WE need to be reminded of this point—and urgently. I’m afraid we are on a runaway train in this regard. We need to control it, fix the tracks, change the personnel if necessary. Oh, if things were only as simple as that!
All around us are not only signs and traces but clear, explicit expressions of self-glorification. In whatever human aspect is involved—in the area of thought, creativity or the body—vanity, conceit, arrogance, greed, self-indulgence and their ilk take charge.
They are not anymore leashed, fenced, much less, hidden. They are put on display, allowed to move freely in open range. They have managed to build such a worldwide web of infra- and superstructures—language, fashion, attitudes—that they now seem invincibly entrenched in our system.
Indeed, to rid ourselves of them, or at least to put them under some control, would require nothing less than a revolution, first of the heart, then the mind, the attitudes, the lifestyle.
Yes, we have to be rebels. We need to fiercely fight against our own selves first, then everything else around us that keeps us complacent and self-satisfied, hamstrung by privilege and other invented perks in our life.
Glory should only be given to God. ¨Deo omnis gloria,¨ as the saying goes. It belongs to him properly. If ever there is something of it in us, let´s be sure it can only be a sharing with God´s glory. It would be a glory that would bring us closer to him, not farther.
Thus, we need to immediately cut anything that would lead us to some human glorification. Even in terms of attitudes, let´s already make sure that they clearly help us to give glory only to God.
How good it is then to cultivate that attitude of Christ to serve and not to be served, even to the point of washing the feet of his apostles. How good it is to empty ourselves the way Christ emptied himself. How good it is to just work as quietly as possible, to pass unnoticed even while we give our all in our work for love of God.
And so it would not be an exercise of masochism and of some perverted sense of self-deprecation to remind ourselves constantly that we are nothing, and even less than nothing, since everything good that is in us can only come from God.
Even our accomplishments and other successes have God as the ultimate subject, since we can only do good in him. Outside of him, the only thing we can do is evil. That´s the only time we can truly be original in the absolute sense.
Such reminder does not suppress our innate human dignity. It rather would elevate our dignity, since what is human can now be made divine. It opens us to the possibility of being raised to the level of God.
It´s a reminder that fosters our humility, not pride. Every accolade we receive would nourish our humility. And every failure deepens our humility. With pride, our successes and failures can only spoil and corrupt us or plunge us to desperation.
Thus, it´s a reminder that puts us firmly on the ground of truth and objectivity, since humility makes us see things while pride blinds us. Pride would only bring us to fantasy and absurdity.
Remember what St. Paul said: ´Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all the to the glory of God.¨ (1 Cor 10,31)
How important it is then to develop the attitude and practice of always offering everything we do to God, and to ask of him anything we need, without solely relying on our own strengths!
How important it is to make it second nature of ours to rectify our intentions in everything we do! It should always be for the glory of God. If ever we can suspect that some human glory can come to us, we need to prepare ourselves not to be affected, like hiding and disappearing after a work well done, etc.
Let´s be wary of the subtle tricks of pride that can lead us to play coy and even as a victim, if only to attract sympathy. Pride has the nasty habit of leading us to a terrible case of self-pity.
These ways obviously are not popular these days. They can be considered impractical, if not inhuman. But that´s because we are sinking in a world culture now steeped in self-centeredness and self-absorption.
We should deliberately give glory to God in all our deeds to counter this culture.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
We need a working spirituality
YES, indeed! We need to have a functioning spirituality, not just a theoretical one, an armchair type of religiosity that´s rich only with words and ideas, but very poor in action. Regardless of our condition in the world, we should have a genuine spirituality that consistently nourishes our spiritual life whatever the circumstances in our life may be.
Our problem is that even among those who are supposed to be ¨spiritual¨ already because of their status in life—like priests and others supposedly active in Church affairs—there is so much ignorance, confusion, error, incompetence, inconsistency, pretension, hypocrisy, laziness, complacency in this regard.
Part of a working spirituality should be a kind of mechanism, embedded into our personal system, that continually addresses these dangers all of us are exposed to and even prone to.
