Transparency and accountability

IF we want our life to be good, we need to develop a keen

sense of transparency and accountability. These traits assure us that

we are on the right path. That is to say, we have nothing bad to hide,

and more, we are seeing to it that we are responsible for what God has

given us, making these God-given gifts fruitful and productive.

  

            A good sense of transparency will help us develop and

sustain our integrity in life. It means that everything that we do is

good, that is, morally good. This sense of transparency can only take

root when it is based on our faith in God who sets all the laws in our

life, and therefore, all that is good for us.

  

            Besides, God actually sees everything. Before him, nothing

can be hidden. We therefore have to adapt a lifestyle that would make

us do everything in his presence. In fact, we are not simply meant to

do things in his presence. It is more to do everything for God’s

glory. Thus, when we do things without God in mind, let us be warned

that we are already doing things wrongly.

  

            We should not base our sense of transparency on human,

natural and worldly criteria alone. These latter standards do not

capture all the good that is proper to us. At best, they may just be

silent about the finer nuances and consequences of what is generally

good for us. We have to remember that many mysteries shroud our

understanding of things.

  

            But what is bad is that our human laws and worldly

standards have started to go against God’s will. This, of course, can

be due to our limitations in truly understanding God’s law. But it can

also be due to our sinfulness and malice. Nowadays, I believe it is

the latter that has led us to make laws that are openly against God’s

law.

  

            We can try to do something about this problem by teaching

the children to be transparent always, first to God, then to their

lawful authorities: their parents, teachers, elders, etc. And with the

adults, let us remind them often of the importance and the great many

benefits that a working sense of transparency brings.

  

            The same with the sense of accountability. This has to be

inculcated in the children as early as when they can be understand it.

In the gospel, many are the references that talk about this need for

accountability. One is the parable of the talents where a master gave

his three servants different amounts to do business with while he went

away. (cfr. Mt 25,14-30) The master asked for an accounting when he

returned.

  

            We even have to account for the words we speak, as

attested in this passage of St. Matthew’s gospel: “I tell you, on the

day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they

speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you

will be condemned.” (12,36-37)

  

            St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans also said that “each

of us will give an account of himself to God.” (14,12) And in his

second letter to the Corinthians, he said: “For we must all appear

before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what

is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (5,10)

  

            We have to prepare for this judgment when we have to give

account of what we have done with what God has given us. Let’s

remember that God has given us everything that is good to us, even the

way to recover our dignity as children of God once we lose it due to

our sins. He has given us life, talents, the theological virtues,

mercy, etc.

             We should be ready to face God to give an accounting of our life with

eagerness, not with fear.

More than what we deserve

IF we truly love one another as Christ commanded us, that

is, in the way he himself has loved us, (cfr. Jn 13,34) then we have

to love everyone in such a way that we love and serve them more than

what we think they deserve. That is the attitude to have.

  

            This is how Christ himself loved each one of us. He gave

himself completely to us, offering his life on the cross. And do you

think we deserve that kind of love? Definitely not. In fact, we

deserve the opposite—extreme punishment. But, no. Christ  instead, out

of love for us, bore all our sins in order to reconcile us to God from

whom we came and to whom we belong.

  

            This is the kind of love that we should aim at having. We

have to stop calculating and just learn to give ourselves completely

to God and to others gratuitously, without counting the cost and

without expecting any return.

  

            And that’s because we first of all received the greatest

gift from God freely, and that is God himself in Christ through the

Holy Spirit. We have to give ourselves to God and to others as well.

We need to be a gift also to God and to the others. “Freely you have

received, freely you have to give,” Christ told the apostles. (Mt

10,8)

   

            We have to train ourselves in this direction, and teach

our heart and mind to give ourselves completely gratuitously, more

than what in our calculation others deserve. This, of course, is not

going to be an easy task. But we can always count on God’s grace. All

that is needed is the effort to do our part.

  

            Yes, we have to give due consideration to the requirements

of justice and prudence. But let us never forget that no matter how

smart we are, we can never fathom the full requirements of these

ideals with our human powers alone. Only God’s grace can do that for

us.

