FOR at least one second, I had to grapple with some mixed feelings when I was asked recently to bless what they called a wellness hub. So far, no one has invited me yet to bless a spa or a massage parlor. I’m afraid that will take more time for me to grapple.
The wellness hub was a big, spacious room with a manager and instructor, and outfitted with all sorts of benches, bars and weights, a treadmill, a stationary bike, and a wall-to-wall mirror that made me even more uncomfortable.
I’m used to see my face only before a mirror, and frankly to see myself in full length, showing how my clothes hang on my body frame, mortified me. Later, of course, I had a good laugh at myself, which has always been my way of resolving what I don’t understand or like.
I knew I could and should bless it, but I realized I was carrying a baggage toward anything that looked like pampering our body. I was brought up to be a bit harsh on my body, and through the years I could only agree why it had to be like that.
I’m more in the body-vs.-spirit frame of mind. I’ve been suspicious of anything the body likes. My automatic attitude toward it knows only one mode, that is, discipline it, give it less than what it asks, never spoil it, even punish it a little just to make sure.
I know what is going to the extreme, as in being a puritan or a Manichean whose ideology is to consider the body as the principle of evil, and I’ve been careful not to fall there. But this has not prevented me from being strict with the body.
Remember what our Lord said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” and this has always made such a great impact on my mind it has become a guiding principle.
My experience can only attest to the veracity of the warning, and I’ve always felt I have to do something about it. Thus, since my college days, I’ve imposed on myself some kind of 24/7 guarding, doing this as discreetly as possible, though this attitude gave some unpleasant openings for temptations.
In principle, I know that the body and spirit should go together. But I’m afraid I have neglected to work that theory out. Not until some doctors have recommended that I do some exercises. No diet yet, but I was warned that may be the next step.
The body also has to be given due care. It cannot and should not be taken for granted. This is because the body, for all its shortcomings and failings, form a unity with the spirit.
There has to be a more pro-active effort to establish and keep a link between the body and the soul. These two constitutive elements of our being should work harmoniously for each other’s advantage and benefit.
“Your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit…glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence,” St. Paul tells us (1 Cor 6,19-20). We have to take care of it, because as St. Paul says, sin finds an ally in our body, that is, the flesh or the lower part of man—our senses, instincts, passions, etc.
Taking care of it means to submit it to Christ’s spirit which does not nullify but rather purifies and elevates the natural condition of our body.
In other words, if done properly, our exercising can connect the natural condition of our body to its supernatural goal, the Adonis perfection or Venus beauty to Christ’s cross.In short, you can develop a six-pack and be holy, not vain.
If done properly, this attention and care of our body can generate a sense of self-dominion we can have over our body. It creates a certain energy for us to develop virtues, to give glory to God and work actively for the others.
It prevents us from falling into pride and arrogance, as well as into sensuality and greed. Going to the gym need not be an exercise in self-indulgence. It can be a form of praying and putting ourselves in better conditions to love and serve.
I think we need to highlight these proper values that can be found and fostered in places like the wellness hub that I just blessed. We have to help one another to discern these values amid the many possibilities which can spoil what in principle can be an objective human need.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
The sense of Sunday
I FEEL that we have to recover the proper sense of Sunday. While it’s heartwarming to see our churches filled with people on Sundays, we cannot deny the fact many do not know the true significance of the day.
Many go simply out of routine. Thanks to God, in spite of the inroads of modernist attitudes that erode our sense of the sacred, our culture is still predominantly Christian, at least in form and practices if not anymore so much in substance.
Yes, many still go to Church to Sundays. That’s because in spite of the imperfections in our knowledge, we still get some glimpses of sanctity in this activity. The heart can go further than what the mind and the social customs can show. The duty for continuing catechesis on this topic is therefore really a must.
This is not to mention the usual elements that tend to undermine the proper understanding of our Sunday obligation. These can be our daily concerns, or the mere passage of time that can blunt what’s referred to as the “radical newness” that Sunday as the Day of the Lord possesses.
Thus, I was happy to be reminded recently of the relevant Catholic doctrine in the document “Sacramentum caritatis” of Pope Benedict XVI. In it, he traced the origin of the Christian meaning of Sunday.
According to him, the early Christians already had a customary practice of gathering on the first day (Sunday) of the week—after the Sabbath, which is the last day—to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
Understanding Christ’s resurrection as his ultimate victory over sin and death, or the ultimate victory of his cross, the early Christians understood Sunday as the “new day,” the day of our re-creation, of our salvation, “the day the Lord has made.”
The first Christians were convinced that the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection on Sunday was the attainment of our authentic freedom and liberation, a goal reached and made available to us by Christ but requiring our cooperation.
That’s why they looked at Sunday in a very special way. St. Ignatius of Antioch coined an expression to describe the attitude the early Christians had toward Sunday. He said they were “living in accordance with the Lord’s Day.”
This “living in accordance with the Lord’s Day” simply meant that the early Christians were keenly aware of the liberation won by Christ. They also sharply felt the duty to make their lives a constant self-offering to God, so that Christ’s victory can be reflected in their deeply renewed existence.