To achieve this spirituality, we have to devise a realistic plan of spiritual life, consisting of practices of piety, well-defined yet flexible to varying circumstances, that would help us at least to stay in touch with God even as we get immersed in the things of the world.
We should already outgrow any doubt, fear or allergy to this possibility of us living with God. It´s amazing that even among those expected to lead the way in spiritual life, these doubts and fears still hold sway, thereby spreading an atmosphere of uncertainty and a sense of impracticability insofar as spiritual life is concerned.
First, we have to be clarified about why there´s a need for spirituality. There are many people who are not clear about this reality of our life. They think we are just entirely or mainly material beings, or simply cultural ones subject to certain conditionings, and nothing more.
We can get some ideas from St. Paul who once said, ¨May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.¨ (1 Thes 5,23)
In this Pauline description, man is pictured as composed of ¨body¨ which is our corporeal and earthly condition, ¨soul¨ which is our capacity to feel and know, and ¨spirit¨ which is what makes us attracted and united to God and vivified by him.
There may be a variety of other descriptions about the structure and constituent composition of our being, but what should not be ignored is that we have a spiritual ¨component,¨ so to speak, that is integral and essential to our being. Yes, there can be diversity in our ideas of spirituality, but in the end we have to acknowledge its basic unity.
And just as we have to take care of our body, of our emotional, psychological and mental well-being, we also need to take care—in fact, even greater care—of our spiritual life, since that is what brings us to our human and Christian perfection. We have to put a stop to the ignorance and indifference that commonly besets our attitude toward our spiritual life.
Using our Christian faith, we need to know the nature of this spiritual life, what its important elements are, its characteristics, its foundations and purpose, its functionings, etc. Then we need to know how to develop it toward its full perfection.
Again, for this, we already have in the course of Christian history a vast array of spiritualities that can be useful to us. We just have to mine this thick vein and rich ore of information. With our new technologies, we have less reason not to know. What simply is needed is the so-called ¨political¨ will, putting all our faculties into the act.
Imagine the wealth contained in the age of the Church Fathers, to the monastic period, to the period of the mendicant orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic, the post-Tridentine period dominated by the Jesuits, and the post-Vatican II period up to the present!
It´s a shame that in spite of this great wealth, the general literacy of people on spirituality is way below the passing grade. If ever there is some stirring of spirituality, it´s usually found in confined and highly-localized places. It´s not yet globalized. No wonder we are vulnerable to the many temptations of the world that now are becoming systemic.
We should realize the importance of some practices of piety essential in any plan of spiritual life: mental prayer, Holy Mass, communion, visit to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading, examination of conscience, holy rosary, confession, etc.
Perhaps with the help of a spiritual director, we should devise one fit for us, given our personal circumstances.
Our problem is that even among those who are supposed to be ¨spiritual¨ already because of their status in life—like priests and others supposedly active in Church affairs—there is so much ignorance, confusion, error, incompetence, inconsistency, pretension, hypocrisy, laziness, complacency in this regard.
Part of a working spirituality should be a kind of mechanism, embedded into our personal system, that continually addresses these dangers all of us are exposed to and even prone to.
To achieve this spirituality, we have to devise a realistic plan of spiritual life, consisting of practices of piety, well-defined yet flexible to varying circumstances, that would help us at least to stay in touch with God even as we get immersed in the things of the world.
We should already outgrow any doubt, fear or allergy to this possibility of us living with God. It´s amazing that even among those expected to lead the way in spiritual life, these doubts and fears still hold sway, thereby spreading an atmosphere of uncertainty and a sense of impracticability insofar as spiritual life is concerned.
First, we have to be clarified about why there´s a need for spirituality. There are many people who are not clear about this reality of our life. They think we are just entirely or mainly material beings, or simply cultural ones subject to certain conditionings, and nothing more.
We can get some ideas from St. Paul who once said, ¨May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.¨ (1 Thes 5,23)
In this Pauline description, man is pictured as composed of ¨body¨ which is our corporeal and earthly condition, ¨soul¨ which is our capacity to feel and know, and ¨spirit¨ which is what makes us attracted and united to God and vivified by him.
