YES, there is a first creation and a second creation. In fact, our creation is God’s work in progress concerning us. It’s not yet completely finished. Our Catechism describes God’s creation in this way:
“Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created ‘in a state of journeying’ toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained.” (302)
I think this fundamental truth about ourselves is crucial for us to know how to live our life here on earth. Error, ignorance or confusion in this area will surely distort our understanding of our life. They unavoidably will produce wrong consequences.
We have to understand that the whole reality of creation has for its purpose our worship and adoration of God. The Catechism tells us that worship is inscribed in the order of creation. (cfr 347)
We are meant to be with God in all eternity. Our life here is part of God’s creative moment when he fashions us as children of his who not only receive things from God but also know how to correspond with his goodness.
Our first creation was in Adam and Eve. On this occasion, God gave our first parents and all of us the best things in the visible universe—not only a body with wonderful systems, but also spiritual faculties, like intelligence and free will, which qualitatively distinguish us from the other creatures.
Because of these endowments, we are persons and not just things among God’s creatures. We already have a dignity far superior to that of any creature in the world. We cannot be treated like any other creature.
Not contented with these, God elevated our first parents, a gesture meant for all of us, to his supernatural level by giving us grace. This condition is called the state of original justice. We are meant to live not just a natural life, but a supernatural life with God.
This state of original justice, which we lost with our first parents’ sin, included what are known as preternatural gifts, wonderful extras that made our life very beautiful—immortality, integrity, impassibility or capacity not to suffer.
Our first creation, though very good, lacked one very important thing—our
capacity to recover our dignity once we lose it when we misuse our freedom. Thus, this first creation tends to and is corrected by our second creation.
Again our Catechism teaches: “The work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation.” (349)
So, the new creation in Christ perfects and enriches our first creation. But again, we have to understand that this second creation while consummated by Christ has to be corresponded to vitally by us. It’s an ongoing affair.
Creation to God may involve only an “instant” in his eternity, but to us it will involve the whole of time.
This is because our creation as men and women, and then as God’s children, while completely a work of God, has to contend with our cooperation. As
persons, we cannot help but mirror God’s action on us.
That’s why God’s providence or governance to lead us to him expects and even requires our cooperation. God wants it that way. It is in our nature and vocation given to us by God to participate actively in his providence.
Thus, our second creation in Christ is extended in the whole of time to capture our proper fashioning as children of God through the interplay of God’s action and our correspondence to it in our earthly life.
These basic truths about our creation, meant for all and not just an elite, can help us to distinguish the essential from the simply contingent in our life, the absolute from the merely relative.
These truths prevent us from getting distracted. They give us wisdom, freedom, joy and confidence in our actions. We will develop a good sense of direction in our life.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
A new springtime in the Church?
Have you noticed a surge of groups in your parish or in your neighborhood doing some prayer meetings and other religious activities? That’s because there happily is a rise of ecclesial movements these days.
To mention a few, you have the El Shaddai, Couples for Christ, Bukas Loob sa Dios, Christian Family Movement, and a number of charismatic groups and what are now known as covenanted communities.
You cannot deny that they attract multitudes of followers who openly admit
that these groups have helped them tremendously in their spiritual life.
Pope John Paul II called this phenomenon “a new springtime,” a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s continuing action in the Church. It’s like having a spiritual bonanza in the Church, in spite of its troubles.
Pope Benedict, euphoric during his inauguration in 2005 upon seeing this spiritual resurgence right before him, could not help but exclaim, “the Church is alive.” Yes, the Church is alive and kicking, in spite of its age.
This, of course, is a great cause for joy, a boost to our spirit. But it also reminds us of grave duties and responsibilities.
The Church is not only visible and hierarchical. It also is invisible and charismatic. It is in how to blend these two dimensions where the skills and genuine spirituality of Church leaders are tested.
Our Church leaders should be wary of falling into red tape and bureaucracy.
They have to be always alert to new developments, because the Church by nature always exceeds expectations.
While we continue to live within certain structures and known laws, we should not rule out new things that the Holy Spirit can surprise us with from time to time. Away with rigid ways and uniform mentality! Leadership is not a matter of domination and possession.
These new things can have a certain radicalness to them. We have to be open and prepared for them. We have to learn how to handle both old and new things as well as a multiplicity of elements.
It is this working of the Holy Spirit, manifested in many ways, which the visible and hierarchical Church should carefully and, as much as possible, punctually discern, defend, promote and properly integrate within the Church.
Discerning the authenticity of charisms, for example, is already a formidable task. Bogus charisms are plenty. But that’s not all. Purging charisms from impurities that can take place at their reception or in their expressions is even a tougher job.
It cannot be denied that abuses and errors have accompanied what otherwise can be considered as a genuine charism. Pointing them out and correcting them require real fortitude and prudence.
