GERMANY recently warned the US that its current economic policies might be creating a market bubble. Germany reiterated the same warning issued earlier by China on the once powerful American country that seems to be sinking in quicksand.
Of course, this is financial talk, and I have long ago abandoned that field. As priest, I talk about something else, though I must confess that with my economics background, I still follow market developments around the world. It’s my form of rest.
But I’m more interested in talking about “bubbles” as they relate to our spiritual and moral life. They are something to be avoided at all costs, and we always have to be on guard since they can come to us in a most subtle and deceitful way given our present conditions.
Bubbles are, of course, fantasy worlds that we create. They are an artificial, false reality that we spin in our head and that can afflict many people and even societies, because of our weaknesses plus, not to forget it, the tricks of the devil. He exists!
They are a very vicious phenomenon since they have that uncanny quality of convincing us precisely that with them we are most tightly in touch with reality. That’s their specialty. But the objective reality cannot be fooled for long. Bubbles are meant to burst sooner than later.
They emerge as soon as we disengage our mind, will and heart from their proper source and goal, none other than God’s will and providence. That’s the blunt truth about this whole affair, though people might want to question or discuss it further. We don’t have space for that now.
Suffice it to say that our mind, will and heart, the most precious treasures we have, did not just come to exist spontaneously. They come from a source, and no matter how we look at it, that origin can only be traced ultimately to God.
Coming from a source, God, they also are meant to have God as their object. They need to be vitally connected to him for them to function properly. Our problem is that we get intoxicated with the powers of these endowments and we tend to use them as if we are our own Gods, our own source and goal.
We need to do all to be in touch with God always, strengthening it along the way as we encounter all sorts of challenges and temptations that can weaken such grounding proper to us. And these challenges and temptations are many.
We need to pray always, rectify our intentions, deepen our knowledge of things by going beyond what our senses and reason show us and plunging deeper into the world of faith, the spiritual and the supernatural, and all the time doing all this with a lot of naturalness, never losing our basic humanity.
At the same, while trying to avoid creating bubbles and given some bad elements in our environments, we need to find some refuge, a kind of cocoon where we can be protected and can pursue the process of growth and transformation, much like the worm into the butterfly.
This cocoon can be in the form of a strongly established and clearly defined plan of life, consisting of practices of piety and other elements that remind us and encourage us to develop virtues in an abiding way.
Different schools of spirituality offer such plans of life. All we need to do is to choose the one that suits us best and start to live it.
Linking with God, the source and goal of our reality, is not easy. But all the effort we need to make is all worth it. Let’s just remember the wonderful stories of some handicapped people who managed to overcome their difficulty to blend with the world beautifully and contribute a lot to it.
We have Hellen Keller, deaf and blind, who with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, found a way to know the outside world and to offer her wonderful contributions to it.
We also have the blind Louis Braille, responsible for giving the blind a way to read and to get connected with the rest of us. Then there’s that Irish Christy Brown, sick with cerebral palsy who hardly moved. He discovered that his left foot can still move, and with it he learned to write and paint and other things.
It’s all worth it. God is around. He never abandons us, though he may want to play with us, sometimes easy, sometimes tough.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Hot!
JUST like in some aspects and affairs in our life, in our spiritual life we also need to be hot. If we truly are to be spiritually alive, thatś what is necessary. Otherwise, weĺl just be wasting our time and exposing ourselves to danger.
In the Book of Revelation itself, the exhortation to be hot (or cold) is made. ¨I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.¨ (3,15-16)
In the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, though marked with a certain calmness and restraint, what is clear is the determination and single-mindedness to carry out this mission. When it was time for him to go to Jerusalem to finish his work by offering his life on the Cross, he could not be stopped.
Peter tried to, and he received a stinging rebuke: ¨Get behind me, Satan. You are a scandal to me, because you savor not the things of God, but only the things of men.¨ (Mt 16,23)
In another part of the Gospel, our Lord showed that determination by saying: ¨No man takes my life away from me. I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.¨(Jn 10,18)
A closer scrutiny of our Lordś life reveals that he was always doing the will of his Father. ¨Not my will, but yours be done,¨ (Lk 22,42) goes that famous line showing how united his will was to his Fatherś will, in spite of all the suffering.
It might be good for all of us to examine how we use our own will, and in what condition it is found. Is our will simply our own, completely possessed and used by us as if it did not come from somewhere and meant to be engaged somewhere? Is that will hot in pursuit of something, or is it simply taking it easy, waiting for things to happen?
Very often we take this matter for granted, in the thought that our will is simply our own, our most precious treasure where no one is supposed to enter or to influence, except what we want to do with it.
This attitude, to my mind, is the very basic anomaly that can come to us. Itś the unfaithful spouse and parent who begets all the other disorders in our life. Unless we realize this, I don´t think we can start to really understand the nature, purpose and meaning of our life here on earth.
Our will is a gift from God. Together with our intelligence, itś what makes us image and likeness of God. With grace, it makes us children of his, meant not only to come from him and to belong to him like all other creatures, but also to participate in Godś very own life.