There may be a variety of other descriptions about the structure and constituent composition of our being, but what should not be ignored is that we have a spiritual ¨component,¨ so to speak, that is integral and essential to our being. Yes, there can be diversity in our ideas of spirituality, but in the end we have to acknowledge its basic unity.
And just as we have to take care of our body, of our emotional, psychological and mental well-being, we also need to take care—in fact, even greater care—of our spiritual life, since that is what brings us to our human and Christian perfection. We have to put a stop to the ignorance and indifference that commonly besets our attitude toward our spiritual life.
Using our Christian faith, we need to know the nature of this spiritual life, what its important elements are, its characteristics, its foundations and purpose, its functionings, etc. Then we need to know how to develop it toward its full perfection.
Again, for this, we already have in the course of Christian history a vast array of spiritualities that can be useful to us. We just have to mine this thick vein and rich ore of information. With our new technologies, we have less reason not to know. What simply is needed is the so-called ¨political¨ will, putting all our faculties into the act.
Imagine the wealth contained in the age of the Church Fathers, to the monastic period, to the period of the mendicant orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic, the post-Tridentine period dominated by the Jesuits, and the post-Vatican II period up to the present!
It´s a shame that in spite of this great wealth, the general literacy of people on spirituality is way below the passing grade. If ever there is some stirring of spirituality, it´s usually found in confined and highly-localized places. It´s not yet globalized. No wonder we are vulnerable to the many temptations of the world that now are becoming systemic.
We should realize the importance of some practices of piety essential in any plan of spiritual life: mental prayer, Holy Mass, communion, visit to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading, examination of conscience, holy rosary, confession, etc.
Perhaps with the help of a spiritual director, we should devise one fit for us, given our personal circumstances.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Another turn of the screw
WE need to bring to a higher level our understanding, and later our practice, of how Catholics ought to behave in political life. Nowadays, this issue is so swamped with complicated and confusing elements that to improve our praxis of it is like making another turn of the screw that is already quite tightly put.
The difficult predicament is again played out in this RH Bill debate and its side issues where some cities and even barangays are making ordinances that either favor or reject the bill.
Then we have some attention-grabbing developments like a women´s group that brands itself as ¨Catholics for RH Bill,” and various accusations hurled back and forth, including those that claim that Catholics are imposing their views on the rest of society. It´s time to really sort out things.
Back in 2002, the Vatican issued a document meant to clarify the role of Catholics in political life. It was entitled, ¨Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life.¨
It was prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and approved by Pope John Paul II. A convergence of conditions, political, social and cultural, provoked its making, conditions that prevailed in many Western countries and are now emerging in ours.
It centered on a phenomenon, now more technically termed as moral relativism, that raged in these developed, albeit spiritually decadent countries, afflicting a vast part of the population, especially among the more educated classes.
It has affected both Catholics and non-Catholics, and its basic problem is the belief that there are no moral absolutes in our life, and thus nobody, much less the Church, can say anything about what is right and wrong other than what a popular consensus would say.
It´s a product of a secularized society, where God is general taken for granted, if not denied. People just make their own ideas, theories and ideologies about what is good and evil for us as the basis for our morality, our personal and social life, and our legal system. Any claim of an objective, universal natural moral law is practically denied.
The document tries to remind everyone there is God who is the author, guide and purpose of our natural moral life in all its aspects and levels—personal, familial, professional, social, cultural, political, etc. And that we just have to try our best to conform ourselves to his will, his law and commandments.
Citing the example of the English St. Thomas More, who precisely essayed the right attitude of Catholics embroiled in a political issue with a prominently moral character, it reminds us that ¨man cannot be separated from God, nor politics from morality.¨
It warns us that the world today in immersed in a ¨kind of cultural relativism...evident in the conceptualization and defense of ethical pluralism, which sanctions the decadence and disintegration of reason and the principles of natural moral law....
