Technically competent and spiritually healthy

THIS is the ideal condition for us to be in as we go about our temporal affairs, especially in business and politics, and in the more complicated and challenging sector of the new technologies. We should be as technically competent as possible in these areas, but what is even more important than that is for us to be spiritually healthy. 

 Otherwise, there is no way but for us to be misusing and abusing the elements involved in these temporal affairs. And as a consequence, it would just be a matter of time before some disaster, especially in the moral and spiritual aspects, would befall us. 

 We should see to it that all our temporal affairs, especially those that have very significant impact on the lives of many people, should be guided by the laws God has given to all the things of our life, foremost of which is for us to do all for the glory of God. (Deo omnes gloria!) 

 Let us always remember that we are notorious for simply following our own ideas, our own estimation of what is right and wrong according to some worldly standards that in the end would just lead us to self-indulgence, and thus goes against the common good and our innate duty of love toward God. 

 We need to do things always with God and for God, since Christ said it very clearly: “He who is not with me, is against me; and he who gathers not with me, scatters.” (Lk 11,23) To do things with God and for God is not an optional thing. It is a necessity for us, considering who we really are. Of course, to do things with God and for God should be done freely, and not forcibly. 

 To be technically competent means having the skills, knowledge and abilities needed to perform tasks or work in a specific field or area effectively. An example would be a software engineer needed to be proficient in coding languages, a mechanic who knows how to do engine repair. 

 Those in business, for example, should be knowledgeable about data analysis and tech literacy, financial management, strategic planning, communication and leadership tools, etc. While those in politics should be conversant in policy analysis and development, public communication and media literacy, data-informed decision making, legislative and regulatory knowledge, etc. 

 Spiritual health is a matter of knowing how to discern the abiding promptings of the Holy Spirit. In this regard, we cannot overemphasize the need to make use of certain helpful acts of piety, like regular mental prayer, presence of God all throughout the day, continuing study and formation regarding our spiritual life. 

 We need to be more wary of our duty to take care of our spiritual powers. Our spiritual powers are mainly our intelligence and will, our thinking, judging, reasoning and loving. These need to be managed and supervised well, seeing to it that they are rooted properly and are oriented toward their proper objects and not simply allowed to drift and flow wherever they are blown by our bodily and worldly conditionings. 

 St. Paul talks about the distinction between the carnal man and the spiritual man, and we should make the right choice and develop it to its maturity. St. Augustine warns us not to allow our soul, our spiritual powers, to become carnal by consenting to the affections of the flesh. 

 Caring for our spiritual powers means exerting realistic effort to always find reasons, motivations and ways to relate all our thinking and loving to God and all souls.

Our social sciences need the guidance of faith

THAT gospel episode about a fellow who, by insisting and disturbing a storeowner, finally got the bread he requested for a friend who arrived at his home in the middle of the night (cfr. Lk 11,5-13), reminds us that there is always a need for insistence and perseverance in requesting for God’s guidance in areas in our life which are most vulnerable to go wrong. 

 And among these vulnerable areas are those of the social sciences, like sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, etc. These social sciences are not exact sciences like math, physics or chemistry, since they study evolving human behavior and societies with the view of understanding and having an enlightened dominion over certain social phenomena, like cases of inequality, conflict and appropriate development. 

 Yes, our social sciences definitely need the guidance of our Christian faith if only for them to avoid going to the dogs. This may be hard to observe considering a strong tendency among people everywhere to think that for these social sciences to be credible, it should be based solely on empirical data and avoid being influenced by some religious faith. 

 That is, of course, a baseless presumption since we cannot avoid to do and interpret things according to some mindset, some philosophy and ideology. In the end, everyone is guided by their beliefs, whatever they may be. 

 We have to remind ourselves that it is actually our Christian faith that would give us the proper guide in doing and developing our social sciences, since it contains all the truth about man in all aspects of his life. God possesses the complete and exhaustive knowledge of humanity. We should never dare to do things simply on our own, relying only on our powers. 

