Not to condemn but to save

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ST. John in his gospel made it clear what God’s attitude

is toward us. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the

world,” he said, “but that the world might be saved through him.”

(3,17)

            That divine attitude should also be ours toward one

another. That’s why Christ, our redeemer who accomplished his mission

of redeeming us more by offering forgiveness rather than by just

preaching about what is right and wrong, gave us a new commandment

that summarizes and perfects all the previous commandments God has

given us.

            “Love one another as I have loved you,” (Jn 13,34)  he

said, literally telling us that we should be more forgiving as he was

and is, rather than merely insisting on what is right.

            Reiterating this point, he said that it is with this

attitude that we can truly be considered as Christ’s disciples. (cfr.

Jn 13,35) In other words, unless we are forgiving and merciful as

Christ is to all of us, we would not be truly his disciples if we

insist simply on being right. Such attitude would be considered

self-righteous, because that is not the righteousness taught, shown

and commanded by Christ to us.

            That is also why Christ told us clearly that we have to

love our enemies. “Do good to those who hate you,” he said, “bless

those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps

you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your

coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.” (Lk 6,27-29)

            We need to examine ourselves if we truly have this

attitude of Christ, if we truly follow what he taught us and what he

himself did. We have to moderate our reactions if not restrain

ourselves from our tendency to immediately fight back, seek revenge,

complain and accuse everytime we feel offended.

            This does not mean that we should not be interested in

justice and in affirming and defending what is right from wrong. But

in all these efforts, we should not compromise the charity that Christ

is commanding us to live. Like Christ, we have to be magnanimous,

patient, willing to suffer.

            We have to be willing to offer forgiveness and mercy. Like

Christ we have to be willing to bear the wrongs of the others, and to

work for their conversion, instead of focusing as our ultimate goal

the righting of what is wrong. We can never have perfect justice here

on earth. That justice can only be given by God himself.

            We have to realize that with our human condition, we

cannot totally avoid what is wrong, evil and sinful in this life.

That’s a given that we should not waste time debating about anymore.

We just have to follow the example and commandment of Christ when

dealing with this unavoidable fact of life.

  

            When we have to fight for justice and for what is right,

let it be that we do it with magnanimity and humility, and never as an

expression of self-righteousness. As one saint once said, let us

simply drown evil with an abundance of good, even if in the process,

we are made to suffer, and to suffer unjustly.

            Let’s never forget that as many people have already

affirmed, our life here on earth and the world itself can be very

unfair. Let’s not make a big issue out of this reality. Fairness and

justice can only be perfectly achieved when we follow the example of

Christ.

            Obviously, a training in the virtues of charity, mercy,

magnanimity, patience, humility, etc. is a must and should be carried

out right at the bosom of each family. It has to be shown that it is

in these virtues where we can have our true liberation, our salvation,

our fulfilment.

Daily nurturing our love

GIVEN our human condition, marked as it is with many ups

and downs, we need to see to it that our love continues to burn

regardless of the changing circumstances. We have to nurture it such

that at the end of the day we can really say that all our time has

been spent in love. Love should be the original and ultimate motive of

our day, since love takes care of everything. All other motives only

play supporting roles.

            Where there is love, we will always have joy and peace,

eagerness and drive to do things, even to the point of making

sacrifices for others, giving ourselves to them in all generosity and

gratuitousness. We would even be willing to bear and assume the

burdens of the others.

            Where there is love, boredom can hardly enter into our

lives. We may be tired physically, emotionally, mentally, but deep

within us there would still be that burning, raging desire to give

ourselves to others without counting the cost. Our weaknesses and

difficulties would not be a reason to complain. And when we feel them,

we would be happy to consider them as living proof of the intensity of

our love.

            Where there is love, temptations would find it hard to

find their way to us. Love is a natural repellant to temptations, sin

and all forms of evil. And that’s because love by its very nature is

always hot, and like a hot soup where no flies would ever dare to get

close to it, love drives away temptations.

