Rediscover God through faith and love

THAT rather amusing gospel episode about those who were so amazed at the preaching of Christ in the synagogue that they could not believe that someone just like them, coming from the same place and whose family they knew, could preach the way Christ did (cfr. Mk 6,1-6), tells us that we have the tendency to take Christ for granted. 

 Yes, we have the tendency to fall into overfamiliarity and complacency with regard to our relation with Christ. Especially these days when we are so highly stimulated by earthly and temporal things that we forget about the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life, we need to make some extra effort to rediscover God by revving up our faith and love. 

 Let’s always remember that being the image and likeness of God whose very essence is love, we need to realize that it is to love the way God loves, as shown to us by Christ, is the fundamental option of our life. It is what constitutes the real dignity of our humanity. 

 We have to realize then that to be truly human, let alone, Christian, we need to have a real encounter with Christ. That is when we can truly be on the path toward our transformation into the fullness of our humanity, since that’s where we can see how much Christ loves us. 

 We should find time to have a very personal encounter with Christ, strengthening our friendship with him, since that would constitute as the fundamental experience that would sustain our Christian life. 

 And if at times due to our weaknesses, tiredness, etc., we lose him, we know that he always waits for us, and even looks for us or facilitates our finding him even if we do not look for him. 

 We should realize more deeply that loving God through Christ in the Holy Spirit should be the first priority in our life. We can do that if we develop a working life of piety made up of certain practices of piety that would fire up our love for God and for everybody else. 

 Let’s remember that whatever little effort we do to develop our life of piety will always attract God’s tremendous love for us, as articulated in that passage in the gospel of St. Matthew: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” (25,21) 

 We should stay away from anything that would cool down our love for God and for others or that would lead us to spiritual lukewarmness. We have to be wary of our tendency to be driven by egoism or the thought that we are our own God which only shows that we have the strong tendency to fall into pride. 

 Spiritual lukewarmness is a very common spiritual illness. What’s so dangerous about it is that it often passes as something ordinary and normal. It hardly causes any worry, much less, alarm. It lulls many of us to think there’s no problem. 

 It’s an attitude, a mindset, and, worse, a culture that is stuck with the minimalist virus, contented with what is practical, convenient, popular, profitable, etc., and goes no further. It justifies itself by saying, “Why do I need to go any further? Things are already ok as they are.” 

 It is the perfect expression of the adage, “The good is the enemy of the best.” And so, it fails to submit itself to the law of love that requires self-giving without measure, a total self-giving whose language is generosity and heroism all the way to death.

God calls us despite whatever

THAT intriguing story of how St. Matthew, a tax-collector, was called by Christ to be one of his apostles (cfr. Mt 9,9-13) brings out the truth of our Christian faith that God can choose anyone to pursue a special vocation and ministry, irrespective of how that person is. 

 It should be clear to us that it is God who will enable and empower us to carry out what God has in mind for us. On our part, we should just try our best to be as receptive and responsive to God’s call and designs. We all know that we can only do so much, but we are assured by St. Paul that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6) 

 Let’s never forget that God is ever eager to share what he has with us, we being his image and likeness, meant to share his very own life and nature. He, of course, will allot what is proper to us according to his plans for the world and for the whole of humanity. We should just be open and welcoming to whatever he shares with us. 

 We, of course, have our own limitations, let alone, our strong tendency to fall into sin and into all sorts of anomalies. But then again, as St. Paul reminded us, “I (we) can do all things through Him who strengthens and empowers me (us)…” (Phil 4,13) 

 Indeed, as St. Paul mentioned, we can manage to be all things to all men. (cfr. 1 Cor 9,22) And we can handle any situation in life, whether good or bad in human terms, as long as we do everything with God and for God. If our faith in God is strong and abiding, we know that everything will work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 So, there’s really no reason for us to be overly concerned and worried about anything. On the contrary, we have every reason to be serene, confident and hopeful. Yes, we can manage to be cheerful, with a smile that never leaves our face. 

 We should just be quick to receive whatever God gives or shares with us. And be very generous in corresponding to God’s will and designs for us. For this, we have to learn how to be ambitious and bold in setting up goals that are relevant to God’s will for us. We should also be creative and resourceful in coming up with the relevant means and instruments we need to pursue God’s will. 

 There is really no reason for us to feel insecure in carrying out God’s will for us. We know that more than us, it is God who will do things for us and with us. Victory and success are guaranteed, although we are not exempted from going through a lot of trials and sufferings. 

 But then again, if we would go through these trials and sufferings with Christ, we know that they are occasions for us to identify ourselves more with Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. Those trials and sufferings are occasions to learn what true love is, expanding our very restrictive idea of what love is. 

 We should often ask ourselves, “Lord, what do you want me to do now?” And from there, let’s embark on a most exciting divine adventure meant for the good of all men and for the glorification of our Father God!

Spiritual healing more important than bodily healing

THAT’S what we can gather from that gospel episode where Christ first forgave the sins of a paralytic man before curing him of his disability. (cfr. Mt 9,1-8) And that’s simply because it is the spirit and not just our bodily or biological constitution that truly gives us the life and the health proper to us. 

 This means that we should first take care of our spiritual life before we take care of our bodily health. Yes, we have to take care of both our spiritual soul and bodily condition, but we should be clear about the priority proper to them. 

 Nowadays, many people are concerned more about their bodily health than their spiritual health. In fact, there are many signs that show that many people regard their bodily health as the be-all and end-all of their life. 

 We need to correct this anomaly that, sad to say, is spreading like wild fire, thanks to the endless bombardment of false commercials and popular memes. We should not be averse to boldly proclaim the indispensable importance of our spiritual health in spite of the likely contradictions and rejections it can get due to a progressively worldly culture that is blind and deaf to the spiritual and supernatural dimensions of our life. 

 For this, we need to learn how to live our life with the Holy Spirit, which is what our spiritual life is all about. This is what sometimes is called as the Life in the Spirit. Our life is not simply biological and social, or merely natural. It is first of all a spiritual life that is poised to enter into the supernatural world of God as we are meant to do. 

 If we can only give to our spiritual powers just a fraction of the attention we usually give to our physical faculties, I think we would be much better off. Our problem is that most of the time we ignore the needs of our spiritual soul while we pamper and spoil our body. 

 Just look at the time, effort and money spent on things of the flesh—wellness craze, looks, sports and fashion, body cult, etcetera – and compare these with the ones spent for our spiritual needs—prayer, sacraments, interior struggle, etcetera. You’ll notice there can hardly be any worse inequality. 

 That’s why, in the long history of ascetical literature written and lived by saints through the centuries, there has been that consistent insistence to curb the tendencies of the flesh to give way to the more important aspirations of the spirit. 

 We need to sharpen our ability to discern the constant promptings of the Holy Spirit in our life. For this, we need to do some spiritual exercises like praying, offering sacrifices, having recourse to the sacraments, waging ascetical struggles, undergoing continuing formation, etc. 

 We need to convince ourselves that by living the Life in the Spirit, we would be putting ourselves on the road toward the fullness of our humanity. It’s in that Life in the Spirit where we would be freed from the constricting world of our senses, emotions and passions. 

 In this regard, St. Paul once said, "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Eph 4,22-24)