The theological mind

LET’S see to it that our thinking and reasoning is always guided by our Christian faith, hope and charity, and not just by what we see and understand, no matter how high our IQ is or how much data and facts we have in possession. 

This is what may be called as theological reasoning. It is allowing the spirit of Christ to enlighten our thoughts and reactions to things. After all, if we are the image and likeness of God, we have to see, think, react the way Christ would, he who is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. 

As we have been repeating already a number of times, our life should always be a life with God, with Christ, if we want to be consistent with our Christian identity. Otherwise, we would just be Christian in name, but not in fact and in truth. 

 This point about the need to develop a theological mind may have been illustrated in that gospel episode where Peter was overwhelmed with what Christ said about how much easier it is for a camel to enter the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. “We have given up everything and followed you,” he said. (cfr. Mk 10,28-31) 

 Peter and the rest of the apostles obviously were at a loss as to how to understand what Christ said. If they did not trust Christ, if they did not have faith in him, then obviously they would already have left him long time ago. But they struggled to develop their faith. 

When we have a theological mind, we would realize that we are not supposed to understand everything. We simply follow what Christ would tell us through the many ways he communicates with us. We follow what Christ would tell us because we believe he is the God who became man to save us, and he can never deceive us nor can be he deceived. 

When we have a theological mind, we would know that we are living in a world of the spiritual and the supernatural where mysteries and things difficult to understand prevail. We should just learn to live with that condition. 

 When we have a theological mind, like Christ who is “the way, the truth and the life” for us, we would know how to be humble and patient, especially when we are confronted with difficulties and contradictions in life. 

When we have a theological mind, we would always consider first the truths of our faith that would assure us of the resources for hope and charity during our predicaments. Our reactions and behavior would not simply be human and natural, guided only by our instincts, emotions and natural rationality. 

When we have a theological mind, we would know the value of suffering and the many difficulties in life. We would know that everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) Regardless of the varying situation in our life, whether it’s good or bad, we would be consistent in having our feet firmly grounded on earth while our mind soars to heaven. 

In the end, when we have a theological mind, we would partake of the wisdom of God who knows what to do in any situation. We should do everything to develop a theological mind, always studying and meditating on the life of Christ and developing the virtues.

Our inherent desire for heaven

THAT’S true. Despite our weaknesses, mistakes, sins, etc., we have in our heart of hearts an inherent desire for heaven. As the Catechism would put it, “This desire (for happiness) is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it.” (1718) 

This truth of our faith is illustrated in that gospel episode where a rich young man approached Christ, asking what he had to do to gain eternal life. (cfr. Mk 10,17-27) As that gospel story unfolded, Christ told him first to follow the commandments, and when the young man said that he had observed all those, Christ then told him to “sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 

Well, we know how the young man reacted to that response of Christ. It was a sad ending, precisely because the young man found it hard and was unwilling to follow what Christ told him. That’s when Christ said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!...It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” 

 We have to realize that to meet our inherent desire for eternal happiness, for heaven, we need to free ourselves from any attachments to earthly things, even as we use them and even enjoy them in our earthly affairs. The things of this world should be a means for us to be with God. They should not be a competitor with God. 

That is why we have to live in the strictest sense possible the virtue of Christian poverty that allows us to use the things of this world to give glory to God and to lead us to heaven. 

We cannot overemphasize the strategic relevance of this virtue. With all the glut of material and temporal things now on us, we need to be more conscious and adept in living and developing this virtue of detachment. 

 I don’t think we can afford to be casual about this concern anymore. The worldly things are now so attractive, so tempting and so riveting that if we are not careful, there’s no way but be swept away by its rampaging worldly laws and impulses. 

This virtue has the primary purpose of emptying our mind and heart of anything that can compete or, worse, replace the love for God and for others which is proper to all of us. 

 It’s not about running away from worldly things, much less, of hating the goods of the earth and our temporal affairs, but of knowing how to handle them, so as not to compromise the fundamental law of love that should rule us. 

To repeat, it is not just a matter of emptying ourselves but rather of filling ourselves with what is proper to us. In short, we practice detachment to acquire and enhance the attachment that is proper to us as God’s image and likeness and as God’s children. 

It’s quite clear that a requirement for entering heaven is detachment from earthly things. This should be clear to all of us, and should guide us in the way we use the things of the world. These things should lead us to God and to others, not isolate us, building up our own world and destiny.

Beware of our inherent blindness

WE have to realize that we have an inherent blindness due to the fact that we have to contend with spiritual and supernatural realities in our life. These realities simply can overwhelm our capacity to see things properly, let alone, understand them. To top it all, we also have to contend with the fact that in our life there is a very confusing mixture of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, etc. 

 And yet, we also have to realize more deeply that we have the capacity to deal with that inherent blindness properly. And that is always to go to Christ, to learn how to see things the way Christ sees them. Let’s remember that it is Christ who offers us “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 We need to realize that we can only see things properly and understand them properly as well when we know how to see things through the eyes of Christ. This can be lesson we can derive from that gospel episode where Christ said, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” (cfr. Lk 6,39-42) 

 And indicating how not to be a blind guide, he said, “No disciple is superior to the teacher, but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” These words obviously tell us that we have to refer to Christ, our ultimate teacher, to be able to see and understand things properly. 

 Unless we see things through Christ who said that he is the light of the world (cfr Jn 9), we actually cannot see things as they ought to be seen. If we simply rely on our senses and even on our intelligence, but without Christ through the exercise of our faith, we actually are blind. This we have to acknowledge. 

 We need to be more aware of this predicament of ours and start to develop and use the appropriate means to correct, if not avoid, that delicate situation. We need to be humble and to always feel the need to be with God even in our most intimate thoughts, let alone, our words, deeds and public interventions. 

 There is actually no other way to correctly and properly understand and react to things and events in our life. We have to be wary of our tendency to rely solely on our human estimations of things, quite independent, if not contrary to the way God understands them. 

 In fact, not only should we be guarded against this tendency. Rather, we should also actively fight it, converting it into what is our proper way of thinking, judging and reasoning. And that is to do all these spiritual operations with God as the main guide and inspiration. The story of the man born blind (cfr. Jn 9) validates this point. 

 We have to be most careful when perhaps because of our education, our experience, our position, among other things, we feel that we would already have enough reason to make ourselves our own standard of what is true, good and beautiful. 

 To see and understand things the way Christ sees and understands them, we obviously need to study well the very life of Christ, his example and words. In this regard, we cannot overemphasize the need for us to spend time praying and meditating on the life of Christ, studying his teaching, and slowly developing the relevant attitude, practices and virtues.

Christ clarifies what marriage is all about

AGAIN, some wily Pharisees tried to test Christ by asking him whether it was lawful for a husband to divorce his wife. (cfr. Mk 10,1-12) This was when Christ clarified the true nature and purpose of marriage. At that time, divorce was allowed because of the hardness of heart of the people, but at the beginning, Christ said, it was not like that. 

