Moral Certitude Vs. Moral authority

Pope Francis washing feet

          Today I was speaking to my friend about the new pope Francis, and it brought back to me an observation that I have been thinking about writing on for a while. That is the difference between having moral certitude and having moral authority.  Moral certitude is something that the Catholic Church has enjoyed since like Jesus promised in Matt 18: "the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church". This means that on matters of morality, the Holy Spirit does not let the Church err on its teachings.  This is comforting given the infiltrations of moral relativism that have taken modern society by the storm.  Now when it comes to moral authority, I think the church today have lost its appeal or authority when it comes to morality given the scandals that it has endured from its own. The scandal from some priests, that of politicians who don't honor God's word in their governing or even our individual personal scandal that we cause when we don't live according to the Gospel as Christians have cost us the moral authority that we should have so as to leaven the bread of society.
   If we look at the life of Jesus, we see a great combination of both moral certitude and moral authority.  Jesus taught the truth from a position of authority because his entire life was a model of truth. Now I know that we might argue it was because he was God; and its true, but down throughout Christian history, we see that the people who have won people's hearts to the truth lived holy lives that demanded being heard.  Even in recent times, someone like Mother Theresa of Culcutta although backed by moral certitude of the Church's teaching had great moral authority since she lived the gospel in an authentic manner.  An atheist who had studied the scriptures for 20 yrs and interacted with many Christians had remained unconvinced about Christianity, but spending a few hours even minutes with Mother Theresa led to his conversion.  When he was asked how comes, he said that through out that time of his study, he didn't think Christianity was anything more than a noble ideal, but spending time with Mother Theresa, he saw those teachings portrayed in a manner that he couldn't argue with.  The life of charity that Mother Theresa lived demanded that she be heard when she spoke about truth since her life gave testimony to her words.  This is what moral authority looks like. The same can be said of others like Blessed Pope John Paul II and many others.
    Now going back to Pope Francis, I think he has introduced a new vision for the Church that will however slow start to give it back moral authority.  By inviting people to care for each other and creation, urging us to care especially for the poor and weak of our society and to live an authentic Christian life will help us to start shining in a manner that is undeniable about the Gospel we preach.  If we preach the truth and yet ourselves do not live it, we come out only as using it as a sword of judgment instead of the saving grace that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus said that we shall "be known by our love" and that is the invitation that our new pope is calling us to.  G.K. Chesterton once when asked if there was any argument against Christianity said that "the only argument against Christianity he could find was Christians." Meaning that the Christian message was without blemish but the people delude it by their bad example.  If we practice charity liberally, our message on morality becomes relevant, and we can win the hearts of people towards truth.  Finally we can weave the moral certitude that the Holy Spirit promises with a moral authority that demands following, and take Our Lord from the Cross that we have once again nailed him with our sins.  May God see us into this new phase of history where evil is rampant and relativism on the rise, but also where grace abides all the more. 
Lord Jesus, may your love penetrate the darkness of our hearts and bring us to the light.

Eve and the serpent: The modern day deception of abortion

  

"God knows well that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) This is the classical lie that the serpent used thousands of years ago to deceive the woman in the garden of eden leading up to the fall of man from grace.
   Today as I reflect on the modern state of our society, I see how we are still falling for the same lies from the ol' serpent.  I however wish to concentrate more on the issue of life especially today as we combat the rampant sin of abortion. From the events of the garden of eden, we see that the devil first cast doubt in the woman's mind about the goodness of God and whether truly obeying him was for her good. When the woman entertained these thoughts, the devil finally was able to convince her that by eating the fruit and disobeying God, she would become like god and determine what is right and wrong living on her own terms. Most of us know that the story ends with the woman consenting, leading her husband to sin and both end up falling from grace and separating themselves from God by spiritual death.  Fast forward to 2013. It saddens me to see how the devil has been able to conjure a modern deception that is not too far from the one in the garden.
      Let me explain.  Since 1973, and that is in the United States alone, over 55 million babies have been aborted under the guise of choice. The abortion proponents claim that it is the Woman's choice to kill her unborn baby.  For us Christians at the very least, we know that the gift of life and its taking thereof falls under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign God alone.  However, many today have usurped this role of God and accorded themselves the masters and mistresses of life.  Once more, man in search of autonommy have succeded to fall into the devil's deception.  In our world today, abortion has been engraved as a constituional women's right.  The selfish act of choosing our "hapiness" leads to the death of many unborn children under the protection of law.  Any reasonable person knows that abortion is killing, yet we continue to make all kinds of excuses just like our first parents did in the garden of eden.  Yes the devil is deceiving the modern day Eve by telling her that she will be happy and free if only she aborts, and the modern day Adam is still missing in action or is intimidated to stand up to the lie. But is there hope for man.
    Obviously the story of man did not end with his fall.  God in his goodness sent his only beggoten Son to save man from his sins.  This is the only answer to our ailments today.  If you ask anyone who has ever had an abortion, if they are honest, they would tell you that although they must have felt secure under the lie that it was nothing before the fact, once they went ahead with the abortion they knew it was wrong immediately just like Adama and Eve knew they had done what was wrong immediately after eating the fruit.  It is also true that just like Adam and Eve hid from God in shame, many who have had abortions or are advocates of it continue to hide from God.  However, God continues to call us to come back to Him and if we expose ourselves and seek his forgiveness, He is merciful and will heal us.  This must be the message for us today.  For those who have been deceived,  you should not hide from God, He is ready and willing to forgive you and you must approach him.  We should continually reflect on the fact that God is bigger than all our sins and He can forgive all of our sins, we however must seek the truth.  It fills me with sorrow to see how many even Christians don't see abortion for what it is and try to justify it as a choice.  It is our duty to tell the truth and not stand watching but to pray pray pray that the truth will prevail and then work work and work some more to eradicate the lie that so many of our brothers and sisters have fallen into. 

