Prayer is indispensable in our life

THAT earnest request of Christ’s disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray,” (Lk 11,1) should also be always ours. We may have been praying for the longest time already, but knowing how we are, with our wounded humanity, we know that we can always go through the motions of praying without actually praying! 

 We have to be humble enough to acknowledge this fact of life that should lead us to importune our Lord to teach us how to pray. We know that without prayer, we would just be a hopeless case, regardless of certain signs that may tell us otherwise. 

 Prayer is the most basic way we have to be connected with God as we should. That’s where we maintain our existential sharing with God’s life and nature. Our union with God begins and ends with prayer. 

 The beatific vision that we are told about as our ultimate way of being with God in heaven can also be regarded as the ultimate form of prayer that we can have. But while here in our earthly sojourn, we need to learn how to pray, taking advantage of everything in our life as an occasion, means and reason for prayer. 

 Yes, prayer can lend itself to infinite ways and forms, although given our human condition whose development always involves some processes and stages, we need to learn first the most basic form which are the vocal prayers. 

 In this, the most helpful vocal prayer is the one Christ himself told his disciples about how to pray. We need to study and meditate on what we now call as the Lord’s Prayer, since it was what Christ told them about how his disciples should pray. 

 We can consider that prayer as the model prayer, showing us how to address God and what we should tell and ask from him. We should try to discern and catch the spirit behind that prayer. 

 In the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are told that “the Lord’s Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals the Father to us.” (2783) 

 In other words, we are told who we really are and who God is to us. Thus, no matter how our life here on earth goes, we should never forget that we are children of God who will do everything to bring us back to him. Psalm 129 reinforces this truth of our faith: “With the Lord, there is mercy and fullness of redemption.” 

 We just have to make sure also that, as expressed in this prayer, we also have to be merciful to everyone just as God is merciful to us. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

 We have to understand that forgiveness or mercy is the ultimate expression of love which is the very essence of God and which is also meant to be essence of our humanity since we are God’s image and likeness, children of his. 

 And as if to underscore the importance of this point, Christ reiterated: “For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.” (Mt 6,14-15) It’s clear therefore that we can only be forgiven if we also forgive others. 

 We have to be clear that this injunction is meant for everyone, and not only for a few whom we may consider to be religiously inclined. That’s why when asked how many times we should forgive, he said not only seven times, but seventy times seven, meaning always.

Training our mind and heart to be properly focused

THIS is what we can gather as a lesson from that gospel episode about the two sisters, Martha and Mary, in their relation with Christ. (cfr. Lk 10,38-42) Both were good sisters and followers of Christ, but the former failed to take the proper priority regarding their relation with Christ. 

 While everything temporal and earthly plays an important role in our relation with God, they can be dangerous if they do not have God as their beginning and end, and are simply understood and treated as temporal and earthly. 

 We really need to train our mind and heart to be always anchored and focused on God. This will take a lifetime to achieve, and we may not be able to perfect it, but the point is simply for us to just try and try. 

 Especially these days when we are heavily bombarded with fantasies and fictions in novels and movies, we can easily be gaslighted to believe in them if our faith in God is not nourished regularly in our mind and heart. 

 We would fail to realize that these fantasies and fictions are just make-believe things that only serve as a temporary way of rest and recreation and should not be taken seriously. With a weak hold on our faith and on our spiritual life, we would fail to realize that we are just being tickled to play the game of self-indulgence that would slowly snuff out our relation with God and with others.   

These fantasies and fictions often appeal to our emotions and passions, leading us to be more carnal than spiritual, more animal-like than God-like as we should be. They usually play out the law of Talion in their storylines and narratives, making the eye-for-an -eye and tooth-for-a tooth behavior as the standard of our life. 

 It’s not a matter of considering these fantasies and fictions as bad. They can serve a legitimate purpose and can be truly helpful to us as long as we too take the necessary precautions and prudence in enjoying them. 

 We need to spend time and effort to make God truly present, acknowledged and responded to in our mind and heart. Thus, the need to spend time praying and meditating on the life of God, studying and internalizing the doctrine and teaching of Christ and of the Church, having recourse to the sacraments and other human devices that would help us live always in the presence of God. 

 When we notice that we are more attracted to the extraordinary happenings in these fantasies and fictions than on the miracles of Christ, we would already have an indication of the wrong priorities we have in life. 

 We have to remember that the miracles of Christ are real while those extraordinary happenings in those fantasies and fictions are not. The miracles of Christ are meant to draw us closer to God, to grow in our faith, to lead us to another conversion, to enter into the spiritual and supernatural world, etc., while those extraordinary happenings in those fantasies and fictions are a subtle way for us to indulge on ourselves and to trap us only in the here and now. 

 We should have a well-articulated plan of life that can foster true piety 24/7. Especially these days when the world is rapidly developing, causing a lot of confusion, if not error, this need for an effective plan of life should be considered as urgent.

Charity amid our growing differences and conflicts

CONSIDERING the rapidly growing differences and conflicts among ourselves not only in terms of age and generation, but also and especially in terms of opinions, lifestyle, culture, and even beliefs, etc., we have to be prepared to deepen and broaden our sense of charity so we can manage to love everyone, as we should, in spite of all the in spites of. 

 We can only do this if we truly identify ourselves with Christ, having his very mind and heart that are willing to go all the way to offer his life if only to love everyone, even if not all will reciprocate that love. 

 In many schools at this time, there is such a thing as retooling their programs if only to align and adapt their training to the fast-evolving developments and needs of the industry, corporations and other institutions they want to serve. What should never be neglected is how to equip the students in their spiritual and moral life, and particularly in how to live in charity, in the context of the current world condition. 

 I am particularly concerned about how the young ones especially are being prepared to face the challenges of the times. They are getting more and more exposed to highly fictionalized movies and books that show, if not promote, violence, rash judgments, the law of Talion. And they seem to be undernourished, if not starved, in their life of piety. It looks like religion to them has become an irrelevant item in their lives. 

 The challenge to face nowadays is how to teach everyone, especially the young ones, how to find Christ in everything, and how to let everyone realize more deeply that we need Christ in all our earthly affairs. This, definitely, will be a daunting task, but I believe it is all worthwhile. 

 We cannot deny that many people are trapped in the earthly systems of self-indulgence, self-assertion and self-affirmation, with their relation with God and with others practically unattended. There is a great need for everyone to learn what Christ told us about how to follow him: that we have to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

 This is the formula to follow if we want to live charity that has a universal coverage. Charity is not only for those who are right in something. It’s also for those who are wrong. It’s not only for the winners. It’s also for the losers. Not only for friends, but also for enemies! 

 But the universal inclusivity of charity does not do away with the exclusivity of truth. It does not do away with the distinction between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood. In fact, it sharpens that distinction. And yet, it still works in all that distinction. 

 Yes, charity is all-inclusive, though it is expressed, of course, in different ways. As they say, we have to have different strokes for different folks. And that’s simply because at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, we are all creatures and children of God, brothers and sisters to each other. We have been created by our Creator out of love and also for love. 

 We have to realize that our life here on earth can be described as a journey toward our ultimate home, which is to be with God our Father and Creator in heaven. It will be charity that would keep us going and that would enable us to leap to the eternal supernatural life with God.