 “From the beginning of creation,” Christ said, “God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 

 There are many things that are implied in these words of Christ. First is that marriage is never just a human institution. It is a creation of God, with its objective nature and purpose that should always be respected and followed. No human authority can contravene that objective nature and purpose of marriage. 

 Second is that marriage is between one man and one woman. It cannot be between a man and another man, or a woman with another woman. And that’s simply because marriage is supposed to be a fruit of a love that is exclusive between the two, since it’s a love that involves the direct use of the body. 

 Such love that involves the body cannot be shared with another partner. If there is true love, the body that is involved is given whole and entire. If the love is simply spiritual, then it can be shared with as many persons as possible, because in spiritual love, we can give that love whole and entire to everyone without dividing it. Of course, that spiritual love has its affective and emotional aspects that may be given in different ways or amounts. 

 And since marriage is supposed to be a commitment of love, where each partner is supposed to give his or her all, then it is a commitment that would last till death. Also, the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation of children, that is, the human cooperation in the continuing work of human creation by God. Man is not simply a creation of man. He is first of all a creation of God because the spiritual soul that is distinctive of our humanity is not a product of human reproduction. It comes directly from God. 

 The good of spouses comes only as a secondary, but also very important purpose of marriage. Everything has to be done such that those who enter into marriage can commit themselves to love each other, to stay faithful to each other, regardless of the ups and downs of the circumstances in life. 

 Lastly, it has to be said that marriage is a concrete path of sanctification for those in it. If entered into and lived according to God’s law about it, there is no way other than for it to be way for the spouses and the family they produce to achieve sanctity. Those involved in it should sanctify it by living it according to God’s laws. And once sanctified, it also sanctifies the parties involved. 

 With all the forces and elements now undermining the true nature and purpose of marriage, there is an urgent need to clarify and show the real face and beauty of this human, natural as well as supernatural institution.

We need to be “salted with fire”

THOSE are very intriguing words of Christ found in the gospel of St. Mark. “Everyone will be salted with fire,” he said. “Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavour? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.” (9,49-50) 

 Salt and fire somehow imply a process of burning for the purpose of purification. That we would all be salted with fire can mean that in this life of ours, we should expect some process of burning purification that can be brought about by some inconvenient, if not bad, events and circumstances of life. 

 We do not have to look far to verify this fact of life. We will always have difficulties of all sorts, trials and challenges, blunders and crises, etc. Christ himself warned us that “in this world, you will have trouble.” (Jn 16,33) But then again, if we are with him, if we adapt his spirit, his attitude to things, we would also enjoy what he promised: “But take heart I have overcome the world.” 

 It is when we are “salted with fire” in the sense that Christ meant it that we would enjoy that peace with one another. So, we just have to learn how to be “salted with fire.” Definitely, it would involve a lot of patience, building up our capacity to understand everyone, to be accepting of everyone as he or she is without getting lost or confused as to what is truly right and wrong as defined by Christ. 

 It would involve shoring up our ability to suffer with Christ, because in this life we can never avoid suffering no matter how much we try to avoid it. We need to learn how to suffer. 

 The massive problem we have now is precisely that many of us do not know how to suffer. We complain and cry even at the slightest touch of suffering. We become sad and fall into a hard case of depression. Self-pity and idle passivity can dominate us, sinking us into a spiral of problems and predicaments. 

 Or we can grasp at straws, going to all sorts of useless defense mechanisms and deceptive forms of escapism like sex, drugs, extreme forms of sports and activism, frivolous entertainment, rationalizing philosophies, ideologies, lifestyles, etc. We can in vain try to erase or ignore subjectively what objectively will always be with us in our life. 

 We have to learn how to suffer. It’s an art and skill that is available if we only care to notice. It’s all there as clear as noonday, its cause and meaning precisely defined, its antidote and vaccine abundantly provided. Our Christian faith sheds tremendous light on this mystery of our life. Christ is showing us the way. 

 Let’s remember that if God allows us to suffer some deformities or to experience some mistakes and commit sins, it is because he can derive a greater good from them. He wants us to learn a virtue or to grow more in our faith, hope and love for him and for everybody else. 

 We should try our best, with God’s grace which he actually gives us in abundance, to go beyond the level of the sensible and the intelligible, and enter into the all-beautiful world of our faith where the humanly ugly things are converted into divinely beautiful realities.

 It’s only then that we can enjoy that peace with one another that Christ talked about.

The universal character of truth and charity

“Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mk 9,40) With these words, Christ told his apostles, and is telling us now, that we have to be wary of our tendency to be exclusivisitic in our outlook in life due to the unavoidable differences and conflicts among us, and the fact that each one of us is unique. 

 Such condition in life does not entitle us to be exclusivistic. If ever, such condition should only prod us to work for more unity among us, a unity that is based on truth and charity as defined by those words of Christ cited above. 

 We have to remember that everything comes from God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. God is our Creator, Christ is our savior, and the Holy Spirit is our sanctifier that keeps alive the spirit of God in us. No matter how different we are from each other, we should never forget that we have a common origin and a common end, and this basic commonality among ourselves is the basis of why at bottom we can have a universal unity among ourselves in spite of our differences and conflicts. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to get too stuck to our distinctiveness, idiosyncracies, peculiarities, preferences, etc. Yes, we all have those, but we should never forget that those differences are meant for us to work out a way of complementation and supplementation, so that instead of being fragmented, we cement a stronger bond among ourselves. 

 We have to learn how to be adaptive and resilient without compromising what is truly essential that in the end is a matter of following the example of Christ who, instead of going into a rampage to correct the sins of men, chose to offer his life on the cross, and to conquer evil by resurrecting. Yes, like Christ we have to love even our enemies. 

 We have to learn how to be accepting of everyone and of everything as each one is, warts and all, without forgetting to do something to improve what needs to be improved, to correct what needs to be corrected with prudence and discretion. Yes, we have to learn how to flow with the tide without losing sight of the harbor we ought to reach. 

 In all this, we should not forget that a lot of sacrifice would be involved. If we have the spirit of Christ, we can handle that condition well, and can even find great meaning and sense of fulfillment in those sacrifices. 

 Truth and charity should go together. One cannot be without the other. That’s why St. Paul said: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

 “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

 “It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…” (1 Cor 1-7)

 Indeed, the real truth and charity have a universal character!

The keys to the kingdom

ON the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the Apostle, which is celebrated on February 22, we are reminded of these very intriguing words Christ addressed to Peter after Peter rightly identified Christ as “the son of the living God”—"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (cfr. Mt 16,13-19) 

 It’s intriguing because the keys or the power given to Peter are definitely way beyond what Peter, given the way he was, could handle properly, let alone deserve. He denied Christ three times before he repented, he was scolded by Christ for not understanding the mysterious designs of God in spite of his closeness to Christ, etc. 

