IN a priest’s daily prayers, the Breviary, there’s a psalm that never fails to warm my heart. It is a beautiful hymn on divine mercy, meant for us to learn also, since our Lord said: “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.” It goes:
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good / for his mercy endures forever. / Let the sons of Israel say: / ‘His mercy endures for ever.’ / Let the sons of Aaron say: / ‘His mercy endures for ever.’ / Let those who fear the Lord say: / ‘His mercy endures for ever…” (Ps 118)
Of course, there’s in the psalms a certain element that makes us flow in a prayerful stream of thoughts. Its lilt makes us recollected in peace, making us feel at home with the one who is precisely our original father—God. I hope many of us can rediscover the beauty of the psalms.
Divine mercy is the culmination of God’s love for us. It shows us who we truly are to God. We are not just any creature. We are no just even the best creature in the material world, able to know and choose.
We are God’s children, created in his image and likeness, endowed not only
with the best the natural world can give. We have been gratuitously raised to share in the very nature and life of God! This happens through grace.
It is this innate, original dignity we all have that, in a way, does not allow God to ever forget us, no matter how bad we have been. We can even say that the more mean we are, the more God shows his love for us.
Remember what our Lord said to Simon who thought ill of the woman who washed our Lord’s feet with ointment: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loves less.” (Lk 7,46)
Many practical considerations can spring from this fundamental realization
of who we are. One is that we have to learn to be truly patient, eagerly forgiving and open to all. We deserve nothing less than this as we deal with one another.
No matter how different one may be from us, especially in terms of culture,
mentality, attitudes, and even of morality and spirituality, we need to be patient, quick to give excuses and to forgive, hardly taking any offense.
That’s why we have to be very open and strong, staying away from being overly sensitive and rigid in our own ways and styles. Flexibility is always a mark of a strong man. Far from weakening our personality, this attitude enhances it as it makes us more like Christ.
Thus, we have to learn the soft and gentle skills of being affable and ikeable to all. Good manners, refined ways, warm dispositions, details of urbanity are always worth cultivating. Same with highlighting the positive and the unifying.
This, of course, does not do away with the requirements of justice and truth. Mercy demands justice and truth, but somehow it goes beyond them, purifying them and setting them in their proper place and context.
Mercy does not allow justice to lapse to revenge, anger, irritation. It does not allow truth to be cold, unfeeling, heartless. It provides the proper solution for justice and truth to serve the ultimate good of man.
Where justice tends to give a defined, focused picture of a situation, mercy gives the large picture and perspective. Where truth tends to be precise and exacting, mercy protects it from being discriminatory and self-righteous.
Mercy reminds us all that we are always brothers and sisters to one another, whatever may be our condition, differences and conflicts. It reminds us to love one another the way our Lord loves us. Even the enemy is object of such love.
Mercy, in the end, elevates justice and truth to the level of God, taking it away from being mere play things and instruments of clever men. We have to learn the ways of mercy! That’s the need today.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Love’s many faces
NO, I don’t mean that love is about double-dealing, hypocrisy or chameleonic deception. Much less is it a form of madness, a kind of bipolar psychological disorder involving multiple personalities.
Sadly, some people have mistaken love to be those, aside from accusing it of being blind. Thus, it is important that lovers be mature persons to be able to distinguish love from its dangerous look-alikes.
There’s one consistent and unchanging core in love. It is to give oneself unstintingly to another. But it is in its nature to be highly versatile, inventive, flexible, creative. Love cannot be caught stuck in only one rigid form of expression. It sings and dances with any tune.
Thus, you have St. Paul saying, “To the Jews, I became a Jew that I might gain the Jews…To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all.” (1 Cor 9) Amazing, don’t you agree?
This is because love always feels the need to adapt itself always to its beloved. It’s never selfish. It’s joy is in the beloved’s joy. And it’s not blind at all. It is fiercely perceptive and choosy. And it picks what is best for the beloved.
If anyone says he is in love and does not feel this dynamics of love, he better see a doctor or psychiatrist or a spiritual director. He most likely is sick. A lover by nature enjoys some fullness of life. His condition transcends earthly factors.
A lover does not know boredom. He ignores tiredness and buries complacency and passivity. A certain ardor burns in his heart. For discretion, he may not show these externally. But inside him, he is all in flames.
Of course, it helps in loving for one to be gifted with an open, warm and sunshiny disposition. But a lot more is needed. Love requires all the virtues, and true love actually spawns and develops them. Yes, love is synonymous with fertility.
This is because love itself is the mother virtue. The other virtues cover only so much. Love covers the whole spectrum of all possible human conditions. It’s what gives meaning, order and direction to all the other virtues.
And neither is love an on-and-off affair. It needs to work and function all the time. In fact, it should go with the very beating of the heart, since it actually is the language proper to the heart.
Still a lot more is needed for us to love properly. We need God, for God is love. He is the source, pattern and end of love. We can only love properly when we are with God. Otherwise, we will just be playing games.
