Accepting whatever God gives

I WAS very moved and impressed when a young man, now

rising in his profession, said that he accepts whatever God has given

him or has allowed to happen to him.

  

            An illegitimate son, he holds no resentment or grudge

against his father who practically neglected him in his growing up

years because the father also had some personal demons to contend

with. Nor is he ashamed to publicly tell everyone that he is the son

of such a father. In fact, now that the father is very sickly, he

reaches out to his father and takes care of him, especially because he

is now a doctor.

  

            We can learn great lessons from this episode. Yes, we may

be victims of some misfortune, natural or man-made, but if our mind

and heart are in the right place, that is to say, they are with God,

we know that everything will always work out for the good. There’s no

reason to feel bad and to fall into worse cases of self-pity, anger

and bitterness, hatred and desires for revenge, etc.

  

            With God, everything is taken care of. What we cannot take

care, God will do it for us. Of course, God’s ways are not our ways.

They may differ greatly from what we like to happen, but definitely

God will take care of everything. He will solve, complete and perfect

what we cannot anymore solve, complete and perfect. Nothing is

impossible with him. We should just trust him.

  

            This reassurance has been revealed to us by Christ

himself. He was willing to offer his life for our sins and for

whatever misfortunes we can suffer in this life. And he conquered them

all with his resurrection. If all our misfortunes are suffered with

Christ, we for sure will also take part in the resurrection of Christ.

  

            Before Christ’s supreme act of love to take care of

everything and to save us and to bring us back to God, we already have

been reassured of this wonderful truth of God taking care of

everything with the example of Job who was severely tested by all

kinds of trials and misfortunes. But with his strong faith in God, he

stood his ground and in the end was amply rewarded by God.

            We need to toughen ourselves and cling tightly to what our

faith tells us whenever we suffer some kind of misfortune in this

life. For this, we have nothing else to do but to try our best, always

asking for God’s grace, to assume the mind of Christ with respect to

his suffering and death.

  

            Like Christ, we should be magnanimous, always offering

kindness, compassion and mercy to those who may cause us some

misfortunes, even the life-long types. Like Christ, we should try to

be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Let us have the kind of love

that Christ himself commanded us to have: to love one another as he

himself has loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34)

  

            St. Paul described this love in this way: “Love is

patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not

proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not

easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in

evil but rejoice with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Cor 13,4-8)

  

            It is this love that conquers everything, that identifies

us with Christ, with God. It is what enables us to happily accept

whatever God gives us or allows to happen to us, good or bad in human

terms.

  

            Let us try to always and immediately remove anything that

negates this kind of love. Let’s put all our trust in God, and let’s

just be game with whatever situation, predicament, or misfortune we

can have in this life.

Mental case or demonic possession?

THERE seems to be a sharp surge of disturbed people around

these days. As a result, we can see more people who are clearly

mentally ill, with very erratic behavior. And if they are not

withdrawn from the world, alienating themselves and rotting away in

their own universe, they get overly aggressive, violently aggressive,

in fact. Some commit suicide.

  

            This is a problem we have to learn how to cope and to try

to solve. Of course, it’s a phenomenon that can easily be attributed

to the complications and pressures of the times, which in themselves

are admittedly no mean things. But there must also be other factors

and causes deeper than the toxic complications and pressures of the

times that give rise to this world predicament.

  

            More and more people are of the thinking that these

disturbed persons are more than just mental cases, to be treated only

with psychiatry, some medicine and therapy which are no mean help.

They now talk of the strong possibility that some demonic interference

is involved, even demonic oppression and possession. And they cite

instances where the persons concerned act in ways that are considered

already beyond human possibility.

  

            We need to have a good grip on this rapidly emerging

menace. And the first thing to do is to entertain the possibility that

indeed these disturbed people are both mentally sick and demonically

bothered.

  

            Yes, while it’s true that the predicament can be an

either-or proposition, we should not dismiss the possibility that it

can also be a both-and one. Not just disjunctive, but also

conjunctive. Let’s remember that the devil is always around. It’s not

paranoia to be always alerted of the devil’s existence and constant

efforts to destroy us, usually in very sweet ways.

  

            It would be good if we level up in our knowledge of

psychology. This field of science is getting to be more and more

relevant these days. It cannot anymore be the exclusive interest of

some people. Everyone should know at least the basics of psychology

and from there start accumulating relevant helpful information.

