Zeal

WE are supposed to be burning with love. Away with complacency and
spiritual lukewarmness that, as some spiritual writers have described,
is actually the grave of authentic piety.

    The Bible has described this spiritual malaise as having the
appearance of life when one is in fact dead, and that’s why it is most
delusive. The Book of Revelation, for example, has this graphic
description for it: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.” (3,16) Eww!

    Christ was seized with zeal himself in pursuing his sole mission on
earth, extreme suffering and all. “I have come to set the earth on
fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12,49) If we are
conformed to Christ, as we are supposed to be, then we cannot help but
take part in that zeal ourselves.

    This is something we have to be more conscious about, since right now
I believe that many of us are buried under a heavy albeit deceivingly
sweet yoke of spiritual lethargy. We take things easy in our spiritual
and moral life. What would arouse us are mainly material and worldly
things.

    We need to react to this stranglehold of our spiritual life, helping
one another to be more spiritually alive, considering each one’s
conditions and possibilities, giving good example and timely pieces of
advice and suggestions, and leading the way in actively cooperating in
this exhilarating divine adventure God is inviting us to join in this
life.

    Everyday, we should be seized by that urge to “carpe diem,” to kind
of strike while the iron is hot. If we have faith, each day brings
with it its own adventure orchestrated by God in his abiding
providence, and we are invited to it since we are supposed to be
co-agents with God in our life here.

    To be sure, our life here on earth is never just an interplay of our
plans and the other natural forces. God is very much in it, a fact
that we have to be more aware of it and more importantly, better
skilled in handling. We cannot go on unmindful of this fundamental
truth.

    We should not be afraid to enter and take most active part in this
drama with God and others, because even if it involves everything and
all sorts of trials and difficulties, it is always worth it. This is
what our life is really all about. We avoid making a fiction of our
life, deluded by its false images.

    To top it all, if we have faith and trust in God, we know, in spite
of passing contradictions, that we get involved in is always something
for the good of all of us in all aspects of our life, from the most
personal to the most global.

    We know that with God, everything will always work out for the good.
Even our mistakes and failures, and even our own sins no matter how
big, if handled with faith and treated properly, can occasion greater
developments in our life.

    This is how God works. He allows us to go through the peaks and
valleys of life, but he always knows how to derive good from them.
Even death, the ultimate evil that can befall us, is emptied of its
sting by the death and resurrection of Christ himself. Thus, if we die
with him, we also will rise with him, as St. Paul tells us.
   
    Obviously, before all these wonderful truths our faith tells, we
cannot afford to remain passive and complacent. Before God’s
tremendous love for us, we ought to love him in return, for love is
repaid with love. God, who is love, loves us first, and we just have
to love him in return.

    It is in the very essence of love that it is given and expressed
without measure, without expecting recompense. Its language is
generosity, abundance, heroism to the point of the extreme sacrifice
of offering one’s life.

    It would be good if everyday we try our best to read what God’s plan
is for us. This should be the ultimate and constant context of
whatever plans we have for the day. Let’s never just make plans
without referring them to God’s plan.

    If we persist in this attitude, we can develop the skill and ease of
knowing God’s plan. We just have to overcome the initial awkwardness
and difficulties. In time, we would know how to handle them.

    Truth is, we need to have zeal, that consuming divine zeal driven by
love, and not by bitterness.

Much received much expected

THAT should be fair enough. If one is given a lot of gifts, blessings,
privileges, opportunities, etc, then a lot should also be expected of
him. Christ himself said so. “Much will be required of the persons
entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person
entrusted with more.” (Lk 12,48)

He reiterates the same idea a number of times in the parable of the
talents, the parable of the seed, the tenants in the vineyard, and the
different images he taught about the Kingdom of God. Even on the basis
of common sense alone, that idea should be a given, a no-brainer or
no-contest proposition.

We have always been taught to trade with our talents, to make the most
of what is given and entrusted to us, to be generous and magnificent
in the way we spend our life. Our life here on earth, after all, is a
test of love, the real love, which is love for God and others, and
never just self-love.

But nowadays, we need to be sharply reminded of these words which
actually indicate a very basic truth about ourselves, since we see
precisely the opposite of this truth in many parts of the world.

And this fundamental truth is none other than that all we have, from
our life to our natural endowments and to the good consequences these
endowments bring, are always a gift from God and should be used in
accordance to his will or plan.

We tend to forget this truth. We tend to expropriate these God-given
gifts as if they are simply our own, to be used in any way we want.
And, boy, how we use them!

We have great people endowed with great talents, intelligence, power,
fame and fortune, health and strength, who do not relate all these
gifts and blessings to God and his plan. They are never thankful to
God. They don’t even miss him. They use and tout their gifts as if
these are simply their own.

We can have a singing sensation, for example, with a tremendously
powerful and beautiful voice, and who now commands immense popularity
with many people practically swooning over her. And yet she flaunts
her talent is if it is just her own, the success she has achieved so
far in her career is simply of her own making.