  

            And this grace will show us that at the end of the day, we

have to give ourselves gratuitously to God and others, regardless of

the consequences insofar as justice and prudence are concerned.

  

            Thus, we have to be ready to suffer, just like Christ had

to suffer to save us. Imagine, Christ who is already God. He had to

suffer and die just to save us. He could not solve in a human way the

problems created by our sin and malice. He just bore all our sins by

dying on the cross.

   

            We have to have the same attitude of Christ with respect

to loving. We have to love one another beyond what we think they

deserve. Yes, we will try to look for solutions and correspond to the

requirements of justice. And we will do this with the best of our

efforts. But we also know that all these efforts will never give us

perfect solutions to our problems and answers to our questions. We

just have to learn to suffer.

  

            Thus, Christ told us very clearly. “If you want to follow

me, deny yourself and carry the cross…” (Mt 16,24) Christ has shown us

the way. We just have to bear the burden with him, so that our

suffering and eventual death will lead us to the resurrection with

Christ also. As St. Paul assured us, “if we died withs  Christ, we

believe that we will also live with him.” (Rom 6,8)

  

            Everyday, let us do acts of love in our usual dealings

with others. We may appear to be taken advantage of, but let us not

mind it. Our concern should simply be to love by serving and giving

ourselves to others without counting the cost and without expecting

any return.

Our misery and God’s mercy

THIS is something that we should always bear in mind,

never daring to take it for granted. This is the basic reality about

our life, about our human condition here in this world. It is what

should shape the basic attitude we have toward ourselves, toward God

and everybody and everything else in our life.

            We will always be hounded by our human misery that can

come to us in many, many ways. Remember St. Paul saying, “I see

another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and

holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.” (Rom

7,23)

            We should never forget this fact of life. No matter how

much we try, the tentacles and claws of evil will somehow catch us or

at least threaten us. But instead of getting trapped in anguish,

sadness or going wild because of it, we should use that reality as a

strong reason to go to God, appealing always for his mercy.

            We should just apply that Pauline advice: “It’s when I am

weak that I am strong. (2 Cor 12,11) And that’s because St. Paul used

his weaknesses and all the evils that hounded him as the very reason

and stimulus for him to go to God.

            We should neither forget that God’s mercy will always be

around too. As St. Paul also once said, “Where sin has abounded, grace

has abounded even more.” (Rom 5,20)

            Given this fundamental reality of our human condition

here, what we should try to do, if only to minimize the incidence of

evil, sin and temptations, is to be always aware of our weaknesses,

our miseries, and to use them as the reason to always be with God.

            Our usual problem is that many times we dare to be on our

own, and to regard God as not so important, not so relevant and useful

in our life and our activities. We can even go to the extent of

considering God as a hindrance, an obstacle to our quest for

development, for freedom, for self-fulfillment.

            This is the attitude that we should try our best to

discard. It simply does not conform to the basic truth about who we

are. We are nothing without God. We are supposed to live our life

always with God. Without God, we would be living in some fantasy world

that cannot hold on for long. That would be our misery of miseries.

            Precisely because of this attitude, we fall into some kind

of bipolar life. When things are bad, we would easily fall into

anguish, self-pity, depression and the possibility of committing

suicide. And when things are good, chances are we get spoiled via

pride, vanity, arrogance, greed, etc.

            What we should try to develop is the attitude that would

make us always aware of our miseries and our need for God. These two

aspects of our life should be together. Whether times are good or bad,

this should always be in our mind: I am nothing without God. Even in

my good fortune, I will always end up corrupted if I dare to be

without God.

            It would be good if we could install some means or

strategies in our lifestyle that would sustain this kind of attitude.

Thus, there is always need for a time for prayer, and to meditate on

the basic truths about ourselves that are spelled out in our Christian

faith.

            And then develop the appropriate attitudes, skills and

virtues. In this regard, we need to realize more deeply how God makes

himself tangibly accessible to us through the Church, especially

through the sacraments, and among the sacraments, especially the Holy

Eucharist.

            These facilities are often taken for granted, since they

are not properly understood and appreciated. It is indeed a pity that

that seems to be the prevalent condition even among Catholics at this

time...