everyone. 

 With faith, we can manage to have peace and joy regardless of where life would lead us. Faith will show us beauty everywhere, including in those things which in our human standards we consider to be ugly. 

 We should do everything to take care of this divine gift. Obviously, we need to study the doctrine of our faith that now is being authoritatively taught by the Church. This doctrine comes from Christ who is the fullness of the revelation of God to us. 

 And we have to understand that the doctrine of our faith should not just be an intellectual or theoretical affair for us. That doctrine has to be so assimilated in us that it becomes our life. Yes, our life has to be a life of faith, and not just biological life or rational life. As such, our faith always has to be shown in deeds. It should not just be a matter of correct ideas and good intentions. 

 Thus, we would always feel the need to develop the whole gamut of virtues, like humility, prudence, temperance, patience, courage, magnanimity, generosity, etc. In this, we can never say enough. Developing and growing in the virtues will be a lifelong concern for us. 

 Let’s learn to see things with faith!

As in a race

THERE are some verses in St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians that, I believe, are worth giving more serious attention. They talk to us about the need for self-discipline, the serious and consistent pursuit of a goal—things that we usually take lightly because, truth to tell, we do not like to be very serious in our life. We want it the easy way. If we could be totally carefree, that would be much more preferable. 

 Or we just like to take chances in our life and hope that some luck would fall on us. We fail to realize that while we are free to view our life in any way we want, there is actually an objective way of living of our life here on earth as set by its Creator which we are not free to change. 

 The Pauline verses are the following: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 

 “Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (9,24-27) 

 We need to inculcate in ourselves this mind-frame of an athlete, a racer, a sportsman out to win a race or a game. We cannot deny that one of the ways we can describe our life is that it is like a race or a sports, since we have a goal to achieve, a finish line to reach. 

 Again, our life has a meaning and a purpose that is set not by us but by the Creator of our life. God wants to make us his image and likeness, sharers in his divine life. We need to be clear about this real and ultimate meaning and purpose of our life, so we would avoid going about our life without the proper sense of purpose and direction. 

 We have to develop the proper attitude and skills with regard to this most basic aspect of our life. First of all, we should really ask the ultimate questions of where we come from and where we are supposed to go. Definitely, we just did not come from our parents. We just are not meant to achieve some earthly and temporal goals that by their nature are perishable. 

 That’s because in our heart of hearts, we have that desire for a happiness that never ends. This is already an indication that we are meant for a life that goes beyond the limits of space and time, of matter and our biological nature. There is something spiritual in us that opens itself to the world of the supernatural, the world of God. 

 It is our Christian faith that gives us the answers to these questions. And if we go by this faith, then we ought to see to it that we arrange everything in our life so that that ultimate goal of entering into the eternal life of God in full bliss be achieved. 

 Everyday, with the mind of an athlete, we should make plans and strategies to pursue this goal through the things we handle in our earthly life.

They sanctify, not mortify, us

THIS is about those situations when we find ourselves dealing with persons whom we consider to be difficult to be with for a number of reasons. Aside from the usual differences and the avoidable conflicts we can have among ourselves due to the variety in our temperaments, views, beliefs, taste and style, we may also have to deal in a more or less permanent way with persons with certain disabilities that are much harder to bear. 

 Their disabilities may be physical only, which actually can be more bearable than the more serious ones, like the mental, psychological, spiritual, moral, etc. A person with hearing disability is easier to bear with than one with a mental illness. Just the same, when we happen to live with persons with such disabilities, we should be ready to deal with them properly. 

 And that can only mean that we have to deal with them not only patiently, but also most charitably, always showing affection and compassion even if they seem to be most unreasonable and undeserving of our attention and care. That temptation can come to our mind anytime. We have to be ready and quick to dismiss it. 

 When we have to live with persons with disabilities, we have to remind ourselves strongly that we are actually given a good occasion to prove our love for God and for everyone. We have to remind ourselves that these persons with such annoying disabilities actually can sanctify us. They should not just be regarded as a mortifying presence in our life. 

 Thus, we should really rev up our God-given gifts of faith, hope and charity, since only then can we manage to properly deal with these persons. If we would just rely on our human powers, there is no way we can go far in dealing with them properly. It would just be a matter of time before we get dominated by anger, bitterness and despair that can trigger a further slide into more dangerous states of mind. 

 These days, with so many things filling our mind with all sorts of concerns, we really need to pause, build up and maintain the necessary attitude and skills in dealing with such persons. We should not just be casual about this responsibility which can spell whether we would be sheep or goat during judgment day. 

 Let’s remember that it is in our treatment with the little ones and the difficult ones that we can show whether we are with our God or not, whether our love, for which we are made, is genuine or fake. Let’s remember too that a true sign of genuine love, a love that channels the love of God in us, is when we are willing to suffer for the others, when we are willing to bear the burdens of the others. 

 Let’s never forget what Christ said about how to follow him. It’s when we manage to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) Thus, if we manage to bear the burdens of the others, we can show that our love acquires its divine, supernatural character. It’s not just any human form of love. 

