Christian life is a happy journey

WE all have to be reminded of this basic truth of our Chistian faith. Our life here on earth is actually a journey toward our place of origin and our ultimate destination, which is heaven, where God is, from whom we came and to whom we belong in the most intimate way, since we have been created by him in his own image and likeness, meant to share his very own life and nature. 

 And it’s a happy journey because God through Christ in the Holy Spirit has given us everything we need to make that journey a success. It really would just depend on us to make that journey reach its proper destination. 

 In the Book of Isaiah, this truth has already been foretold with the following passage: “Many people shall go, and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (2,3) And a psalm describes that journey in the following words: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” (122,1) 

 Let’s hope that though we would not know when this journey would finally reach its destination, we should have the sensation at least that everyday we are making progress, that we feel we are getting nearer to it. 

 This will presume that we are very much aware of this character of our earthly life and are doing the appropriate plans and preparation. Let’s hope that in this regard, we can echo what St. Paul once said: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24) 

 And to highlight the need for due training and preparation, St. Paul continues by saying, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training…Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly.” (1 Cor 9,25-26) We need to have some sort of regimen to follow. 

 We may not be the gold medalist in this race of our life, but we should at least be a finisher. That is what is most important. We have to be wary of the danger of getting distracted and confused in our life, trapped in our earthly affairs and failing to refer everything to God. 

 We need to inculcate in ourselves this mind-frame of an athlete, a racer, a sportsman out to win a race or a game. Our life has a meaning and a purpose that is set not by us but by the Creator of our life. God wants to make us to be his image and likeness, sharers in his divine life. We need to be clear about this real and ultimate meaning and purpose of our life, so we would avoid going about our life without the proper sense of purpose and direction. 

 We have to develop the proper attitude and skills with regard to this most basic aspect of our life. First of all, we should really ask the ultimate questions of where we came from and where we are supposed to go. Definitely, we just did not come from our parents. We just are not meant to achieve some earthly and temporal goals that by their nature are perishable. 

 Everyday, with the mind of an athlete, we should make plans and strategies to pursue our ultimate goal through the things we handle in our earthly life.

Advent, vigilance, focus

IT’S the Advent Season again, the proximate preparation for the birth of Christ on Christmas Day. It also starts another liturgical year when we are made to go through the different stages of the life of Christ and of the whole economy of salvation that is designed by God. 

 With this Advent Season, we are somehow reminded of the need for vigilance and focus that is based on the real and ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. Of course, we are reminded also to be clear about the over-all picture of our life here with the view of avoiding getting trapped in our temporal affairs while ignoring the spiritual and supernatural goal of our life. 

 Thus, in the gospel of the First Sunday of Advent, Christ told his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” (Mk 13,33) We should take these words of Christ seriously and sharpen our vigilance skills and proper focus in life, being truly professional in managing our earthly sojourn. 

 This, in fact, is the most serious business we have in this life. We should see to it that everything that we do and can happen to us in this life should be referred to the ultimate purpose of our life. 

 And given the fact that the world is fast changing, coming up with new challenges and issues, we have to upgrade our vigilance skills. Remember Christ telling his disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life…Be vigilant at all times.” (Lk 21,34.36) 

 Times are constantly changing. Although we are told that nothing is new under the sun, still we cannot deny that there will always be new developments that will require us to upgrade our skills in handling them, knowing how to take advantage of the benefits they give and to avoid the dangers they also pose. 

 Truth is the many developments today, while giving us a lot of advantages and conveniences, can also easily lead us to bad things. They can foster complacency, self-indulgence, vanity, pride, greed, envy, discord, etc. They can turn us into materialistic monsters, totally insensitive to the spiritual and supernatural realities of our life and to God himself. 

 We should never underestimate the tricks and snares of the devil, the false allurements of the world, and the dynamic of our weakened and wounded flesh. These enemies of our soul will constantly make new guises to mislead and tempt us. To upgrade our vigilance skills is not a matter of paranoia. It is to be realistic. It is to be effectively prudent. 

 We should not be naïve to think that with our current skills at spiritual and moral vigilance, we are already okay. We have to sharpen our sense of purpose in life, seeing to it that its general goal is being consistently lived and reinforced in the many subsidiary purposes we have during the year, month, week, day, and even hour. 

 With how things are now, we cannot simply rely on a generic sense of purpose. We have to learn how to be vigilant in all circumstances and situations in life, especially when we are tired, troubled, or when we are thrilled and excited. 

 This should be done without getting nervous or unduly tense. Yes, there should be alertness always, as is proper to any watchful person, but it should be an alertness that is compatible with naturalness, one that goes together with peace and joy, knowing that in the end, God is always in control of everything.

How to consider God’s word

“HEAVEN and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Lk 21,33) 

 With these words of Christ, we are told how we have to understand the word of God. It simply is not any ordinary word at all. It is the word of eternal life, the word that leads us to our own redemption. In short, God’s word is Christ himself, our ever living savior. 

 To be sure, God’s word is not just an idea, a doctrine, an ideology. It’s not just a strategy, a culture or a lifestyle. Of course, God’s word can involve all these, but unless we understand God’s word as Christ himself, the God who became man to reveal to us all that we need to know, all that we need to do to be God’s image and likeness as God wants us to be, we will miss the real essence and character of God’s word. 

 We have to realize that the word of God cannot be separated from God himself. That’s because God is so perfect as to be in absolute simplicity. As such, God has no parts, no aspects, no quality or property that are distinct from his very being. His word and his being are just one. There is no distinction at all in him. 

 Of course, from our point of view, we cannot help but to describe God according to our own terms and ways that cannot help but make distinctions between the essence of a being and its properties and qualities. But in himself, God does not have distinction between his essence and the properties that we attribute to him. 

 Of course, this is a mystery, a supernatural truth that our reason cannot fully fathom. That is why we need to have a strong faith to be able to accept this truth. And once we accept by faith the absolute unity between God and his word, then we will realize that reading and meditating on the gospel is actually having a living encounter with God through Christ. 

 That is why, St. Jerome, a father of the Church, once said that to read the Scripture is to converse with God—“If you pray, you speak with the Spouse. If you read, it is he who speaks to you,” he said. 

 Only when we realize that God’s word is Christ himself and that reading it is like having an encounter with Christ can God’s word truly be as the Letter to the Hebrews described it: “Alive and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (4,12) 

 Let’s remember that the word of Christ is eternal. It defies time and space. It defies change and death. It is applicable to all human conditions. It is always relevant and useful. As St. Paul said: 

 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete for every good work…” (2 Tim 3,16-17) 

 We should make it a daily practice to read and meditate on at least some words of Christ as recorded in the gospels, because they are the ones that would lead us to Christ himself and to the ideal condition we ought to have as we go through the different situations of our life.