She makes irreverent remarks about things related to God and the
spiritual realities, and has no qualms to show her rather irregular
ways and the fruits of such ways, practically burying any reference to
morality. What matters is that she is famous.

Then we can have brilliant politicians, very gifted in speech and wit,
with ample war chest, but who also take religion very lightly. If they
have to do something related to religion, it is simply to further
their political ambitions.

Religion to them has become only a political tool. No wonder that very
often, they take political positions inconsistent with their professed
faith. Hypocrites, in short.

And what is more disturbing is that these politicians have polished
their craft so well that they can distort truths of faith and morals
with lots of finesse. Like pied pipers they entice people to follow
them to their doom.

We have to reverse this sad phenomenon in our midst. We have to
highlight the basic truth that God is very much in our midst and is
very much involved in our life in all its aspects, from the most the
personal to the most global and even cosmic.

We have to bring to the fore the truth that we indeed are active
cooperators in God’s loving providence over us. We need to be more
aware of the truth that our life is always a life with God, never just
on our own.

We can do this if everyone of us who still cares for his or her faith
prays a lot, offers a lot of sacrifices, and launches into an endless
personal apostolate of friendship and confidence, supported by a
lifestyle consistent with the demands of our faith as shown in our
family, professional and social life.

Action speaks louder than words. And so we need to learn now to
sanctify our work, always offering to God which is what sanctifying
our work means first of all, and because of that, we try to do our
work as best as we can, although we know that our best efforts can
always be made better.

We have to learn how to establish the connection between our daily
work and concerns with God’s will and plan.

Magnificence vs. megalomania

    WE need to distinguish the two, for they can look alike and yet are
very different, if not opposed to each other. One is a virtue, the
other is a sickness. One has the substance, the other only has the
appearance.

    In our current world environment where we are constantly bombarded by
sheer and confusing images and sound bites, thanks and no thanks to
our tremendous new technologies, it’s crucial that we know how to
identify the genuine from the fake.

    We should never forget that our life is always an arena for the
battle between good and evil, truth and falsehood, and the forces
behind can be many and can indulge in the most subtle and deceiving of
ways. In the end, we need to choose whether we are with God or we
simply want to be with our own selves.

    Magnificence is the bigness of heart that is filled with real love
for God and souls and that spurs us to action, to heroic action to
pursue grand projects or to tackle arduous trials and challenges.

    Our earthly life unavoidably involves these kinds of situations. For
us to progress not only spiritually but also materially, we need to
launch into great adventures and go after some noble if daunting
exploits.

    It includes patience, understanding, magnanimity, mercy, tolerance,
as well as daring, foresight, enthusiasm. It does not shrink from the
great cost nor shy away from the immense, even punishing effort that
an undertaking or challenge may require as long that endeavour is
viewed as truly worthwhile.

    It is done always in the spirit of love, of self-giving and genuine
service to others. But it’s done always with charity, never in bitter
zeal, and it is always attentive to the little things even as it is
focused on the big goal it’s trying to reach.

    It is open to the possibility of human failure and the predicaments
of frustration, but in its core it will always burn with hope and
optimism, considering setbacks only as temporary and even as stimulus
to go on.

    We can even say that magnificence is the virtue that enables one to
dance very intimately with God in his providence. He is aware that his
projects, trials and challenges are not simply for him alone to face,
but always with God, the alpha and omega of our life.

    Megalomania, on the other hand, is an obsession that starts with a
twisted motive in us. It wants to play big, it wants to be the hero,
but is unwilling to base and orient is aspirations properly, that is,
God and souls.

    It is vulnerable to simply play games, and is very much averse to
encountering contradictions and setbacks. It often deteriorates to
bitter zeal and self-righteousness. It is also prone to be reckless
and unattentive to little details.

    There is, of course, the kind that is willing to go to some extremes,
and that’s why it can be very admirable. But its propelling motive is
deficient and in time—sometimes it can take centuries—it will just
collapse.

    Its inherent infirmity cannot be hidden for long, and has a natural
dynamics to erode whatever facade of success it can create. We can see
this in those grand ideological projects that attempted to make a
human earthly paradise without God. Its archetype is the biblical
Tower of Babel.

    It’s important that we know how to distinguish between magnificence
and megalomania. For this, we always need to examine our conscience,
to rectify our intentions, and to see to it that we are always aware
that the undertaking we are pursuing is done always in the presence of
God.

    We should never presume that everything is all right just because we
seem to feel good. Big things tend to put us in a state of
exhilaration and exciting suspense, but these are never sure
indicators that we are doing the right thing.

    We need to make deliberate effort to root our efforts on love for God
and souls. This effort in itself can require heroism because
especially at a certain point of success, we tend to get intoxicated
and start to see things differently.

    We have to be wary always of this possibility. And that’s why it’s
also good that we infuse our sense of magnificence with an ever
deepening humility that would lead to do a lot of things while passing
unnoticed and refusing to receive honors and privileges.

    It’s no accident that Christ washed the apostles’ feet before taking
on the grandest act of love by offering his life on the cross.