OF course, Christ is always alive, whether we are aware of it or not.He is God. But as the Easter Triduum reminded us, he truly died, a victim of all our sins. And on the third day he rose again. He now lives, and forever. "Why seek the living one among the dead?" (Lk 24,5)
We have to be more aware of this truth, and be more consistent to this reality. Our problem is that we are good in professing it--even turgid and pompous in expressing it--but our life many times reflects the opposite.
Christ, for many of us, remains dead, a figure buried in the past, a word, an idea, a psychological crutch, a pious decoration, a political tool, a mere symbol. We mangle him again, use and abuse him, exploit him to suit our will.
The constant challenge we have is how to activate our faith such that Christ is truly alive in us. He should be present in our mind and heart, in our lips and senses. We should continually deal with him, speaking to him, consulting him, asking, begging, etc.
Christ should be in our thoughts and desires. He should be inside us and outside us as well. We should learn to see his face, no matter how disfigured, everywhere and in everyone.
We should look for him, find, love and serve him in all aspects of our lives--personal, family, social, professional, business, political, etc. This is the challenge. But how can we effectively meet this challenge?
Even before consciously activating our faith, our common sense will already tell us that we have to exert the effort to deal with him, trying to get to know him better, to spend time with him, to stay close to him.
From this basic intuition, we will realize through our faith that we need to develop certain indispensable practices and habits, like praying, spiritual reading, having recourse to the sacraments, undertaking a lifelong ascetical struggle, and having other norms of piety truly helpful to us in all our circumstances.
We have to realize that we need to study well the doctrines of Christ, now left with the Church and authoritatively taught by it. These doctrines are not just brilliant ideas. They are the living Christ impacting on our human condition. They have to be taken seriously.
We need to be mature Christians, "unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ," as St. Paul told us (Eph 4,13), Christians who know how to be so both in the Church and in the world, in name and in deeds, actively pursuing God's plan for man through the apostolate.
But, alas, these things can sound Greek to many. The truth is many of us appear helplessly gripped in worldly allurements. We seem completely infatuated with the world, and our taste for the sacred is disappearing.
This situation, of course, makes us prone to worse things. St. Paul talked about us being like "children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph 4,14)
Worse, St. Paul also warned us that "there shall be a time when people will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers according to their own lusts...and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will turn to fables." (2 Tim 4,3-4)
This, in my view, is what is happening in the phenomenon of the "Da Vinci Code" book and forthcoming film, and the recent issue of the "Gospel of Judas."
The curiosity generated by these things speaks volumes of the kind of Christian life many people are having these days. This is really lamentable, made worse when all sorts of rationalizations are made to prop that curiosity.
Sometimes, I wonder why with all the achievements of modern science and technology, we still appear quite naive with respect to our faith and worldly matters. We cannot seem to outgrow it.
Christ is alive! He is in the Holy Eucharist and in the sacraments and in the Gospels. He is in the Church and also in the world, and in every person, rich or poor. We have to find a way to find him and love him truly with deeds whatever the circumstance!
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Keeping Christ alive
OF course, Christ is always alive, whether we are aware of it or not.He is God. But as the Easter Triduum reminded us, he truly died, a victim of all our sins. And on the third day he rose again. He now lives, and forever. "Why seek the living one among the dead?" (Lk 24,5)
We have to be more aware of this truth, and be more consistent to this reality. Our problem is that we are good in professing it--even turgid and pompous in expressing it--but our life many times reflects the opposite.
Christ, for many of us, remains dead, a figure buried in the past, a word, an idea, a psychological crutch, a pious decoration, a political tool, a mere symbol. We mangle him again, use and abuse him, exploit him to suit our will.
The constant challenge we have is how to activate our faith such that Christ is truly alive in us. He should be present in our mind and heart, in our lips and senses. We should continually deal with him, speaking to him, consulting him, asking, begging, etc.
Christ should be in our thoughts and desires. He should be inside us and outside us as well. We should learn to see his face, no matter how disfigured, everywhere and in everyone.
We should look for him, find, love and serve him in all aspects of our lives--personal, family, social, professional, business, political, etc. This is the challenge. But how can we effectively meet this challenge?
Even before consciously activating our faith, our common sense will already tell us that we have to exert the effort to deal with him, trying to get to know him better, to spend time with him, to stay close to him.
From this basic intuition, we will realize through our faith that we need to develop certain indispensable practices and habits, like praying, spiritual reading, having recourse to the sacraments, undertaking a lifelong ascetical struggle, and having other norms of piety truly helpful to us in all our circumstances.
We have to realize that we need to study well the doctrines of Christ, now left with the Church and authoritatively taught by it. These doctrines are not just brilliant ideas. They are the living Christ impacting on our human condition. They have to be taken seriously.
