THIS may sound a bit strange, even presumptuous. But actually, if we do our math, all this talk about faith and religion, all this theologizing and pastoralizing, the recourse to the sacraments and devotions, should redound to nothing other than our experiencing God all day long.
We should not limit ourselves to proclaiming our faith. We have to live it and give witness to it, not only from time to time, but all the time. This is the challenge we have everyday, and we just have to learn how to handle it with God’s grace and with all that we have got.
We have to break free from the current culture, mentalities and lifestyles around that tend to freeze religion into mere formalistic ways. We need to give life to it, a continuous supply of fresh warm blood, so that the fullness of our faith and religion would really come to play as we grapple with life moment to moment.
That abiding and living union with God should be there with us all the time, obviously done with naturalness but never watering it down. It’s an ever exciting affair that can launch us to a joint divine-human adventure, giving us surprises and precious lessons in its creative itinerary.
Our problem is that we tend to lose steam in our fervency, and sooner or later settle to a state of spiritual lukewarmness and complacency. While that is understandable, given our fragile human condition, we have to understand also that precisely that condition is a challenge to be faced with ever growing faith.
We cannot and should not get stuck at a certain level of spiritual growth, no matter how high it may already be. Our relationship with God needs to be worked on all the time, giving it impulses and stimuli for it to move on and grow.
That’s God’s will. Christ said, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.” (Mt 22,37) And he reassured us: “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28,20)
Thus, we are not inventing things here, building our own religious fantasy. We are simply trying, as we should, to correspond to God’s will and the utter reality of our life.
Obviously, a spiritual and ascetical plan, program or system would be most welcome to support and sustain this living union with God. This is what the saints and many holy men and women down the ages have done.
These days, one should readily understand the importance of such programs. Even among the young ones who now work with computers, they are continually concerned with installing new, updated computer programs so they can do more and better. In our spiritual life, something similar should be felt.
We need to stay away from the constant temptation to turn religion into just a routine set of practices and behavior. The clergy, religious men and women and seminarians are usually vulnerable to this temptation. We need to shake it off and really do everything to make us truly experience God.
For this, we have to see to it that the training in the seminary, for example, helps those young students develop a vital relationship with God. While the academic and other co- and extra-curricular items are important, all of it should lead the seminarians to have a living experience with God.
But everyone needs to be helped to learn to have this living experience of God all day. What is important is that we help all to develop the habit of always praying, getting to relate their life to the different mysteries of Christ’s life, and vice-versa.
This is what contemplative life in the middle of the world means. There’s a conduit between contemplation and action. Contact with God translates into greater contact with others. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be contemplating properly nor acting properly.
This obviously involves exercising as fully as possible one’s faith. This definitely involves but transcends the full use of our senses, our memory and imagination, our desires and feelings, our intelligence and will. We have to go deeper into ourselves to discover that space where we share our life with God.
There is such a space. We may call it our heart, our conscience, whatever, but it’s where we are with God. We may need to purify ourselves, go against the usual tendencies of our human powers, but we have to get there to experience God all day.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Learning from the global warming fiasco
ALL of us, whether as private citizens, working in government or especially in the Church structure, should quickly learn from the most embarrassing fiasco of the global warming/climate change madness.
As emerging now in the news abroad but not yet duly played up locally, many of the so-called scientific data made as basis for the scary, supposedly man-made global warming scenario, portrayed as inevitably coming to us, are now found to be seriously flawed.
It’s now widely seen as a case of bad science getting mixed up with bad politics. The sources of the data were indubitably compromised. The findings were not peer-reviewed. There was lack of transparency in the whole process of reaching the disturbing conclusions.
Skeptics and critics of this global warming/climate change brouhaha now naughtily concede that there’s indeed a man-made impending disaster in that all the hype and spin about it are just made up by some men.
The whole issue is now summarized as “climate-gate,” after that notorious Watergate scandal that forced American President Nixon to resign in 1974. It involved abuse of power by public officials, violation of the public trust, bribery, contempt of Congress and obstruction of justice.
