IN fact, we have to make our love eternal, not just abiding. This is how love should be and would be if it manages to run its full course. And thus the task we have at hand is to give all our mind, heart and strength for the attainment of such love, since the road to that goal is filled with snares and dangers.
Abiding and eternal love can only be a fruit of grace, of the love God himself so willingly and abundantly shares with us. It is the love mentioned in Christ’s new commandment that perfects all the other commandments God has given us, that we “love one another as I have loved you.”
We have to be wary of the poor and deadly imitations, the shallow and weak ones that fail to root themselves on the proper foundation of love and to tend to their proper goal.
They often ambush, spoil and frustrate the first and natural stirrings of love we always have. Infatuations, attractions based on the flesh and the allurements of the world have to be immediately identified and avoided, if they cannot be purified and repaired.
We have to teach everyone the full range of love that usually starts with what is called “eros,” loving someone because you can get something from him/her, then “filia”, loving someone because you share with him/her some things, then the most perfect, “agape,” loving someone out of pure self-giving, without expecting any return.
We have to teach everyone that such love of “agape” can only take place when our love is nothing less than a participation in the love of God. For this, we need to follow the teaching and the very example and life of Christ.
So how do we do this, how do we put this in motion, since I think we already have enough of the theories, principles and doctrine related to this matter?
My conversations with students and others have strengthened my belief that we need to teach everyone how to focus their mind and heart on God and others. The implication is that everyone should be alerted that when our thoughts and feelings just revolve around ourselves, we actually have a problem.
Many people fail to realize this. And that should not surprise us. Our own natural limitations and weaknesses, the temptations inside and around us, can be such that they become part of our culture, of our system, and grip us like a vise to think only of ourselves instead of God and others.
One young fellow once told me he prefers to be by himself, just thinking about anything that happens to cross his mind. This is actually a common phenomenon, and we have to make people see this is a poisonous situation.
We have to warn everyone of this mainstream predicament, convincing them in ways accessible to their understanding and appreciation. And from there, we have find ways of how to train people to truly fall in love, the love that is genuine.
We have to tell them to reach out to others always, and not to wait for opportunities to come, or for the ideal conditions to take place. Loving is a matter of the will, of simply wanting to be nice, to be affectionate, to be helpful, to be concerned, to understand, to forgive and make excuses and allowances for others’ defects, etc.
For this to happen, we should not depend only on our physical or emotional conditions, nor on the so-called ideal cultural or social openings to come. Many times, we have to make sacrifices, to deny ourselves of comfort, convenience, preferences.
We have to understand that sacrifice is the touchstone of love. It is what consummates love, what purifies it and expands our heart to fit everyone in any condition. Loving always involves sacrifice since it is about self-giving, adapting oneself to the others, identifying oneself with them, including our enemies.
That’s why, Christ commanded us to love our enemies, “to do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you.” (Mt 5,44) This Christian standard will obviously require a lot of effort and sacrifice from us. So, we have to be willing to give that effort and sacrifice.
This is Christian love, the source and goal of our love. It is a very powerful love described to us by St. Paul in this way: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful…Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
They don’t listen to God anymore!
WE have to say it as it is, calling a spade a spade. It may not be that politically correct. But then again, if the drift to secularism and Godlessness is just getting too obvious and strong, who cares?
A recent news item says that a majority of our town mayors are for the RH bill. The reason given is that they want the people to have an “informed choice” about family planning and population control methods.
Obviously, the news item sprang from a survey. Surveys are now the modern oracles of what is supposed to be right and wrong in society and in man in general. But God knows how these surveys are designed to arrive at a desired result!
Just look at the financiers, just look at the questions, etc. You have to be especially dumb not to know where the questionnaires are meant to head. In short, many of our surveys are nothing less than tools of black propaganda, of disinformation.
But the more serious issue here is also the quite clear reality that many of our public officials are not anymore listening to God. They are simply listening to themselves, perhaps making some kind of consensus and compromise among themselves, and with the people also. But God hardly has any place.
