Happy even amid troubles?

YES, why not? We should throw away the notion that when we have troubles, we should be troubled and sad. No. It does not have to be that way. If we have faith in God, if our spiritual life is strong and healthy, we know that after all is said and done, God will always take care of everything. 

 Yes, we may not be spared from pain and suffering, physical, emotional, mental, etc. But then if our Christian faith is working, we would know how to handle all these and still manage to be happy and serene in a way that goes beyond the physical, emotional and mental, etc. 

 There is something in us that can accommodate the prescriptions of God’s grace that solves everything, even those things that we ourselves, with our human powers, are unable to solve. God’s grace can take care of everything! What is impossible with us is always possible with God. 

 We have to learn how not to be overly or even unduly affected by the unavoidable troubles we are going to have in this life. To be sad, depressed, worried, discouraged, etc., is simply not a healthy state for us to be in. We are meant to be happy, which does not mean that we simply ignore our problems and troubles. 

Sadness restrains if not prevents us from doing our best in whatever we do. It’s a drag, a very toxic state to be in. It paints the world and life itself in dark, gloomy colors. It tends to make us hide, feel lonely and not face our responsibilities. It has to be eliminated early enough before it becomes worse, affecting our very soul. 

 Sadness can adversely affect our cognitive powers, our memory, our ability to make decisions. It can also affect us physically and our over-all health. It can leave us stressed and drained out. 

 To overcome sadness, we have to see to it that we feed our soul properly with prayers, strengthening our faith, hope and charity, so that all the assurances and ever-reliable promises of God would not be lost in us. When our soul is animated with the spirit of God, nothing can actually disturb or trouble us. And we can afford to be cheerful and at peace even amid huge difficulties. 

 With that outlook, we can see things more clearly, we can penetrate into the sphere of the spiritual and supernatural, we can work better. In fact, we would be in a much better condition to deal with our problems and troubles. There just are many advantages that we can enjoy when we manage to be truly happy and peaceful. 

 Everyday, we have to spend some time putting ourselves in a state of joy and peace. We have to take note of all the possible sources of troubles during the day so that we would be better prepared to deal with them without compromising our joy. 

 This, of course, will not spare us from some pain and suffering, and so we just have to learn to suffer by having the same spirit and attitude Christ had toward his passion and death. It is important that we meditate often on Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, so we would have a complete picture of things and understand better why there are troubles and why there is hope. 

 Let’s remember Christ saying, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33)

Our training and testing ground

THAT’S our life here on earth. God is still forming us to be what he wants us to be—his image and likeness, his adopted children meant to share in his very own life. Our creation is not yet finished. It’s still a work in progress. Considering how God is and how we are, his creation of us in eternity has to enter into the dynamic of time and space. 

 This is a truth of faith that should be clear in our mind so that we can do our part properly in God’s creation of us. In short, we can say that God is still training us as well as testing us, because even if he is the one who solely creates us, he wants us to correspond properly to his designs for us. 

 That’s because we are not merely inert creatures or living creatures like the plants and animals that are incapable of knowingly and lovingly corresponding to their creation by God. We, on the other hand, being endowed by God with intelligence and will and freely given his grace, have to also want what God wants us to be. We have a role to play in making ourselves God’s image and likeness. 

 We need to realize then that every event and circumstance in our life is an element in God’s creation of us to which we have to correspond. That is how we should see everything in our life. That is the proper context. We should not regard them only in temporal and worldly terms. We can even say that everything is meant to be an encounter with God. We should try never to miss that reality. 

 So, no matter how things are in a given moment, whether we consider them as good or bad, a success or a defeat, something that gives us joy or one that causes sadness, etc., we should realize that God is still intervening in our life and is expecting us to relate ourselves with him. 

 He will always be with us, a truth that we are often reminded of especially in the Holy Mass when the celebrant addresses us many times, “The Lord be with you!” Being our creator he can never disappear from us, for he is the very keeper of our existence. We may do wrong, we may disobey and rebel against him, but for as long as we exist, God is always with us. 

 Thus, to ask where God is, especially in moments when we are severely tested, can only show ignorance of a very basic truth about ourselves. I remember St. Augustine saying, “to know where God is may be difficult, but to know where he is not is even more difficult.” We have to overcome that ignorance, studying the doctrine of our faith and developing a working life of piety. 

 It might be a good practice that often during the day, we pause and ask ourselves, “Lord, what do you want me to do now?” “How should I react to this particular item?” etc. Even if we do not get a clear and immediate answer, we know that by asking these questions we would be given some light. 

 Let’s remember always that God is not only a Creator. He is also a Father who loves us no end. He will never fail us. It’s us who can fail our own selves!

The best and the worst in us

BECAUSE of the way we are, with our intelligence and will that enable us to know, to choose, to feel free, to love, etc, we will always have the possibilities of either rising to the zenith of our humanity, making ourselves no less than “another Christ” as we are meant to be, or plunging south to be the most wretched of all God’s creatures. 

 This choice is actually presented to us at every moment of our life, in every situation, condition and circumstance of our life. We have to be more aware of this fact and know how to make the proper choice. Of course, we should try our hardest to be the best that we can be. 

 But let’s always remember that whatever fate we fall into, whether we are a saint or a sinner, God never ceases to love us. Of course, he wants us to be like him, since we have been created in his image and likeness. That is why he is most demanding of us. We are asked to love God with all our heart and might, and love our neighbor the way Christ loves us. 

 The epitome of this standard of love is, of course, Our Lady who was conceived without sin and remained sinless all throughout her life. She followed everything that she knew about God’s will and ways. She so identified herself with her son that she would be rightly called the Mother of God. (cfr. Lk 8,21) 

 But God also knows that we can be bad or that we choose to be bad, doing precisely the opposite of what God wants us to do and to be. No problem. God will not stop loving us. Instead he will do everything to save us. This truth is dramatized in those parables of the lost coin, lost sheep and the prodigal son, (cfr. Lk 15) and actualized in the very passion, death and resurrection of Christ. 

 As shown by Christ, God’s mercy is always there for us. Christ, for example, readily forgave the woman caught in adultery (cfr. Jn 8,1-11) and the thief who was crucified with him and who only wanted to be with him in Paradise (cfr. Lk 23,43). And whenever he performed some healing miracle, Christ was more interested in forgiving the sins of those who benefited from his miracles. 

 Ultimately, Christ asked forgiveness for those who crucified him, even trying to find excuses for them—“for they know not what they are doing.” (Lk 23,34) God will do everything to bring us back to him. He predestines no one to hell. If one finds himself in hell, it would not be because of God, but rather because of the person concerned, who chooses in spite of God’s mercy and goodness, to reject God. 

 We should really try our best to unceasingly grow in our love for God. We actually cannot exaggerate that love, since true love is given without measure. But in case we fall short of that love and, worse, find ourselves alienated from him, let’s never hesitate to go back to him. Let’s humble ourselves and feel convinced that God is ever willing to give us his mercy. 

 And in our dealings with others, let’s encourage them to be and to do their best even as, like Christ, we should be always merciful when we see their negative side.