 And yet, such tremendous power was given to him that what he would bind on earth would also be bound in heaven, what he would loose on earth would also be loosed in heaven. This episode definitely tells us that the ways of God are beyond whatever human merit we may have. In this particular case of St. Peter, Christ told him after he identified Christ rightly that he was blessed because “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” 

 We have to learn to live with this condition in our life. The will and ways of God will always have the last say irrespective of whether we deserve them or not, or whether we are capable of following them or not. Again in this regard, we are reminded of the mysterious supernatural ways God works among us, ways that can defy our human ways and understanding, not in the sense that God’s ways contradict ours, but rather in the sense that they go beyond our ways. 

 We should just be humble enough to accept and to live along this fact of life that will always involve supernatural realities. We are not expected to understand everything. What we are expected is to obey with the obedience of faith, hope and charity as shown to us by Christ himself, who obeyed till death in obedience to the will the Father. 

 “The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (Jn 5,19) These words of Christ should constitute as the attitude we ought to have toward everything that happens in our life. Only with this attitude can we get a good idea of why the supernatural designs of God can be carried out by us, given our limitations, not to mention, our mistakes and sins. 

 The keys to heaven that were given to Peter can be referred to now as the Magisterium of the Church which is the official teaching office of the Church that includes the Pope and the bishops in union with him. Its task is to interpret Scripture and making judgments on “tradition” within the Church, making official statements as to the authenticity of such traditions. 

This truth of faith about the Church and the Pope and the bishops behooves us to develop a great love for them, approximating the very love God has for the Church as shown and lived by Christ himself. 

 This is a duty that we should not take for granted. Everyday we have to see to it that our love the Church, the Pope and bishops enjoys some growth.

Our basic need for prayer

MORE than our need for food, water and air, we all need to pray. Prayer is the most basic necessity we have, since that is what unites us with God our Creator and Father in whose life we are supposed to share knowingly and lovingly. And the simple reason is that we have been created in God’s image and likeness. 

 It may sound too much to express it in words, but how God is, is also how we ought to be. And that very image of God is given to us in Christ who is precisely God who became man to offer us “the way, the truth and the life.” When we pray, we start assuming the identity of Christ. Not only that. We start to share his power and everything in him. 

 This truth of our Christian faith is somehow illustrated in that gospel episode (cfr. Mk 9,14-29) where the apostles asked Christ why they could not cure the boy who was possessed with a mute spirit. The response of Christ was: “This kind can only come out through prayer.” (Mk 9,29) 

 We have to realize that prayer should always have priority over all other activities we have during the day. Better said, we have to learn how to convert everything into prayer so that we can say that our whole life is a prayer itself, as it should be. 

 And that is always possible because all we have to do is to fulfil our duties and responsibilities out of love for God and neighbor, doing them in the best way we can, for such is the way of love. And the duties and responsibilities we have are the usual tasks we do everyday. 

 It’s when we pray that we manage to relate who we are, what we have, what we do, etc. to our ultimate end which, to be sure, is not something only natural but is also supernatural. Nothing therefore can rival the importance of prayer. In other words, prayer is irreplaceable, unsubstitutable, indispensable. It’s never optional, though it has to be done freely if we want our prayer to be real prayer. 

 Of course, we also have to understand that prayer can lend itself to many different ways. There’s vocal prayer, mental prayer, contemplative prayer, liturgical prayer, ejaculatory prayer, etc. It can adapt itself to different situations and conditions. 

 The absolutely important thing that makes prayer real prayer is when we manage to give all our mind and heart to God in whatever thing we do or in whatever situation we may find ourselves in. 

 We have to be reminded that the quality of our prayer determines in the end the quality of our life. How our prayer is will somehow shape how our life will be. And that’s simply because our prayer is the basic way of connecting with God who is the source and keeper of our life, and in fact, in whose image and likeness we have been created, and whose life we are supposed to participate. 

 We have to train ourselves in this area. It’s actually easy to do because being a spiritual operation, prayer can always transcend whatever limitation we can have in time and space. It can even transcend whatever conditions we are subject to—physical, emotional, psychological, temperamental as well as social, political, economic, etc. It can be done anytime, anywhere. If we would just have the mind to do it, it can actually be done always.

It’s possible to love our enemies

MAKE no mistake about this. We are clearly commanded by Christ to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who mistreat us, etc. (cfr. Lk 6,27-38) 

 That may sound impossible to do, given the way we are, humanly speaking. But it really is not. God’s grace will always be available. Thus, what may appear impossible to us becomes possible and doable. When we find ourselves in situations where we have to contend with some enemies or conflicts, let’s remember that the first thing to do is to go to Christ, to ask for grace, to make our identification with him even tighter. 

 Especially during this election season when we are seeing a lot of fault-finding, insulting, mocking, and all other forms of negativity, we need to strengthen our belief in this one particular injunction Christ gave us—to love our enemies. This is one golden opportunity for us to become like Christ, as we ought to be, since he is the pattern of humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 This obviously will require a lot of virtues—humility, patience, magnanimity, fortitude, to mention a few. We have to learn how to discipline our emotions and passions, and to be most careful with what we say. We have to be quick to purify our thoughts and intentions whenever some negative elements enter into them. 

 Let’s remember that the greatest evil and the worst injustice have already been committed, and that is the killing of Christ by man. But such evil and injustice did not elicit another evil reaction from Christ. On the contrary, he offered forgiveness. We do not correct a wrong with another wrong. As one saint would put it, we have to drown evil with an abundance of good. 

 During this election season, we can have our own choices. We can be partisan. But it does not entitle us to fall into lack of charity against those who may disagree with our choices. Thus, I think it is preferable that we study all the issues quietly, and make our decisions quietly as well. There is no need to create a lot of noise which can only be toxic to everyone. 

 Let’s always remember what said at the end of the gospel cited above. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” 

 It’s very gratifying to note that Christ clearly promised that if we follow this commandment of his, we will be rewarded much more than what we appear to have sacrificed for the sake of this commandment. Yes, God cannot be outdone in generosity. 

 Let us brace ourselves to face this challenge of becoming true Christians. Let’s make our Christianity really work, especially in difficult moments. Christ never abandons us, and he is willing to go through the experience with us. We just have to do our part, that is, to go to him, and follow him as best that we can. 

 Indeed, loving enemies is a sure mark of a true Christian!

Why we need to suffer

WHY? Because in the first place, suffering is a consequence of our sins, not to mention our weaknesses, mistakes, and the fact that we have to contend with a supernatural goal that simply goes beyond our natural human powers. 

 Suffering is unavoidable in this life. No matter how much we try to avoid or ignore it, it will simply come. In fact, the ultimate suffering that no one is exempted from is death. It will come one way or another, sooner or later. 