I’m sure the assertion will raise a howl of protest and questions. What is listening to God anyway? What does it involve? Who can say one is listening to God or not? Why does God have to be dragged into our government affairs?
In the discussion of many social issues, like the RH bill, faith is often set aside, since it is considered as anti-reason, anti-human, not politically or socially correct, a nuisance to the deliberations, etc. But how can we say we are tackling the issues adequately when faith is a priori discredited?
Truth is religion has become a meaningless affair to many people, especially those occupying positions of power and influence in our society. It has been reduced to a formalistic activity, a social custom still practiced more to meet social expectations rather than a matter of belief and conviction.
Many are still stung by the supposedly Enlightenment bias which pits reason with faith and gives no place to faith in human affairs.
If there’s still some regard to God, it is just to make God a mere idol, a pious ornamental statue that does not hear nor talk. That he is a living God who intervenes in our life all the time, who directs and governs us with his providence is lost on many people.
The proof of this is that any of our public officials refuse to tackle the moral dimension of the RH bill. Its morality is considered above their pay grade. They’re contented simply with the practical and convenient aspects of some of its parts. They obviously are happy that such bill will entitle them to some funds. The worst case is when they consider morality simply as a function of practicality and convenience.
And yet they dare to say that it is for giving the people an “informed choice” that they support the bill. How can it be an “informed choice” if they systematically avoid the moral angle as defined by the Church?
Obviously, what they can do is to arrogate to themselves the right to make a moral assessment of the RH bill by ignoring the voice of the Church. This has been done in many other countries, those that are precisely suffering from secularist tendencies. They just ignore God and go on with their agenda.
They will spare no effort to destroy the organic connection between God, Christ and the Church. And with some help of theologian-dissenters, they will propose the idea of conscience as the lone way where one can hear the voice of God, detaching conscience from its inherent need for Church magisterium.
There is now little doubt that some of our public officials are embarking on a path that sooner or later will end up attacking the Church, our Christian faith and culture. We have to be ready for this eventuality. Our public officials can pose as a potential threat to the Church and our Christian way of life.
We need to voice it out, loud and clear, that listening to God, heeding the indications of our faith, the requirements of morality as taught now by the Church, is an indispensable element in any discussion of public issues. Ignoring it will just make our reasoning get into a dangerous adventure.
A recent news item says that a majority of our town mayors are for the RH bill. The reason given is that they want the people to have an “informed choice” about family planning and population control methods.
Obviously, the news item sprang from a survey. Surveys are now the modern oracles of what is supposed to be right and wrong in society and in man in general. But God knows how these surveys are designed to arrive at a desired result!
Just look at the financiers, just look at the questions, etc. You have to be especially dumb not to know where the questionnaires are meant to head. In short, many of our surveys are nothing less than tools of black propaganda, of disinformation.
But the more serious issue here is also the quite clear reality that many of our public officials are not anymore listening to God. They are simply listening to themselves, perhaps making some kind of consensus and compromise among themselves, and with the people also. But God hardly has any place.
I’m sure the assertion will raise a howl of protest and questions. What is listening to God anyway? What does it involve? Who can say one is listening to God or not? Why does God have to be dragged into our government affairs?
In the discussion of many social issues, like the RH bill, faith is often set aside, since it is considered as anti-reason, anti-human, not politically or socially correct, a nuisance to the deliberations, etc. But how can we say we are tackling the issues adequately when faith is a priori discredited?
Truth is religion has become a meaningless affair to many people, especially those occupying positions of power and influence in our society. It has been reduced to a formalistic activity, a social custom still practiced more to meet social expectations rather than a matter of belief and conviction.
Many are still stung by the supposedly Enlightenment bias which pits reason with faith and gives no place to faith in human affairs.
If there’s still some regard to God, it is just to make God a mere idol, a pious ornamental statue that does not hear nor talk. That he is a living God who intervenes in our life all the time, who directs and governs us with his providence is lost on many people.