To top it all, Church leaders and officials should also know how to promote it, how to develop its potentials to the full and to integrate it for the benefit of the whole Church. Nothing less than heroic sanctity is expected of them to carry out this function.
These responsibilities certainly depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. On our part, we should be quick to discern this divine guidance and translate it into some human workable system. The Spirit wants to rely on human means too.
I am sure that a lot of guidelines have already been made about how concerned Church officials and everybody else should behave when apparent spiritual manifestations take place.
Let’s make them more known, so that everyone can be properly guided. Both the authorities and the persons or groups claiming some charism can easily seek out each other. Hopefully, openness, mutual understanding and coordination can ensue.
In this regard, it is worthwhile to recall some relevant indications meant to test the authenticity of a charism. They are:
a) Is the charism clearly rooted in the faith of the Church?
b) Do those claiming it stand by the successors of the Apostles and of
Peter? Do they obey the hierarchy?
c) Are they free for social service and the proclamation of the Gospel?
d) Is there a personal encounter of the members with Christ?
With these, we hope the springtime in the Church becomes perpetual.
To mention a few, you have the El Shaddai, Couples for Christ, Bukas Loob sa Dios, Christian Family Movement, and a number of charismatic groups and what are now known as covenanted communities.
You cannot deny that they attract multitudes of followers who openly admit
that these groups have helped them tremendously in their spiritual life.
Pope John Paul II called this phenomenon “a new springtime,” a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s continuing action in the Church. It’s like having a spiritual bonanza in the Church, in spite of its troubles.
Pope Benedict, euphoric during his inauguration in 2005 upon seeing this spiritual resurgence right before him, could not help but exclaim, “the Church is alive.” Yes, the Church is alive and kicking, in spite of its age.
This, of course, is a great cause for joy, a boost to our spirit. But it also reminds us of grave duties and responsibilities.
The Church is not only visible and hierarchical. It also is invisible and charismatic. It is in how to blend these two dimensions where the skills and genuine spirituality of Church leaders are tested.
Our Church leaders should be wary of falling into red tape and bureaucracy.
They have to be always alert to new developments, because the Church by nature always exceeds expectations.
While we continue to live within certain structures and known laws, we should not rule out new things that the Holy Spirit can surprise us with from time to time. Away with rigid ways and uniform mentality! Leadership is not a matter of domination and possession.
These new things can have a certain radicalness to them. We have to be open and prepared for them. We have to learn how to handle both old and new things as well as a multiplicity of elements.
It is this working of the Holy Spirit, manifested in many ways, which the visible and hierarchical Church should carefully and, as much as possible, punctually discern, defend, promote and properly integrate within the Church.
Discerning the authenticity of charisms, for example, is already a formidable task. Bogus charisms are plenty. But that’s not all. Purging charisms from impurities that can take place at their reception or in their expressions is even a tougher job.
It cannot be denied that abuses and errors have accompanied what otherwise can be considered as a genuine charism. Pointing them out and correcting them require real fortitude and prudence.
To top it all, Church leaders and officials should also know how to promote it, how to develop its potentials to the full and to integrate it for the benefit of the whole Church. Nothing less than heroic sanctity is expected of them to carry out this function.
These responsibilities certainly depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. On our part, we should be quick to discern this divine guidance and translate it into some human workable system. The Spirit wants to rely on human means too.
I am sure that a lot of guidelines have already been made about how concerned Church officials and everybody else should behave when apparent spiritual manifestations take place.
Let’s make them more known, so that everyone can be properly guided. Both the authorities and the persons or groups claiming some charism can easily seek out each other. Hopefully, openness, mutual understanding and coordination can ensue.
In this regard, it is worthwhile to recall some relevant indications meant to test the authenticity of a charism. They are:
a) Is the charism clearly rooted in the faith of the Church?
b) Do those claiming it stand by the successors of the Apostles and of
Peter? Do they obey the hierarchy?
c) Are they free for social service and the proclamation of the Gospel?
d) Is there a personal encounter of the members with Christ?
With these, we hope the springtime in the Church becomes perpetual.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
The carcass of religion
THERE’S always hope, of course. No doubt, God can raise the dead back to life again. He is infinitely merciful, and can make use of anything, including our mistakes, to make something great out of our life. But we cannot deny that nowadays there seem to be a lot of carcasses of religion
around.
Religion, which is supposed to be our abiding relationship with God, lived, in many instances, without God. It has simply become a human invention, a matter of convention, or a game we play. Thus, it is full of pretensions, hypocrisy, inconsistencies.
Our life, of course, is a life of relationships. And of the many relationships we have, the most important and indispensable one is our relationship with God, our religion, since it is the origin and pattern of all our other relationships.