   

            But we should never forget that the psychological and

mental mechanism of a person is steeped in his spiritual dimension

that can lead him either to the supernatural or infranatural world. It

cannot be studied from the point of view of empirical science alone.

It has to input the truths of faith to enable it to cope with the full

range of its possibilities.

  

            This is a point that should be taken more seriously these

days. The complicated challenges of our times that have brought about

many good things and also many bad things cannot but make this kind of

demand. We have to take our faith more seriously, assimilating it in

our system and making it the guide and shaper of our lives.

  

            With our faith, we have the answer to all the questions,

the solution to all our problems, even if the answers and solutions it

offers may not be the ones we want. But they are the answers and

solutions that God himself gives, and not just us.

  

            Faith is the great healer, the constant pacifier, because

it brings Christ into our lives, Christ who heals and who constantly

tells us, “Do not be afraid...” We should bring our faith to bear on

our sciences and on our other sources of knowledge.

  

            With respect to this phenomenon of rising cases of

disturbed people, our faith can detect whether a particular case is

just a pure mental or psychological problem, or something where evil

spiritual forces are involved.

  

            To be sure, the workings of the demons will always

manifest themselves in some mental, psychological or emotional

predicaments. But if a person is a man of deep faith, he most likely

will have a very good mental or psychological health, and would know

how to deal with evil spirits.

Our freedom needs temperance

THE reason is simple. Freedom is such a tricky thing to

handle. It can easily be abused and ruin us. If not handled properly,

its comeuppance is much graver than whatever pleasure its so-called

perks and privileges can give us. So, caveat emptor!

  

            That’s why St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians issued

this warning: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my

brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your

sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in

love.” (5,13)

   

            We need to understand that freedom is a gift from God and

is governed by God’s law. Freedom is not something we generate

ourselves. It is something given by God and received by us.  It cannot

be exercised simply on our own designs. By definition, it has to be

related to God, its source and law.

  

            It is something relational, not something absolutely ours.

We have to be most wary of linking freedom with being absolutely ours,

sadly a common phenomenon these days. That is not true freedom. That

would be an abuse, a distortion of freedom. It would be a false

freedom that sooner or later will lead us to some form of bondage.

   

            We need to understand then that the proper exercise of

freedom is not simply a matter of being free to choose anything. Yes,

there is a free choice involved, but it has to be a choice that has to

be related to God. Our choice that is inspired by true freedom is when

such choice coincides also with God’s choice in a given situation.

  

            But, alas, this is not easy to do for us. And that’s

because of our wounded, sinful condition that often leads us to give

priority to what we want rather than to what God wants. And often,

this anomaly springs from the urgings of our flesh that definitely

needs to be disciplined and purified and directed to our proper

ultimate end—God.

  

             This is where the virtue of temperance enters. It has as

its purpose the integration of the bodily aspect of our nature with

our spiritual dimension and supernatural goal. It aims to keep and

nourish the integrity of our life that is often threatened by a

variety of divisive factors and fragmenting conditions of our earthly

life.

  

            It’s actually a very positive virtue, though it obviously

involves some restrictive and prohibiting elements. Unfortunately,

many of us get stuck with the latter negative side of it, while

ignoring its very constructive character.

   

            We need to be realistic about our life. We should not

forget what Christ said once in this regard: “The spirit is willing

but the flesh is weak.” That’s the naked truth about ourselves insofar

as the relation between the body and soul is concerned.

   

            We have to overcome that prevalent thinking that somehow

allows the body to have whatever it wants as long as it does not make

a mess in public or with the law. In short, it can have what it wants

even if it goes against God’s law for us or even our own nature as

long as one is not caught.

  

            It’s this kind of thinking that is behind the surge these

days of alcoholism, gluttony, eroticism, infidelity, frivolity, etc.

Modesty and moderation are hardly known, let alone practiced.

  

            Temperance actually constitutes for us a liberation from

our carnal self. It’s actually an expression of freedom so that we can

realize more fully our dignity as persons who know how to think and

love properly, and as children of God who are supposed to live their

lives with God.

  

            So, far from undermining our freedom, the virtue of

temperance helps us to live our freedom properly. It helps us to be

always vigilant so that we don’t get easily deceived by the false

values our wounded flesh often offers us.