The proof of this is that any of our public officials refuse to tackle the moral dimension of the RH bill. Its morality is considered above their pay grade. They’re contented simply with the practical and convenient aspects of some of its parts. They obviously are happy that such bill will entitle them to some funds. The worst case is when they consider morality simply as a function of practicality and convenience.
And yet they dare to say that it is for giving the people an “informed choice” that they support the bill. How can it be an “informed choice” if they systematically avoid the moral angle as defined by the Church?
Obviously, what they can do is to arrogate to themselves the right to make a moral assessment of the RH bill by ignoring the voice of the Church. This has been done in many other countries, those that are precisely suffering from secularist tendencies. They just ignore God and go on with their agenda.
They will spare no effort to destroy the organic connection between God, Christ and the Church. And with some help of theologian-dissenters, they will propose the idea of conscience as the lone way where one can hear the voice of God, detaching conscience from its inherent need for Church magisterium.
There is now little doubt that some of our public officials are embarking on a path that sooner or later will end up attacking the Church, our Christian faith and culture. We have to be ready for this eventuality. Our public officials can pose as a potential threat to the Church and our Christian way of life.
We need to voice it out, loud and clear, that listening to God, heeding the indications of our faith, the requirements of morality as taught now by the Church, is an indispensable element in any discussion of public issues. Ignoring it will just make our reasoning get into a dangerous adventure.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Corporal mortification
WE need to be familiar with this concept. In fact, we need to plunge deep into its reality. Corporal mortification, or mortification of the flesh, is necessary at all times. It is urgently needed at this time.
We have to retire, better still, kill and bury that prejudice of considering corporal mortification as a thing of the past, as an obsolete instrument, a sign of immaturity, a threat to one’s health, whether physical, emotional or psychological, etc.
We need it because we cannot deny the fact that in spite of our best intentions and very holy desires, our body follows a law different and debasing to our human dignity as persons and as children of God.
We need to discipline our body to bring it back to its lost original state of integrity. It has to recover its harmony with the soul and with the law of God. It ought to be full of love and truth, and not just drifting in an uncharted adventure of dangerous possibilities. This is what corporal mortification aims to do and attain.
Consider St. Paul’s most eloquent lament relevant to this point: “I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (Rom 7,23)
These words explain why in spite of our good intentions and efforts, we at times find ourselves face to face with our own enemy, our own flesh, whose stirring we often find ourselves at a loss how to quell.
We can look good and holy, heroic and saintly even, but we cannot deny the fact that our flesh can knock us down to our own shame faster than Pacquiao. The attacks can come anytime, but especially in our most vulnerable moments as in our rest and relaxation, and in our sleep.
Especially for those working in the vineyard of the Lord, corporal mortification assumes a particular importance, since they suffer a certain vulnerability not found in other occupations.
That’s why St. Paul said: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9,27)
If we are not careful, the attacks of the flesh can come even in our most sublime moments, as when we are praying and participating in holy liturgical acts. We are an easy target, a sitting duck to the lust and concupiscence embedded mainly in our flesh.
Let’s remember that our own body can used by the devil himself to tempt us with the most severe and subtle temptation. It can go to the extent of mocking us. It is our worst traitor and rebel.
I remember what St. Josemaria Escriva wrote in his book, The Way: “To defend his purity, St Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, St. Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, St. Bernard plunged into an icy pond… You… what have you done?” (143)
Indeed, we have to ask ourselves whether realize that corporal mortification is a regular ingredient in our daily life. We should not fool ourselves. In our spiritual life, we need corporal mortification like we need oxygen.
Our body, weakened by original sin and now immersed and constantly titillated by an environment of temptations and sin, can’t help but fall for the language of pleasure irrespective of whether such pleasure is good or not.
Our body just wants pleasure, and thus it tends to look always for comfort, convenience and any form of privilege and entitlement. It wants to be spoiled always. Our body is addicted to pleasure. Pleasure is its be-all and end-all.