¨As a result, citizens claim complete autonomy with regard to their moral choices, and lawmakers maintain that they are respecting this freedom of choice by enacting laws which ignore the principles of natural ethics and yield to ephemeral cultural and moral trends.¨
Let´s be clear about this point about the ¨decadence of reason and the principles of natural moral law.¨ The clarification on relativism, cultural, moral or ethical, should not be viewed as a confessional claim, but rather a consequence of reason not properly used and of an ignorance of what is called natural moral law that ultimately has God, not us, as its maker.
The very germ of the problem seems to be the mistaken belief that any reference to God is necessarily outside of the natural order, and therefore outside also of the democratic processes and exercises.
There are, of course, still references made to God in our political life, but they are mainly formalistic in character, that is to say, not be to taken seriously. Such references would hardly have any practical consequences.
It´s time that Catholics be thoroughly consistent with their faith in their political activities, a consistency that recognizes the legitimate autonomy of our temporal affairs such as politics, knows the reasons for such autonomy and also knows how to defend our Catholic position as citizens like anybody else.
The crucial challenge is how to be consistent with our Catholic identity while respecting the distinction between religion and politics, our being faithful of the Church and citizens of our country at the same time.
The difficult predicament is again played out in this RH Bill debate and its side issues where some cities and even barangays are making ordinances that either favor or reject the bill.
Then we have some attention-grabbing developments like a women´s group that brands itself as ¨Catholics for RH Bill,” and various accusations hurled back and forth, including those that claim that Catholics are imposing their views on the rest of society. It´s time to really sort out things.
Back in 2002, the Vatican issued a document meant to clarify the role of Catholics in political life. It was entitled, ¨Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life.¨
It was prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and approved by Pope John Paul II. A convergence of conditions, political, social and cultural, provoked its making, conditions that prevailed in many Western countries and are now emerging in ours.
It centered on a phenomenon, now more technically termed as moral relativism, that raged in these developed, albeit spiritually decadent countries, afflicting a vast part of the population, especially among the more educated classes.
It has affected both Catholics and non-Catholics, and its basic problem is the belief that there are no moral absolutes in our life, and thus nobody, much less the Church, can say anything about what is right and wrong other than what a popular consensus would say.
It´s a product of a secularized society, where God is general taken for granted, if not denied. People just make their own ideas, theories and ideologies about what is good and evil for us as the basis for our morality, our personal and social life, and our legal system. Any claim of an objective, universal natural moral law is practically denied.
The document tries to remind everyone there is God who is the author, guide and purpose of our natural moral life in all its aspects and levels—personal, familial, professional, social, cultural, political, etc. And that we just have to try our best to conform ourselves to his will, his law and commandments.
Citing the example of the English St. Thomas More, who precisely essayed the right attitude of Catholics embroiled in a political issue with a prominently moral character, it reminds us that ¨man cannot be separated from God, nor politics from morality.¨
It warns us that the world today in immersed in a ¨kind of cultural relativism...evident in the conceptualization and defense of ethical pluralism, which sanctions the decadence and disintegration of reason and the principles of natural moral law....
¨As a result, citizens claim complete autonomy with regard to their moral choices, and lawmakers maintain that they are respecting this freedom of choice by enacting laws which ignore the principles of natural ethics and yield to ephemeral cultural and moral trends.¨
Let´s be clear about this point about the ¨decadence of reason and the principles of natural moral law.¨ The clarification on relativism, cultural, moral or ethical, should not be viewed as a confessional claim, but rather a consequence of reason not properly used and of an ignorance of what is called natural moral law that ultimately has God, not us, as its maker.
The very germ of the problem seems to be the mistaken belief that any reference to God is necessarily outside of the natural order, and therefore outside also of the democratic processes and exercises.
There are, of course, still references made to God in our political life, but they are mainly formalistic in character, that is to say, not be to taken seriously. Such references would hardly have any practical consequences.
It´s time that Catholics be thoroughly consistent with their faith in their political activities, a consistency that recognizes the legitimate autonomy of our temporal affairs such as politics, knows the reasons for such autonomy and also knows how to defend our Catholic position as citizens like anybody else.
The crucial challenge is how to be consistent with our Catholic identity while respecting the distinction between religion and politics, our being faithful of the Church and citizens of our country at the same time.
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