 Our sciences, technologies, arts, our various systems: legal, juridical, political, social, business, etc., have laws that ultimately come from God. We only discover them, and use them to lead us to God and to glorify him which actually involves serving and loving the others. 

 This obviously means that we all should try our best to develop a solid and intimate relationship with God. Especially for the leaders in the different levels of society, this intimate relationship with God should be the first requirement for them to be truly qualified to lead. They should not depend only on some human or natural talents for them to lead. They need the guidance of God through the faith which God shares with us. 

 Our Christian faith provides the moral framework for considering issues involved in the social sciences. For example, the principles of love or charity, justice and compassion can help properly shape on how we approach issues like poverty, inequality or community development. 

 Obviously, it is in our Christian faith that provides us with the proper perspective on human nature, enlightening us on how we have to understand what proper human behavior is, what our true human dignity is, and how our relationship with one another should be. 

 It would be appropriate to integrate our Christian faith with whatever study and research is done in the social sciences. This Christian faith can offer us the proper values and motivations for engaging in social science research or practice. It gives us the proper perspective on how to interpret data or findings in the social sciences. 

 This does not mean that we have to do away with the principle of separation of Church and state and that clerics more than lay persons should lead in the areas of politics. This only means that all our human affairs, including what our social sciences study and manage, need to be guided in the end by our Christian faith, and not just on some empirical data that can be interpreted in any which way.

Our constant need for prayer

WE should be clear about this point. Everything in our life should be an occasion, a means, a reason for prayer. Whatever the condition and situation in our life, whether considered humanly speaking as good or bad, proper or improper, in solemn or jovial moments, etc., we should see to it that we manage to connect ourselves with God through prayer. 

 Prayer can take on any form or method. The important thing is that we manage to be with God always, since that is actually what is proper for us. Without him, we would just be living like animals, perhaps a little bit better than them, but in the end, no better than them really. Without him, it would just be a matter of time before we fall into some disorder insofar as we are rational animals, let alone, as we are children of God. 

 Without God who is our creator and source of all good things, we can only do evil. We would be like a branch cut off from the vine. We may manage to give an appearance of life and goodness, but without Him, we actually have and are nothing. 

 We have to be constantly aware that we cannot be simply on our own. We need God and we need to be with everybody and everything else. We have to overcome our tendency that we can afford to be isolated. We should never forget that we are always in communion and we need to make that communion alive and healthy. And prayer is what enables us to achieve these goals. 

 As early as possible, as in when one is still a little child, everyone should be told and taught about this important duty of ours which is actually a necessity of ours. Prayer should be like the beating of our heart, the breath we make instinctively. It is what makes us alive spiritually and supernaturally, and not just biologically and naturally. 

 We have to see to it that we learn how to really pray. That is, we have to learn how to vitally engage with God, our Father and Creator, mainly through our mind and heart, and later through the other faculties and powers that we have—our imagination, memory, feelings and passions, and the physical and natural powers we have. 

 Ideally, everything should be an act of prayer, whether we are doing our sacred or mundane duties, whether things are good or bad for us, whether we are alone or in a crowd, etc. 

 And just like any training, it at first has to be taught under a controlled environment. That is why, at the beginning we were taught as children to recite and put into memory some vocal prayers. We may not understand everything said there, but that at least initiates us to the practice of prayer. 

 Then further steps ought to be made. We have to learn how to exercise our faith, how to meditate and contemplate, how to find a proper place, time and even posture for it. And then how we can have presence of God the whole day, rectitude of intention in all our actions, the habit of offering everything to God, and literally of conversing with God and discerning his will as we go on with our daily activities. 

 In the end, the quality of our life is determined by the quality of our prayer. If we truly are with God the whole time, we would know what to do at any given moment. We would practically share in the very power, wisdom and goodness of God himself.