The mysterious ways of God

THE story of how St. Andrew discovered his vocation as one of the apostles gives us an interesting insight into the mysterious ways of God. (cfr. Jn 1,35-42) As narrated in the gospel, he was just curious about where Christ was staying, and not only did he end up becoming an apostle, he managed to draw his own brother, St. Peter, to be one also. 

 Things like this can happen in life. What may appear at first as something insignificant and casual may end up as something extraordinary and very special. It can even happen that what may appear first to be something against the things of God can provoke an instant conversion, just like the case of St. Paul who in the middle of his campaign against the early Christians heard the voice of Christ that led to his conversion. 

 The providence of God, the ways of God, can certainly work beyond what we can imagine and expect. It can adapt itself to the ways of men and can take advantage of whatever human condition and circumstance there is to execute his divine designs for us. As is said, God can write straight with crooked lines. 

 There have been many stories of unlikely characters who became saints or at least made significant transformations for the better in their lives. That was the case of St. Augustine, for example. 

 Of course, there also have been unfortunate stories of men and women who started well but ended badly. This only shows that in our relationship with God, there is always the interplay of God’s grace and our freedom. It’s in how we use our freedom that would determine whether things would go north or south. 

 What we should draw from this observation is that every event, condition and circumstance of our life, whether considered humanly good or bad, can be a pathway to God if we only know how to deal with these situations properly, as shown to us by Christ himself. 

 Yes, Christ has shown us how to deal with any situation, whether we are at the peak of human glory and success, or at the abyss of the worst human misery imaginable. That is why we can never overemphasize the need for us to know and follow Christ who himself said that he is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. 

 Making Christ the center of our life, making him alive in our life through our prayer, studying his life and words, and having recourse to the sacraments, etc., should be the main concern that we should have. After all, he is the one who will enable us to make any situation in our life as a way to heaven, a means to achieve our sanctification which is the fullness and perfection of our humanity. 

 That is also something that we have to be more aware of. The fullness and perfection of our humanity is when we truly become God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature, as he wants us to be. This truth of faith may sound too incredible to us, but that is just how it is. 

 Let’s remember that we are not meant to understand everything about God and ourselves. What we are meant is to be guided by faith, hope and charity more than anything else.

The one who takes away the sins of the world

IT was St. John the Baptist who pointed to Christ as the one who takes away the sins of the world. “Behold, the Lamb of God,” he said, “who takes away the sins of the world.” (Jn 1,29) 

 It’s interesting to note that Christ is referred to as the “Lamb of God,” somehow telling us that for Christ to take away our sins, he has to be sacrificed, just like what a sacrificial lamb is supposed to undergo. 

 This is what happens when we ask forgiveness for our sins. We are sure of forgiveness because the sacrificial lamb, Christ himself, has already been offered. The ransom for our sins has already been paid by Christ. 

 As a consequence, there is no need to overdramatize our guilt because of our sins. We are sure of forgiveness. And so, we should just be quick to ask for it every time we fall into sin. 

 We may have to do some atonement and reparation for whatever damage our sins may cause. We may still have to take care of the requirements of justice with respect to the effects of our sins, but we should feel light and at peace because forgiveness is readily available. 

 In the meantime, we should ask for more grace and proceed to do a lot of good which is proper to us. We, first of all, should carry out whatever duties and responsibilities we have. Even more than that—we should do many works of mercy, both material and spiritual, because that is most pleasing to God and helpful to others. 

 In that way, we also would put ourselves in a better condition to be protected and resistant to our personal weaknesses and the many temptations that continue to hound us. When we occupy ourselves by doing a lot of good, the devil and the other sources of temptations would find it hard to enter into our mind. 

 Besides, we know that whatever good we do would not only leave a good effect on ourselves. It will do a lot of good also to many others. We should try to bear this in mind so that before we choose to stick to what is good or to allow ourselves to fall into some evil, we know that whatever we do would always have an effect on others, no matter how private and isolated our deeds may be. 

 This is because, whether we are aware of it or not, we actually form one body or one communion among ourselves. This is what happens when we believe in Christ, for as St. Paul said, “In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Rom 12,5) 

 Again, in his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul said, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (12,26) So, we should just try our best to do a lot of good because it will have good effects on the others and can help others who may have all sorts of needs. 

 The important thing is to refer everything that we do to Christ. He is the one who not only forgives all our sins but also makes possible the effects of being in communion among ourselves, of being one body, for whatever we do in our life.

Always purify our intentions

PURIFYING or rectifying our intentions should be a constant concern of ours. That’s simply because our intentions play a crucial part in the moral quality of our actions and of our whole life in general. Our intentions determine whether we are with God, as we should, or we prefer to be by our own selves. 

 We are reminded of this concern in that gospel episode where St. John the Baptist, considering what he was doing then, was asked who he was. (cfr. Jn 1,19-28) “I am not the Christ,” he said. And neither was he one of the prophets. 

 He simply said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” He was clear about who he was and the intention of his mission. 

 We cannot overemphasize the importance of having the right intention. We have to do our best to see to it that we always have purity of intention in everything that we do, so that we only love and serve God, and because of that, we can properly love and serve everybody else. 

 We need to realize then that we have to take 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. 

 Right now, we can say that hardly is this concern given due attention. People seem to be simply pursuing their own personal intentions, practically doing self-indulgence. We need to correct this anomaly. 

 When our intentions are not pure, when they are contaminated with some ulterior motives, there is no way but for us to fall into some form of inconsistencies and improper priorities. 

 We should be very careful with our intentions. Since they are hidden, we can easily play around with them. We can appear good outside but bad inside. Our deeds may be considered as acts of generosity and compassion, but the intentions may be those of envy, conceit and the like. 

 In determining the morality of our human acts, the intention plays a very crucial role. Together with the matter or object, and the circumstances surrounding our acts, our intention can referee whether they are good or bad. 

 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. 

 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 laid down by God himself for us!