A lesson of obedience and humility

THAT’S what we can gather from the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Imagine Christ, the very son of God, submitting himself to some ritual when it would have been unnecessary for him. 

 Obviously, the child Jesus could be exempted from this law, and we can suppose that both Mary and Joseph would know this. Still, they proceeded to follow the law, giving us the precious lesson that like them, we should try to behave like any ordinary person, following the just laws and customs of the time and place, and choosing to forgo certain privileges that we may have. That’s humility in action. 

 That’s how we should behave. We may be quite privileged in life because of the many gifts and other endowments God and others may have given us, but we should never feel entitled to anything. Instead, our attitude toward these privileges should be one of willingness to serve more, doing a lot of good while passing unnoticed, and all for the glory of God and for the good of all. 

 It is something worth emulating, since this is a clear expression of humility, an indispensable virtue that would enable us to stick with God and his will and ways. We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. Without this humility, we in the end would separate ourselves from God. 

 Let’s be reminded that whatever privileges, favors and blessings we may enjoy in life are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve God and others, and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. Rather, we should try to follow what Christ himself once said—that we enter by the narrow gate instead of preferring the wide gate and the broad road that can only lead us to our destruction. (cfr. Mt 7,13-14) 

 This is also the example of Christ himself who, as St. Paul noted in one of his epistles, being God emptied himself to become man and went all the way to offering his life for all our sins. (cfr. Phil 2,7) This was also shown when Christ went ahead to pay temple tax when he obviously would have been exempted from it. (cfr. Mt 17,24-27) Seemingly impossible for us to do, we should just try our best to imitate that example, relying on God’s grace and on our all-out effort. 

 The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord also reminds us that we have to give not only the best that we have to God first, but also everything that we have. We have to remember that our life ought to be spent as an offering. It has to be lived as a gift, because it is first of all a gift also from God to us. This is a fundamental attitude to develop toward our life, because absent that, we would have a gravely handicapped understanding of life, prone to all sorts of anomalies. 

 The feast of the Presentation of the Lord can also be considered as another epiphany, another manifestation of Christ as our savior. This time, the manifestation is done not to the three magi anymore, but to two characters, Simeon and Anna. 

 The feast is a good reminder to all of us, Christian believers, that we have a duty to present Christ to everyone as he truly is to us—the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity that has been damaged by sin.

The intriguing message of the Beatitudes

ONCE again, we are presented with the paradoxical teaching of the Beatitudes in the gospel reading of the Mass of the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time. (cfr. Mt 5,1-12) We, of course, wonder how these Beatitudes, which flip conventional wisdom, can be the source of blessedness for us. 

 They obviously are not simply about promoting suffering or hardship, but rather about revealing the true, ultimate and heavenly values that are meant for us. Yes, we can find strength in weakness, joy in sorrow and power in humility if we would try our best to depend wholly on God, rather than simply on our own selves. 

 Without God, all the negative elements in our life will remain negative and harmful to us. But with him as we should, all things work for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) Even all our earthly suffering and death can lead us to our eternal joy and life in heaven. 

 The Beatitudes actually reveal God’s heart and values that should be reflected and lived by us also. They show the path to true happiness and fulfillment. They challenge societal norms and expectations that are based only on worldly and temporal values. In short, the Beatitudes tell us that the world’s way is not the only way. God’s ways are different, and they are the path to true joy and satisfaction. 

 Said another way, the Beatitudes convert what we usually consider as human disasters or clear disadvantages and inconveniences according to worldly standards into a source of joy, a means of our redemption, a path to heaven, narrow and difficult though it may be. 

 They expand our understanding of what would comprise as our true happiness by including those situations which we normally regard as unsavory and therefore to be avoided as much as possible, if not hated. 

 To learn to live the Beatitudes is definitely a lifelong task and journey. We really need to pray and reflect, begging God to tell us where we can grow and become more and more his image and likeness. For this, we need to study and involve ourselves in a lifelong program of Christian formation, monitoring our progress regularly and without let up even if we encounter mistakes and failures along the way. 

 And to be sure, we can live those beatitudes, because Christ himself would give us all the necessary graces. We just have to train ourselves to have the appropriate attitudes, skills and virtues. 

 We have to learn to be patient, which is an integral part of the virtue of fortitude that in the end can only be animated by genuine charity. We have to be ready when we are bombarded with worldly goods that can take us away from God, cool down our piety, and lead us to sin. 

 Or when we cannot help but mourn not only because of the death of someone but also because of some failure we commit or a misery we cannot shake off. Or when we get misunderstood and provoked in our daily exchanges of ideas and opinions with others. Or when we have to rein in our curiosity and raging hormones to keep our heart pure and in its proper orientation toward God. 

 Let’s always remember the beatitudes, and continually ask for the grace to believe and live them to the hilt. Christ’s promises cannot be frustrated. We have to strengthen our faith in his word. And start to live calmly, oozing with confidence and focused on what really matters in life! 

 The beatitudes should always be in our mind, heart and lips!

Enough with one-upmanship!

IT’S actually a very shameless thing to do. But it’s just amazing that many of us resort to this clearly anomalous thing to push our particular view and opinion, especially in the field of politics. As defined, one-upmanship is when someone tries to outdo or one-up others, often by boasting or showing off their achievements, skills or possessions. It can be playful, but it can also come across as annoying, destructive and harmful if taken too far. And this is especially so with regard to politically partisan one-upmanship that is common nowadays. This can take place when there is some kind of competitive posturing. That is when politicians and their supporters try to appear more committed or passionate about their party’s cause. Apart from that, this politically partisan one-upmanship takes place when some outrageous claims are made, that is, when exaggerated or unsubstantiated statements are made to gain attention or support. It is also done through virtue signaling, that is, when one’s own moral superiority or commitment to a particular cause is publicly displayed. This usually goes together with bashing anyone or any party with a different or opposing position if only to appear stronger or more favorable. With this shameless politically partisan one-upmanship, we can only expect polarization and division among the people that can only lead to lack of constructive dialogue and compromise. Its only purpose is to win rather than solving concrete problems and resolving specific issues. The approach is always competitive and aggressive. Obviously, to counter this politically partisan one-upmanship, a thoughtful approach is needed. This can mean that we should be focused on issues, rather than on ego, emphasizing the issue at hand, rather than getting drawn into competitive posturing. It would be better if we would just ask questions rather than to quickly accuse those with different or conflicting opinions. Yes, critical thinking by asking questions so as to clarify positions or challenge assumptions should be encouraged, and done always in a courteous manner. More than anything else, everyone should try to seek common ground, knowing that despite differences and conflicts in opinions, we can always share something in common. We should rather highlight shared values or goals so as to build bridges and foster collaboration among the different parties involved. Also, we should not shy away from calling out in a polite way a questionable performative behavior of a person or party. Everyone should be reminded to focus the exchanges on substance rather than on virtue signaling and gaslighting. We should try to come up with respectful dialogue among the different groups, showing that this constructive conversation is possible by listening actively and responding thoughtfully. We need to clean up the field of public opinion, injecting with the spirit proper to our dignity as persons and brothers and sisters who have to care for one another despite our differences and conflicts. Let’s always remember that our freedom of speech and expression can never do away with the requirements of charity. Even in the bitterest of our conflicts, we should always be charitable, ready to understand the others, to ask for pardon if we commit some mistake and to forgive when others commit them, etc. We cannot deny that in matters of opinion we will always have differences and conflicts. We just have to learn how to be civil in arguing our points and in sorting out the differences. We have to learn this art, now so relevant and urgent given the growing complexity of our times.