To Jesus through Mary

REMEMBER that beautiful gospel episode about the wedding in Cana. (cfr. Jn 2,1-11) Mary, very much a woman who always sees details often missed by men, noticed that the celebration was running out of wine, and so she asked her son to do something about it. Though initially denied, she still went on to tell the stewards to do whatsoever Jesus would tell them. And the first miracle happened. Water became high quality wine. 

 This gospel episode somehow reminds us that if we would just have a bit of common sense, we would know that it is always wise to go to Mary in order to get to Christ. As a saint once said, Mary is the shortest, surest and safest way to be with Christ. 

 Let’s see to it that our devotion to her grows. And if it is practically dormant if not dead, then let’s stir it up to life again. She is important to us. In fact, she is indispensable to us. She cannot be treated as an optional feature in our spiritual life, nor something decorative or appendical only. 

 While she is not God and, therefore, not to be accorded with the worship that is only due to God (latria), she rightly deserves to be given the highest form of veneration (hyperdulia) among all the saints who are already with God in heaven. 

 She never undermines our relationship with God. If anything, all she does is to bring us to God and to help us fulfill the will of God. Thus, in that episode of the wedding at Cana where she noticed that the hosts were running out of wine, she told the servants, “Do whatever he (Christ) tells you.” (Jn 2,5) 

 She is a mother to us. In fact, she fulfills the perfection of motherhood because she conceived the Son of God in her womb, thereby making herself, in a mysterious sense, the mother of God (Mater Dei), since Jesus is not only man, but is, first of all, God. 

 And since Christ is the “prototype” of the redeemed humanity, she, being the mother of Christ, can rightly be called the mother of all humanity that has been redeemed by Christ. 

 The secret of developing a deep devotion to Mary is in our imitation of her readiness to say, “Fiat,” (Be it done) to whatever God tells us through our faith. With that word, we unite ourselves with God and become members of God’s family. Let’s remember what Christ said about this point: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12,50) 

 Let’s develop the habit of quickly saying “Fiat” or “Amen” to whatever our faith tells us. This way, we would be imitating Mary and would bring us immediately to Christ who is our everything. 

 Let us develop the instinct of bringing Our Lady wherever we are. To be with her is to be with Christ, to be sure. For this, let us soften our heart to welcome and accommodate her, and develop an intimate mother-and-child relationship with her. With her we can never outgrow our condition as a little child who always needs his mother. 

 Let’s develop a certain fondness for her by availing of some human means that are used for this purpose. These can be developing the habit of looking affectionately at her pictures, saying something nice to her, saying the rosary and explore the different mysteries of Christ’s life with her, etc.

The world as pathway to heaven

WE should be very clear about this basic truth about the world in general or about the whole of nature that has been created by God. We need to realize that as God’s creation, the whole world of nature has been imprinted with God’s laws that are meant to give glory to God and to lead us also to him, giving him glory as well. In other words, depending on how we see the world, it is actually a pathway to heaven, to God. 

 Everything that we discover and make use of in the world should lead us to ask ourselves whether what we are discovering are truly in accordance to God’s will, to his true designs of the world, and whether we can discern how they can be used to give glory to God, which is a matter of loving him and serving the whole of humanity. 

 We have to be wary of the danger of discovering and using things simply in accordance to our own understanding of them and also to our own interest only. This is a common and abiding danger that we have to be most wary about. We have to do everything to avoid and overcome that danger. 

 Thus, we have to develop that strong and deep attitude of always referring things to God before we put our hands on them. That way, we would be putting ourselves on the right track that hopefully will lead us to God and to see and use things the way they should be seen and used. 

 This attitude, of course, would require of us to be guided always by our Christian faith, instead of just being guided by our human estimation of things. And for that faith to be effective in us, we obviously need to be humble. Without humility, there is no way faith can have any effect on us. 

 We should be looking for God always in everything that we get involved in. In all the things that we do or handle, we should be asking what are there in those things that are for God, rather than being interested only on what are there in those things that are for us. 

 Let’s always remember what Christ himself said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mt 6,33) We should not worry if we put our attention first on God and on our duties toward him, since he will take care of everything else that we need, especially the most important thing, which is our own salvation. 

 Thus, Christ also said that “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19,29) If we give God priority always by being always looking for him, obeying him and being generous with him, he will take care of everything. He cannot be outdone in generosity. 

 As much as possible, we should be conscious on a daily basis that everything that we do, that we get involved in, that happens to us, etc., should give us the sensation that we are approaching God and heaven. To be sure, this could not be regarded as some kind presumption on our part. This is actually what is meant for us. 

 Yes, we have to most aware that the world in general is a pathway to heaven, to God.

To be authentically Christian

THIS should be our constant concern. And to pursue it, we should try our best to be truly “alter Christus.” We have to identify ourselves with Christ in everything—in spirit, in thoughts, intentions and desires, in words and deeds. In other words, we have to develop a certain unity of life with Christ as the principle, end and guide of our life. 

 Let us remember what Christ said so clearly. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can only have life, let alone, consistency and fruitfulness in our life, if we are united to him. Outside of him, we can only expect death, inconsistency and sterility. 

 Yes, only in and with Christ can we have the real principle of unity and fruitfulness in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize this basic truth about ourselves. 

 This, of course, is a truth of faith, and not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in Christ. 

 It’s a phenomenon that can call to mind two contrasting dramatic stories in the Bible. One is the story of the Tower of Babel, and the other is the story of Pentecost. 

 In the episode of the Tower of Babel, those who survived the flood have multiplied and have gotten so intoxicated by their powers and good fortune that they now want to reach heaven by their own efforts alone, by building a tower. 

 God intervenes, as he always does in our life, and confounds them by making them speak different languages so that they would not understand each other anymore. The project ends in total failure, and new troubles emerge for the people. 

 The story of Pentecost offers a counterpoint. We have different people speaking different languages. But since they believe, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. This is how they get to understand each other. 

 They are not made into a uniformed mass. The differences are respected and even fostered. And yet there is unity among them, with a certain focus or attention that is a result of such unity. 

 We have to reiterate the truth that we need Christ who is our “way, truth and life” with God to have a solid, genuine unity of life and an unwavering focus even in the midst of so many things in our life. 

 We just have to learn how to strengthen our relation with Christ, overcoming our natural awkwardness and difficulties, knowing how to pray, studying and assimilating the doctrine, availing of the sacraments, rectifying our intention, developing the virtues, observing proper priorities, etc. 

 We need to be more aware of our duty to establish, build up and strengthen the unity in our life. We only have one life, made up of many parts, aspects, stages and levels, and subject to all sorts of conditions, big and small, favorable and unfavorable, etc. The challenge is how to put all these things together in harmony. 

 Strengthening that unity of our life insures us that we would be on the right track toward the goal proper to us, that we would be effective in what we are doing, and healthy and resistant to anything that can weaken us or lead us astray. With Christ, we can achieve that.