From curse to cure

THAT very inhuman martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, beheaded just as a reward to a dancing girl, (cfr. Mk 6,14-29) clearly tells us that martyrdom caused by a most crazy reason is a possibility in our life. We should be ready to suffer and die, knowing how to derive something good from evil and how to turn a curse into a cure. 

 And the secret again is to suffer and die with Christ. If we believe in Christ and follow what he has taught and shown us, we will realize that there is nothing to be afraid of suffering and death, and all the other negative things that can mark our life. 

 He bore them himself and converted them into our way for our own salvation. Yes, even death which is the ultimate evil that can befall us, an evil that is humanly insoluble. With Christ’s death, the curse of death has been removed. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15,54-55) 

 So, we just have to be sport and cool about the whole reality of suffering and death. What we need to do is to follow Christ in his attitude toward them. For Christ, embracing suffering and ultimately death, is the expression of his greatest love for us. We have to enter into the dynamic of this divine logic and wisdom so we can lose that fear of suffering and death. 

 We have to be ready for these situations, and these verses from St. Peter’s first letter spell out for us how to be so. They are in the second chapter, and they go as follows (19-25): 

 “For one is approved if, mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God’s approval. 

 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin. No guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he trusted him who judges justly. 

 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” 

 I believe it’s truly worthwhile to reflect on these words slowly and repeatedly, so we can have clear ideas why it’s also worthwhile when instances of unjust suffering and death come to us. We can find meaning, and even joy and peace, when these occasions occur. 

 A person who is truly a man of God would have no enemies, because everyone would be an object of his love. He prefers to suffer when mistreated, and that suffering becomes the very expression of his love. It’s a love that goes above the standards and criteria of human justice. 

It’s a love that is pegged on a higher plane, the supernatural plane of God’s boundless love. It’s a love that as St. Paul would put it: “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13,7)

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

FEBRUARY 2 is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It commemorates that time when Mary and Joseph simply followed the law of the time to present the first-born to God for his consecration. (cfr. Lk 2,22-32) 

 There was actually no need for them to fulfill that law, since Christ does not need consecration, but they simply followed the law and custom of the time, a lesson for us not to feel privileged despite the privileges that we may have. 

 In the gospel reading of the feast, we are also told about Simeon, a righteous and devout man who was promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he sees Christ. That’s when we have these famous words of his, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples…” (Lk 2,29-31) 

 Somehow, this feast reminds us that like Simeon we should always be looking for Christ, and we should not rest until we find him. If we go by our Christian faith, we know that we are assured of finding Christ, as long as we look for him. 

 We have to realize that this business of looking for Christ always is a grave duty of ours. Somehow, everything in our life depends on this duty, because Christ is actually everything for us. We are meant to be fully identified with him. That’s how we can attain the fullness of our humanity. 

 As Christ himself said, he is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. (cfr. Jn 14,6) We would not be consistent with our humanity if we are not with Christ. With Christ, we would have all the answers to all our questions, the solutions to all our problems, including those that cannot be solved humanly anymore. 

 When we constantly look for Christ, we would be men and women of sound judgment. We would know how to handle our weaknesses, temptations, failures, and sins and all the negative things in our life, as well as our victories and successes which can spoil us if not lived with him. 

 With him, we can manage to find joy and peace in any situation. We can find meaning and redemptive value to any situation in our life, and everything will work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) There will be a certain lightness of heart despite the burdens we may be bearing. In the end, we can fulfill the most important duty of our life, which is to give glory to God. 

 We should do our best in training ourselves to make it a constant habit to look for Christ always. We have to be wary of the many elements nowadays that would undermine such duty. We are bombarded with many distractions which are very powerful and attractive. We have to learn how to deal with this condition in our life, taking care of our intentions. 

 In this regard, it is helpful to make a number of pit stops during the day so we can establish, recover and maintain our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing. Let’s remember that we are notorious for being negligent of our duties, and for falling into the million ways of self-indulgence. 

 A person who looks for Christ always actually exudes a certain aura of holiness around him.

Be amazed and avoid over-familiarity

“A PROPHET is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” (Mk 6,4) Famous words of Christ that tell us that we should be wary of our tendency to take the things of God for granted, especially nowadays when we can feel we can depend on God less and less because we happen to know more, do more and achieve more. 

 This is a very common danger to all of us, and is at bottom a result of letting ourselves be simply guided by our senses, or feelings and our other ways of human estimation, without the guidance of our faith that should lead us to develop the appropriate piety. 

 We have to be more aware of this danger of over-familiarity and install the necessary defenses against it. More than that, we have to aggressively cultivate the art of always being amazed at God and at all his works. That should be the proper state for us to be in. 

 Yes, we should cultivate the attitude and habit of always being amazed at everything since everything in the end comes from God and is meant to lead us to God and to glorify him. 

 We always tend to believe that we can manage to live our life and to handle all kinds of situations just by relying on our own powers, practically denying the fact that our powers come from God and are supposed to be a participation of God’s powers. This is especially so since we now appear to be gaining more power through our inventions and creations. 

 We obviously have to do our part. In fact, we have to make full use of everything we have got to resolve whatever problems, difficulties, issues, etc., we have in this life. Yes, we have to be very realistic and practical about everything. But we should not forget that we always need God. 

 Even in our small, usual and very manageable concerns, we should go and be with God first before we attempt to tackle them. We have to remember that everything depends on God, and also in a certain sense, everything also depends on us. It’s a 100%-100% proposition. 

 This does not mean that we are getting too dependent on him. Truth is, we actually depend on him for everything even if we also should fully use whatever capabilities we have. Yes, we enjoy a freedom that enables us to have a certain autonomy but never a total independence or separation from God. 

 We have to remember that being God’s creatures who have been created in his image and likeness, we are meant to live our whole life with him. Our relationship with him is not that of a parasite to a host, but rather that of a child to his father. That is our undeniable and inalienable lineage. God and us are meant to be together always. We are meant to share the same life and nature, since God made us his image and likeness. 

 We have to understand, though, that this abiding state of amazement that we should try to develop is simply not a matter of sensations. Of course, it would be good if we can always feel amazed and in awe. But given the limitations of our bodily organism, we cannot expect that to happen all the time. 

 The ideal abiding state of amazement is more a matter of conviction, of something spiritual, moral and supernatural. It should be the result of grace that is corresponded to generously and heroically by us.