How our attitude toward suffering should be

IT should be clear in our mind that our attitude toward the unavoidable suffering we are going to have in this life should be inspired by our Christian faith. We should never treat it from a purely human point of view, guided only by our instincts, feelings and even by our sophisticated human estimation of things. We would never understand the value of suffering that way. 

In the gospel of Thursday after Ash Wednesday, (cfr. Lk 9,22-25) we are clearly told by Christ that if we want to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. In other words, when we suffer in any form, we should avoid suffering by ourselves only. We have to suffer always with Christ. Only then can our suffering acquire some meaning and great value. 

We have to remind everyone that when we suffer, we should see to it that we avoid suffering by our own lonesome. That would make our suffering, whatever may be its cause, whether it is self-inflicted or caused by others, a useless and purely negative event. 

Truth is our suffering can have tremendous meaning and positive effect on us if we go through it always with Christ. If we go by our Christian faith, we are sure that Christ is ever willing to suffer for us and with us, and to convert our suffering into the very means of our salvation, in fact. 

There is no human suffering that Christ is not willing to make also as his own. And he does it because he loves us, he wants to save us, he wants to bring us back to him. Let’s remember that his love is first of all gratuitous. He loves us first before we can learn to love him in return. 

Christ loves us even if, according to our human standards, we do not deserve to be loved. Let’s never forget that because of this love, he, being God, emptied himself to become man, and still went further by assuming all our sins by going through his passion and death on the cross and by his resurrection. 

 It is in the nature of love, as revealed and lived fully by Christ, that the lover identifies himself with the beloved, and leads his beloved to the highest good. That’s what Christ precisely did for us and continues to do. He adapted himself to us in all the possibilities of our human condition to lead us to himself, our highest good since he is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

What St. Paul said about being “all things to all men” (cfr. 1 Cor 9,22) can first be applied to Christ. Christ went all the way to become like sin, even if he did not commit sin, if only to save us. (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21) He was not averse to any kind of suffering caused by our sin. In fact, he embraced the cross to assume all the suffering that we can have in this life. 

 All these truths of our faith should reassure us and fill us with peace, hope and joy. We have to continually process these truths so that they can really enter deep in our consciousness and become the very germ of our attitude toward any kind of suffering we may encounter in life.

Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season

THANK God, for a good number of reasons, Ash Wednesday is celebrated in our country in a very popular way. Even if it exudes a dire, gloomy air, what with all the liturgical protocols on fasting, abstinence and other forms of self-denial, it continues to enjoy a large following among us. Even those who are not very faithful in their Sunday obligation would exert the effort to have their foreheads marked with ash on that day. 

Obviously, we should continue to clarify the true significance of this day. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent which is meant to prepare us for the culmination of Christ’s redemptive mission that is liturgically celebrated in Easter. It somehow encourages us to have another renewal of our baptismal commitments or to have another conversion. 

In the gospel of that day, we are reminded of having purity of intention in all our deeds. We have to understand that the intention plays a very crucial role in our life. That’s where we choose where we want to be—with God or with ourselves, to truly love God and neighbor or to indulge in self-love. 

With our intention, we can direct our acts to God, following what was once indicated by St. Paul, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) That’s how our acts become good, or moral. Otherwise, they are bad, or at least dangerous. 

This is so, since God, being the Creator, is the standard for everything. And more than the standard, he is, in fact, the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself. 

 Nothing is good, true and beautiful, nothing is fair and just, nothing is perfect if it is not done with God and for God. In short, we need to refer all our acts to God. We have to make this affirmation very clear in our mind and do everything to make that ideal a reality. 

 We need to realize then that we have to take utmost care of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God. 

We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it, since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge. We are urged to be most sincere in directing our intentions properly. 

We can easily fall into hypocrisy and deception, doing what can appear good externally but is not internally, since we could refuse giving glory to God, which is the proper intention to have, and instead feed and stir our vanity, pride, greed, lust, etc. 

 We need to actively purify our intentions, since we have to contend with many spoilers in this regard these days. In fact, we just have to look around and see how openly opposed many people are of directing their intentions to God. 

To them, intentions are strictly personal and confidential matters that others do not have any right to meddle. While there is a certain truth to this claim, we have to remind ourselves that our intentions too are subject to a moral law. 

 That is why we have to pay serious attention to where our intention tilts, to who or what actually holds our heart, for it is the heart, the home of our intention, where we determine the morality of our acts and ultimately where we find our true identity.

The theological mind

LET’S see to it that our thinking and reasoning is always guided by our Christian faith, hope and charity, and not just by what we see and understand, no matter how high our IQ is or how much data and facts we have in possession. 

This is what may be called as theological reasoning. It is allowing the spirit of Christ to enlighten our thoughts and reactions to things. After all, if we are the image and likeness of God, we have to see, think, react the way Christ would, he who is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity. 

As we have been repeating already a number of times, our life should always be a life with God, with Christ, if we want to be consistent with our Christian identity. Otherwise, we would just be Christian in name, but not in fact and in truth. 

 This point about the need to develop a theological mind may have been illustrated in that gospel episode where Peter was overwhelmed with what Christ said about how much easier it is for a camel to enter the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. “We have given up everything and followed you,” he said. (cfr. Mk 10,28-31) 

 Peter and the rest of the apostles obviously were at a loss as to how to understand what Christ said. If they did not trust Christ, if they did not have faith in him, then obviously they would already have left him long time ago. But they struggled to develop their faith. 

When we have a theological mind, we would realize that we are not supposed to understand everything. We simply follow what Christ would tell us through the many ways he communicates with us. We follow what Christ would tell us because we believe he is the God who became man to save us, and he can never deceive us nor can be he deceived. 

When we have a theological mind, we would know that we are living in a world of the spiritual and the supernatural where mysteries and things difficult to understand prevail. We should just learn to live with that condition. 

 When we have a theological mind, like Christ who is “the way, the truth and the life” for us, we would know how to be humble and patient, especially when we are confronted with difficulties and contradictions in life. 

When we have a theological mind, we would always consider first the truths of our faith that would assure us of the resources for hope and charity during our predicaments. Our reactions and behavior would not simply be human and natural, guided only by our instincts, emotions and natural rationality. 

When we have a theological mind, we would know the value of suffering and the many difficulties in life. We would know that everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) Regardless of the varying situation in our life, whether it’s good or bad, we would be consistent in having our feet firmly grounded on earth while our mind soars to heaven. 

In the end, when we have a theological mind, we would partake of the wisdom of God who knows what to do in any situation. We should do everything to develop a theological mind, always studying and meditating on the life of Christ and developing the virtues.