We need to be mature Christians, "unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ," as St. Paul told us (Eph 4,13), Christians who know how to be so both in the Church and in the world, in name and in deeds, actively pursuing God's plan for man through the apostolate.
But, alas, these things can sound Greek to many. The truth is many of us appear helplessly gripped in worldly allurements. We seem completely infatuated with the world, and our taste for the sacred is disappearing.
This situation, of course, makes us prone to worse things. St. Paul talked about us being like "children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph 4,14)
Worse, St. Paul also warned us that "there shall be a time when people will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers according to their own lusts...and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will turn to fables." (2 Tim 4,3-4)
This, in my view, is what is happening in the phenomenon of the "Da Vinci Code" book and forthcoming film, and the recent issue of the "Gospel of Judas."
The curiosity generated by these things speaks volumes of the kind of Christian life many people are having these days. This is really lamentable, made worse when all sorts of rationalizations are made to prop that curiosity.
Sometimes, I wonder why with all the achievements of modern science and technology, we still appear quite naive with respect to our faith and worldly matters. We cannot seem to outgrow it.
Christ is alive! He is in the Holy Eucharist and in the sacraments and in the Gospels. He is in the Church and also in the world, and in every person, rich or poor. We have to find a way to find him and love him truly with deeds whatever the circumstance!
We have to be more aware of this truth, and be more consistent to this reality. Our problem is that we are good in professing it--even turgid and pompous in expressing it--but our life many times reflects the opposite.
Christ, for many of us, remains dead, a figure buried in the past, a word, an idea, a psychological crutch, a pious decoration, a political tool, a mere symbol. We mangle him again, use and abuse him, exploit him to suit our will.
The constant challenge we have is how to activate our faith such that Christ is truly alive in us. He should be present in our mind and heart, in our lips and senses. We should continually deal with him, speaking to him, consulting him, asking, begging, etc.
Christ should be in our thoughts and desires. He should be inside us and outside us as well. We should learn to see his face, no matter how disfigured, everywhere and in everyone.
We should look for him, find, love and serve him in all aspects of our lives--personal, family, social, professional, business, political, etc. This is the challenge. But how can we effectively meet this challenge?
Even before consciously activating our faith, our common sense will already tell us that we have to exert the effort to deal with him, trying to get to know him better, to spend time with him, to stay close to him.
From this basic intuition, we will realize through our faith that we need to develop certain indispensable practices and habits, like praying, spiritual reading, having recourse to the sacraments, undertaking a lifelong ascetical struggle, and having other norms of piety truly helpful to us in all our circumstances.
We have to realize that we need to study well the doctrines of Christ, now left with the Church and authoritatively taught by it. These doctrines are not just brilliant ideas. They are the living Christ impacting on our human condition. They have to be taken seriously.
We need to be mature Christians, "unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ," as St. Paul told us (Eph 4,13), Christians who know how to be so both in the Church and in the world, in name and in deeds, actively pursuing God's plan for man through the apostolate.
But, alas, these things can sound Greek to many. The truth is many of us appear helplessly gripped in worldly allurements. We seem completely infatuated with the world, and our taste for the sacred is disappearing.
This situation, of course, makes us prone to worse things. St. Paul talked about us being like "children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph 4,14)
Worse, St. Paul also warned us that "there shall be a time when people will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers according to their own lusts...and will turn away their hearing from the truth, but will turn to fables." (2 Tim 4,3-4)
This, in my view, is what is happening in the phenomenon of the "Da Vinci Code" book and forthcoming film, and the recent issue of the "Gospel of Judas."
The curiosity generated by these things speaks volumes of the kind of Christian life many people are having these days. This is really lamentable, made worse when all sorts of rationalizations are made to prop that curiosity.
Sometimes, I wonder why with all the achievements of modern science and technology, we still appear quite naive with respect to our faith and worldly matters. We cannot seem to outgrow it.
Christ is alive! He is in the Holy Eucharist and in the sacraments and in the Gospels. He is in the Church and also in the world, and in every person, rich or poor. We have to find a way to find him and love him truly with deeds whatever the circumstance!
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Graduation thoughts
AS chaplain of a number of schools, l can’t help but get involved in the preparation and celebration of the graduation of students. I consider it a very rewarding privilege, especially when I finally get to celebrate the Holy Mass for them and to say my little piece of reflections.
Graduations are blessed occasions to give thanks to God and to many others—parents, teachers, students, etc. They also allow us to consider again certain basic truths that we tend to take for granted.
In my view, graduations remind us that our life here on earth is made of parts and stages. Graduations, among other things, precisely mark these points of transition. But they actually point to a very important truth.