 But if we follow what our Christian faith tells us, suffering indeed holds great value in our life. From something to run away from, it has become a goal to pursue, because as long as our suffering is experienced with the spirit of Christ, it becomes a good news, not a bad news.

 Every suffering we have should be an invitation for us to go back to Christ, to be converted again, that is, to identify ourselves with him through the work of the Holy Spirit, so we can effect in our mortal flesh that very transformation that took place in Christ, who died and rose from the dead. 

 This is the challenge we have—how to go beyond mere human considerations of our suffering so as to savor its ultimate religious value. We need to develop the skill to escape from the self-focusing dynamics of suffering when considered only humanly, to be able to hitch ourselves with the saving dynamics of Christ’s suffering. 

 Are we just contented with complaining and groaning and moaning when we suffer? Or do we start as soon as we can to enter into the more glorious dimensions that our suffering offers? 

 When Christ said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” (Mk 8,34) he for sure does not mean that he’s leading us to our self annihilation. 

 Far from it. It will rather lead us to our self-fulfillment. It is asking us that instead of our own selves, we should have Christ as the center of our attention always, the very core and substance of our consciousness. We need, of course, to exercise our faith to live by this divine indication. 

 And the reason is simple. Christ is the very pattern of our humanity in its original state and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. It’s him in whom we can have our ultimate fulfillment, our true and lasting joy and peace. That’s why Christ said he is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. We cannot go to God, our Father and creator, except through him. 

 We have to be wary of certain ideologies, cultures and lifestyles that tend to replace Christ as the cause of our self-fulfillment. Sad to say, these appear to be proliferating these days. We have to learn to do battle with them. 

 The self-denial asked by Christ will obviously require a lot of effort and sacrifice. That’s because we have to contend with our tremendous tendency to stick to our own selves—our own ideas, desires, ambitions, etc. Besides, this tendency is constantly reinforced now by the many allurements of the world, not to mention, the tricks and wiles of the devil himself. 

 But again, we can be sure that all this effort and sacrifice is all worth it. We need to do everything to wean ourselves from our own selves and start to rely on Christ completely. That absolute reliance on Christ does not annihilate us. It will simply bring us to our most perfect and ideal state.

The Good News about suffering

THE fact that Christ immediately talked about his impending passion and death after being rightly identified by Peter as the “the Christ” (cfr. Mk 8,27-33) tells us that suffering and death, which are unavoidable in our life here on earth, are actually good news to all of us. If understood and experienced properly, they identify us with Christ and attain for us our own eternal salvation. 

 This gospel episode, of course, tells us that if we truly follow Christ, then like him, we should not only expect suffering and death but also welcome them. That’s because in the first place we cannot avoid suffering and death in this life, no matter how much we try. But more importantly, if we have the same attitude Christ had toward his suffering and death, we know that our own would have a positive and redemptive value. 

 This is what Christian suffering and death is all about. It is a consequence of all our sins but is now converted into a means of our salvation, that is, if we suffer and die with Christ. 

 We need to understand well this basic truth of our faith so that we can avoid suffering unduly or suffering more than we ought. In other words, this truth of our faith enables us to suffer and die properly. 

 We all need to be reminded that all our suffering has a positive and favorable aspect. It’s not all entirely bad and negative, though in itself it will always be bad. But if viewed and lived through our Christian faith, that is, with Christ, there is something in it that can give us a greater good. 

 Our pains and suffering are always the result of sin, ours and those of the others. They are the necessary consequence of our separation, whether temporary or permanent, from God from whom all good things come. (cfr. Ps 16,2; James 1,17) We may not be the direct cause of our own suffering, but in this world, we cannot escape the effects of sin, and so we must be ready for them just the same. 

 We have to remind ourselves that we are not meant to suffer. Our original as well as our ideal definitive state in heaven excludes suffering. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were in the state of original justice, where everything was in order and in harmony. No pain and suffering touched them, until they fell into sin. 

 We have to remind everyone that when we suffer, we should see to it that we avoid suffering by our own lonesome. That would make our suffering, whatever may be its cause, whether it is self-inflicted or caused by others, a useless and purely negative event. 

 Truth is our suffering can have tremendous meaning and positive effect on us if we go through it always with Christ. If we go by our Christian faith, we are sure that Christ is ever willing to suffer for us and with us, and to convert our suffering into the very means of our salvation, in fact. 

 There is no human suffering that Christ is not willing to make also as his own. And he does it because he loves us, he wants to save us, he wants to bring us back to him. Let’s remember that his love is first of all gratuitous. He loves us first before we can learn to love him in return.

Prudence while doing a lot of good

SOME people brought a blind man to Christ, obviously so he could be cured of his blindness. (cfr. Mk 8,22-26) What Christ did was to bring the man to a certain place, and instead of curing him immediately, made him recover his sight after some steps. 

 “Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked, ‘Do you see anything?” Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.’ Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.” 

 Somehow this gospel episode reminds us of a number of things we have to learn to live ourselves. Like Christ, let’s do whatever good we can to people in a way that is discreet, knowing how to pass unnoticed, so as to guarantee the purity of our intention, that is, that everything is done for God’s glory, out of pure goodness, without attracting glory to ourselves. 

 Another lesson that we can derive from this gospel story is that while doing good to others, let’s to see it that that we avoid developing in them some mentality of total dependency and mendicancy. That would undermine the dignity of the persons concerned. We may not give them what they need immediately, without some effort on their part. 

 One of the mysterious aspects of the behaviour of Christ was his constant insistence not to be known as some kind of wonder-worker or superhero every time he performed a miracle. He had a kind of obsession to pass unnoticed. 

 This behaviour somehow contrasted with his open desire to be known and considered by as many people as possible as the Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind. 

 On one hand, he would always tell the beneficiaries of his miracles not to broadcast what he did. Rather he would instruct them to simply go to the priest and report what happened. 

 When, out of extreme gratitude, these beneficiaries offered to join him in his journeys, he would tell them to go back home instead. When the hungry people, who were fed to satiety with just a few loaves and fish, wanted to make him king, Christ quickly withdrew to a mountain. 

 Even after his resurrection, when he was supposed to be in a glorious state, those to whom he showed himself did not recognize him at first. He appeared like anybody else. He obviously did not like to impress and overwhelm people just for the sake of impressing and overwhelming them. 

 The other thing we have to learn is how to be prudent so that while doing a lot of good we avoid making people spineless beggars and parasite, with a very wrong idea of what is to be responsible for oneself. 

 This obviously will require a lot of education and formation, often a thankless task that simply has to be carried out. Many of the beggars around have already deep-rooted attitude of mendicancy and dependence. This should not discourage us but rather fuel in us the desire to help them with greater spirit of sacrifice and generosity. 

 We may have to organize ourselves better, involving both the public and private sectors, to pursue this goal of helping others to help themselves, liberating them from a status that simply is inhuman.

