Listen to Him

“THIS is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him.” These are words spoken at the transfiguration of

Christ. We need to take this divine command seriously, always battling

against those forces that seek to undermine it.

            To be sure, God in Christ through the Holy Spirit always

intervenes in our life. He always has something to say. And of all the

considerations that we have to make, those of God are the most

important, the most essential and necessary. We just cannot remain in

the technicals and in the purely worldly categories.

            God always is relevant in all our affairs because being

the Creator, he knows everything. He is the one that sets what is

right and wrong, what is good and evil, as well as what is safe and

unsafe, prudent and imprudent, effective and ineffective, etc.

            We can never think that giving God our priority attention

would restrict us in our thinking. Or that he is going to disrupt what

we think is good for us. We need to remind ourselves that everything

is relatable to God. He is and should be the constant reference point

in our life.

            Contrary to what we may fear, God’s words will actually

broaden our perspectives, deepen our understanding of things, purify

and elevate to the supernatural order our thinking. God’s words will

guide us through the maze of our worldly and human considerations in

order to lead us to our eternal destination.

            We have to remember that everything in our life, in the

different aspects and dimensions of our life, and in the different

possibilities and scenarios our life can take, irrespective of whether

they are good or bad humanly or naturally speaking, or even

spiritually and supernaturally speaking, can and should be related to

God who knows what to do with them.

            We should avoid the pitfall of thinking that there are

certain things and situations, certain concerns, issues and affairs in

our life where God has no role to play. God is in everything. His

interventions in our life are constant and abiding, and are meant to

lead everything to him who is the beginning and end of all things.

            We need to understand that God’s words contain the wisdom

that is proper for us. They are not just worldly or human wisdom, but

wisdom itself. The task that we have to do is to mine that wisdom, to

learn how to appreciate it and put it into practice.

            Yes, there will be effort involved, a lot of it. And more

than that, there will be some suffering involved too, since it is

unavoidable that we have to experience the consequences that divine

wisdom will give us as it clashes with our worldly and human wisdom.

            We have to learn the art of listening to God’s words

intently. This can take many forms. We have to develop the habit of

reading the gospel, studying the doctrine of our faith, putting them

into practice by developing the proper attitudes and virtues. We have

to learn to live in the presence of God always, and to see God in

everything, no matter how bad they may be, humanly speaking.

            Listening to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit should

be an abiding feature in our life!

Yes, there’s a forever

THE Solemnity of the Transfiguration of the Lord somehow

reminds us that there is a forever. When Christ transfigured himself

before his three apostles Peter, James and John, he tried to reassure

them not to worry about what was going to happen to him on the

following days.

            Yes, there would be extreme suffering that would end in

Christ’s very miserable death on the cross. But all this would be

nothing compared to what would happen after his death. And with his

resurrection, there would be life everlasting—a forever.

            This forever is actually meant for all of us also, since

we have been made in God’s image and likeness. Even if we damaged that

original divine image in ourselves, that image has been repaired by

Christ himself who showed us how to handle precisely our damaged

condition.

            This reassurance of our eternal life with God should lead

us not to be afraid to take up commitments in our life here on earth.

Despite our limitations, not to mention our sins and mistakes, we can

still take those commitments because God will provide us with

everything that we need to carry them out.

            We should banish whatever fear we have of making

commitments and of eternal life itself. Let’s keep our faith in Christ

strong, and continue to boost our hope in achieving the promises of

Christ for all of us, in spite of whatever.

            In fact, by taking up commitments we would be showing the

strength of our faith, hope and love in God and in others. We would be

willing to undertake an adventure, cruising uncharted seas and

exploring the dark side of the moon, if need be.

            For sure, we are capable of entering into a commitment,

because we have both the intelligence and will that will enable us to

know what we are committing ourselves into and to want it for good or

for a time, irrespective of the changing circumstances and

developments that may be propitious or not to us.

            Entering into commitment can only show determination on

the part of the one assuming it, a determination that can only spring

from love, from one’s self-giving to another.

            It is a promise that is taken very seriously, just like

what a marrying couple would promise to each other on their wedding

day—“to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for

worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death

do us part.”

            As such, a commitment can truly be considered as proper

when it is inspired by God’s love, since it is God’s love that is its

source and pattern. God is always faithful to us, as can be gleaned

from the Book of Lamentations:

            “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies

never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your

faithfulness.” (3,22-23)

            And even if we are unfaithful to God, God will still be

faithful to us, as St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans:

“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the

faithfulness of God?” (3,3)

            We need to inculcate this sense of commitment among the

youth since they are the ones most affected by the current prevailing

environment of disloyalty, infidelity and promiscuity. Some have gone

to the extent of equating being non-committed with being free, when in

fact being non-committed can only make them held captive and enslaved

by self-seeking forces.

            If entered into out of love of God, there will never be

regrets. Even if the outcome may appear to be disadvantageous, such

disadvantage will only be apparent and would only be so if seen in

purely human and worldly terms. In the eyes of God, such commitment

can only be good to us irrespective of worldly and temporal

consequences.

            Taking up a commitment is proof of our belief in the forever.

Love need not be sweet

OF COURSE, in its ideal state, love will always be sweet.

In fact, it is going to be a bliss where God “will wipe every tear

from the eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or

pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Rev 21,4)

            But in our present earthly condition, it has to contend

with our defects, mistakes and sins that unavoidably produce pain and

sorrow. Love would still be true love if we know how to go through and

beyond this earthly condition, and manage to find meaning and even joy

in these things. Expect love to be sometimes bitter, sour or bland.

            That is why St. Paul once said: “Love is patient…it bears

all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all

things.” (1 Cor 13,4.7) We can only have this kind of love if we are

truly identified with Christ who is the standard of our love.

            Christ himself said so: “Love one another as I have loved

you.” (Jn 13,34) And how does he love us? By going all the way even to

death on the cross. By so doing, he assumed all our sins and offers us

forgiveness. He promises us a new life in him, guaranteed with his own

resurrection. It’s a life full of joy and peace, wisdom and power.

There is no love greater than this love.

            We need to see to it that our understanding of love is

based on our faith, on our vital union with Christ, replicating his

life, his word, deed and example in ours. It should not be based on

feelings alone, or on any human and worldly value alone.

            We have to be wary of a prevailing worldly culture of love

that is bent in deluding us into the belief that love is a matter of

nice feelings, or of some useful worldly value like practicality,

convenience, power, advantage, etc. We have to learn how to do battle

with this kind of false love.

            The authenticity of our love is precisely shown when we

know how to handle the pain and sorrow that is unavoidable in our

earthly life. If we continue to have faith and hope in God’s promises,

in spite of the trials, then we can say that we have the love that

comes from God.

            It will be a love that can only show the fruits of the

Holy Spirit—joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control. Not only that, but it is also a love

that inspires and generates these fruits of the Holy Spirit in others.

For, as Christ himself said, “a good tree does not bear bad fruit…a

tree is known by its fruit.” (Lk 6,43-44) What one has is also what he

gives to others.

            We have to have this kind of love everyday and in every

circumstance, starting with the ones beside us at the moment. Whatever

the situation, whether favorable or not, we should love everyone,

doing it wholeheartedly and cheerfully.

            It should be a love that is inventive and creative, game

and sporty, unafraid of whatever trials, difficulty, setback, failure

can come our way.