Strengthening our faith in the eternal life

DAYS after the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, the liturgical prayers somehow lead us to the consideration of the truth of our faith that there is such thing as eternal life. That’s actually our definitive life toward which our earthly life should pursue with our all-out effort and God’s grace. That’s where we achieve our human perfection when we would fully become God’s image and likeness as he wants us to be. 

 We, of course, need to strengthen our faith in it and do everything we can to align all our earthly realities to such ideal. We have to be wary of our tendency, quite strong as it is, to get trapped in the earthly and temporal dimensions of our life, failing to relate them to the ultimate goal of our life. 

 We have to realize that precisely because we have been created as God’s image and likeness, our nature has been endowed with the spiritual powers of intelligence and will. With these powers, we have been given the choice between going up—that is, to choose God—and going down—that is, to choose simply to be by ourselves. 

 But we need to understand that our human nature is poised to enter into the spiritual and supernatural life of God. Failing in that would only mean that our human nature cannot help but fall into an infranatural level, marked by all kinds of weaknesses and sin. In short, there is no such thing as human nature by itself. It either has to go supernatural with God, or to go infranatural like all other animals. 

 In other words, our human nature is actually a work in progress in its earthly and temporal phase. It’s not yet a finished product. Our creation by God is still an ongoing affair, one that requires our cooperation. That’s because God wants us to be like him, intelligent and free, and he just cannot impose his will and designs on us without us knowing and agreeing to it. In a sense, we are co-creators with God of our own selves. 

 It’s important that we have an abiding sense of the supernatural goal of our life and of the eternal life that is presented to us as our definitive life. To develop that sense, of course, requires faith which is first of all a gift from God which we should eagerly receive. 

 Christ articulated what eternal life is and how it can be pursued when he said: “Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (Jn 17,3) 

 Of course, knowing God and Jesus Christ will always involve loving God and Jesus Christ, doing God’s will or God’s commandments. Thus, Christ said it very clearly, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14,15) 

 This means that our will should be nothing other than God’s will. This, in the end, is what is most important to us. It’s not just following our will which is, of course, indispensable to us. Otherwise, we would be undermining our very own freedom and our humanity itself. Whatever we do is done because we want it. It should be a fruit of our freedom. 

 But what is most important is to conform our will to God’s will, which is even more indispensable to us. Otherwise, we sooner or later would destroy our freedom and our humanity itself, since God is the very author and the very lawgiver of our freedom and our humanity. 

 This is how we can develop a sense of the eternal life meant for us!

The priest as agent of unity

THIS is the ideal condition for clerics to be in, when controversial issues, especially in the area of politics, are involved. Though they can have their own views and opinions, they should see to it that instead of insisting on their own views and even on their beliefs, they should listen to all parties and try, in a charitable way, to sort things out. Everyone always has a valid point to make even if at the end they can be wrong. 

 Let’s remember that no error or anything evil can stand on its own. It always has to stand on something true and good that may not be fully appreciated or understood. Everyone should be made to realize that no one has the monopoly of what is true and good. We should try our best not to project ourselves as having that monopoly. Otherwise, we would only cause division among ourselves. 

 Let’s hope that we can persuade our politicians to go slow on their views and positions regarding certain issues. They should always be open to having courteous dialogues with the different parties involved. 

 Only God has that monopoly since he is the author of all that is real. And if we study how he handles that monopoly, as shown to us by Christ, who is the fullness of God’s revelation to us, we would know that while he was clear about what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, he was open to all kinds of views and beliefs even as he made clarifications and corrections, sometimes quite strongly, but in the end always with mercy. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to have some kind of exclusivistic or monopolistic mentality, which is part of our wounded human condition. This is due mainly to our tendency to use merely human or worldly standards, instead of the sense of unity that comes from God and is what is truly proper to us, children of God as we are. 

 We also tend to stereotype people, to box them in, practically straitjacketing a person as if that person cannot change for the better. We seldom give others second chances. We end up being stricter than God who always blends his strictness with mercy. 

 Priests should promote the culture of respectful dialogue in the world of politics. That is truly how they can humanize and Christianize politics, rather than allowing it go to the dogs where all sorts of uncharitable and unfair means are used just to hold on to some political power. 

 Here a lot prudence and discretion are needed. It’s indeed a tall order that should not be used as an excuse to completely be indifferent to the goings-on in the political world. And priests should realize that this is part of their pastoral duty toward the faithful. 

 It’s about time to apply the brakes on the free-fall toward utter chaos that our politics in general, here and abroad, is clearly heading. We should avoid at all costs any temptation of bullying just to make our point. 

 Truth is, politics has to be humanized and Christianized through charity. It just cannot be left alone, fully at the mercy of our passions, brute force and worldly elements. It too can and should be a way to our sanctification. 

 Politics ought to be pursued always in charity. It cannot be any other way, since charity is the mother of all virtues and good values. If we want justice, truth and fairness, charity has them all. If we want competence, order, discipline, etc., again charity has them. If we want objectivity, charity has it. Charity covers all our needs.

Our Lord’s Ascension and our human perfection

WHAT implications can we gather from the consideration of Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven? Quite a number actually. One is that Christ, who is the pattern of our humanity, finally shows us that where he came from and where he is going now are also where our origin and final destination are. 

 Yes, we came from heaven, since all of us came from God and not just from our parents. And we are supposed to return there where our final home is. As the Letter to the Hebrews would put it: “We don’t have a permanent city here on earth, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future.” (13,14) 

 Thus, Christ himself said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may also be.” (Jn 14,3) 

 Our life here on earth is some kind of a pilgrimage toward our final destination. It can also be regarded as some kind of test God is giving us, to see if what he wants us to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, sharers of his life and nature—is also what we ourselves would want to be. 

 And the way to pass that test is precisely to follow Christ who clearly said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14,6-7) 

 Our Lord’s Ascension should actually inspire us to think about our human perfection when we finally would be fully identified with God. That is why it is good that from time to time we meditate on this ultimate goal that we are supposed to pursue in this life and train ourselves how we can relate everything in our life, with its ups and downs, to this goal. 

 For this, it would be good that we realize that the ideal condition of our life is when we will always have God in our mind and heart. We should convince ourselves that we are meant to be with him always, because without him we simply would open ourselves to our own weaknesses and woundedness, not to the mention, the many temptations around. 

 We truly need to live in God’s presence since in the first place our life is supposed to be a life with God. We are meant for it. We are actually equipped and enabled for it also. And obviously there is an objective basis for this. 

 God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. This is how one of the psalms describes this reality: “Whither shall I go from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (139,7-10) 

 Christian theology explains this truth by teaching us that God is present everywhere, that is, in all things and in all persons, by the mere fact of their existence, since God is the giver and maintainer of the existence of everything and of everyone. 

 More than that, God’s presence is not merely passive but active. He is always intervening in the existence of all the creatures, ever applying his wisdom through the ceaseless providence that he exercises over all his creation whose nature he always respects, upholds and defends. 

 This is how we would be approaching our human perfection in heaven.