In this case, as reported by Fox News, it involved the so-called
- “Africa-gate,” an exaggerated prediction of drought and crop losses on the continent;
- “glacier-gate, a false claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear in two decades;
- “disaster-gate,” an unsubstantiated claim that extreme weather, caused by global warming, was responsible for growing billions in financial losses;
- and “Amazon-gate,” predicting that the Amazon rain forest was dangerously shrinking.”
I remember that just recently some of our local environmental officials made presentations of disaster scenarios in our country if the sea level would rise by some meters. That claim of the water level rising due to the melting of the glaciers was also recently debunked by scientists.
What now? I suppose we just have to learn our precious, if painful lessons. Our problem is that we sometimes are too quick to believe science fictions and urban legends, to ride on a bandwagon phenomenon, more eager to enjoy the perks than to examine the findings closely.
We like to play fawning pawns in the games of world big powers. When a big government delegation recently went to Copenhagen for a world climate change summit, I wonder if it was really worth it and if the delegation really had something substantial to contribute. It looked to me a pure waste of money and time.
What makes things worse is when some clerics and nuns start mouthing global warming slogans. Again I wonder if they really know what they are screaming to high heavens.
At these times, we should not be that naïve not to realize that there are powerful network of groups playing games to satisfy all sorts of self-interest. There’s the ideological angle, the political angle, the economic angle, etc, all pulling strings to generate mass hysteria and herding.
We need to be more discriminating or at least be more prudent by listening to both sides of a given issue. The media should be most sensitive to this requirement, since their work easily shapes public opinion.
They should be very clear about their capabilities and limitations, and try their best to work within these dimensions, resisting the temptation to overreach themselves and sensationalize. They can foster more exchange of opinions in the hope of having a clearer picture of a given issue.
Thing is nowadays truths and falsehoods are often mixed together, intentionally or unintentionally. The line between the two is made blurred. All kinds of propaganda tools are used, more to attract attention than to spread real news.
Notice the shrill and affected voice used in the TV newscasts to convey what actually are normal occurrences in a city—fire, petty crimes, frivolous gossips, etc. You’d think the end of the world is coming with all the exaggerated excitement injected into the stories.
Let’s hope that we can overcome this tendency, making it a thing of the past, dead and buried. We need to learn temperance and sobriety in handling our communication requirements, and to go into more in-depth reporting, delivered calmly and allowing viewers to think and reflect things properly.
Another issue akin to the global warming fiasco is all this buzz about reproductive health. This issue, more serious than global warming, deserves utmost scrutiny.
As emerging now in the news abroad but not yet duly played up locally, many of the so-called scientific data made as basis for the scary, supposedly man-made global warming scenario, portrayed as inevitably coming to us, are now found to be seriously flawed.
It’s now widely seen as a case of bad science getting mixed up with bad politics. The sources of the data were indubitably compromised. The findings were not peer-reviewed. There was lack of transparency in the whole process of reaching the disturbing conclusions.
Skeptics and critics of this global warming/climate change brouhaha now naughtily concede that there’s indeed a man-made impending disaster in that all the hype and spin about it are just made up by some men.
The whole issue is now summarized as “climate-gate,” after that notorious Watergate scandal that forced American President Nixon to resign in 1974. It involved abuse of power by public officials, violation of the public trust, bribery, contempt of Congress and obstruction of justice.
In this case, as reported by Fox News, it involved the so-called
- “Africa-gate,” an exaggerated prediction of drought and crop losses on the continent;
- “glacier-gate, a false claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear in two decades;
- “disaster-gate,” an unsubstantiated claim that extreme weather, caused by global warming, was responsible for growing billions in financial losses;
- and “Amazon-gate,” predicting that the Amazon rain forest was dangerously shrinking.”
I remember that just recently some of our local environmental officials made presentations of disaster scenarios in our country if the sea level would rise by some meters. That claim of the water level rising due to the melting of the glaciers was also recently debunked by scientists.
What now? I suppose we just have to learn our precious, if painful lessons. Our problem is that we sometimes are too quick to believe science fictions and urban legends, to ride on a bandwagon phenomenon, more eager to enjoy the perks than to examine the findings closely.
