Reading the writing on the wall

WE have to learn to read the signs of the times. It’s an aspect of prudence done beyond our personal affairs and going to the social and global dimensions of our life.

            It enables us to anticipate things and prepare ourselves for them adequately. It alerts us to overcome our naivete and complacency, and to be very alive to the challenges of our times, anticipating things and shaping the course the events.

            Remember Christ reproaching some people for their lack of this skill. “When it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning: Today there will be a storm, for the sky is red and lowering. You know then how to discern the face of the sky, and can you not know the signs of the times?” (Mt 16,2-3)

            Our usual problem is that we get contented with appearances alone, the externals, the here and now and all that, and we miss the substance and the future of things. We very often blindly follow social and fashion trends and we hardly bother about their morality and ethical implications.

            This attitude is sadly present in practically all aspects of our life. In our politics, for example, the players seem to be not as much interested in pursuing the common good, which is what politics is all about, as in gaining, retaining and increasing their power and influence. Politics has become a game of power-seeking instead of selfless service to the people.

            The current screaming scandal of the pork barrel that has practically converted our Congress into a “House of Representathieves,” and our lawmakers into big-time “senatongs” and “tongressmen” is a clear consequence of this attitude.

            And to think that we are supposed to be a Christian country, and many of our officials are Catholics who like to parade their Catholicity in fiestas and other big events! This is because we fail to read the signs of the times, the writing on the wall.

            We are easily taken in by ostentatious displays of goodness by our public servants and turn a blind eye to their personal weaknesses, the temptations around and the deficiencies and loopholes of our systems that actually cry for proper attention.

            While it’s good always to be nice, trusting and believing, such attitude is not meant to displace our duty also to be careful and judicious in dealing with persons and assessing things.

            We can also say the same things about the world of business and economics, where very often we take things for granted until problems, which start small and tolerable, blow up into destructive crises.

            Same with the world of spirituality and piety. The need for ongoing formation, for continuing renewal and conversion is often neglected or done pro forma alone. And the supporting structure to facilitate this need is also often neglected. So what can you expect?

            We have to learn to be discerning of how things are running. Many good and bad things go together, like the gospel parable about the wheat and the weeds. There are elements that can be dangerous, and we have to learn how to avoid them or convert them into something useful.

            Obviously, for this skill we need to have the proper criteria. Yes, we can use all the sciences and arts with their corresponding technologies for this purpose. Let’s hope that we develop an interdisciplinary approach to things, since world trends are not anymore as simple as black and white.

            But we need to realize also that the ultimate standard would be the doctrine of our Christian faith and morals. That’s where we get a clear picture of what is good or bad, just or unjust, as given and defined by God himself, the Creator. That’s where we go beyond the realm of opinions and go to the absolute truths.

            That’s why a continuing catechesis and evangelization, starting with oneself, then the family and other higher entities, is always a necessity. We can never enough of it, since life will always present new challenges, questions and issues.

            And more than just studying the doctrine, what is necessary is for everyone to try his best to acquire and develop the virtues in an endless way. That’s the only way we can see and judge things properly.

            As St. Paul once said, only a spiritual man can discern spiritual realities and their corresponding morality. The carnal man would have no real interest in the spiritual and supernatural.

           

            Let’s see if we can develop a keen sense of reading the writing on the wall.

Faith and psychology

HOW important it is that we get to have a clear idea about the intimate relationship between faith and psychology! At the moment, it seems that psychology is largely grounded and ruled by one’s feelings, moods, temperament or some organic elements alone, if not by some cultural or social factors, or even by mere ideologies.

            There are even those who develop their psychological life along lines of mere techniques, or worse, by some drug-induced sense of stability and calmness or other escape and defense mechanisms.

            Obviously, for those who are already psychologically sick, these techniques and drugs are indeed necessary. But we have to be clear that they are precisely for the sick, and not for those who are supposed to lead a normal psychological life which we presume everyone of us should pursue.

            Ok, for those who are supposed to be normal, they can also avail of these techniques and drugs sometimes as a way to relieve some momentary stress. But the ideal state should be that we would be freed of these things.

            That’s why we need to reiterate the fundamental and indispensable role of faith in our psychological life. It is faith that gives the whole picture of our life. It includes both the good and the bad side about us.

            It tells us who we are, how we are supposed to be and to behave in the different and even conflicting situations in our life. It precisely sees to it that our thinking, desiring, feeling, acting, or the whole gamut of our psychological life are those proper of our dignity as persons, not mere objects, and ultimately as children of God.

            It tells us how we are supposed to understand and live through our successes and victories. When times are good, how should we feel? Should we not be thankful and be more humble so as to be more resolved to give ourselves more to God and to others?

            It also tells us how we are to react and to proceed whenever we encounter difficulties, trials, or whenever we commit mistakes, fall sick, suffer misfortunes, etc. When times are bad, are we not supposed to go to God for the sure and final relief and cure?