Sunday became paradigmatic for all the other days of the week. It’s “the” day from which all the other days flow and derive its meaning, and to which all the other days also tend and seek as to their goal and fulfillment.
Sunday therefore gives us the proper Christian meaning of our life, of time, of everything in our life. This was how the early Christian understood Sunday. This is how we should understand it also.
Of course, the best way to “live in accordance with the Lord’s Day” is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist or the Holy Mass, which is the sacrament—a mysterious but no less real and actual re-presenting—of our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.
In Christian liturgy, the sacrament is not merely a dramatization of what happened in the past. It is an actual re-presentation of the very same event that took place centuries ago, this time through words, signs and our human cooperation. This is all due to God’s will and omnipotence.
In the Holy Mass, we celebrate the very climax and summary Christ’s redemptive work for us. In it, Christ makes available to us all the gains and merits of his redemptive work.
The challenge we have today is how to convey and keep alive the overwhelming richness of this reality about our Sunday obligation in all of us. It is how to make everyone see that the Sunday obligation is actually everything for us.
This means also that we need to find a realistic way of linking everything to it. And of how Sunday with its intrinsic requirement of the celebration of the Mass is necessary in giving proper meaning and direction to everything that we have and do.
Many go simply out of routine. Thanks to God, in spite of the inroads of modernist attitudes that erode our sense of the sacred, our culture is still predominantly Christian, at least in form and practices if not anymore so much in substance.
Yes, many still go to Church to Sundays. That’s because in spite of the imperfections in our knowledge, we still get some glimpses of sanctity in this activity. The heart can go further than what the mind and the social customs can show. The duty for continuing catechesis on this topic is therefore really a must.
This is not to mention the usual elements that tend to undermine the proper understanding of our Sunday obligation. These can be our daily concerns, or the mere passage of time that can blunt what’s referred to as the “radical newness” that Sunday as the Day of the Lord possesses.
Thus, I was happy to be reminded recently of the relevant Catholic doctrine in the document “Sacramentum caritatis” of Pope Benedict XVI. In it, he traced the origin of the Christian meaning of Sunday.
According to him, the early Christians already had a customary practice of gathering on the first day (Sunday) of the week—after the Sabbath, which is the last day—to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
Understanding Christ’s resurrection as his ultimate victory over sin and death, or the ultimate victory of his cross, the early Christians understood Sunday as the “new day,” the day of our re-creation, of our salvation, “the day the Lord has made.”
The first Christians were convinced that the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection on Sunday was the attainment of our authentic freedom and liberation, a goal reached and made available to us by Christ but requiring our cooperation.
That’s why they looked at Sunday in a very special way. St. Ignatius of Antioch coined an expression to describe the attitude the early Christians had toward Sunday. He said they were “living in accordance with the Lord’s Day.”
This “living in accordance with the Lord’s Day” simply meant that the early Christians were keenly aware of the liberation won by Christ. They also sharply felt the duty to make their lives a constant self-offering to God, so that Christ’s victory can be reflected in their deeply renewed existence.
Sunday became paradigmatic for all the other days of the week. It’s “the” day from which all the other days flow and derive its meaning, and to which all the other days also tend and seek as to their goal and fulfillment.
Sunday therefore gives us the proper Christian meaning of our life, of time, of everything in our life. This was how the early Christian understood Sunday. This is how we should understand it also.
Of course, the best way to “live in accordance with the Lord’s Day” is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist or the Holy Mass, which is the sacrament—a mysterious but no less real and actual re-presenting—of our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.
In Christian liturgy, the sacrament is not merely a dramatization of what happened in the past. It is an actual re-presentation of the very same event that took place centuries ago, this time through words, signs and our human cooperation. This is all due to God’s will and omnipotence.
In the Holy Mass, we celebrate the very climax and summary Christ’s redemptive work for us. In it, Christ makes available to us all the gains and merits of his redemptive work.
The challenge we have today is how to convey and keep alive the overwhelming richness of this reality about our Sunday obligation in all of us. It is how to make everyone see that the Sunday obligation is actually everything for us.
This means also that we need to find a realistic way of linking everything to it. And of how Sunday with its intrinsic requirement of the celebration of the Mass is necessary in giving proper meaning and direction to everything that we have and do.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Glimmer in somber November
DESPITE the gloomy sound and feel of November, what with its widespread commemoration of the dead, there are many bright and sunshiny reasons to be happy in this penultimate month of the year.
November invites us, even challenges us, to think big, to leave behind our small-town outlook, our earth-and-time-bound mentality to consider the ultimate dimensions of our life.
We are meant for heaven, for supernatural and eternal life, for communion with our Father-Creator and among ourselves, etc. We are meant for things that can never be found in our life here on earth, no matter how rich and successful we may be in our endeavors.
We honor these very sublime truths with the celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1 and the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 23. We are meant to form one family, one kingdom among ourselves with God.