 So, let’s welcome the opportunity to live with persons with such disabilities that usually would cause us irritation and annoyance if dealt with only naturally. These persons truly can sanctify us by mortifying us in love.

Complicate to simplify

THIS is a common enough phenomenon in our life. We should not be surprised by it anymore. To fix things, for example, we may have to disassemble them first and look closely at the different parts. To solve a problem, we have to go through different operations and may have to undertake a trial-and-error process. Yes, we complicate our life in order to simplify it. 

 And this is also what happens in our spiritual life, where the most complicated process takes place if only to achieve our most ideal state of life where happiness and the most sublime form of simplicity reign. We need to struggle and suffer to gain eternal joy. 

 This happens when we allow Christ to enter into our life. Though he always comes to us in peace, reassuring us not to be afraid, he definitely will complicate our life for a number of reasons. 

 First, he has to fix our sinfulness, our woundedness. We cannot help but suffer as he shows us how to do it. With him, we have to take up our cross and go through the process of continuing self-denial. 

 There we can and should already expect a lot of sacrifice to be made that goes all the way to offering our life in death. But let’s never forget that with him too, we can expect our own resurrection into life eternal with him. 

 Second, he has to teach us how to enter into the very life of God as we are meant to be, we being created in God’s image and likeness. We have to go beyond our natural self to get elevated to the supernatural life of God. And this will definitely involve a lot of effort and sacrifice. In other words, it will be a very complicated affair for us. 

 And that is because we would be taught, even commanded, to love the way Christ has loved us. It is a love that is not purely human. It is a divine love that goes beyond our usual idea of what love is. 

 It is a love that covers everyone and everything. It involves loving our enemies. It involves not only loving those who are right in something, but also those who are wrong, or who may even have offended us. It’s a love that no human power, exercised by its lonesome, can ever achieve. It’s only possible when it’s a love that is a sharing of the divine love of Christ. 

 Again, we complicate our life because we have to adapt ourselves to the supernatural ways of God, something that is possible because we also have a spiritual nature that enables us through our intelligence and to receive the grace of God, and thus enter the supernatural life of God. 

 We need to remember that the completion and perfection of our human nature would always involve hitching it to the divine nature of Christ who is both God and man and who is the pattern of our humanity and savior of our damaged humanity. 

 We are not meant to only have a purely human nature where the divine nature of God is not involved. We would be incomplete that way and be headed only to our own perdition, regardless of whether we may possess excellent natural endowments, like our intelligence and talents. We have to be willing to complicate our life to simplify it and gain our own perfection.

Loyalty proves your fidelity

SOME people have asked me what the difference is between loyalty and fidelity. And my ready answer has always been that there is hardly any difference between the two. They are allied to each other. One cannot be without the other if both have to be real virtues. 

 Fidelity is when one makes a promise to commit himself to something for a period of time or for the whole lifetime. It’s what one assumes when he enters into marriage, for example, or answers a special vocation. 

 It’s something to be taken seriously, with thorough study and reflection to see if indeed such commitments can be fulfilled with a significant degree of certainty. It banks itself on one’s faith and trust in God’s providence and is surely an expression of love. 

 Loyalty, on the other hand, simply walks what fidelity promises. It lives out the details, and especially the finer points, involved in fidelity. When one is loyal, he is being true to his commitments on a day-to-day basis. 

 Loyalty makes one’s fidelity steadfast under any condition and weather. It keeps one’s commitments intact whatever life involves and wherever life leads him. It shows its true colors when those commitments are heavily tested in life. 

 But we need to understand that for both loyalty and fidelity to work, care should be given to the small things in life. That is to say, that the impulse of love should always be given in the small, ordinary things of our day, since that would help us to keep on going in love when the big things, the big challenges and difficulties in life come. 

 More importantly, we need to understand that the love that would keep us faithful and loyal whatever the situation is, can only come and should be a sharing, a reflection of God’s love. This is the only kind of love that can keep us faithful and loyal all the way. 

 Let’s always keep in mind that our life has a lot more to offer, a lot more to challenge us than what we can manage to cope. We would always be in need of the power of love that can only come from God who actually wants to share it with us. 

 For this, we have to follow the example of Christ who fulfilled the Father’s will to save mankind all the way to the cross. That is the kind of love that we ought to have to guarantee our fidelity and loyalty to our commitments. 

 It’s a love that is forged and made strong through suffering and all kinds of trials in our life. But we should neither forget that if we have this kind of love, our suffering and crosses would not really be as heavy as they seem, because we know that more than us, it would be Christ himself who would suffer all of them first before we suffer them. Yes, he suffers for us and with us. 

 And so, we can manage to remain calm, confident, faithful and loyal whatever the situation may be, whatever trials and difficulties we may encounter in life. Thus, if our faith and love for Christ is strong and deep, we would not be afraid to assume commitments. We somehow would feel reassured that we can manage to be faithful and loyal whatever happens!