Faith should guide all our earthly affairs

WE need to be clear about this. Our Christian faith is not optional in our life. It is neither relevant only to some affairs and concerns in our life. It should be the main guide in all our affairs, be they in matters of the sciences and technologies, of politics and business, of our professions, and of course, of religion and our spiritual life. 

 We are somehow reminded of this point in that gospel episode of the apostle Thomas who was kind of castigated by Christ for not believing that Christ had truly risen unless he would see Christ and the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, and of his pierced side. (cfr. Jn 20,24-29) 

 “Put your finger here and see my hands,” Christ told Thomas when he appeared again to his disciples. “Bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe,” he continued. To which Thomas could only say, “My Lord and my God!” 

 That was when Christ told Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” 

 We have to be wary with our strong tendency to be guided only by what our senses and our understanding can show us. While they are useful, we should never forget that our life is not meant only to stay in the natural level. It is meant for a supernatural life with God, our Creator and Father, who wants us to be his image and likeness and sharers of his divine life and nature. 

 We need to humble ourselves to set us free from the grip of the purely natural in us so we can open ourselves to the supernatural life which God, through his grace, is ever willing to share with us. 

 Let us remember that our natural self cannot remain simply on the natural level. It has to choose between going north by entering the supernatural life with God, or going south by sinking into the infranatural level of the animals, not to mention, the bad spirits. 

 This choice that we have to make is due to the fact that in our earthly life we are actually being tested by God our Creator if we would choose to be like him and with him, as he wants us to be, or to be just by ourselves. 

 This test or choice is given to us in every moment and situation in our life. And to help us make the proper choice, God gives us the gift of faith that goes together with hope and charity. 

 Thus, faith should guide us in all our earthly affairs because only then can we begin to be with God. And being a supernatural gift that gives us some truths that are beyond our natural capacity to understand, we should just accept and believe what we are told or taught by it. 

 We should follow the example of the apostles who said, “Lord, increase our faith.” (Lk 17,5) Also the father of a possessed boy who said, “I do believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.” (Mk 9,24) 

 Of course, the epitome of person of great faith is Our Lady herself who in the Annunciation simply said, “Be it done to me according to your word,” (Lk 1,38) even if she did not quite understand how she could be the mother of the Son of God.

Faith should guide us in our trials

THAT’S what we can get from the gospel episode of Christ’s disciples buffeted by big waves in the middle of the sea and Christ was just asleep. (cfr. Mt 8,23-27) “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” the disciples woke Christ in terror. But Christ reproached them. “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” he said. Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm, leaving the disciples completely amazed. 

 In life, we cannot avoid some special or extraordinary storms of trials and challenges. We, of course, should first go to Christ, and instead of being overly terrified or overwhelmed, we should strengthen our faith in the omnipotent providence of God who takes care of everything and who knows how to derive good from whatever evil we can encounter in life. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 We need to realize that our life always has more to offer to us than what we can understand, let alone, cope. In the face of all this, I believe the attitude to have and the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the hands of God. 

 In this life, we need to develop a sportsman’s attitude, since life is like a game. Yes, life is like a game, because we set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we train and are primed to win and do our best, but defeats can always come, and yet, we just have to move on. 

 It would be unsportsmanlike if we allow ourselves to get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in an ongoing narrative, when a comma, a colon or a semi-colon would have sufficed. 

 We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that can only indicate our unconditional faith and love for God who is always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in peace and joy even in the worst of the possibilities. 

 We have to follow the example of the many characters in the gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in, earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid and unashamed and they got what they wanted. 

 We have to be sport and adventurous in facing the different conditions of our life. And it would greatly help if we too can have an abiding sense of humor. Otherwise, we would just fall into states of sadness, pessimism and despair which actually are unnecessary and are avoidable. 

 This we can do if first of all we have a strong and deep faith in God, our Creator and Father. If we have that faith, we know that God holds everything in order through his providence. He takes care of everything, irrespective of how things go. Ours is simply to relate everything to him and to go back to him everytime we go astray especially at the end of the day.

Following Christ all the way

IF we really are serious in following Christ, we should set no conditions and, instead, open ourselves to whatever and wherever God’s providence would lead us. 

 This is a truth of our faith that is highlighted in that gospel episode where a scribe wanted to follow Christ who told him what following Christ would involve: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests,” he said, “but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Mt 8,20) 

 And another disciple, already a follower of Christ, told him: “Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father,” to which Christ told him, “Follow me, and the let the dead bury their dead.” (Mt 8,21-22) 

 This episode may give us the impression that Christ is unreasonable and even inhuman. But if we really know who Christ is, there should be no reason for us to doubt the constant love, care and affection he has for everyone, including those who may be at odds with him. 

 We should just rev up our faith in God and trust his all-powerful providence that knows how to take care of everything. We may not understand his ways, but that should not be a surprise, since as God told us in the Book of Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (55,8-9) 

 We have to be ready for wherever divine providence would take us. We have to be open to it all the time. Even as we make our plans and pursue them truly as our own, we should not forget that nothing in our life is actually outside the providence of God who can adapt himself to us, even in our worst situations and predicaments, and still lead us to himself. 

 The only thing to remember is that God is always around and is actually intervening and directing our life to him. That is part of his omnipotence which he exercises both from all eternity and in time since our creation and all the way to the end of time. 

 We have to be ready for wherever God’s providence would take us because God leads us in very mysterious ways. Remember what Christ told Peter: “When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” (Jn 21,18) 

 There will be things in our life that will be beyond our human notice, and much less, our human control. We have to trust God’s providence even if things look terrible, impossible, or inhuman when judged simply by human standards. 

 Let us remember the story of Abraham who was asked to offer his only son, Isaac, in sacrifice to God. That trust Abraham had in God’s will won him the privilege of being the father of all nations. God always has a purpose for everything that happens in our life, or can derive good from whatever evil we commit. 

 There are actually many mysteries in our life that can surpass our capacity to comprehend and, much less, to cope with, including extreme evil. But let’s always remember that where sin or evil has abounded, the grace of God has abounded even more. (cfr. Rom 5,20) 

 In short, we should just follow Christ all the way whatever the cost!