Gospel-reading

WE should try our best to develop the habit of reading and

meditating on the gospel regularly, if not daily. It is the living

word of God, the record of Christ’s life and teachings meant to effect

in us our transformation into ‘another Christ,’ Christ who is the

pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity.

            The gospel is not just a historical book nor is it only

some literary piece for our cultural enrichment. It is what the Letter

to the Hebrews describes as: “The word of God, alive and active,

sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing

soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and

attitude of the heart.” (4,12)

            We have to have the proper disposition when reading and

meditating on it. We have to approach it with faith and piety,

convinced that everything that is said there, though historically and

culturally conditioned, has a transcendent quality that makes it

relevant to us at all times.

            Actually reading and meditating on the gospel or the whole

Sacred Scripture is like having an encounter with God, with Christ.

St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church, expressed this truth

beautifully when he said: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of

Christ.” He also said: “When we pray, we speak to God. But when we

read, God speaks to us.”

            We have to understand then that gospel-reading is very

important in our lives. It should be given priority over any other

readings we may have, since it is what would guide us and give us the

proper perspective within which to consider all our other readings.

            It might be good to remit here the text of the Vatican II

document, Dei verbum (11 & 12), that explains or describes the

inspired character of the Bible, particularly the gospel, and how we

should interpret it.

            “Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and

presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the

belief of the Apostles, holds that the books of both the Old and New

Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and

canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the

Church herself.

            “In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while

employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that

with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors,

consigned to writing everything and only those things which He

wanted…”

            As to how to interpret the Bible, the same document has

this to say: “Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in

human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see

clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully

investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what

God wanted to manifest by means of their words.”

            Given this description about the inspired character of the

Bible and about how it has to be interpreted, we cannot help but

realize that the reading the gospel, while using all technical means

to understand it properly, like examining the “literary forms” that

can be historical, prophetic, poetic, etc., will require us to pray,

to beg the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, etc.

            We have to fight against the usual dangers regarding

gospel-reading. This can be, first of all, laziness, treating it only

as a historical or literary or cultural work, lack of faith, etc.

Definitely, reading and meditating on the gospel will also require of

us a spirit of sacrifice, since it will demand effort and self-denial.

            It might be a good idea to promote this practice of

gospel-reading first of all in the family and in the schools. Children

should be trained in it as early as possible.

Let’s make a beautiful, meaningful day

OUR life should mirror the life of God himself, since we

are supposed to be his image and likeness. That’s how we have been

created. We are meant to live our life with God. We can even say that

God treats us the way he treats himself. For this purpose he gave us

the power to know him and to love him by giving us intelligence and

will, and most of all, his grace that is completely gratuitous.

            It is this grace that enables us to be like God and to

live our life with him. Our intelligence and will, on their own, would

not enable us to be like God, but they are necessary for us to

correspond to God’s grace. They have what is called the ‘obediential

potency’ that enables us to receive grace and to have the potency to

elevate us to the supernatural life of God.

           And even if we messed up the original plan of God for us,

he recovered us with his work of redemption. Our life should also

therefore mirror not only the creative life of God, which is already

overwhelming, but also the redemptive work of his, which is even more

overwhelming.

            But let’s not be afraid, since God himself will take care

of everything. Ours is simply to go along with him by corresponding to

his love as best we could. This business of mirroring of God’s life in

ours should be a result not of our desire only, which is quite

subjective and cannot go the distance. It should be the result of our

sense of gratitude for the immense and tremendous love God has for us.

As the way of true love goes, love is repaid with love. God has loved

us first, and so we love him in return.

            This mirroring of God’s life in us should somehow be lived

out everyday. In this, we have to try to be very specific and

concrete, avoiding a generic approach. In a manner of speaking, let us

move from a grainy kind of outlook in life to one that is high

definition.