Christian leaven and the Metaverse

WE have a tremendous challenge with the coming of the new digital platform called the Metaverse. It is supposed to be the internet’s next frontier focusing on virtual and augmented reality, which is really quite a development. Like any development in the world, Metaverse offers us tremendous advantages, but we should also be most wary of the huge dangers it can give us. 

 Are we ready for it? And by “we,” what is meant is everybody, of course, but especially the young who are easily seduced by its immediate conveniences without knowing how to make good use of these advantages and conveniences. 

 Do we exactly know what to do with it to help us achieve what is truly in good in us? In the first place, do we know what is truly good for us? Do we have a clear idea of what would comprise as dangers arising from its use? 

 Somehow this kind of wariness was expressed by Christ when he warned his apostles about the leaven of the Pharisees. (cfr. Mk 8,14-21) At first, the apostles did not get what Christ meant, something that can also happen to us due to our poor understanding of Christ’s will and words. But when they did, they knew they had to be most faithful to the teachings of Christ which is what is truly good for all of us. 

 We have to realize that any development, especially in the technologies, would require of us an upgrade in the virtues, especially of prudence that helps us to judge and make choices and decisions properly. We just cannot enter into a new phase of development without the proper preparation, not only in terms of skills, but also and most importantly, in terms of the virtue of prudence. 

 Otherwise, there is no other way but be swallowed up by the very strong pressure to fall into self-indulgence and into simply making knee-jerk reactions that can only satisfy our immediate but shallow needs while undermining our more important needs, especially our moral, spiritual and supernatural goals in life. 

 We need to see to it that the use of the Metaverse, as in any development in the world, should fuel our duty to be more coherent in our Christian identity and our duty to be Christian leaven, consistently radiating the Christian spirit all over. 

 In other words, for the Metaverse to be of real use to us, it should bring us closer to God and to everybody else. It should foster greater love which in the end should make us all a better person. If, on the other hand, it would make us more self-indulgent, self-centered, vain, arrogant, etc., then it is nothing but a sweet poison, a replication of the Tower of Babel. 

 We have to institute ways of educating everyone on the proper use of this new technology. I wonder what is being done in this direction. While it’s nice to hear that in many centers of education and formation, there is concern for upskilling people, we should have more concern regarding how to prepare everyone to be consistent in his Christian identity as he immerses himself in this new technology. 

 The Metaverse can be a tremendous means for us to be true Christian leaven in the middle of the world if we only know how to use it properly.

The question of Christian belief

WHILE it’s true that we believe what we want to believe, we should also remember that before wanting to believe, there should be an objective basis for that belief. And that’s because we actually do not choose what to believe. We have to believe what ought to be believed. What is clear is that we simply do not make reality itself. We are part of the reality created by God, and we just have to conform to it in the best way we can. 

 It’s not an easy thing to do, of course. Especially in our case, since we are gifted with the spiritual powers of intelligence and will that enable us to be both free and responsible, passive and active elements in the over-all reality of things, we need to see to it that we are exercising our powers well and fulfilling our duties properly. Yes, we are being formed and conditioned by the reality on the ground, but we also help in forming and keeping that reality. 

 To top it all, the reality that concerns us is not simply the reality of nature. Due to our spiritual powers, we are poised to enter not only into the spiritual realities of things, like our ideas and understanding of things and the ways of freedom and love. We also enter into the supernatural world. Thus, among the creatures on earth, we are the only ones who can talk about God and grace and eternal life, about the distinction between time and eternity, etc. 

 It is for this reason that we need not only our natural powers to handle this supernatural dimension of our life. We need something supernatural itself, which is the grace of God. As described by the Catechism, grace is “a participation in the life of God,” (1997). It is given to us by God’s gratuitous initiative, but it demands our free response. (cfr CCC 2002) 

 And this is where some problems can start. Because of our freedom which we can misuse since we can have a wrong understanding of it, making it our own creation rather than being a gift of God that has to be used according to God’s will, we can choose not to believe in God but rather in something else, in our own creation. 

 This problem was highlighted in that gospel episode where some Pharisees asked Christ for a sign to test him. (cfr. Mk 8,11-13) In spite of the tremendous amount of things to point to them about the divinity of Christ, they chose to stick to their own ideas of how the expected redeemer ought to be. And so, Christ just left them without giving them any sign. 

 We have to understand from this episode that for us to be able to believe in Christ, all we have to do is just to go over his life story, his teachings, miracles, and ultimately his passion, death and resurrection, that would definitely prove his divinity and redemptive power beyond doubt. 

 But for this to take place, we need to humble ourselves since something supernatural takes place whenever the Christian faith starts to take root in us. Without this humility, we would not be receptive, but rather be resistant, to God’s grace that brings with it our Christian belief. 

 We really have to work out our humility, as Christ himself strongly encourages us to do, giving us his very own example.

The beatitudes as pathways to heaven on earth

EVER wondered why Christ regarded as blessed those who suffer in one way or another here on earth? That’s captured in his proclamation of the beatitudes. (cfr. Lk 6,21-26) The quick answer, of course, is that the beatitudes portray the way love, which is the essence of God and is what is also meant for us, can be lived in the confusing condition of our earthly life where good and evil are mixed up. 

 That is why the Catechism teaches us that the beatitudes are considered as depicting “the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory his Passion and Resurrection, they shed light on the actions and the attitudes characteristic of the Christian life,” it says. 

 And it adds, “They are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations, they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.” (1717) 

 The beatitudes are so articulated by Christ in order to serve as a profound and most effective antidote to our strong, almost invincibly strong tendency to self-love, to self-indulgence. They are meant to extricate us from our own prison, our own world which is the antithesis of what true love is. 

They are meant to expand our heart to save it from being trapped by our own worldly and bodily desires. They are meant to teach us how to give ourselves to God and to everybody else, irrespective of how they are, which is what true love is. 

 Love is always a matter of total self-giving, be it in good times or bad times, in favorable conditions or not. Love has a universal scope. It is supposed to be given without measure, without counting the cost nor expecting any reward. It can be very discriminating without ever being discriminatory. 

 In short, the beatitudes detach us from our own selves so that we can truly identify ourselves with Christ who is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our sin-damaged humanity. They are actually a way to our liberation from our own self-inflicted bondage to merely earthly and bodily urges. They purify us from any stain caused by our worldly attachments. 

 They have to be understood from the point of view of our faith and never just from our own estimations of things, no matter how impressive these estimations may be due to our philosophies, ideologies, cultures, etc. 

 They obviously will require tremendous effort from us, and a strong spirit of sacrifice, self-denial and love for the cross, for only then can this truth of our faith sink in and become an operative principle of our life. 

 Most of all, they require us to always ask for the grace from God, for no mere human effort, no matter how big and extraordinary, can make us live by this truth of our faith. 

