A true Christian always cares for sinners

THIS is the lesson we can draw from that gospel episode where some Pharisees told Christ’s disciples: “Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?” (Mt 9,11) 

 To which Christ responded: “They who are healthy need not a physician, but they who are ill.” He then proceeded to say: “I have not come to call the just, but sinners.” (Mt 9,13) 

 If we truly have the mind and heart of Christ, then we should be eager to look after those who are lost, far away from the true faith, or even those who consider themselves non-believers and open enemies of God. 

 Again, this is a tall order, but we can always do something about it. We should just develop the appropriate knowledge and virtues to capture that spirit of Christ who like the Good Shepherd will always look for the lost sheep. 

 When we actually do not go all the way in our effort to identify ourselves with Christ as completely as possible, we would end up like those Pharisees of old who were openly self-righteous and quick to judge others based only on some human and worldly standards or criteria. 

 We have to remember that God, as Christ told us clearly, cares for everyone of us. He does not make distinction of persons insofar as loving is concerned. His love is universal. It covers all. 

 This is the thought that should be with us everytime we see the differences and the great variety of conditions we have among ourselves. Yes, we have to acknowledge our differences, our advantages and disadvantages, etc., but we should not forget that God loves all of us and that we too should love everybody else the way God loves all. 

 Let us remind ourselves that our differences are meant to develop, if not enrich, everyone through the dynamics of complementation and supplementation. Let’s see to it that we are not unduly entangled with the unavoidable tension and conflict, and that we manage to go past them and see the bigger picture. 

 What is incumbent on us is to give what we have, what has been entrusted to us by God—our talents and other gifts—as much as we could for the common good. This is where our true joy and self-fulfillment can be found. It’s in giving that we truly love, and that we truly get blessed. 

 We have to develop this kind of love that would urge us to look after the lost sheep. Do we know, for example how to deal with an unbeliever, an atheist or agnostic? Or a smart alecky fellow who actually has great potentials to help but is oblivious of his duty to be concerned with the lives of others? 

 We have to be wary of the subtle temptation to classify people without knowing how to put them together in one communion as we all ought to be, with God as the principle, end, pattern and power for that communion. 

 Everyone should be concerned for the common good, both temporal and eternal, material and spiritual, and should know how to work together in solidarity and subsidiarity. 

 We should be wary of things that would stir up our emotions and feelings such that we follow the playbooks of those ideologies that are already detached or even opposed to our faith and true charity. In this, we have to help one another.

What we can learn from the doubting Thomas

TO be blunt about it, what we can learn from him is to realize that it is faith more than our human and natural sciences that can lead us and explain to us the full reality that are beyond our natural world and our human self. 

 That’s because faith has a much greater scope. It includes the spiritual and the supernatural realities which our sciences cannot fully fathom, no matter how developed they are, although they can lead us to these realities. 

 Our usual problem is that we rely too much on our sciences, as if they have the last word and as if they can show us the full extent of the reality of our whole life and of the whole universe. That is why on the Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle, the risen Christ told him, “Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed.” (Jn 20,29) 

 Of course, we have to realize also that faith is, first of all, a gift given to us by God. We need to receive it gratefully and live according to it. It is not something we make or invent. And this faith is made tangible to us because the very author of reality, God, made himself man in Christ who showed us beyond doubt that he is telling us everything we need to know to be what God wants us to be. 

 More than telling us everything, Christ has provided us with everything we need to reach our real goal in life, irrespective of whatever conditions we may go through in this life. As he said himself, he is “the way, the truth and the life.” 

 Though faith cannot be fully explained by our reason alone, there are many things—in fact, everything in this world—that would make it credible and acceptable to us. And that’s because even if we use our reason alone, we can somehow discern that everything in this world actually points us to God. 

 The order, beauty and complexity of the universe, including the intricate workings of nature and the human mind, can lead us to believe in a divine creator. Given the finite nature of everything, we cannot presume that things just came into existence on their own, or spontaneously. There must be a Creator who has been existing from all eternity. 

 We need to realize that we actually need faith. Thus, these words of some of the gospel characters should also be ours. “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9,24) “Increase our faith.” (Lk 17,5) 

 We can never say that we have enough faith. We should never be complacent in this regard. Faith is an ever-dynamic thing that needs to grow and grow as well as to inspire us more deeply, thoroughly and consistently. 

 We need to make it grow to cope with our natural needs. In this level alone, we always need faith to make things very clear for us, even if in theory we can handle the natural challenges and difficulties we can encounter in life. 

 We need it to deal properly with our weakness and our proneness to commit sin. We also need it most especially, because we have to pursue a supernatural goal, and not just a natural one. 

 That is why we need to discipline our thinking and emotions, because they tend to go on their own and leave faith behind. We have to see to it that the way we think and feel should always be infused by faith, otherwise we expose ourselves to unnecessary dangers that would lead us to fear, doubts, gloominess, etc.

What true friendship is

TO be sure, true friendship is not just a matter of enjoying each other’s company, sharing things in common or just having a good time. All of these are presumed in friendship. But a friend through and through would go much farther than that, since it will always have charity as the main and ultimate driver of his relationship with his friend. 

 In other words, true friendship cannot be separated from charity. Without charity, any appearance of friendship would only be just that—an appearance that lacks the real substance. It remains in the superficial level, and cannot survive the many challenges and trials of life. It’s only good for some time, under some favorable conditions. It wilts when the unavoidable differences and conflicts among us take place. 

 True friendship has a universal scope. It can include enemies. Said in another way, with true friendship, there will be no enemies. And even those who consider themselves as enemies would be treated with utmost care and affection. True friendship works in all seasons and in all conditions. 

 We have to rediscover the authentic face of friendship. As social beings, we can never be alone, we need others. In fact, we have to be open to the ideal of being friends with everyone. 

 Yes, even our enemies, in a certain sense, should be our friends, because Christ himself told us to love our enemies. “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have?” he said. “Do not publicans do that…Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5,46-48) 

 We need to polish always our skills of making friends, starting with those details that foster closeness—greeting, smiling, spending time together, saying some nice, positive words—to the more demanding ones—flexibility to different types of characters and situations, dominating our bad humor, etc. 

 The warmth and glow proper of friendship should be readily seen and felt. It need not be showy, of course. But by and large, there is kind of heightening of feelings and desire involved in it. 

 We have to know how to enter into meaningful dialogue especially when certain issues divide us. Each one should try to understand the others, listening to their reasons of the others, trying to see things the way the others see them. 

 As persons and children of God, our friendship should go all the way to the spiritual and supernatural level. It has to go beyond, but never discard, the natural or human level. Friendship has to develop into apostolate, far beyond the dynamics of blood or social relations. 

 It just cannot remain in the natural level, given the way we are, who have been created in God’s image and likeness. It has to be theological, since our relation with others should channel the relation that the three persons in one God have among themselves, as well as the relation Christ, the pattern of our humanity, has towards everyone. 

 We should develop this friendship using both human and supernatural means. Friendship has to be based on faith and love for God. It should begin and end in God. Of course, given our human condition, this ideal will be reached in stages, with a lot of drama. But in the end, God should be the seed and fruit of friendship. 

 We have to start training ourselves in this kind of friendship as early as possible.