We like to play fawning pawns in the games of world big powers. When a big government delegation recently went to Copenhagen for a world climate change summit, I wonder if it was really worth it and if the delegation really had something substantial to contribute. It looked to me a pure waste of money and time.
What makes things worse is when some clerics and nuns start mouthing global warming slogans. Again I wonder if they really know what they are screaming to high heavens.
At these times, we should not be that naïve not to realize that there are powerful network of groups playing games to satisfy all sorts of self-interest. There’s the ideological angle, the political angle, the economic angle, etc, all pulling strings to generate mass hysteria and herding.
We need to be more discriminating or at least be more prudent by listening to both sides of a given issue. The media should be most sensitive to this requirement, since their work easily shapes public opinion.
They should be very clear about their capabilities and limitations, and try their best to work within these dimensions, resisting the temptation to overreach themselves and sensationalize. They can foster more exchange of opinions in the hope of having a clearer picture of a given issue.
Thing is nowadays truths and falsehoods are often mixed together, intentionally or unintentionally. The line between the two is made blurred. All kinds of propaganda tools are used, more to attract attention than to spread real news.
Notice the shrill and affected voice used in the TV newscasts to convey what actually are normal occurrences in a city—fire, petty crimes, frivolous gossips, etc. You’d think the end of the world is coming with all the exaggerated excitement injected into the stories.
Let’s hope that we can overcome this tendency, making it a thing of the past, dead and buried. We need to learn temperance and sobriety in handling our communication requirements, and to go into more in-depth reporting, delivered calmly and allowing viewers to think and reflect things properly.
Another issue akin to the global warming fiasco is all this buzz about reproductive health. This issue, more serious than global warming, deserves utmost scrutiny.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Is smiling now vanishing?
A NUMBER of people are now wondering about that. In fact, even Pope Benedict recently referred to this observation. People worldwide seem to be smiling less. In its place, we are seeing an increase in tension, nervousness and irritability such that many people are now talking about the need to learn anger management.
If people smile nowadays, it´s most likely in the shallow level. In the media, for example, the elements of smile seem to be observed only the sports and entertainment sections. They are seldom observed on the front page or on the Op-ed page.
We really do not know up to what extent this observation is true. But it cannot be denied that even if its factuality is limited, it already evokes pity. Smile is a wonderful human treasure that should not be allowed to wane, let alone, lost.
I googled some sayings about smiling, and I got a good number that reflect the many amazing facets of this human gesture. Here are a sampling that I bet will amuse you as they have amused me.
o A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles Gordy
o If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy Rooney
o I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~Author Unknown
o A laugh is a smile that bursts. ~Mary H. Waldrip
o The shortest distance between two people is a smile. ~Author Unknown
o You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin
o Smile - it increases your face value. ~Author Unknown
There were a lot more. We need to do something to promote this habit, since it is always good and healthy and produces wonderful effects on everyone.
My personal experience is that a smile helps me tremendously in my ministry. When you smile, people will find it easy to approach you, to connect with you, to be sincere with you. It initiates friendship and develops trust.
It is good in breaking the ice between two persons. It´s beautifully contagious. You smile at someone and most likely he´ll smile back. It easily offers bridges over whatever gaps there may be among us. Differences and conflicts are softened and put in condition for calm dialogue.
We have to recover this habit that seems to suffer when the pressures of progress and the challenges of growth and development unavoidably come. For this, we need to understand that what is needed is to ground it in a much deeper foundation.
The main problem, I think, is that we tend to root it on a shallow, shifting ground. We tend to keep it in the material, external and visceral level, held captive in the world of the unreasoning instincts and feelings. It seems caught in a stunted, arrested stage of development.
In other words, to smile, now when there is so much pressure to contend with, is urgently looking for a deeper, more authentic source. It is gasping for a genuine lifeline, not mere palliatives, stop-gap measures and escape mechanisms. It is grasping for its proper anchor and purpose.
If you notice, we usually tend to smile as an instinctive reaction to something sensible, whether soothing, funny, amusing, physically beautiful, etc. Since we were kids, that´s how we have been behaving.