 It would be good that everyday we be guided by the beatitudes as we go through the drama of our life. And so, we also have to take heed of another teaching of Christ—that we learn to enter by the narrow gate, instead of preferring to have an easy way of life. More than that, Christ told us that to follow him, we have to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Lk 9,23)

Our work reflects who we really are

CHRIST was performing so many amazing miracles that the people could not help but exclaim: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mk 7,37) Eventually through these miracles, among many other things, people were convinced that Christ indeed was the promised redeemer, the Son of God who became man. 

 Again, if we are to be like Christ as we ought, since Christ is the pattern of our humanity, then we somehow should show that the way we work should reflect that we are children of God in Christ. Our work should not only show the kind and the amount of talents and human powers we have. It should show that we are like Christ. To a certain extent, we can share the praise accorded to Christ that “he has done all things well.” 

 But first of all, we need to have a proper understanding of the true value of work in our life. As it is, the common understanding of work needs to be clarified and redeemed, because it has strayed from the proper path it is supposed to tread. We need to put it back to where it belongs in our life. 

 In the first place, our work is part of our human nature. As such, we are meant to work. Work is not a punishment or merely a heavy activity that we should try to avoid. Escaping work is definitely against our humanity. 

 And so, we need to correct the attitude, regrettably rampant these days, that considers work as something that has to be avoided as much as possible, or that regards it as an unavoidable evil that simply has to be tolerated. 

 Our work, in fact, perfects us, since it actualizes the potencies that we have. It is what brings us toward our proper development and fulfillment, individually and socially. It enables us to achieve what God has meant for us—that we be his image and likeness. 

 In the second place, our work, even if humanly speaking is deemed insignificant, will always be part of the abiding providence of God over all his creation. It is what relates us to God and to others, what enables us to attain the ultimate goal of our life—full communion with God and with others. 

 We need to understand then that our work is a vital part of God’s abiding providence over all his creation, especially over us. Since God’s providence now involves itself in the salvation of man, after we have alienated ourselves from him through sin, both the original and personal, we have to understand that our work ought to be involved too in our own salvation .

 It therefore has an eminently redemptive character. It just cannot be stuck with purely worldly objectives, no matter how valuable, recommendable and legitimate these worldly objectives are. It just cannot be pursued simply following personal or worldly purposes. 

 This is where we have to feel the duty to redeem our work from its merely worldly context. It just cannot be wasted on brilliant technicalities, or on some advantageous, profitable and most tempting and irresistible earthly motives and worldly pursuits. 

 We have to be more aware of the ultimate value and purpose of our work, no matter how small and humanly insignificant it may look. We need to sanctify it, offering it to God and doing our best in carrying it out, and always trying to see how our work at the moment plays in the over-all plan of divine providence.

When God would test our faith

REMEMBER that gospel episode where a Greek woman begged Christ to drive the demon out of her daughter? (cfr. Mk 7,24-30) That is one clear instance when God can test us to see if we really have faith in him or not. There’s always that possibility that when our initial petition is not granted, we would immediately get turned off and give God a cold shoulder. We have to be wary of this possibility. 

 As it turned out, when Christ at first told the woman not to bother him since he was not sent to people like her, using a rather derogatory expression of not giving the bread intended for the children to the dogs, the woman still insisted by saying, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” At this, Christ relented and granted the woman the favor she was requesting. 

 Yes, God can test our faith, and he wants our faith to get even stronger when we are faced with impossible predicaments in our life. We should not miss the chance to make our faith grow even more. 

 When we are hounded by some persistent defects, weakness, temptations and sin, we should never lose sight of the fact, a happy truth of our faith, that there is always hope for us. St. Paul has reassured us that where sin has abounded, God’s grace has abounded even more. (cfr. Rom 5,20) 

 God never tires of forgiving us and of giving us more grace to make us grow spiritually, that is, to grow more in love for God and others. What we can do with the reality of the persistence of evil is to take advantage of it to get closer to God and others. 

 Yes, we may be always hounded by evil, temptations and sin, but let’s learn the art of converting them into occasions to go to God more closely. And that’s when, with God, we can manage to derive good from evil. 

 On our part, we just have to be humble enough to accept this fact of life, and more, to go to God to ask for forgiveness and help every time we are feel the sting of evil in all its forms. It is pure pride when we refuse to acknowledge this fact of life, and more so, when we refuse to go to God for forgiveness and help. 

 We cannot deny that evil, temptations and sin will always hound us. But let’s always remember Christ’s reassuring words to us: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33) 

 God never loses battles, even if in our human standards, things may look like a loss or a defeat. But the victory of God in the end is supernatural that goes way beyond our human and natural standards. 

 And so on our part, if we are made to suffer not only for while but rather for a long while or even up to our own death, we should not worry, because if our faith is strong, if we continue to stick with God, the final victory is assured. 

 While God can give us the immediate relief or solution to our problems, it can happen that he grants us the favor after a long while, or even after our death. We should see to it that we continue to be with him by letting our faith grow even as we go through all the trials and sufferings in life.

Taking care of our heart

“From one’s heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mk 7, 21-23) 

 With these words, Christ is practically telling us that we have to take good care of our heart, which means that we should anchor it on him, since we are supposed to be patterned after him as God’s image and likeness. 

 Thus, in the Book of Proverbs, we have this invitation from God, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” (23,26) This invitation should be clear in our mind and heart, and we should do everything to be able to correspond to that invitation properly. 

 Nowadays when our heart is glutted with so many worldly things, it is really a tall order to say, yes, to this invitation. But with God’s grace, which we can always receive with due humility on our part, there is no doubt that we can do it. 

 We have to remember that our heart is actually the very seat of our thoughts, desires and conscience. It’s that part that contains our whole being, and therefore the most precious part we have. Our whole identity, both in its stable and dynamic states, is found in the heart. 

 It’s the source of what our mouth would say. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mt 12,4). It is what gives the motives for our thoughts, desires, words and deeds. 

 It’s also where we hear the voice of God as well as that of the devil, where we discern the spirit of God and that of the evil one. It’s where we make our decisions, promises and commitments. 

 It’s where the dynamics of our faith, hope and charity is played out. But it can also be where merely worldly values, passing and relative, can dominate. Thus, it is where our interior struggle is done, where our choice of either God or ourselves is made. 

 And if we want to be assured of the authenticity or sincerity of one’s thoughts, words and deeds, we normally ask if they really spring from one’s heart. 

 But we should never forget that the heart is not self-generated. It is a creature, a creature of God who wants it to be like his, his image and likeness. It is meant to be vitally united with God who is its very life, its very power and all. Without God, the heart at least malfunctions, if not dies. 

 We have to see to it that our heart is anchored on God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. He is the very source of our being, of our life. We are meant to be with him, though we can choose to stray from him due to the misuse of our freedom. 

 Everyday we have to see to it that indeed our heart is anchored on God. We should never let it float in any which way. We have to see to it that our heart increasingly gets united to God until it is fully identified with him. To be sure, we have all the means to achieve this goal. 