            Of course, we have to understand that the love we are

talking about here is the real love that comes from God, and is lived

always with him. It cannot be just any kind of love that is generated

merely by our own feelings and estimation of things. It is the love

that Christ talked about when he said, “A new commandment I give to

you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34)

            We need to see to it that we have this real love by always

taking care of our intimate relation with God. We need to talk to him

always, relating everything to him, asking for enlightenment,

motivation, and any help we need. We should always be drawn to him in

an increasing way as the day goes on.

            This definitely would need that we be simple and humble so

that the faith, hope and charity that God shares with us get

activated, and we get to see things in a spiritual and supernatural

way, and not just in a natural way that will always be marked by our

limitations and weaknesses, not to mention, temptations, sin and all

forms of evil.

            We have to be wary of the constant danger of spiritual

lukewarmness when we get contented with what we think is already

passable insofar as our relationship with God is concerned. This

danger puts us at the mercy of our physical, emotional, intellectual

condition, etc., that cannot fully cope with the demands of the

spiritual and supernatural reality of our life.

            Every so often during the day, we have to check whether

what is truly guiding us as we go through the different events of the

day are the principles of faith, hope and charity, and not just the

state of our human and natural conditions. We have to develop the

skill of detecting whether we are being spiritual and supernatural in

our outlook or just being human and natural.

            We have to reaffirm our conviction that it is the

spiritual and supernatural aspect of our life that gives the proper

direction to our human and natural conditions. It is what would keep

us going despite difficulties, trials, failures, and the like that we

can encounter during the day.

The fullness of our humanity

WE need to understand this point very well. Our humanity

is not just a matter of biology, the blend of genes that gives us our

unique identity. Such basis of our humanity would be no different from

that of the other animals whose identity is solely based on the genes

that are passed on to them from their parents. As such, animals are

governed only by their instincts, and are classified simply as family,

genus and species.

            We, of course, are also animals. We too have instincts and

are heavily influenced by them. But we are a lot more. In fact, we are

qualitatively different from them. Neither is our humanity a mere

matter of the play of social, economic, cultural or historical forces.

Of course, in this level, we are already very different from the other

animals. There is already quantum leap involved. But, no, our humanity

is not just that either.

            There is something in us that goes beyond genetics and

that directs and shapes our reactions to the different conditionings

we are subject to without getting entrapped by these conditionings. It

is our intelligence and will that, though needing some organs to

operate, enable us to do not merely material operations. They enable

us to do spiritual operations that transcend the material conditions

of our life.

            It is because of this endowment of our nature that we can

manage to go beyond the level of animality, though we can consider

ourselves as the best among the animals. It is this endowment that

would indicate that we have a spiritual soul, and not just animal soul

as our principle of life.

            It is this spiritual soul of ours that leads us to the

world of the spiritual and supernatural world of God who, as we get to

know things better, is the original source of everything. We just did

not come from our parents, and the parents of our parents, etc. We

come from God.

            We have to realize that our humanity in our earthly life

is still in the making. Yes, we are already men and women, no question

about that. We are already human beings. But we are not yet in the

fullness of our humanity. We still have to reach that goal. We are

still a work in progress.

            And to reach our fullness, we have to correspond to God’s

continuing work of creation and redemption of us. This is a basic

truth about ourselves that we have to be most aware of so we can act

on it properly. This means we have to know and love him as much as we

can. And knowing and loving him means doing his will, as Christ

himself said: “If you love, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14,15)

            We have to see to it that everyday, we somehow should be

aware that we are progressing toward that goal of the fullness of our

humanity, because we are consciously corresponding to God’s continuous

interventions in our life.

            At the end of the day as we make the examination of

conscience, we should feel convinced that irrespective of how the

drama of the day went, we are aware that we are approaching the

fullness of our humanity.

            Some people may say that this is a Christian or Catholic

thing only. This should not be told, much less, imposed on others who

are non-Christians. I believe that is a wrong conclusion to make. We,

of course, should not force people to do what we say and teach.

            But we should be allowed to explain, even as all of us

should also be open to the views of others, no matter how different or

in conflict their views are with ours. There has to be courteous

dialogue and exchange of views. I am sure, that despite our

differences and conflicts, we can still find some common ground

because in the end the truth can only be one.