Let’s be responsible of each other

WHETHER we are aware of it or not, and despite our differences and conflicts, we all share the same humanity, the same status as creatures of God made in his image and likeness. We are one people, forming one body of which each one of us ought to be a living member, doing a specific role for the good of everyone. We have to care, love and help one another! 

 That is why we need to be living members, as St. Paul once said. “The body is a unit,” he said, “though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.: (1 Cor 12-13) 

 And the best way to be living and helpful members of the same body is to follow Christ’s indication for each one of us to be “salt and light” to everyone. (cfr. Mt 5,13-16). Christ wants us, like salt, to provide Christian flavor in a world that is fast evolving, as well as help in preserving the true Christian spirit in a world that is so exposed to a lot of changes, many of them with their luggage of dangers even as they also offer a lot of benefits. 

 We also are meant to give light to the others by giving good example and by actively doing apostolate, leading people to God along the right if prudent and tortuous and treacherous paths of this world. With rectitude of intention, we have to inspire others to follow us so that with us they can come to Christ. 

 Let’s make St. Paul’s words ours also: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11,1) These words are a corollary to what Christ said about us being light of the world: “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Mt 5,16) 

 Let’s try our best that we too can echo another of St. Paul’s words: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2,20) This is the ideal to aim at, because Christ himself said, “I am the light of the world…the man who follows me will have the light of life.” (Jn 8,12) 

 We can only give the true light if we have the light of Christ, if we are with Christ and so identified with him that whoever sees and hears us sees and hears Christ. (cfr. Lk 10,16) 

 We have to understand that we have a duty to inspire others always. It’s a most important duty that is actually incumbent on everyone of us, and not just on some special people. We know that we are all interrelated, obviously not biologically that only has a limited scope, but definitely to a large extent, politically, economically, socially, etc. The fact that we all live in the same one world somehow makes us all interrelated. 

 But there’s actually a more radical basis of our interrelation. And that is that we are all creatures of God, children of his, meant to be the people and the family of God. It is a relationship that is spiritual more than material, forged by a supernatural principle and not just something natural. That’s why we have to care for each other, responsible for one another.

Why the beatitudes?

I BELIEVE we are all familiar with the beatitudes, those Christ-defined formulation of how we can be considered blessed. (cfr. Mt 5,1-12) They intriguingly convert what we usually consider as human disasters or clear disadvantages and inconveniences according to worldly standards into a source of joy, a means of our redemption, a path to heaven, narrow and difficult though they may be. 

 They expand our understanding of what should comprise as our true happiness by including those situations which we normally regard as unsavory and therefore to be avoided as much as possible and hated even. 

 They portray the way love, which is the essence of God and is what is also meant for us, can be lived in the confusing condition of our earthly life where good and evil are mixed up. 

 That is why the Catechism teaches us that the beatitudes are considered as depicting “the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory his Passion and Resurrection, they shed light on the actions and the attitudes characteristic of the Christian life,” it says. 

 And it adds, “They are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations, they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.” (1717) 

 The beatitudes are so articulated by Christ in order to serve as a profound and most effective antidote to our strong, almost invincibly strong tendency to self-love, to self-indulgence. 

 Yes, we need to declare an unrelenting war against our self-indulgence which has become a very formidable problem we all have. Yes, this has always been a problem to us, but these days it is much more so. 

 With the many new wonderful things that can instantly give us convenience, comfort, pleasure and satisfaction, many of us are trapped into the very sticky web of obsessions, addictions and the many other forms of self-indulgence that feed on our weaknesses, like lust, pride, conceit, gluttony, unhinged curiosities, envy, etc., etc. 

 We just have to give a cursory look around to see how bad this problem is. Many people are just looking at their cellphones most of the time. There are reports saying that many young people often forget their meals and lose sleep because of what they do in the Internet. It’s clear they are terribly hooked there and it seems it’s now next to the impossible to get them out of there. 

 As a result, many duties and responsibilities are left unattended. Disorder and chaos are fast gaining ground as priorities are skewed. Superficiality has now become a mainstream lifestyle, reinforcing the trend toward consumerism, materialism and what Pope Francis refers to as the “throw-away culture” where ethical and moral considerations are ignored or even flouted, i.e., regarded with contempt. 

 In short, the beatitudes detach us from our own selves so that we can truly identify ourselves with Christ who is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our sin-damaged humanity. They are actually a way to our liberation from our own self-inflicted bondage to merely earthly and bodily urges. They purify us from any stain caused by our worldly attachments. 

 They have to be understood from the point of view of our faith and never just from our own estimations of things, no matter how impressive these estimations may be due to our philosophies, ideologies, cultures, etc.

What does Pentecost mean?

EVEN if Christ already died and ascended into heaven, his presence and mission continues to be with us, this time through the Holy Spirit. “I will not leave you as orphans,” he said. “I will come to you.” (Jn 14,18) It is the Holy Spirit who will make Christ present in us and who will involve us in the continuing redemptive work of Christ. 

 We have to understand that the Holy Spirit perpetuates the presence and redemptive action of Christ all throughout time, with all the drama, vagaries, ups and downs that we men make in our history. 

 It has been prophesied that God will pour out his Spirit upon all men. The Holy Spirit is intended for all of us. We are all meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But this divine will obviously has to contend with the way we receive and do things, and that is, that we take to this reality in stages involving a whole range of human means of teaching, evangelizing, etc. 

 We need the Holy Spirit because only in him can we truly recognize Christ. Only in him will we be able to have Christ in our life, to remember all his words and even to develop them to attune them to current needs and situations. 

 Only in him can we see things properly. Especially these days when truth, justice and charity have become very slippery, and people are left confounded and vulnerable to fall into scepticism and cynicism, we need to be in the Holy Spirit to be able to sort things out and stay away from the mess. 

 We need the Holy Spirit to be able to read the signs of the times properly. The world is getting very complicated, and we definitely need the Holy Spirit to guide us. We cannot rely anymore on our politicians and other leaders. We, including politicians and especially them, actually always need the Holy Spirit. 

 The Holy Spirit acts on each one of us in different ways but always for the common good. St. Cyril has this to say about how the Holy Spirit comes to us: 

 “The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden, for he is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as he approaches. 

 “The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console. The Spirit comes to enlighten the mind first of the one who receives him, and then, through him, the minds of others as well.” 

 We have to understand that Christ’s redemptive mission is very much an ongoing affair, and he involves all of us actually in this business. Those words that he addressed to his apostles, giving them their mission, can be considered as addressed to us also. And we can carry out that mission because of the abiding work of the Holy Spirit in us. All we have to do is to correspond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. 

 We need to be familiar with this Christian duty. We have to do apostolate, and we need to see to it that the zeal for it is always nourished, stoked and fanned to its most intense degree. 

 Yes, we are all meant to be “another Christ” through the Holy Spirit, with the lifelong concern for our sanctification and apostolate, taking advantage of all the occasions and situations in life to pursue those goals!