 We have to constantly ask the question: “Where do I give my heart? To whom do I give myself completely?” And let’s the ready with the correct answer.

Stricter and holier than God?

YES, we have to be wary of our tendency to be stricter and holier than God himself. This happened among many of the Pharisees in the gospel who made laws, and interpreted and applied these laws according to their own understanding, without referring them to God. (cfr. Mk 7,1-13) 

 Of course, in their case, some excuse can be made since they could not believe that Christ was the God who became man precisely to show us “the way, the truth and the life” proper for us. 

 As a consequence, they became rigid in the application of their laws which, by the way, cannot fully capture what is truly good and proper for us, since we are governed not only by human laws but also by a supernatural law. 

 Remember Christ asking the Pharisees about the sabbath law: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy?” (Mk 3,4) In another instance, Christ was asked why his disciples not follow the tradition of the elders…” (cfr. Mk 7,5) 

 To which Christ responded by saying, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” (Mk 7,6-8) 

 We have to be wary of this danger which we may call as the new pharisaism that is manifested in many ways—like the tendency to legalism and formalism, developing a legal system that is animated by what is called as legal positivism, etc. 

 There is also what is called as the pharisaical conscience where grave sins are minimized while matters of little importance are magnified. Such conscience tends to be very judgmental and leads one to assume a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Even in the area of psychology, this tendency is shown in what is called as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) where rigidity reigns supreme. 

 Pharisaism drips with sanctimoniousness and self-righteousness, a funny caricature of authentic holiness. It is an ugly bag of all violations of charity, often disguised as defense of justice and human rights. 

 It is a collection of false reasons and rationalizations not based on faith, hope and charity. It’s more interested in pursuing one’s self-interest than in a genuine concern for the common good, and much less, in giving glory to God. It thrives in an environment of gossips, rumor-mongering and mob rule. 

 We have to be most wary of the dangers of pharisaism that can come to us anytime and in very subtle ways. When in our pursuit for truth, justice and beauty, we become judgmental and rigid, less patient, understanding and merciful towards others, we can be sure we are falling into the hands of a new pharisaism. 

 When in our legitimate pursuit for greater knowledge, power and fame, we do not make the corresponding conversions of heart and are unwilling to suffer for others, this new pharisaism is setting in. 

 Now that we are in an election campaign season, these manifestations of pharisaism come aplenty. Candidates and their followers are often pictured in black-and-white. They are portrayed either as saints and angels who cannot do any evil, or the devil personified who cannot do any good at all. There is so much mudslinging and bashing, creating a very toxic environment among us. 

 We need to have God always in our mind and heart to avoid this common danger of pharisaism.

We should hunger for God always

THAT gospel story of Christ attracting people wherever he went, always asking for favors and miracles, (cfr. Mk 6,53-56) should remind us that we all need to hunger for God always. We have to strongly counter the tendency to be attracted only to worldly things. 

 For this, we need to train ourselves to be guided always by our faith, rather than putting ourselves at the mercy of worldly forces that, while containing some good, can actually deaden our need for God. If we take our faith for granted as we immerse in the things of this world, there is no way but to be swept away by them and to get lost. 

 In this regard, we cannot overemphasize that need for us to spend time truly praying, truly getting in contact with God, because that’s the only way such hunger for God is maintained and nourished. Especially nowadays when we are living in a very secularized world, this need for prayer and contemplation is a must. It should be that we feel the need for God more than our need for air, food and water. 

 For this, we first of all should ask for God’s grace which is actually given to us in abundance. And from there, let’s go through some systematic plan of life that will nourish and strengthen our constant and intimate relationship with God, a relationship that should involve our entire self—body and soul, feelings, emotions and passions down to our very instincts, as well as our mind and heart. 

 It should be a plan that should obviously include prayer in all its forms—vocal, liturgical, ejaculatory, mental, contemplative, etc. Our life of prayer should be such that even when we are immersed in the things of the world due to our work and our temporal duties, we would still be aware of God’s presence, and it is doing God’s will that should always motivate us. 

 The plan definitely should include practices that will foster our spirit of sacrifice, penance and purification, given the obvious fact that no matter how much we try to be good, we would always be hounded by our weaknesses and the temptations around, and the possibility of falling into sin is high. This spirit of sacrifice would help us discipline ourselves in order to rally all our faculties for the service of God and of everybody else. 

 The plan should include a daily effort of ascetical struggle where, aside from fighting evil, we should aim at growing in our love for God and others, by developing the virtues as well as always strengthening them. It should help us to develop a growing concern for the others, doing personal apostolate wherever we are and whatever the occasion and circumstance may be. 

 We have to realize that based on the story of the sisters, Martha and Mary, (cfr. Lk 10,48-52) the one thing necessary in life is prayer, no matter how many and urgent our other concerns are during the day. 

 The immediate basis for this truth is what Christ himself said: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Mt 16,26) That’s because prayer is like the breathing and the heartbeat of our spiritual organism, of our soul. Just as we continue to breathe and just as our heart continues to beat even while we are unconscious in our sleep, so should our prayer be.

The supernatural dimension of our life

LET’S always remember that our life is not simply a natural, human life. It is also meant to be supernatural since it is supposed to be a life with God, involved in his work of creation and redemption of mankind, and in the over-all providence he exercises over all his creation. 

 No wonder then that we can find ourselves at wit’s end as to what and how to do what Christ would ask of us, since there will always be things that would be beyond our powers to carry out. 

 Remember that episode of Christ telling Peter to go to the deep (duc in altum)? (cfr. Lk 5,1-11) Peter was astounded. “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,” he at first said, but rectifying himself because of his faith, Peter said, “but at your command I will lower the nets.” And the miraculous catch took place. 

 Because of the supernatural dimension of our life, we should see to it that we be guided always by our Christian faith, and not just by our senses and our spiritual powers of intelligence and will, though all these are also indispensable. 

 We should just go along with what God through Christ and through the different instrumentalities God communicates with us would ask of us, no matter how impossible for us to do, because what is impossible for us is always possible with him. 

 Like Mary who just said, “Be it done to me according to your word,” when the archangel Gabriel told her she would become the mother of the son of God, we should just believe and accept what is told and given to us, even if we don’t understand the things being asked of us. 

 

That is faith in action, faith which “moves us to believe because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.” (CCC 156) 

 We need to work on our faith in order to keep it alive, vibrant and functional, especially in some difficult if not impossible occasions. We should not be surprised that life and all the challenges and trials we are going to face in it will always demand from us things beyond our powers and resources. And that’s simply because we are meant to go to God for all our needs, without neglecting any effort we can give along the way. 

 With God, we have everything. As St. Teresa de Avila would put it, “Solo Dios basta!” What we lack in our humanity, we can always make up by relying always and completely on God. 

 But, alas, this can happen only when we have faith, for faith is our best resource. As St. John puts it in his first letter, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” (Jn 5,4) Without faith, we are left with a big problem right from the start. 

