Revisiting Christian poverty

THE Memorial of St. Francis Assisi (October 4) reminds us of the strategic role of poverty and detachment from earthly good in pursuing true Christian charity. And the gospel of that day reinforces this crucial theme in Christian life. It’s about the rich young man who wanted to know from Christ how to inherit eternal life. (cfr. Lk 10,25-37) 

 We cannot overemphasize the strategic relevance of this virtue. With all the glut of material and temporal things and amenities now on us, we need to be more conscious and adept in living and developing this virtue of detachment. 

 I don’t think we can afford to be casual about this concern anymore. The worldly things are now so attractive, so tempting and so riveting that if we are not careful, there’s no way but be swept away by its rampaging worldly laws and impulses. 

 In fact, at one time, Christ compares the great difficulty involved in resisting the allure of worldly things in a very graphic way: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mk 10,25) 

 This virtue has the primary purpose of emptying our mind and heart of anything that can compete or, worse, replace the love for God and for others which is proper to all of us. 

 It’s not about running away from worldly things, much less, of hating the goods of the earth and our temporal affairs, but of knowing how to handle them, so as not to compromise the fundamental law of love that should rule us. 

 To repeat, it is not just a matter of emptying ourselves but rather of filling ourselves with what is proper to us. In short, we practice detachment to acquire and enhance the attachment proper for us as God’s image and likeness and as God’s children. 

 Christ many times praised this particular virtue, referring to it in one of the beatitudes as being “poor in spirit.” Also, in that episode where a rich young man asked Christ how he could enter heaven, the answer was, after following the commandments which the young man said he was doing, to sell all he had, and to give to the poor and to come, follow Christ. (cfr Mk 10,21) 

 It’s quite clear that a requirement for entering heaven is detachment from earthly things. This should be clear to all of us, and should guide us in the way we use the things of the world. These things should lead us to God and to others, not isolate us, building up our own world and destiny. 

 So the detachment our Lord is asking of us actually does not mean that we hate our life, our parents and others, and the things of this world. Rather it is a detachment that asks of us to have rectitude of intention, that everything that we do be for the glory of God. 

 St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians said as much: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (10,31) 

 We should not be afraid to go through the required sacrifices and self-denial, since these can only lead us to the joy and peace meant for us. We need to do better than have a shallow and narrow view of our earthly life, a knee-jerk reaction to things.

The true nature and purpose of marriage

THERE is no doubt that we need to revisit the true nature and purpose of marriage, since this basic human and Christian institution is now besieged with so many misconceptions and malpractices. What the gospel once narrated about some leading Jews asking and testing Christ whether divorce was lawful (cfr. Mt 10,2-12) is now being played out even in our own country. 

 With all the forces and elements now undermining the true nature and purpose of marriage, there is an urgent need to clarify and show the real face and beauty of this human, natural as well as supernatural institution. 

 Countries and nations, supposedly developed and quite rich, are now legalizing forms of marriage that really have nothing to do with marriage. Same-sex unions, divorce, civil marriages among Catholic, temporary unions and cohabitations are not only spreading but are also getting legalized. 

 There are those who are quite convinced, and wrongly convinced, if I may say, that marital problems can be solved by legalizing divorce. We need to talk a lot about this issue. 

 Our problem is that we now have a world culture that has lost the capacity to think deeply and thoroughly. It’s an ethos that is held captive by the quick and easy way of thinking and reacting, dominated mainly by worldly values like convenience, practicality, popularity, etc. 

 The full and global picture of who and what we are is ignored if not ridiculed. This, of course, determines our proper attitude and praxis about marriage and the other institutions related to it—family, education... 

 The spiritual and supernatural dimension of man is set aside. Instead only the material and social aspects are considered. The dynamism of today’s world, now heavily dependent on new technologies, has made people to be thinking, studying and praying less, and to be just more practical, if not more self-absorbed and self-seeking. 

 There is a need to realize and appreciate more deeply that marriage, not only as a natural institution but also and especially as a sacrament, is a path to sanctity not only for the husband and wife but also for the family, and from the family, for the society and the Church in general. 

 We need to see the organic link among these key elements: the marriage between man and woman, and the family they generate, as well as the society of which the family is the basic cell and the universal Church of which the family is considered the domestic church. 

 Seeing that link, we would appreciate the crucial and strategic role that marriage plays in the life of men and women in the world. We would appreciate the tremendous potential good that marriage can give to all of us. 

 That is why everything has to be done to make marriage achieve its fullest dignity. And that means that we have to purify and elevate the love that is the very germ of marriage to the supernatural order. 

 That love has to develop from simply being natural and body-emotion-world reliant to being more and more spiritual and supernatural, driven by grace rather than by mere natural forces. 

 With the sacrament of marriage, the love between husband and wife is already guaranteed to have all the graces needed to make that marriage reach its fullness. What is needed is the faithful and generous correspondence of the parties concerned to those graces.

Refining our spirit of penance

By Fr. Roy Cimagala Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) Talamban, Cebu City Email: roycimagala@gmail.com WE have to be wary of the conditions nowadays that would tend to desensitize us from our constant need for penance and conversion. This, I believe, is the message Christ wanted to impart to us when he said, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (Lk 10,13) 

 We cannot deny that there now are many elements that would lead us to be self-absorbed and self-centered, to be just concerned about the here and now and forget about the hereafter, to be stuck with the material and temporal and ignore the spiritual and eternal. Even worse, there are now moves toward outright irreligiosity, directly contradicting God’s laws by legalizing immoral actions like abortion, etc. 

 We need to have a drastic revival of our spirit of penance and conversion. Our spirit of penance and conversion is in crisis nowadays because our idea of what is good and evil is now reduced to our personal preferences, or at best to what can be termed as our social, political, cultural or even ideological consensus. 

 In short, we are not anymore referring things to God but to ourselves. This is what is called the post-modern thinking which views “realities as plural and subjective and dependent on the individual’s worldview.” 

 It proclaims that there can be diverse interpretations of truth. It rejects sharp distinctions and global, absolute and universal truths. It sees truth as highly individualistic and subjective, as absolutely bound by culture, time, place and all sorts of conditionings. 

 We need to go back to God by first acknowledging our sinfulness. That we are all sinners and in need of conversion should come as no surprise to us. We just have to be realistic in handling this lifetime predicament of ours, making use of all the means that, thanks to God, have also been made available in abundance. 

 There’s confession, for one, and the Holy Eucharist, spiritual direction, regular examinations of conscience, indulgences, etc. 

 There’s just one interesting thing that, I believe, is worth bringing up at this point in time. And that is that conversion should not just be a matter of a moment, but should rather be a stable state of mind and heart. 

 St. John Paul II’s encyclical, “Dives in misericordia” (Rich in mercy), has some relevant words about this point. “Authentic knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love,” the saintly Pope said, “is a constant and inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act but also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind.” 

 He continues: “Those who come to know God in this way, who ‘see’ Him in this way, can live only in a state of being continually converted to Him. They live, therefore in ‘status conversionis;’ and it is this state of conversion which marks out the most profound element of the pilgrimage of every man and woman on earth in ‘status viatoris.’” (13) 

 It would be good to go slowly on these words if only to feel at home with this wonderful truth of divine mercy as well as our lifetime need for it. Let’s hope and pray that we can manage to conform our attitudes and core beliefs along these lines expressed by St. John Paul.