Christ’s cross gives the ultimate wisdom

DON’T look now, but if we want to be wise, we need to look

at Christ’s cross, understand its significance, and start to be
consistent with it.

            This is the kind of wisdom every believer and follower of
Christ should have. It’s not enough to have the wisdom of this world,
no matter how practical that may be, nor the wisdom of the flesh, no
matter how mind-blowing, much less the wisdom of words, no matter how
clever.

            The wisdom of the cross is first a gift of the Holy Spirit
to us before it becomes a virtue in us. Since it’s a gift, we have to
pray for it constantly. Since it’s a gift that needs to be a virtue,
we have to cultivate and develop it also.

            The wisdom of the cross is the most perfect gift,
embodying all the other spiritual gifts, since it completes charity by
infusing light and love into our soul.

            With it we are able to discern God and divine things in
everything that we see and do. It gives us the appetite to relate
everything to God, linking us to God through the things of this world.

            It goes beyond understanding and knowledge which enable us
to know divine and natural things in themselves and in their mutual
relations, but without necessarily relating them to God, their
ultimate cause.

            These gifts and virtues do not automatically lead us to
love, since they fall short of bringing us to God who is love, as St.
John said so succinctly. It’s wisdom that does that. Wisdom makes us
into contemplative souls, seeing and loving God in everything.

            With this definition of wisdom, it can be said that it’s
hardly seen around, since it is clear that reference to God is
scarcely done in the things we do. We think, reason out, speak, act
and behave often by ourselves, without God.

            But it can reside deep in our hearts, not visible to our
senses and our worldly ways. As the Book of Wisdom says: “In each
generation wisdom passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of
God and prophets.” (7,27)

            Saints and holy men and women have it, except that they
are not fond of showing it off. It is perceived only by those who have
the spirit in the manner spoken of by St. Paul:

            “We have received not the spirit of this world, but the
Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us
by God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human
wisdom, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.

            “The sensual man perceives not these things…for it is
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is
spiritually examined.” (1 Cor 2,12-14)

            In cultivating and developing wisdom as a virtue in us, we
need to struggle against things like laziness, disorder, unhealthy
attachments, pride and all forms of sin. In fact, everything can be a
frontline in this struggle.

            Thus, this wisdom has to be the wisdom of the cross, which
is the wisdom of Christ, since Christ showed the ultimate saving truth
and love, and shares these things with us up to now, by dying on the
cross.

            We have to understand this supernatural truth with the
grace of God, otherwise we succumb to what St. Paul once said about
the crucified Christ:

            “To the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles
foolishness. But to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1,23-24)

            It’s this wisdom that provides us with the proper furnace
to forge our love for God and others, the acid test to probe the depth
and range of our grasp of the truth in love. It’s the running
conviction that everything gets resolved in the cross.

            The wisdom of the cross goes much further than what our
intelligence and will can penetrate. It gives life and vitality to our
different human ways and structures, our cultural and personal ways.

            As Saint Pope John Paul II once said: “The wisdom of the
Cross, therefore, breaks free of all cultural limitations which seek
to contain it and insists upon an openness to the universality of the
truth which it bears.” (Fides et ratio, 23)

            Let’s learn this wisdom of the cross by conforming our
thoughts and desires, our whole life, to Christ crucified, studying,
praying, meditating on his words, and slowly and steadily assimilating
his example into our life! May that wisdom be the flesh of our flesh!

Be not afraid of psychology

I WAS happy to learn that the Vatican released some years
ago a document, “On the use of psychology in the seminary.” It’s about
time that something of this sort be officially recommended by Church
authorities.

            Of course, the immediate context of the document was the
clerical sexual scandals that oppressed the Church in many parts of
the world a few years ago and continue to haunt us today.

            But it actually possesses a very objective importance,
regardless of circumstances, and a universal coverage that should be
highlighted, especially at these times.

            In it, the crucial help that psychology as a science can
give to seminarians and, I must say, to everybody else is traced.
Insofar as seminarians are concerned, the document says that recourse
to experts in the psychological sciences can:

            “…allow a more sure evaluation of the candidate’s psychic
state; it can help evaluate his human dispositions for responding to
the divine call; and it can provide some extra assistance for the
candidate’s human growth.”

            So you see, psychology is not only for handling mental
problems and illnesses, already a tremendous task. It also contributes
to human growth, which should always be stimulated by every legitimate
means available! We have to overcome a certain cultural bias against
the use of psychology.

            By now, everyone should be convinced that our life always
has a psychological dimension. Every virtue or vice has psychological
effects and triggers some psychological dynamics. We should try our
best to know them and use them with due prudence, of course.

            We don’t talk about it only when there are problems. We
always have to take it into consideration in all our dealings with
people. That at least would denote a growth in our sensitivity to
others. Yes, the use of psychology can enhance human sensitivity.

            Thus, in the seminary some psychological profiling has to
be done of every candidate to the priesthood, noting each one’s
strengths and weaknesses in this aspect, his good and bad potentials,
etc. And a close monitoring of this portrait, given its dynamic
nature, should be made.

            I frankly believe that not only the use of psychology
should be promoted but also some serious effort be made to mainstream
the skill and expertise on the part of seminary formators and others
similarly situated in this vital field of knowledge.