Remember that parable of the rich man with a good harvest? “What shall I do?” he asked himself. “I have no place to store my harvest. I know!” he said. “I will pull down my grain bins and build larger ones…Then I will say to myself: You have blessings in reserve for years to come. Relax! Eat heartily, drink well. Enjoy yourself.
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life shall be required of you. To whom will all this piled-up wealth of yours go?” That is the way it works with the man who grows rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God.” (Lk 12,15-21)
Yes, we are meant to be rich in God’s grace. That is the true measure of our dignity. It’s not in our possessions. It’s not even in our accomplishments, though these have their value. It’s in how deeply our heart gets identified with God’s will. It’s whether we are truly in love, not entangled with love’s caricatures.
November challenges us to expand our perspectives so that we can keep an abiding sense of eternity and supernatural life, even while here on earth and immersed in its affairs. We have to learn go beyond the sensible and the sentimental.
November invites us to derive practical lessons from the frequent considerations of the Last Things: death, judgment, hell, heaven. We should lose the fear of making these considerations. They actually complete our vision and understanding of things, and help us to distinguish what is essential in life.
We have to be wary of our tendency to get trapped in a purely earthly outlook. This is the big problem we have. While there’s a need to get fully immersed in our worldly affairs, material and temporal, this should not be at the expense of the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life.
We have to learn to combine both dimensions, just as St. Paul said: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly.” (1 Cor 15,49) More, even if we get deep in human matters, we ought to keep our conversation in heaven. St. Paul said so in Philippians 3,20.
We have to convince ourselves that this blending and linking between the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the natural and the supernatural are not only possible and feasible. It is also what is proper to us.
In fact, the need for integration does not stop in those areas alone. It extends to our need to combine our individual and social dimensions. We don’t live for ourselves alone. We are meant to live for and with others.
Our social character is not an optional thing. It is an essential part of our being. There is no human perfection unless it is considered in the context of our social nature. We are not only individual persons. We are meant to form one organic family.
The ways to do all these combining processes are all available. We have the capacity, we have the ways. Besides, in the first place, there is also the grace of God that insures the effectiveness of our efforts.
We need to pay more attention to this need. We need to break the barriers of time and space, and the other limitations of our human earthly condition, so we can enter into the real world meant for us.
This is the challenge we have in November. Don’t you think it should be an exciting month rather than a somber, gloomy one?
November invites us, even challenges us, to think big, to leave behind our small-town outlook, our earth-and-time-bound mentality to consider the ultimate dimensions of our life.
We are meant for heaven, for supernatural and eternal life, for communion with our Father-Creator and among ourselves, etc. We are meant for things that can never be found in our life here on earth, no matter how rich and successful we may be in our endeavors.
We honor these very sublime truths with the celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1 and the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 23. We are meant to form one family, one kingdom among ourselves with God.
Remember that parable of the rich man with a good harvest? “What shall I do?” he asked himself. “I have no place to store my harvest. I know!” he said. “I will pull down my grain bins and build larger ones…Then I will say to myself: You have blessings in reserve for years to come. Relax! Eat heartily, drink well. Enjoy yourself.
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life shall be required of you. To whom will all this piled-up wealth of yours go?” That is the way it works with the man who grows rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God.” (Lk 12,15-21)
Yes, we are meant to be rich in God’s grace. That is the true measure of our dignity. It’s not in our possessions. It’s not even in our accomplishments, though these have their value. It’s in how deeply our heart gets identified with God’s will. It’s whether we are truly in love, not entangled with love’s caricatures.
November challenges us to expand our perspectives so that we can keep an abiding sense of eternity and supernatural life, even while here on earth and immersed in its affairs. We have to learn go beyond the sensible and the sentimental.
November invites us to derive practical lessons from the frequent considerations of the Last Things: death, judgment, hell, heaven. We should lose the fear of making these considerations. They actually complete our vision and understanding of things, and help us to distinguish what is essential in life.
We have to be wary of our tendency to get trapped in a purely earthly outlook. This is the big problem we have. While there’s a need to get fully immersed in our worldly affairs, material and temporal, this should not be at the expense of the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life.
We have to learn to combine both dimensions, just as St. Paul said: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly.” (1 Cor 15,49) More, even if we get deep in human matters, we ought to keep our conversation in heaven. St. Paul said so in Philippians 3,20.
We have to convince ourselves that this blending and linking between the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the natural and the supernatural are not only possible and feasible. It is also what is proper to us.
In fact, the need for integration does not stop in those areas alone. It extends to our need to combine our individual and social dimensions. We don’t live for ourselves alone. We are meant to live for and with others.
Our social character is not an optional thing. It is an essential part of our being. There is no human perfection unless it is considered in the context of our social nature. We are not only individual persons. We are meant to form one organic family.
The ways to do all these combining processes are all available. We have the capacity, we have the ways. Besides, in the first place, there is also the grace of God that insures the effectiveness of our efforts.
We need to pay more attention to this need. We need to break the barriers of time and space, and the other limitations of our human earthly condition, so we can enter into the real world meant for us.
This is the challenge we have in November. Don’t you think it should be an exciting month rather than a somber, gloomy one?
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