            And so, each time we wake up in the morning, for example,

let’s direct ourselves first of all to God to thank him for the new

day and the new opportunity we have to spend our day with him and to

live our life with him. And then let’s see how we can make the day

beautiful, productive, meaningful.

            That is why as soon as we recover our senses after waking

up, let us try to figure out how we can mirror God’s life in our day.

For sure, there are many and endless possibilities. If we are truly

moved by God’s love us, we will never run out of ideas, initiatives,

plans and strategies to mirror God’s life and love in our daily life.

            If we are truly moved by God’s love for us, we would

always be inventive and creative, and we would do all this without

counting the cost, in total generosity. Everything will be done in

gratis, although we know that God cannot be outdone in generosity. In

other words, we mirror God’s overwhelming and gratuitous love for us

in our love for him in return. We would be drawn into the dynamics of

God’s love.

            All throughout the day, we should have an abiding

awareness that everything we do, from our thoughts and desires to our

words and actions, is motivated and inspired by the love of God. We

should end the day aware that we have spent it in love for God which

will always have the accompanying complement of love for the others,

including those who do not love us.

            Let’s remember that God’s love has a universal coverage.

He is very willing to give mercy to those who offend him. This is how

we can make a beautiful and meaningful day everyday.

Look for Christ always

THIS is a basic duty of ours, a grave responsibility in

fact. Without Christ, we would just be on our own, relying simply on

our own lights and powers that, no matter how excellent, can never

accomplish our real ultimate need—our own salvation, our own

completion and perfection as a person, as a child of God.

            We have to learn to look for Christ. He is the pattern of

our humanity, the redeemer of our damaged humanity. In fact, the goal

that we should try to pursue with God’s grace, of course, but also

with our own effort is for us to be ‘another Christ,’ a clearly

supernatural phenomenon that will require us to be at least open to it

and to merit it.

            This looking for Christ should be like an instinct, a

constant behavior of ours. We have to look for him, so we can find

him, and in finding him, we can start to love and serve him which is

what we are expected to do to be ‘another Christ.’

            This has basis on what Christ himself said: “Ask and it

will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will

be opened to you…” (Mt 7,7) We need to do our part in a relationship

that is actually initiated by Christ himself. He loves us first before

we can love him in return. (cfr. 1 Jn 4,19)

            If we don’t yet have this habit of looking for Christ,

then it’s time that we start cultivating it and making it a guiding,

directing principle of our daily life. We have to exercise our faith,

overcome the usual initial awkwardness that we experience, and

continue finding ways and means to look for Christ at every moment of

the day, especially in our work, and even in our rest.

            “Come to me,” “Follow me,” are some of the open

invitations Christ is giving us. He continues to issue such

invitations. We should not be afraid to go to him and follow him. We

have to discover the most wonderful reality that only in Christ can we

have our true joy, our genuine peace, our ultimate solution to

whatever problem we have.

            As far as Christ is concerned, he is always around. In

fact, he is already within us. And his presence in us, to be sure, is

not simply passive. Toward us, Christ is full of solicitude and

concern. He is eager to help. He is never sparing in his mercy for us,

knowing that despite our good intentions and best efforts, we often

find ourselves at odds with him.

            We have to find ways of how to correspond more punctually

to Christ’s presence and love for us. Let’s see to it, for example,

that even as we wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is to

put ourselves in his presence and start to consciously offer the whole

day that is just beginning to him.

            And in every activity that we do, we should make the

effort, at least in our intentions, to offer it to him, and to begin

and end the activity with him. For this we have to conquer some of the

usual spoilers that would make us think that we are getting too

serious, too unmanly, or even getting inhuman. You can be sure that

those thoughts are not true and must come most probably from our human

weaknesses if not from the devil himself.

            It would also help that we have a systematic way of

getting to know Christ more and more. Let’s remember that we can never

him know enough, no matter how much we have studied his life and

words. Christ is never just a historical figure nor a literary

character nor social or cultural icon. He is God made man to save us.