Piety and doctrine

THESE two should go together if we want to have a healthy and working spiritual life, full of energy to love God and neighbor at the same time. One without the other can only go so far, and in fact creates a condition where we become vulnerable to all sorts of spiritual anomalies. 

 When there is genuine piety, there is also a deep and personal relationship with God that is nourished through regular prayer, worship and devotion. We can notice a spiritual growth that is sustained by meditation, reflection and self-examination. Virtues would just come about since we would be inspired to follow the example of Christ. 

 But to have solid doctrine is also important, since it provides us with a solid foundation for understanding God’s revelation and the teachings of the Church. It guides our spiritual growth by offering us a way to understand more and more the mysteries of our Christian faith. It helps us to make sound moral decisions in a way that would lead us to live according to God’s will. 

 These two components of our spiritual life should be pursued without let-up, especially these days when we are faced with more complicated and tricky conditions and challenges. While doctrine can provide us with a moral framework for decision-making, piety fosters a deep sense of reverence and connection with God, guiding us to make choices according to God’s will and ways. 

 When we give due attention to these two components of our spiritual life, we would be in a much better position to effectively address today’s social issues. The pursuit of a more just and equitable society becomes more doable and realistic. 

 We just have to make sure that our piety and our devotion to God and everything related to him has to involve both the body and soul. It has to involve our whole person. It just cannot be purely spiritual or purely material. It just cannot be only a matter of knowing the doctrine, quite cerebral in approach, without some external manifestations, or of practicing all sorts of devotional exercises, without knowing the doctrine of faith. 

 If piety has to be authentic and consistent in all circumstances, then it has to be lived both in our spiritual soul whose main faculties are our intellect and will, and in our material body whose link to our soul, the principle of life, are the emotions and passions, the memory and the imagination, our temperament and psychological state, etc. 

 When piety is limited to one or the other essential element of our being, to either our spiritual soul or the material body, then it cannot be consistent. It cannot hold out against that anomaly for long. It sooner or later will fall into the tricks of hypocrisy and self-deception. 

 We also need to see the Church doctrine as the proper spirit that should animate any human doctrine we may make for some practical purpose we may have in the different aspects of our life—personal, family, professional, social, political, etc. 

 Thus, it is essential that we learn to know the Church doctrine or the doctrine of our faith such that this doctrine becomes the moving spirit behind our every thought, word and deed, behind our every plan and project, big or small, ordinary or extraordinary. 

 There is need for us to know how to relate the doctrine of our faith to our daily affairs and to our very serious and big projects and plans, and vice versa. At the moment, this expertise is hardly known, its need hardly felt. 

 This is the challenge we are facing today as we tackle the increasingly rapid, complex and complicated developments.

“Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way”

THAT’S from the Book of Psalms (Ps 139,24) which can be used as a frequent ejaculatory prayer as we go through our usual daily affairs. It definitely would help us to have a proper focus on life, encouraging us to think about what really awaits us in heaven so that we can live our life here on earth with unshakeable hope. 

 By regularly meditating on heaven, we can aspire to achieve spiritual growth and a deeper relationship with God. By focusing on the promise of eternal life and the joy that awaits us there, we can develop a sense of hope that can permeate our daily lives as we immerse ourselves in our temporal affairs without being trapped in them. 

 We have to realize that heaven is more than just a distant promise. It is a present reality that can transform our lives. When we meditate on heaven, we are reminded of God’s love and his plan for our salvation. We would be encouraged to distinguish between what is of relative value and of absolute value in our daily affairs. We would be encouraged to persevere through life’s challenges and to trust in God’s goodness. 

 Indeed, meditating on heaven regularly can have a profound impact on our lives. It gives us the proper priorities in life. It would give us comfort and meaning to any difficulty, challenge, trial and suffering in our life here on earth. We would know that all these negative things in life are just temporary and that eternal joy actually awaits us. More than that, all these negative things can be converted into a means for our salvation. 

 By regularly meditating on heaven, we can find ourselves grateful for everything that God through Christ in the Spirit has given us. And we would be encouraged to spread his gift of faith and love. Indeed, it would fuel our apostolic duty. 

 It is important therefore that we set aside time each day to pray and reflect on heaven, begging God to deepen our hope and trust in him. Regular reading and meditation on Scriptural passages that speak of heaven and eternal life, such as the Beatitudes and the Book of Revelation, can truly be helpful. Also spending time in Eucharistic adoration, reflecting on Christ’s real presence and the promise of heaven. 

 We should really sharpen our desire and hunger for heaven. We should always remember that while we are in this world, which plays a crucial role in the over-all scheme of our entire life, we should avoid allowing ourselves to be trapped by them such that we would forget that we are meant for a life beyond this world. 

 We are meant for heaven, for life in eternity, hopefully with God our Creator and Father in whose image and likeness we have been created. And so, we should sharpen our constant awareness of our heavenly destination, and the ways by which this awareness can be kept. 

 Christ said it very clearly. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt 6,19-21) 

 And St. Paul echoes the same sentiment. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col 3,2) We should do everything to avoid getting entangled with our earthly and temporal affairs. 

 Yes, let’s often repeat that beautiful psalm: “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.”

Respecting sacred places

WITH recent cases of sacred places being desecrated, we need to remind ourselves that it is our duty to give these places due respect since they hold deep cultural or religious significance, and they also arouse strong emotional connection with the people. We are reminded of this duty in that gospel episode where Christ drove away those who turned the temple into a market place. (cfr. Jn 2,13-22) 

 In this regard, we have to be mindful of the rules and customs associated with these sacred places and respect them, like dressing in a way that is respectful of the place and its significance, keeping a respectful demeanor, avoiding loud noises, disruptive behavior or disrespectful actions. 

 We have to be most careful with our tendency to trivialize sacred places, items and events. With the sacred, all we have to do is utmost reverence, putting all our faith in them, knowing that through natural and human elements, we are touching the supernatural dimension of our life, we are touching the very life of God. 

 This reality should never be lost in our consciousness. Whenever we get involved in the sacred, as when we attend Mass or go to confession, or read the gospel, etc., we need to make many acts of faith, hope and charity to be able to capture the wonderful reality of being intimate with God. 

 We have to be careful because nowadays, with all the galloping pace of our earthly concerns and developments, we can easily end up treating the sacred things as one more item to be attended to, often with a cursory attitude. 

 We need to put all our mind and heart, all our senses and faculties into the celebration of these sacred things. Our whole selves should be involved there. We have to be aware with the reality of who we are dealing with in these sacred acts. We are not dealing with people only, much less with things only. We are directly dealing with God! 

 It therefore stands to reason that before we get involved in these sacred activities, we prepare ourselves properly. We have to stir up our faith and devotion, priming our heart and mind to align ourselves with the reality involved. 

 That is why we need to spend time preparing ourselves before the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Holy Mass. This is especially so with priests. We, priests, have to spend some time in prayer before celebrating the Mass to see to it that we are assuming the very name and person of Christ who is both priest and victim, the one who both offers and is offered. 

 We need to develop a sense of the sacred. When we pray, for example, we should see to it that the words really spring from the heart, a heart already filled with faith and love for God, since out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The lips and the heart should be in harmony. And when many people pray together, the prayer should form a lovely symphony. 

 What can help is that when we pray, we should think to whom are we talking, what are we saying, how should we say it, with what sentiments should accompany it, what resolutions should come from it. 

 I remember that as a kid I saw old women in the church praying, and I could not help but be moved to see their faces brighten and darken as they prayed. I understood then that they were talking to God, and what they talked about was reflected on their faces. That is clearly having a sense of the sacred.