Dealing with our downtime

INSPITE of our desire to continue doing things, we cannot deny that there are times when for one reason or another we would just lose steam and somehow feeling trapped in a condition of inactivity. It’s a classic example of what Christ once said: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26,41) 

 We should not be too surprised by this condition. In fact, we should expect it from time to time and avoid making things worse by worrying too much. What we should do is to take advantage of it to precisely get closer to God. That’s when we can put into life what St. Paul also once said: “It is when I am weak that I am strong.” (2 Cor 12,10) 

 And that is highly possible and doable as long as we have the proper spirit. Which means that we follow what our faith tells us, we enter into the spiritual and supernatural dimension of the reality that governs us. We can frankly tell God how we feel at the moment. We can even complain to him. But we should remain believing his constant providence full of love, care and mercy. 

 There’s always hope even in our worst scenario. And that’s because God never leaves us, but continues to love and care for us, in spite of all. He gives us everything we need to handle this situation. 

 We should be quick to realize this truth of our faith, and act accordingly. Let’s avoid aggravating the situation by avoiding falling into discouragement and depression, a fertile ground for the devil to tempt us into worse conditions. The devil obviously wants us to be alienated as much as possible from God. Rather, like the prodigal son, let’s return to God asking for mercy which he readily gives. 

 We should not doubt that we have our human and worldly limitations. And yet in spite of that, neither can we doubt that deep within us is, at least, the desire to go beyond our limitations. And there’s objective basis for that desire. 

 Given the fact that our human nature is not only totally material, but is also spiritual, we should not be surprised when we feel those seemingly contrasting sentiments. The truth is that we are a material being that is poised for eternity, for immortality. In the end, the truth is that we are meant to live a supernatural life, and not just a natural one, that is, a life with God. 

 This is where we have to entrust ourselves to the workings of the spiritual and supernatural realities that also govern our life. We have to remember that we are not ruled simply by biological laws or physical, chemical, social, political, economic laws. There is a higher law that governs us and that would enable us to transcend our human and earthly limitations. 

 This is the law of grace, a law that is spiritual and supernatural in nature. It is the law that enables us to go beyond our human limitations without, of course, compromising our humanity. It is the law that enables us to enter into the very life of God who created us to be his image and likeness. 

 We have to learn to feel at home with this particular condition of our earthly life. We have to acquire the relevant attitude and skills to be able to live with this condition. It is when we seem to reach our human and earthly limitations that we have to abandon ourselves to the more powerful and merciful dynamic of God’s providence over us.

From our earthly to our heavenly image

ONE liturgical prayer I met sometime ago went this way: “Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies, transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage, may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker.” 

 I found that prayer very meaningful, for, indeed, it is our lifelong endeavor to transform ourselves from simply being our natural selves to becoming the ones God has meant for us—that is, to be like him, sharers of his life and nature. 

 Again, it’s a tall order, and if seen only with our natural powers, an impossible quest. But we just have to convince ourselves, by activating our faith, that in fact everything has been given to us so that we can be what God wants us to be. 

 It’s just a matter of how obedient and docile we are to everything that God, who is our Father more than just our Creator, has provided for us. Even in our worst condition, he has given us a way out, a remedy. He is willing to do everything to bring us back to him. He sent the Son, the 2nd person of the Blessed Trinity who is God himself, to become man to redeem us, offering us the “way, the truth, and the life” meant for us. 

 We just have to go on moving in pursuit of our ultimate goal. We for sure will encounter difficulties and experience mistakes, failures as well as commit sin along the way. But we should just get up and begin again without saying “that’s enough.” 

 God is ever forgiving, even if we may already feel that we are abusing his mercy. God understands that. All we have to do is again to humble ourselves, and ignore the distracting insinuations of our reason not guided by faith, or worse, the insinuations of the devil whose only intention is to block our way toward God. 

 This, of course, would involve a certain dying to oneself so that the beginnings of the divine life meant for us would start to take root again. In this, Christ was very clear. He once said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (Jn 12,24) 

 We have to learn how to make this “dying in order to live” a reality in our life. This can only mean that instead of simply guided by our own will and knowledge of things, we should let our will conform to the will of God as much as possible. That way, we can share his power over sin and death. 

 This is going to be a lifelong struggle, of course, since we all know that we have the strong tendency to just be guided by our own will. We think that by doing so, we are exercising our freedom, not realizing that true freedom can only be achieved if our will follows the will of God, the very author of truth and freedom himself. 

 It’s for this reason that Christ clearly said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14,15) This should be the main principle we have to follow in our lives. We should convince ourselves that outside of that principle, we would be going nowhere. But with it, we can expect to arrive at our final goal: to be one with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit!

Logic alone cannot hack it

WHILE logic will always have an important role to play in our life, we should also realize that logic alone cannot cope with all the realities that we have to deal with in our life. Our logic can only work within the natural plane and our human level. It can hardly manage to take on realities that are spiritual and supernatural, let alone, divine wisdom which in the end should always guide us. 

 How can human logic, for example, understand such Christian teachings as to love our enemies, to die in order to live, to be the last in order to be the first, the master has to be first a servant, a virgin giving birth, etc.? That’s when our logic would just be kaput. 

 To be guided by human logic alone unavoidably would lead us to be judgmental and self-righteous. This was what happened to some of the leading Jews during Christ’s time. Lacking in humility, their faith was undermined and they ended up not only misjudging Christ but also crucifying him. 

 We have to be humble enough to acknowledge that our logic-certainties can never cope with the mysteries of life. No matter how objective and scientific these certainties are derived, no matter how deep and exhaustive our philosophies, theologies and ideologies are made, our certainties just cannot take all the mysteries in our life. 

 Even in the world of nature where in theory we have the capacity to know things conclusively, we often find ourselves in situations of tentativeness and even of outright error. That is why we are always in the process of discoveries and we would not know when we can end it, that is to say, when we can say that we have known everything to be known in the world of nature. 

 This does not mean that our certainties can never know the truth, even the absolute, and not just relative, truths. Yes, we can, but the best that we can do is to project ourselves to infinite possibilities, because even the absolute truths are not things that are frozen. They are always dynamic. 

 Our logical certainties can only tackle some aspects and levels of the reality that is proper to us. We need to realize more deeply that we have to contend not only with natural and even spiritual realities but also with supernatural realities that simply are above our nature to know, unless some revelation is made which should be corresponded to with our act of belief. 

 Indeed, we have to be truly humble to acknowledge this fact of life and behave accordingly. While we can know some aspects of the truth, we can never say that we know everything. Not even our mathematical precision and scientific accuracy can warrant us to claim that we know everything. 

 That is why we need to be most careful with our judgments. We have to judge fairly, that is, with love of God and neighbor as the main motive for judging. From the Book of Leviticus, we read: “You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.” (19,15) 

 If we have love for God and neighbor as the main motive for judging, we would know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. And somehow, we can manage to judge all things, just as St. Paul once said: “He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor 2,15)