            We have to drastically rehabilitate the image of
psychology in the minds not only of the Church officials but also of
everybody else. We cannot deny that psychology is still treated like a
leper in the community or the house fool everyone tries to hide. We
have to get out of that antiquated mindset.

            At the rate we are developing with all the complicating
and insanity-tending elements around, there’s no way but for
psychology to be duly acknowledged, its need appreciated and its use
spread far and wide.

            Again, insofar as its use is relevant to seminary
formation, the document lists down several factors that undermine the
psychological health of seminarians and those asking admission.

            “Those who today ask admittance to the seminary,” it says,
“reflect, in a more or less accentuated way, the unease of an emerging
mentality characterized by consumerism, instability in family and
social relationships, moral relativism, erroneous visions of
sexuality….”

            I remember some years ago that the then reigning Pope Pope
Benedict said something that today’s youth are a “fragile generation,”
and I could not agree with him more. My everyday experience and
contact with people more than abundantly validate this observation.

            There are many people with clearly psychological wounds,
some very deep and grave, springing even from their own family
environment, not to mention, the usual problem areas: pressures from
work, social relations, politics, business, showbiz, etc.

            I am no psychologist but that does not prevent me from
recognizing obvious irregularities in the mental, affective and sexual
aspects of many people. These concerns have to be given more effective
attention.

            Of course, the use of psychology should not replace the
spiritual and supernatural means that are always indispensable in the
formation of seminarians as well as of everybody else. The practice of
spiritual direction should blend both the psychological and spiritual
aspects of a person.

            Psychology should be the constant accompaniment of these
spiritual means, a tool to express and fathom the spiritual
developments, since these always have some psychological
manifestations. Naturally, it should also be an instrument to enhance
the seminarians’ personalities and temperaments.

            Thus, a sound psychology should be learned, since there
are many schools of thought in this regard, and not all are good.

Cultivating a universal heart

THAT’S the heart of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It’s also the heart we
should try to cultivate, since he himself gave us the new commandment
that summarizes and perfects all the previous commandments that “you
love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
(Jn 13,34)

It’s a love that covers everyone, including our enemies, the
unlovable, the sinners, offenders, those who are wrong in a human
issue and all others who for one reason or another we may have some
reason not to love or like.

In fact, one sure sign our loving is authentic is when we include
these people in our loving. Otherwise, our love is fake, no matter how
fervently we profess it. Our love gets spoiled and deteriorates into
self-rigtheousness.

Remember what our Lord said about this point. “If you love them that
love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do
this?” (Mt 5,46)

Thus, our Lord explicitly said that we have to love our enemies, to do
good to them that hate us and pray for those who persecute and
calumniate us. This is how we are going to be identified as children
of God who makes his sun to rise upon the good and bad, the rain on
the just and the unjust.

Love by definition involves all and is given without measure or
calculation. This essence of love is what breaks us loose from our
limited human condition to make our world universal, not entangled in
some parochial, partisan or isolationist grip.

Love matures and perfects us. It checks on our tendency to be
self-seeking and self-absorbed so as to be “all things to all men.” (1
Cor 9,22) It brings us not only to others, but rather to God himself,
identifying us with him, for “God is love” and is the source of love.

This love is what properly measures out our true dignity and value as
persons and children of God. It’s not just some wisdom or knowledge or
talents and any human power. It’s love, dude!

It’s high time that we understand the need for true love, the love of
Christ, to give ourselves a universal heart. It’s not the sciences,
the philosophies and the ideologies, no matter how good and useful
they are, that can accomplish this.

We have to disabuse ourselves from this mentality that, sadly, is
constantly nourished and reinforced by some secularist and pagan
thinking that’s dominating our world today.

We have to go beyond them. That’s why there’s a need to develop the
appropriate attitudes and virtues, all done in the context of God’s
grace, for nothing succeeds without God’s grace.

We have to learn to be patient, and to be “rich in mercy and slow to
anger.” We have to know how to take on different and even conflicting
positions in human issues without undermining our love for one
another. Let’s always be sport with one another.

This surely means we have to learn how to discipline our feelings and
passions, knowing when to talk and when not. We have to learn how to
convert difficult, humiliating moments into moments of graciousness
and magnanimity. Humiliations deepen our humility that is so necessary
in life.

We have to avoid bearing grudges or worse, nurturing animosities.
Let’s remember that whatever happens, we are all men and women,
children of God, who are obliged to love one another. Our differences
and conflicts play some strategic role in our spiritual life.

We have to learn how to be positive, encouraging and optimistic in our
tack to problems instead of sinking into pessimism and hostility. We
can never overdo in our efforts to learn the finer details of tact and
diplomacy.

We have to increasingly polish and refine our manners so as to keep
the bonds of unity amid unavoidable differences among ourselves. We
will always be human as to always need affection, and it should be
generously given. Let’s never forget that we can choose to make these
differences to enrich us rather than destroy us. It’s always a matter
of choice.

We have to learn how to drown evil with an abundance of good, dispel
darkness with light. We have to understand that ignorance, confusion
and error are not corrected by truth alone, but by truth given in
charity always. This, even if we have to make corrections that need to
be given clearly and vigorously.

Given the present world’s plunge to specialized knowledge and
ego-trip-prone technologies that inevitably generates divisions, we
have to double up our efforts to cultivate this universal heart.