Again, we hear St. Paul saying, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) God is the power proper to love. Without God, love is doomed to failure.
This is the kind of love that can fuse and blend contrasting qualities, unavoidable in loving, one soft the other hard, one lenient and tolerant the other strict and impatient, one sweet the other bitter.
If we look at Christ, God’s full revelation to us, that’s what we see. Extremely nice to us, he allows us to use our freedom and even to sin. At the same time, he is extremely hard as to ask us to carry the cross with him and enter by the narrow gate.
In him, the tension between freedom and obedience, mercy and justice, joy and suffering, patience and prompt action, compassion and correction, truth and discretion, etc., is overcome.
This skill to resolve contrasting values, only possible in Christ and with Christ, is what we have to attain. For this we need to study his doctrine and example, we need to develop virtues, we need nothing less than grace.
With all the profusion of things these days, driven by ever developing technologies, and the corresponding profusion of mentalities, styles, situations, etc., we need to rev up our capacity to love by learning to be as versatile as Christ himself.
Sadly, some people have mistaken love to be those, aside from accusing it of being blind. Thus, it is important that lovers be mature persons to be able to distinguish love from its dangerous look-alikes.
There’s one consistent and unchanging core in love. It is to give oneself unstintingly to another. But it is in its nature to be highly versatile, inventive, flexible, creative. Love cannot be caught stuck in only one rigid form of expression. It sings and dances with any tune.
Thus, you have St. Paul saying, “To the Jews, I became a Jew that I might gain the Jews…To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all.” (1 Cor 9) Amazing, don’t you agree?
This is because love always feels the need to adapt itself always to its beloved. It’s never selfish. It’s joy is in the beloved’s joy. And it’s not blind at all. It is fiercely perceptive and choosy. And it picks what is best for the beloved.
If anyone says he is in love and does not feel this dynamics of love, he better see a doctor or psychiatrist or a spiritual director. He most likely is sick. A lover by nature enjoys some fullness of life. His condition transcends earthly factors.
A lover does not know boredom. He ignores tiredness and buries complacency and passivity. A certain ardor burns in his heart. For discretion, he may not show these externally. But inside him, he is all in flames.
Of course, it helps in loving for one to be gifted with an open, warm and sunshiny disposition. But a lot more is needed. Love requires all the virtues, and true love actually spawns and develops them. Yes, love is synonymous with fertility.
This is because love itself is the mother virtue. The other virtues cover only so much. Love covers the whole spectrum of all possible human conditions. It’s what gives meaning, order and direction to all the other virtues.
And neither is love an on-and-off affair. It needs to work and function all the time. In fact, it should go with the very beating of the heart, since it actually is the language proper to the heart.
Still a lot more is needed for us to love properly. We need God, for God is love. He is the source, pattern and end of love. We can only love properly when we are with God. Otherwise, we will just be playing games.
Again, we hear St. Paul saying, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) God is the power proper to love. Without God, love is doomed to failure.
This is the kind of love that can fuse and blend contrasting qualities, unavoidable in loving, one soft the other hard, one lenient and tolerant the other strict and impatient, one sweet the other bitter.
If we look at Christ, God’s full revelation to us, that’s what we see. Extremely nice to us, he allows us to use our freedom and even to sin. At the same time, he is extremely hard as to ask us to carry the cross with him and enter by the narrow gate.
In him, the tension between freedom and obedience, mercy and justice, joy and suffering, patience and prompt action, compassion and correction, truth and discretion, etc., is overcome.
This skill to resolve contrasting values, only possible in Christ and with Christ, is what we have to attain. For this we need to study his doctrine and example, we need to develop virtues, we need nothing less than grace.
With all the profusion of things these days, driven by ever developing technologies, and the corresponding profusion of mentalities, styles, situations, etc., we need to rev up our capacity to love by learning to be as versatile as Christ himself.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Church and media
THE head of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communication recently proposed that Church officials and workers make a thorough examination of conscience as to how they have been using the media.
Archbishop John Foley was quite direct and blunt in his assessment. “We have all sinned in the field of communications, especially through sins of omission and also through sins of commission,” he said.
In his view, not only have Church officials failed to communicate in the best possible way God’s love and goodness to the world, but also are guilty of resorting more often to condemnation than to commendation in the use of the media.”
“Pope Benedict,” he said, “has just counseled us not to be seen as always saying ‘no’, but to reflect, and to be seen to reflect, in our use of the media, the love, mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ.”
I cannot agree more with this standpoint. It pains me to consider that given he stature of the Church as an institution in our society, it is still largely regarded as being naïve, bumbling, simplistic, amateurish and self-righteous in handling the media.
The “mirifica”—the marvelous things—of the Gospel are not given proper airing in the media. What often come out are pitiable caricatures of Gospel truths and hollow imitations of what are popularly considered as “sound bites.”