 As Christians, we should readily realize that our life should not just be our own life, but rather always a life with God. And since God is supernatural, then our life also ought to be supernatural without, of course, compromising what is natural to us. Thus, there is a need for us to develop a desire, a liking, an appetite for the supernatural life, i.e., a life with God. And this means we have to have faith, that brings with it hope and charity.

Prepare for martyrdom anytime

IF we have to be realistic about our Christian life, we should prepare ourselves for possible martyrdom anytime and even for the flimsiest of reasons. What happened to St. John the Baptist, who tried his best to be most faithful to his vocation, (cfr. Mk 6,14-29) can happen to us. Of course, the epitome of all this is none other than Christ himself. 

 In this regard, we have to learn to lose the fear of suffering and death. If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of suffering and death, and all the other negative things that can mark our life. 

 He bore them himself and converted them into our way for our own salvation. Yes, even death which is the ultimate evil that can befall us, an evil that is humanly insoluble. With Christ’s death, the curse of death has been removed. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15,54-55) 

 So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of suffering and death. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing suffering and ultimately death, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of suffering and death. 

 What can help us in this regard is to practice the spirit of active mortification, that is to say, that we would always be looking for occasions to mortify ourselves, rather than just wait for mortifications, which are actually unavoidable, to come to us. Let’s convince ourselves with the reasoning of our faith that mortifications or dying a little ourselves everyday possess a tremendous sanctifying and redemptive value. 

 If we faithfully follow and live our Christian faith, we know that suffering and death are like our brothers and sisters whom we should welcome into our life, as many saints have testified. 

 Our Christian faith tells us that suffering and death have ceased to be a punishment, but rather a means of our salvation. They are not anymore merely negative elements in our life, but are in fact now what would bring us to our eternal life with God. When seen with faith, suffering and death are actually happy events, not sad ones. We should be welcoming to them. 

 And even if we suffer and are martyred for the craziest of reasons, we should avoid responding to these possibilities with anger and hatred. We obviously can defend ourselves with some arguments, but we should see to it that we avoid falling into lack of faith, hope and charity. On the contrary, we have to convince ourselves that those possibilities are golden occasions to show the authenticity of our faith, hope and charity. 

 So, again, to be very realistic in life, we have to be ready and eager to become a sacrificial lamb. This is not bad news. This is Good News. 

 Thus, we have to learn to make sacrifice, first of all, because, it is the most natural thing for us to do considering who and what we are in relation to God. Then, we have to make a sacrifice because we have to make up for our sins and mistakes. And ultimately we have to make sacrifice because we have to follow the example of Christ all the way.

Christ empowers us to be apostles

THAT’S clear when we consider how Christ mandated and empowered his apostles who were sent out two by two and given authority over unclean spirits. (cfr. Mk 6,7) We have to realize that this mandate and empowerment are also given to us who are supposed to continue Christ’s redemptive work till the end of time. 

 Obviously, this is done in different ways considering the different circumstances of each one of us. But these mandate and empowerment stand. We need to correspond to this truth about this Christian duty of ours. We may always feel inadequate for the mission given to us, but we should keep our faith strong in the words of Christ. We can hack it. 

 We just have to know where that true empowerment can really come from. That’s because nowadays, with the plethora of ideologies sprouting all over, there is a lot of confusion and even outright error being propagated in this regard. 

 True empowerment can only come from God in Christ through the Holy Spirit who now inspires the Church Christ founded on the pillars of the apostles and endowed with powers that assure her of her fidelity till the end of time despite men’s weaknesses, mistakes and sins. Remember Christ saying, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16,18) 

 In saying this, we are not suggesting, of course, that this claim be simply rammed down our throat. We should just look into history and see how the Church, despite the frailty of those governing it and the enormous challenges and crises it had to face and suffer, has managed to survive up to now. The Church indeed has the authority to convey Christ’s message and Christ himself to us. 

 That true empowerment can only come from God through Christ as can be gleaned from the following passages in the Bible: 

 -“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,13) 

-“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Eph 6,10) 

-“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” (Eph 3,16) 

-“The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3,19) 

 To be sure, this can only happen if we exert effort to identify ourselves with Christ who, for his part, identifies himself with us. In fact, Christ goes all the way by assuming all our sins and conquering them with his death and resurrection. And he offers forgiveness to us. 

 Like Christ, we have to realize that our power can come only when we are also properly detached from the things of this world. Thus, in his instructions to the apostles, he told them “to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” (Mk 6,8-9) 

 Such detachment would help us to be properly focused on our duty and mission as apostles. We know very well how the things of this world can easily spoil us. We should always be wary of this possibility. Thus, we need to constantly check ourselves to see if we are still following Christ’s words.

The Presentation of the Lord

FEBRUARY 2 liturgically celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It commemorates the occasion when Our Lady, in obedience to Jewish law, went to the Temple in Jerusalem both to be purified 40 days after the birth of her son, Jesus, and to present him to God as her firstborn. (cfr. Lk 2,22-38) 

 Many precious lessons can be derived from this feast, among them the fact that Our Lady, who clearly would have no need to submit to that law, just went ahead with it, without taking advantage of the privilege she clearly enjoyed, and avoiding any sense of entitlement. 

 It is something worth emulating, since this is a clear expression of humility, an indispensable virtue that would enable us to stick with God and his will and ways. We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. Without this humility, we in the end would separate ourselves from God. 

 Let’s be reminded that whatever privileges, favors and blessings we may enjoy in life are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve God and others, and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. Rather, we should try to follow what Christ himself once said—that we enter by the narrow gate instead of preferring the wide gate and the broad road that can only lead us to our destruction. (cfr. Mt 7,13-14) 

 This is also the example of Christ himself who, as St. Paul noted in one of his epistles, being God emptied himself to become man and went all the way to offering his life for all our sins. (cfr. Phil 2,7) This was also shown when Christ went ahead to pay temple tax when he obviously would have been exempted from it. (cfr. Mt 17,24-27) Seemingly impossible for us to do, we should just try our best to imitate that example, relying on God’s grace and on our all-out effort. 

 The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord also reminds us that we have to give not only the best that we have to God first, but also everything that we have. We have to remember that our life ought to be spent as an offering. It has to be lived as a gift, because it is first of all a gift also from God to us. This is a fundamental attitude to develop toward our life, because absent that, we would have a gravely handicapped understanding of life, prone to all sorts of anomalies. 

 Our life, of course, can be described in many, endless ways. It's a shared life with God. It's a life in the Spirit, a life of grace. It's a participation in the intimate trinitarian life of God. But we have to remember that we have been created in love and for love, and that love should be the basic governing principle of our life. 

 In other words, our life has to mirror the life of God himself, whose image and likeness we are. Since God is love, is self-giving, then we too have to live in love and in self-giving.