We have to nurture and develop it. To it, we should give our best efforts. God is the source and keeper of our life. Unless we deny that, or unless we think we just came to exist on our own, as in, spontaneously, how can we ignore him?
In the Book of Revelation, we hear the following warning: “I know your works, you have the name of being alive, and you are dead.” (3,1) And in the gospel of St. Luke, we also read the following relevant point:
“Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” (17,37) This can refer to vultures to their prey, evil elements that get attracted to the smelly carcass of our religion.
Religion is dead when it is reduced to a mere collection of pious acts without the animating element of authentic love of God and love of neighbor. In other words, it is just an appearance without the real substance.
It is important that in this crucial matter of religion, we sharply distinguish between its essence, which is grace and love of the kind lived and taught, and its signs and manifestations, which can be cleverly made up or invented. We have to be wary about subtle reductionisms and confusion in religion.
Religion, of course, requires pious practices and unavoidably has signs, but it transcends these practices and signs. It involves doctrines and a whole gamut of things, but it is not just doctrines and things.
Thus, in the Bible we often see our Lord taking exception to the ways of many leading religious men of the time. “They have ears, but don’t hear. They have eyes, but don’t see.”
And again, we hear our Lord say to these religious men: “You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying: this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Mt 15,6-8).
Authentic religion is when we keep a vital and abiding connection with God, making ourselves always open to God’s grace and action, and allowing God to transform us thoroughly, in every aspect and dimension of our being.
A bastardized religion is when we keep some signs of our relationship with
God, but unwilling to go all the way, and maintaining some limits as to what God can do with our lives. We can have the form of it, but not the substance.
For true religion to prosper, we need to undergo continuing conversion, because this is the only way we can keep that abiding relationship with God. Human as we are, we tend to say enough to God’s work in us. When we have another conversion, we allow God to continue.
Thus, we should be ready to pray at the bottom of our heart, where we can
really be with God even when all else in our human condition seems to fail, “Lord, create in me a new heart, give me a new spirit.”
I think this is the ultimate thing we can ask from God. With this openness,
we allow God’s grace to reanimate us. What is dead comes to life again. What is wounded is somehow healed. What is soiled is purified.
Religion’s carcass resurrects!
around.
Religion, which is supposed to be our abiding relationship with God, lived, in many instances, without God. It has simply become a human invention, a matter of convention, or a game we play. Thus, it is full of pretensions, hypocrisy, inconsistencies.
Our life, of course, is a life of relationships. And of the many relationships we have, the most important and indispensable one is our relationship with God, our religion, since it is the origin and pattern of all our other relationships.
We have to nurture and develop it. To it, we should give our best efforts. God is the source and keeper of our life. Unless we deny that, or unless we think we just came to exist on our own, as in, spontaneously, how can we ignore him?
In the Book of Revelation, we hear the following warning: “I know your works, you have the name of being alive, and you are dead.” (3,1) And in the gospel of St. Luke, we also read the following relevant point:
“Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” (17,37) This can refer to vultures to their prey, evil elements that get attracted to the smelly carcass of our religion.
Religion is dead when it is reduced to a mere collection of pious acts without the animating element of authentic love of God and love of neighbor. In other words, it is just an appearance without the real substance.
It is important that in this crucial matter of religion, we sharply distinguish between its essence, which is grace and love of the kind lived and taught, and its signs and manifestations, which can be cleverly made up or invented. We have to be wary about subtle reductionisms and confusion in religion.
Religion, of course, requires pious practices and unavoidably has signs, but it transcends these practices and signs. It involves doctrines and a whole gamut of things, but it is not just doctrines and things.
Thus, in the Bible we often see our Lord taking exception to the ways of many leading religious men of the time. “They have ears, but don’t hear. They have eyes, but don’t see.”
And again, we hear our Lord say to these religious men: “You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying: this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Mt 15,6-8).
Authentic religion is when we keep a vital and abiding connection with God, making ourselves always open to God’s grace and action, and allowing God to transform us thoroughly, in every aspect and dimension of our being.
A bastardized religion is when we keep some signs of our relationship with
God, but unwilling to go all the way, and maintaining some limits as to what God can do with our lives. We can have the form of it, but not the substance.
For true religion to prosper, we need to undergo continuing conversion, because this is the only way we can keep that abiding relationship with God. Human as we are, we tend to say enough to God’s work in us. When we have another conversion, we allow God to continue.
Thus, we should be ready to pray at the bottom of our heart, where we can
really be with God even when all else in our human condition seems to fail, “Lord, create in me a new heart, give me a new spirit.”
I think this is the ultimate thing we can ask from God. With this openness,
we allow God’s grace to reanimate us. What is dead comes to life again. What is wounded is somehow healed. What is soiled is purified.
Religion’s carcass resurrects!
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