And this is none other than that our life, though made of different parts and stages, is actually one, the very one created by God though procreated by parents, and meant to participate in the very life of God.
It is a life that comes from God and belongs to God. Given our nature and the way we are, it is a life meant to be knowingly and lovingly offered to God. Man is meaningless without God.
The basic structure of our life can readily validate this truth. The different parts of our being—our intelligence, our will, our emotions and bodily aspects, even our social life—find their proper objects in God.
But these truths are often taken for granted. And sometimes from this indifference and complacency, a more serious attitude of disbelief can develop with a matching moral life that can not rid itself from sin and evil.
The problem that we often have is to consider education independently of God. The problem comes when we pursue our idea of human development and maturity outside of the forces of religion and faith.
The problem develops when we simply depend and rely on our own powers, often forgetting that these powers—our intelligence and will, especially—come from God, and have to be used according to God’s laws, not simply to our own will.
This problem can become so widespread that we can talk about a certain secularization, that is, a systematic removal of God from all human affairs, replacing him with our own ideas of what is good and bad. We develop a secularized world.
We now make ourselves our own God, the ultimate creator and designer of the world, of what is right and wrong, etc. And thus, everything now depends on us. What we cannot cope, we simply dismiss, and we don’t seem to care about what would happen. This is the ultimate expression of self-deification.
The task of education is precisely to form men and women into real persons aware of who they really are and what they ought to be and do. This is when we realize that we need to pray to be in constant contact with God.
Education develops the different aspects of our life with God as the ultimate and constant principle, goal, pattern and driving source of energy. The challenge is how we can make this truth a living reality in all of us.
Only in this way can we, for example, pursue our physical development that would feel the need for modesty and chastity. The pursuit for beauty and strength would be cleared of vanity and arrogance.
Our intellectual development would always follow the objective standards of truth and recognize the role of faith. It would always be exercised in humility.
Only in this way can we use our freedom properly, vitally linking it to truth, and thus making it compatible always with responsibility and obedience. Freedom would never be a capricious, licentious freedom.
Graduations make us realize all these, and many, many more. Remember, they mark those points of transition that connect us to other stages until we reach our proper end, and that’s God, our Creator, Father and Savior.
Graduations are blessed occasions to give thanks to God and to many others—parents, teachers, students, etc. They also allow us to consider again certain basic truths that we tend to take for granted.
In my view, graduations remind us that our life here on earth is made of parts and stages. Graduations, among other things, precisely mark these points of transition. But they actually point to a very important truth.
And this is none other than that our life, though made of different parts and stages, is actually one, the very one created by God though procreated by parents, and meant to participate in the very life of God.
It is a life that comes from God and belongs to God. Given our nature and the way we are, it is a life meant to be knowingly and lovingly offered to God. Man is meaningless without God.
The basic structure of our life can readily validate this truth. The different parts of our being—our intelligence, our will, our emotions and bodily aspects, even our social life—find their proper objects in God.
But these truths are often taken for granted. And sometimes from this indifference and complacency, a more serious attitude of disbelief can develop with a matching moral life that can not rid itself from sin and evil.
The problem that we often have is to consider education independently of God. The problem comes when we pursue our idea of human development and maturity outside of the forces of religion and faith.
The problem develops when we simply depend and rely on our own powers, often forgetting that these powers—our intelligence and will, especially—come from God, and have to be used according to God’s laws, not simply to our own will.
This problem can become so widespread that we can talk about a certain secularization, that is, a systematic removal of God from all human affairs, replacing him with our own ideas of what is good and bad. We develop a secularized world.
We now make ourselves our own God, the ultimate creator and designer of the world, of what is right and wrong, etc. And thus, everything now depends on us. What we cannot cope, we simply dismiss, and we don’t seem to care about what would happen. This is the ultimate expression of self-deification.
The task of education is precisely to form men and women into real persons aware of who they really are and what they ought to be and do. This is when we realize that we need to pray to be in constant contact with God.
Education develops the different aspects of our life with God as the ultimate and constant principle, goal, pattern and driving source of energy. The challenge is how we can make this truth a living reality in all of us.
Only in this way can we, for example, pursue our physical development that would feel the need for modesty and chastity. The pursuit for beauty and strength would be cleared of vanity and arrogance.
Our intellectual development would always follow the objective standards of truth and recognize the role of faith. It would always be exercised in humility.
Only in this way can we use our freedom properly, vitally linking it to truth, and thus making it compatible always with responsibility and obedience. Freedom would never be a capricious, licentious freedom.
Graduations make us realize all these, and many, many more. Remember, they mark those points of transition that connect us to other stages until we reach our proper end, and that’s God, our Creator, Father and Savior.
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