We need to engage our will with the will of God always. We cannot use it just by ourselves, hooking it up with just anything. That would be unfaithful to its origin and objective. That would hold it captive merely to our own designs and detached from the very mighty source of its life and energy.
We need to continually reinforce this union and consonance between Godś will and ours, given the fragile human condition we are in, what with all our weaknesses of the flesh and of the spirit, not to mention the confusing allurements of the world and the snares of the devil.
Thatś why thereś always need for it to be revved up and made hot frequently. Itś actually a bad sign when that will is idle and quite empty of the good stuff it is supposed to feed on, that is, the things of God and things of the others that should always occupy our mind and heart. This is what true love, our will’s best use, is.
This is our main problem. We do not know how to plug our will on God, and make it hot all the time.
For this, of course, we need to be trained. This should be our first and constant concern. This is possible. The means are there. In the first place, this is Godś will for us.
Otherwise, we will receive the reproach of Christ: ¨What does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?¨ (Mt 16,26)
In the Book of Revelation itself, the exhortation to be hot (or cold) is made. ¨I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.¨ (3,15-16)
In the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, though marked with a certain calmness and restraint, what is clear is the determination and single-mindedness to carry out this mission. When it was time for him to go to Jerusalem to finish his work by offering his life on the Cross, he could not be stopped.
Peter tried to, and he received a stinging rebuke: ¨Get behind me, Satan. You are a scandal to me, because you savor not the things of God, but only the things of men.¨ (Mt 16,23)
In another part of the Gospel, our Lord showed that determination by saying: ¨No man takes my life away from me. I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.¨(Jn 10,18)
A closer scrutiny of our Lordś life reveals that he was always doing the will of his Father. ¨Not my will, but yours be done,¨ (Lk 22,42) goes that famous line showing how united his will was to his Fatherś will, in spite of all the suffering.
It might be good for all of us to examine how we use our own will, and in what condition it is found. Is our will simply our own, completely possessed and used by us as if it did not come from somewhere and meant to be engaged somewhere? Is that will hot in pursuit of something, or is it simply taking it easy, waiting for things to happen?
Very often we take this matter for granted, in the thought that our will is simply our own, our most precious treasure where no one is supposed to enter or to influence, except what we want to do with it.
This attitude, to my mind, is the very basic anomaly that can come to us. Itś the unfaithful spouse and parent who begets all the other disorders in our life. Unless we realize this, I don´t think we can start to really understand the nature, purpose and meaning of our life here on earth.
Our will is a gift from God. Together with our intelligence, itś what makes us image and likeness of God. With grace, it makes us children of his, meant not only to come from him and to belong to him like all other creatures, but also to participate in Godś very own life.
We need to engage our will with the will of God always. We cannot use it just by ourselves, hooking it up with just anything. That would be unfaithful to its origin and objective. That would hold it captive merely to our own designs and detached from the very mighty source of its life and energy.
We need to continually reinforce this union and consonance between Godś will and ours, given the fragile human condition we are in, what with all our weaknesses of the flesh and of the spirit, not to mention the confusing allurements of the world and the snares of the devil.
Thatś why thereś always need for it to be revved up and made hot frequently. Itś actually a bad sign when that will is idle and quite empty of the good stuff it is supposed to feed on, that is, the things of God and things of the others that should always occupy our mind and heart. This is what true love, our will’s best use, is.
This is our main problem. We do not know how to plug our will on God, and make it hot all the time.
For this, of course, we need to be trained. This should be our first and constant concern. This is possible. The means are there. In the first place, this is Godś will for us.
Otherwise, we will receive the reproach of Christ: ¨What does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?¨ (Mt 16,26)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
From one bigotry to another
POPE Benedict recently reminded the academic world to do its task of educating students properly. He zeroed in on the need for solid, clear ethical grounding that the youth need if they have to be properly equipped to face the multi-challenges of the present and the future.
“University communities cannot be satisfied with merely imparting knowledge. They must also teach students values and profound motivations,” the Pope said.
This is, plainly speaking, a tall order. The task of imparting knowledge alone is already a gigantic job, what with all the explosion of data that are now almost literally floating in space, waiting to be known and utilized.
At the moment, many people are at a loss as to what to make of the profusion of information glutting our media and other places. In this kind of situation itś very easy to appear knowledgeable without being truly educated.
But the task of teaching “values and profound motivations,” which is actually the real McCoy in the business of education and formation, is simply beyond description.
It involves nothing less than entering into the minds and hearts of the students, and forming them in the truth and in charity in all their aspects and levels. This is mainly a spiritual affair, to which many of us are still very much uncomfortable.
And mind you, this cannot be done simply by giving classes and dishing out lessons plans and modules of data and information, no matter how indispensable they also are.
Our problem is that we are often stuck with the collective means of formation, remaining most of the time on the surface only, on the formal and external levels. Thereś a crucial gap that is not effectively addressed by us. We are still averse to the idea of getting into peopleś interior life.