The distinctive spiritual and supernatural quality of the Gospel message is often lost in the translation. And there appears to be no earnest effort to correct this situation. Everyone seems happy with just dropping his two cents worth.
While it is most welcome to note an increase of religious writing in the media recently, there is still a lot more to be done. There has to be more depth and insight, more spiritual spunk.
At the moment, there is a clutter of bland spiritual messages and pietistic clichés that really turn off people. Many think that some churchmen seem not attuned with the times. They are still stuck with an outdated mentality, more accusing than compassionate in tone.
We appeal to those involved to be more creative and forceful. The possibilities to be such are actually endless. We just have to study more, and of course, to pray more, so things come out more credible.
There’s also that hideous theory that to succeed in attracting the audience, one just has to put in a lot of jokes and stories, never mind if they do not have much relevance to Gospel truths, if they don’t make much religious sense. Really, a cheap shot!
Further dimming the picture is when some public issues need intervention of Church officials. Very often, one observes lack of competence and preparation on the part of Church spokespersons. What is obvious is a lot of improvisation.
The pronouncements often give the impression of being incomplete and one-sided, of failing to appreciate concrete realities, of being rigid. Worse, they sometimes sound like playing into the hands of some interest groups.
Many people have complained that some spokespersons are arrogant in their statements, dripping with a repulsive superiority complex, condescension and
a know-it-all attitude. They seem closed to suggestions and corrections.
Their actuations often lead people to question whether they have prudence, good sense of timing, command of appropriate language, basic good manners.
There is also that ticklish matter of when, in what and how Church officials can make their proper interventions with respect to public social and political issues. In this area, I’m afraid we are still much at sea.
Often, one gets the impression Church people are simply meddling without giving appropriate solutions or guidelines, or are second-guessing and engaged in idle attacks, when they comment on these issues.
Many people are not convinced of the arguments and are becoming suspicious of the motives of these ecclesiastics. They think abuse of authority is involved.
Yes, definitely we all need to have a deep examination of conscience, and come up with effective resolutions. Certainly, competence in this area is very much desired. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten all of us!
Archbishop John Foley was quite direct and blunt in his assessment. “We have all sinned in the field of communications, especially through sins of omission and also through sins of commission,” he said.
In his view, not only have Church officials failed to communicate in the best possible way God’s love and goodness to the world, but also are guilty of resorting more often to condemnation than to commendation in the use of the media.”
“Pope Benedict,” he said, “has just counseled us not to be seen as always saying ‘no’, but to reflect, and to be seen to reflect, in our use of the media, the love, mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ.”
I cannot agree more with this standpoint. It pains me to consider that given he stature of the Church as an institution in our society, it is still largely regarded as being naïve, bumbling, simplistic, amateurish and self-righteous in handling the media.
The “mirifica”—the marvelous things—of the Gospel are not given proper airing in the media. What often come out are pitiable caricatures of Gospel truths and hollow imitations of what are popularly considered as “sound bites.”
The distinctive spiritual and supernatural quality of the Gospel message is often lost in the translation. And there appears to be no earnest effort to correct this situation. Everyone seems happy with just dropping his two cents worth.
While it is most welcome to note an increase of religious writing in the media recently, there is still a lot more to be done. There has to be more depth and insight, more spiritual spunk.
At the moment, there is a clutter of bland spiritual messages and pietistic clichés that really turn off people. Many think that some churchmen seem not attuned with the times. They are still stuck with an outdated mentality, more accusing than compassionate in tone.
We appeal to those involved to be more creative and forceful. The possibilities to be such are actually endless. We just have to study more, and of course, to pray more, so things come out more credible.
There’s also that hideous theory that to succeed in attracting the audience, one just has to put in a lot of jokes and stories, never mind if they do not have much relevance to Gospel truths, if they don’t make much religious sense. Really, a cheap shot!
Further dimming the picture is when some public issues need intervention of Church officials. Very often, one observes lack of competence and preparation on the part of Church spokespersons. What is obvious is a lot of improvisation.
The pronouncements often give the impression of being incomplete and one-sided, of failing to appreciate concrete realities, of being rigid. Worse, they sometimes sound like playing into the hands of some interest groups.
Many people have complained that some spokespersons are arrogant in their statements, dripping with a repulsive superiority complex, condescension and
a know-it-all attitude. They seem closed to suggestions and corrections.
Their actuations often lead people to question whether they have prudence, good sense of timing, command of appropriate language, basic good manners.
There is also that ticklish matter of when, in what and how Church officials can make their proper interventions with respect to public social and political issues. In this area, I’m afraid we are still much at sea.
Often, one gets the impression Church people are simply meddling without giving appropriate solutions or guidelines, or are second-guessing and engaged in idle attacks, when they comment on these issues.
Many people are not convinced of the arguments and are becoming suspicious of the motives of these ecclesiastics. They think abuse of authority is involved.
Yes, definitely we all need to have a deep examination of conscience, and come up with effective resolutions. Certainly, competence in this area is very much desired. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten all of us!
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