            “Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you,” Christ said (Mt 11,28) We should never forget these words. Again, he reassured us: “In the world you shall have distress. But have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

            It’s important that we realize that our faith, which always goes together with hope and charity, is the terra firma on which the seed of our psychological life should be planted, watered and made to grow to its fullness. It will always have a direct relevance in our psychological life. It’s not meant to be optional item in the menu.

            It makes us understand the real meaning of our whole life. It tells us what would comprise our true joy and development. It teaches us how to handle our defeats and losses, how to find meaning in them, and even how to take advantage of them to attain our genuine good.

            We should highlight some more the crucial role of faith in our psychological life, its intrinsic relation to psychology. A psychology that ignores or marginalizes the faith is always suspicious.

            But, yes, we also have to explain and clarify how the faith is related to psychology. Quite often, psychology’s indifference to the faith is due to an inadequate or erroneous mentality that puts them into two disparate, even hostile compartments in our life. We should reinforce the link between them.

            Nowadays, many people, even the young ones, already carry heavy psychological baggage because they cannot resolve certain questions and issues in their lives, and even those which can be considered as basic and easy questions and issues to answer.

            Because there’s a lot of ignorance and confusion around, all kinds of self-inflicted and easily avoidable complications come about. People lack time and, worse, the disposition and skill to think and reflect, to study things thoroughly and to pray. That’s why they cannot help but pile up mountains of problems and complications in their lives.

            We also have to explode the bias that considers faith as something too mysterious or too spiritual to be of any value in scientific psychology. We need to remind everyone that it’s precisely in one’s thoughts and desires, in one’s judgments and decisions, and the accompanying feelings, etc., where we can see the state of one’s soul.

            Definitely, faith and psychology are intrinsically linked.

Let’s be trusting

 DUC in altum (Put out into the deep) (Lk 5,4), a famous line in the gospel that gives us a sharp lesson on trust in God. It’s worth engraving it on our mind and making it a guiding principle especially when we find ourselves in some kind of a dead-end in any aspect of our life, more particularly in the spiritual and apostolic parts.

            As the gospel narrates, after preaching to a crowd, Christ told Peter to go to the deep and to lower the nets for a catch. Peter, who acted as head of the apostles, immediately said, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

            And soon a miracle happened. The men caught such a huge amount of fish that they had to call their partners in another boat to help them haul the catch in. Peter was overwhelmed by what he saw. He could not help but say, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

            The story is very moving indeed, and the good news is that it can happen to any of us as long as we have faith and trust in God. It has been actually happening in many instances, though most of them go unreported.

            We need to learn to trust God, and in his word and in his ways, no matter how they seem unreasonable, impractical or impossible. For this, we have to go beyond our own understanding and estimation of things, and open our mind and heart to the light of our faith and love for God and for others.

            While it’s true that we have to use all our human faculties in dealing with our earthly affairs and concerns, that is, our intelligence and will, our sciences and arts, our common sense and cultural and social wisdom, we should not forget that all these would have no real value unless they are engaged with our faith in God.

            God knows everything. He is omnipotent. He actually intervenes in our lives in the most intimate way since he is the one who ultimately supports our existence and who governs it wisely with his providence.

            The best news is that he is all too eager to share his power and wisdom with us, since we are his image and likeness, and as his children, we are expected to share his very own life and to act in his name here in this life.

            We need to adjust the way we think to accommodate this wonderful truth of faith about ourselves in relation to God and to others. Our problem is that we tend to be restrictive in our view of things, omitting the inputs of faith and thus opening ourselves to have a very narrow and shallow view of things, prone to uncertainties, doubts and fears.

            Even those who already have a vibrant spiritual life may find themselves still in need of growing in their faith and trust in God. That’s because we tend to get stuck at a certain level, the one that we usually refer to as our comfort zone. Yes, even in our spiritual life, this thing can afflict us and we should try to be most wary about it.

            What usually happens is that we just allow ourselves to be dictated by our feelings, our passions, or by the trends and fashions around us, or by some systematized ideologies or philosophies, but not by faith and trust in God.

            Of course, these things can give some instant results. They can give some immediate practical advantages, but they are notoriously biased and reductive in their understanding of things. They actually cannot go very far before some contradictions and troubles emerge.

            The word of God, which is freely given to us and which is to be accepted by faith, may not be immediately beneficial because it is, first of all, mysterious, and then, it often involves some amount of suffering. But it is what gives us the whole picture of things, what brings us not only to some earthly destination, but to heaven itself.

            We need to study it, and make it part of our systems. To be sure, assimilating it is not only a matter of understanding it intellectually, but rather making is flesh of our flesh. This can be achieved if beyond simply intellectualizing it, we get to love it, we make it a way to love God and others, we translate it into deeds and not just keeping it as good intentions and nice words.