This is not to mention that many teachers and educators are in the dark about what to say and teach about values formation and motivating students. In many instances, deformation is made rather than formation, because of ignorance and incompetence in this area.
My experience is that every time I get to talk to a student individually, especially when I look at their eyes, I see an abyss, a veritable whole new world and universe that needs to be explored, understood and tutored.
It’s a delicate world out there that needs to be handled properly. A lot of patience is required, plus a great capacity for understanding and compassion, for creativity, flexibility and optimism.
Of course, one has to be well grounded on the clear if not correct anthropology, on a good understanding of the true nature of man, in all his aspects. He too has to learn the art and skill of dispensing pieces of advice in a timely manner.
I don’t think it’s an impossible task. But definitely it’s a very difficult and most trying job. Just the same, if the will is set on it, and that will is translated into action stretched in perseverance and is made to develop into a kind of system, things can be a lot easier and even enjoyable, gratifying and enlightening.
What we have to avoid is to allow the process of education to stay in the external level. It has to go all the way to touching the very mind and heart of the student, conforming them ultimately to the mind and heart of God.
A stunted kind of formation will produce the anomaly known as bigotry or narrow-mindedness. In time, its ill-effects on the persons and society will appear, leaving a mess of one kind or another.
In the past, when the religious kind of formation was dominant, this disorder of religious and clerical bigotry came about, precisely because the education froze in the formalistic aspect without touching base with the hearts of people.
This bigotry produced people who could not apply their professed faith into their work and other earthly affairs like business and politics. There’s inconsistency. And it breeds all forms of deceit and hypocrisy.
Nowadays, when education is dominated by a secular approach, a swing to the other extreme takes place. When the same neglect is also committed, we get the phenomenon of secularist bigotry, intolerant of things spiritual and supernatural.
What we have to aim at is an education and formation that is ongoing and abiding, that goes all the way both to its foundations and to its real goals, and is holistic since it blends all the aspects of man, material and spiritual, natural and supernatural, temporal and eternal.
“University communities cannot be satisfied with merely imparting knowledge. They must also teach students values and profound motivations,” the Pope said.
This is, plainly speaking, a tall order. The task of imparting knowledge alone is already a gigantic job, what with all the explosion of data that are now almost literally floating in space, waiting to be known and utilized.
At the moment, many people are at a loss as to what to make of the profusion of information glutting our media and other places. In this kind of situation itś very easy to appear knowledgeable without being truly educated.
But the task of teaching “values and profound motivations,” which is actually the real McCoy in the business of education and formation, is simply beyond description.
It involves nothing less than entering into the minds and hearts of the students, and forming them in the truth and in charity in all their aspects and levels. This is mainly a spiritual affair, to which many of us are still very much uncomfortable.
And mind you, this cannot be done simply by giving classes and dishing out lessons plans and modules of data and information, no matter how indispensable they also are.
Our problem is that we are often stuck with the collective means of formation, remaining most of the time on the surface only, on the formal and external levels. Thereś a crucial gap that is not effectively addressed by us. We are still averse to the idea of getting into peopleś interior life.
This is not to mention that many teachers and educators are in the dark about what to say and teach about values formation and motivating students. In many instances, deformation is made rather than formation, because of ignorance and incompetence in this area.
My experience is that every time I get to talk to a student individually, especially when I look at their eyes, I see an abyss, a veritable whole new world and universe that needs to be explored, understood and tutored.
It’s a delicate world out there that needs to be handled properly. A lot of patience is required, plus a great capacity for understanding and compassion, for creativity, flexibility and optimism.
Of course, one has to be well grounded on the clear if not correct anthropology, on a good understanding of the true nature of man, in all his aspects. He too has to learn the art and skill of dispensing pieces of advice in a timely manner.
I don’t think it’s an impossible task. But definitely it’s a very difficult and most trying job. Just the same, if the will is set on it, and that will is translated into action stretched in perseverance and is made to develop into a kind of system, things can be a lot easier and even enjoyable, gratifying and enlightening.
What we have to avoid is to allow the process of education to stay in the external level. It has to go all the way to touching the very mind and heart of the student, conforming them ultimately to the mind and heart of God.
A stunted kind of formation will produce the anomaly known as bigotry or narrow-mindedness. In time, its ill-effects on the persons and society will appear, leaving a mess of one kind or another.
In the past, when the religious kind of formation was dominant, this disorder of religious and clerical bigotry came about, precisely because the education froze in the formalistic aspect without touching base with the hearts of people.
This bigotry produced people who could not apply their professed faith into their work and other earthly affairs like business and politics. There’s inconsistency. And it breeds all forms of deceit and hypocrisy.
Nowadays, when education is dominated by a secular approach, a swing to the other extreme takes place. When the same neglect is also committed, we get the phenomenon of secularist bigotry, intolerant of things spiritual and supernatural.
What we have to aim at is an education and formation that is ongoing and abiding, that goes all the way both to its foundations and to its real goals, and is holistic since it blends all the aspects of man, material and spiritual, natural and supernatural, temporal and eternal.
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