We need to constantly submit our body to a regimen of discipline. It’s like a little child that cannot be left alone. It should always be guarded. And like a bull, it has to be fenced or tied. We should not be deceived by our body’s charming, sometimes hard-to-resist arguments rationalizing its intemperate desires.
There are many forms of corporal mortification. The usual and traditional ones are fasting and abstinence, not only from food and drinks, but from anything that gives us excessive pleasure like TV, internet, etc.
Let’s not look down on those old forms that have been found effective for ages and for different kinds of people, like sleeping on the floor, observing strict diet, taking cold shower, hiking to and from work, wearing spiked chain around the thigh, whipping oneself with a discipline, etc.
Let’s keep some instruments of corporal mortification, just like we often keep a bottle of vitamins for our physical well-being.
We have to retire, better still, kill and bury that prejudice of considering corporal mortification as a thing of the past, as an obsolete instrument, a sign of immaturity, a threat to one’s health, whether physical, emotional or psychological, etc.
We need it because we cannot deny the fact that in spite of our best intentions and very holy desires, our body follows a law different and debasing to our human dignity as persons and as children of God.
We need to discipline our body to bring it back to its lost original state of integrity. It has to recover its harmony with the soul and with the law of God. It ought to be full of love and truth, and not just drifting in an uncharted adventure of dangerous possibilities. This is what corporal mortification aims to do and attain.
Consider St. Paul’s most eloquent lament relevant to this point: “I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (Rom 7,23)
These words explain why in spite of our good intentions and efforts, we at times find ourselves face to face with our own enemy, our own flesh, whose stirring we often find ourselves at a loss how to quell.
We can look good and holy, heroic and saintly even, but we cannot deny the fact that our flesh can knock us down to our own shame faster than Pacquiao. The attacks can come anytime, but especially in our most vulnerable moments as in our rest and relaxation, and in our sleep.
Especially for those working in the vineyard of the Lord, corporal mortification assumes a particular importance, since they suffer a certain vulnerability not found in other occupations.
That’s why St. Paul said: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9,27)
If we are not careful, the attacks of the flesh can come even in our most sublime moments, as when we are praying and participating in holy liturgical acts. We are an easy target, a sitting duck to the lust and concupiscence embedded mainly in our flesh.
Let’s remember that our own body can used by the devil himself to tempt us with the most severe and subtle temptation. It can go to the extent of mocking us. It is our worst traitor and rebel.
I remember what St. Josemaria Escriva wrote in his book, The Way: “To defend his purity, St Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, St. Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush, St. Bernard plunged into an icy pond… You… what have you done?” (143)
Indeed, we have to ask ourselves whether realize that corporal mortification is a regular ingredient in our daily life. We should not fool ourselves. In our spiritual life, we need corporal mortification like we need oxygen.
Our body, weakened by original sin and now immersed and constantly titillated by an environment of temptations and sin, can’t help but fall for the language of pleasure irrespective of whether such pleasure is good or not.
Our body just wants pleasure, and thus it tends to look always for comfort, convenience and any form of privilege and entitlement. It wants to be spoiled always. Our body is addicted to pleasure. Pleasure is its be-all and end-all.
We need to constantly submit our body to a regimen of discipline. It’s like a little child that cannot be left alone. It should always be guarded. And like a bull, it has to be fenced or tied. We should not be deceived by our body’s charming, sometimes hard-to-resist arguments rationalizing its intemperate desires.
There are many forms of corporal mortification. The usual and traditional ones are fasting and abstinence, not only from food and drinks, but from anything that gives us excessive pleasure like TV, internet, etc.
Let’s not look down on those old forms that have been found effective for ages and for different kinds of people, like sleeping on the floor, observing strict diet, taking cold shower, hiking to and from work, wearing spiked chain around the thigh, whipping oneself with a discipline, etc.
Let’s keep some instruments of corporal mortification, just like we often keep a bottle of vitamins for our physical well-being.
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