Those who are better endowed, that is, with greater intelligence and therefore greater capacity to understand things, can manage to smile at engaging ideas and at the continuing flow of discoveries and realizations.
If you are not that endowed, then it would seem you are doomed, which is unfair and actually not true. I believe everyone, regardless of his endowments, physical, emotional, intellectual, etc., can manage to smile always if he knows where to get its proper impulse.
And this can be no other than God. We need to expand our understanding of the dynamics of our smile. We cannot restrict it in the sphere of biology, nor in that of our intelligence. It has to grow and develop in its ultimate and proper milieu of faith and beliefs, where the spiritual and supernatural forces are made to augment, purify and perfect our natural forces.
When this understanding and mechanism are in place, we can manage to smile even in trying and difficult times. We´ll always find a reason, a forceful reason to smile. For believers in Christ, they know that their smile has to be rooted on Christ´s Cross. With that foundation, nothing can drive it away. Hardships would only enhance it.
If people smile nowadays, it´s most likely in the shallow level. In the media, for example, the elements of smile seem to be observed only the sports and entertainment sections. They are seldom observed on the front page or on the Op-ed page.
We really do not know up to what extent this observation is true. But it cannot be denied that even if its factuality is limited, it already evokes pity. Smile is a wonderful human treasure that should not be allowed to wane, let alone, lost.
I googled some sayings about smiling, and I got a good number that reflect the many amazing facets of this human gesture. Here are a sampling that I bet will amuse you as they have amused me.
o A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~Charles Gordy
o If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it. ~Andy Rooney
o I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~Author Unknown
o A laugh is a smile that bursts. ~Mary H. Waldrip
o The shortest distance between two people is a smile. ~Author Unknown
o You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin
o Smile - it increases your face value. ~Author Unknown
There were a lot more. We need to do something to promote this habit, since it is always good and healthy and produces wonderful effects on everyone.
My personal experience is that a smile helps me tremendously in my ministry. When you smile, people will find it easy to approach you, to connect with you, to be sincere with you. It initiates friendship and develops trust.
It is good in breaking the ice between two persons. It´s beautifully contagious. You smile at someone and most likely he´ll smile back. It easily offers bridges over whatever gaps there may be among us. Differences and conflicts are softened and put in condition for calm dialogue.
We have to recover this habit that seems to suffer when the pressures of progress and the challenges of growth and development unavoidably come. For this, we need to understand that what is needed is to ground it in a much deeper foundation.
The main problem, I think, is that we tend to root it on a shallow, shifting ground. We tend to keep it in the material, external and visceral level, held captive in the world of the unreasoning instincts and feelings. It seems caught in a stunted, arrested stage of development.
In other words, to smile, now when there is so much pressure to contend with, is urgently looking for a deeper, more authentic source. It is gasping for a genuine lifeline, not mere palliatives, stop-gap measures and escape mechanisms. It is grasping for its proper anchor and purpose.
If you notice, we usually tend to smile as an instinctive reaction to something sensible, whether soothing, funny, amusing, physically beautiful, etc. Since we were kids, that´s how we have been behaving.
Those who are better endowed, that is, with greater intelligence and therefore greater capacity to understand things, can manage to smile at engaging ideas and at the continuing flow of discoveries and realizations.
If you are not that endowed, then it would seem you are doomed, which is unfair and actually not true. I believe everyone, regardless of his endowments, physical, emotional, intellectual, etc., can manage to smile always if he knows where to get its proper impulse.
And this can be no other than God. We need to expand our understanding of the dynamics of our smile. We cannot restrict it in the sphere of biology, nor in that of our intelligence. It has to grow and develop in its ultimate and proper milieu of faith and beliefs, where the spiritual and supernatural forces are made to augment, purify and perfect our natural forces.
When this understanding and mechanism are in place, we can manage to smile even in trying and difficult times. We´ll always find a reason, a forceful reason to smile. For believers in Christ, they know that their smile has to be rooted on Christ´s Cross. With that foundation, nothing can drive it away. Hardships would only enhance it.
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