Our sinfulness as a fact of life

WE should not overreact when faced with this reality of our life. While we will try our best to avoid sin, we know that, given our weaknesses and the many temptations around, it would just be a matter of time before we fall again into sin, if not a big one then at least a small one which can even be more dangerous since it can easily pass unnoticed. 

 Christ has assured us that he has taken care of everything. Mercy is always available. All we have to do is to go back to him asking for forgiveness as quickly as possible, and minimize the drama that our emotions, still unanimated by our Christian faith, would provoke. 

 This reassurance of the constant availability of divine mercy has been shown and articulated in many instances in the gospel. The parable of the prodigal son, the mercy given to the woman caught in adultery, and ultimately, Christ bearing all our sins and offering forgiveness to everyone including those who crucified him by offering his life on the cross, speak very eloquently of this reassurance. 

 We should not overreact when we fall into sin. Such behavior can only show our lack of faith in God, our preference to be guided only by our own criteria, etc. Rather, what we should do is, after asking for forgiveness, focus more on doing a lot of good as a way of atoning for our sins and of showing our growing love for God and for everyone. 

 We should not be afraid nor ashamed to admit our sinfulness. That would make our life simpler and lighter, freed from unnecessary burden. That would make us more able to carry out our human and Christian duties more faithfully and generously. 

 We should avoid staying too long keeping some guilt-feelings and sadness in our heart. These conditions are not good for us. They are harmful, and worse, they can be like wedges that make more openings for temptations to come to us. We should get rid of these feelings as soon as possible. 

 The ideal condition is always for us to be at peace with God and with everybody else. We have to ooze with our faith-based confidence. The moment we feel some disturbance in our hearts, we should act quickly to seek relief through God’s mercy. Remember St. Paul saying, “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” (Rom 5,20) God is slow to anger and quick to forgive. 

 God is always a father to us. He will always understand us and will do everything to help us. Before him, we are like little children who cannot avoid making a mess around. Let’s remember that we have to contend not only with our own weaknesses, but also with powerful evil spiritual enemies. 

 Let’s remember that God never tires of forgiving us. It is not his delight to see our spiritual death. Rather, he is happy when we go back to him like the prodigal son. This should give us an idea about what would make God happy with us. Remember Christ’s words in the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep and the prodigal son: “There shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.” (Lk 15,10) 

 It surely would be good if we develop the habit of making regular examinations of conscience at the end of each day, and end our day asking for forgiveness. Going to frequent confession is very much advisable, as well as availing of spiritual direction where we should lay all the cards on the table, unafraid and unashamed to show ourselves as we are and ready to carry out whatever piece of advice is given us.

Strengthening our faith in the eternal life

DAYS after the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, the liturgical prayers somehow lead us to the consideration of the truth of our faith that there is such thing as eternal life. That’s actually our definitive life toward which our earthly life should pursue with our all-out effort and God’s grace. That’s where we achieve our human perfection when we would fully become God’s image and likeness as he wants us to be. 

 We, of course, need to strengthen our faith in it and do everything we can to align all our earthly realities to such ideal. We have to be wary of our tendency, quite strong as it is, to get trapped in the earthly and temporal dimensions of our life, failing to relate them to the ultimate goal of our life. 

 We have to realize that precisely because we have been created as God’s image and likeness, our nature has been endowed with the spiritual powers of intelligence and will. With these powers, we have been given the choice between going up—that is, to choose God—and going down—that is, to choose simply to be by ourselves. 

 But we need to understand that our human nature is poised to enter into the spiritual and supernatural life of God. Failing in that would only mean that our human nature cannot help but fall into an infranatural level, marked by all kinds of weaknesses and sin. In short, there is no such thing as human nature by itself. It either has to go supernatural with God, or to go infranatural like all other animals. 

 In other words, our human nature is actually a work in progress in its earthly and temporal phase. It’s not yet a finished product. Our creation by God is still an ongoing affair, one that requires our cooperation. That’s because God wants us to be like him, intelligent and free, and he just cannot impose his will and designs on us without us knowing and agreeing to it. In a sense, we are co-creators with God of our own selves. 

 It’s important that we have an abiding sense of the supernatural goal of our life and of the eternal life that is presented to us as our definitive life. To develop that sense, of course, requires faith which is first of all a gift from God which we should eagerly receive. 

 Christ articulated what eternal life is and how it can be pursued when he said: “Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (Jn 17,3) 

 Of course, knowing God and Jesus Christ will always involve loving God and Jesus Christ, doing God’s will or God’s commandments. Thus, Christ said it very clearly, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14,15) 

 This means that our will should be nothing other than God’s will. This, in the end, is what is most important to us. It’s not just following our will which is, of course, indispensable to us. Otherwise, we would be undermining our very own freedom and our humanity itself. Whatever we do is done because we want it. It should be a fruit of our freedom. 

 But what is most important is to conform our will to God’s will, which is even more indispensable to us. Otherwise, we sooner or later would destroy our freedom and our humanity itself, since God is the very author and the very lawgiver of our freedom and our humanity. 

 This is how we can develop a sense of the eternal life meant for us!

The priest as agent of unity

THIS is the ideal condition for clerics to be in, when controversial issues, especially in the area of politics, are involved. Though they can have their own views and opinions, they should see to it that instead of insisting on their own views and even on their beliefs, they should listen to all parties and try, in a charitable way, to sort things out. Everyone always has a valid point to make even if at the end they can be wrong. 

 Let’s remember that no error or anything evil can stand on its own. It always has to stand on something true and good that may not be fully appreciated or understood. Everyone should be made to realize that no one has the monopoly of what is true and good. We should try our best not to project ourselves as having that monopoly. Otherwise, we would only cause division among ourselves. 

 Let’s hope that we can persuade our politicians to go slow on their views and positions regarding certain issues. They should always be open to having courteous dialogues with the different parties involved. 

 Only God has that monopoly since he is the author of all that is real. And if we study how he handles that monopoly, as shown to us by Christ, who is the fullness of God’s revelation to us, we would know that while he was clear about what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, he was open to all kinds of views and beliefs even as he made clarifications and corrections, sometimes quite strongly, but in the end always with mercy. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to have some kind of exclusivistic or monopolistic mentality, which is part of our wounded human condition. This is due mainly to our tendency to use merely human or worldly standards, instead of the sense of unity that comes from God and is what is truly proper to us, children of God as we are. 

 We also tend to stereotype people, to box them in, practically straitjacketing a person as if that person cannot change for the better. We seldom give others second chances. We end up being stricter than God who always blends his strictness with mercy. 

 Priests should promote the culture of respectful dialogue in the world of politics. That is truly how they can humanize and Christianize politics, rather than allowing it go to the dogs where all sorts of uncharitable and unfair means are used just to hold on to some political power. 

 Here a lot prudence and discretion are needed. It’s indeed a tall order that should not be used as an excuse to completely be indifferent to the goings-on in the political world. And priests should realize that this is part of their pastoral duty toward the faithful. 

 It’s about time to apply the brakes on the free-fall toward utter chaos that our politics in general, here and abroad, is clearly heading. We should avoid at all costs any temptation of bullying just to make our point. 

 Truth is, politics has to be humanized and Christianized through charity. It just cannot be left alone, fully at the mercy of our passions, brute force and worldly elements. It too can and should be a way to our sanctification. 

 Politics ought to be pursued always in charity. It cannot be any other way, since charity is the mother of all virtues and good values. If we want justice, truth and fairness, charity has them all. If we want competence, order, discipline, etc., again charity has them. If we want objectivity, charity has it. Charity covers all our needs.