Prayer
  Oh Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us and bless those who are under the burden of the sin of abortion.  Help them to seek your forgiveness and be reconciled to you.  Also help those who are lukewarm that the fire of charity may enkindle their hearts anew for the protection of all life.  Finally Lord, give light to all those who themselves being deceived continue to deceive others.  Amen
    

The paradox of suffering

     Why do bad things happen to good people? I am sure this is the universal question that has crossed the minds of many.  I wish to examine this question and hopefully shed some light on it; not that I am an expert and will succeed in putting this question to rest, but rather will just give my humble examinations and experiences with the hope that we can start viewing suffering in a different light.  
   Before we go any deeper, it is inherent that we examine the fundamental issues surrounding suffering.  From the initial question of "why do bad things happen to good people," we see the innate nature of our perception of who should suffer.  Asking ourselves that question presupposes that suffering should be a result of not being good, and hence our conclusion that suffering should happen to bad people and not to good people. It is almost a universal feeling that suffering should be exclusively tied to justice. This is the reason why most people don't have a problem seeing a murderer or a thief suffering since they look at it as a form of justice, but the suffering of an infant or an innocent person remains a mystery for most people, and brings them to that initial question of why innocent people should suffer.  It is from these two perspectives that I wish to make my approach. First, the suffering that is tied to justice directly and suffering that superceeds justice.
     Since I am a Christian, I will approach suffering from a Christian perspective and not only that, but also because it is the only approach that makes sense.  If we go back to the book of Genesis, we see how our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of eden, and as a result sin entered the world. This sin which has been classified by Christian theologians as "the original sin,"  became the root and cause of every suffering that humanity has fallen under.  By choosing themselves and wanting to determine their own destiny apart from God, Adam and Eve steered creation from that awe inspiring reality of complete happiness they were living. But this is only the beginning of our understanding.
      The first approach therefore of suffering is the one that can be explained by sin.  Sin brings about suffering in all its forms whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual suffering.  When we sin, we cause the suffering of ourselves or even others, and given the tight knit fabric of humanity, every sin committed affects the entire human family, and therefore we can't tie our suffering only to our sins but all the sins in general. After the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we see the immediate effects of sin which is death beginning to take effect and has continued since. In the modern world, there is so much suffering that it is easy to be plunged into despair. From the wars, incurable diseases like Cancer and AIDS, to emotional suffering that is caused by broken relationships and failed dreams, the list is endless. While understanding the root of suffering as being tied to sin and human rebellion against God, it would be an injustice on my part to leave it there and not explore the mystery of suffering and discuss its final conclusion.
     To do this, we have to look at the other side of suffering which is the one that is not directly tied to justice like the suffering of Christ who was completely innocent and devoid of any stain of sin.  Why would Jesus who is the Son of God go through so much suffering? Indeed, it is only through looking at suffering through the suffering of Christ that can help us make sense of the question "why do good people suffer?" The simple answer to why Jesus suffered even unto death on the cross is for the remission of our sins.  We actually hear that "He became sin, him who knew no sin."  God in His Justice could have completely destroyed man and wiped him out of creation after his fall, but the Eternal mercy of God while demanding justice saw it fit to make a path for man's return to Him.  This is accomplished by the sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus who suffered for the sake of mankind, satisfying the demands of Divine justice for all who would believe in Him. This type of suffering is redeeming suffering and we can participate in this redemptive suffering also with our Lord like St. Paul put it "by out suffering, we complete what is lacking in the suffering of Christ."  This doesn't mean his suffering was missing anything, it just means He admits us into his redemptive work when we abandon ourselves to him and since we are "the body of Christ" as believers.  Now having looked at these two types of suffering, how can we better deal with the question of suffering.
   One thing we can be sure of in this life is that we will suffer. The fact that we live in a world that is under the influence of sin brings with it the consequence of sin which is suffering and its completion which is death.  That is not the end of the story however.  By the suffering of Christ and His redemptive work, we have the hope of coming to the share of His kingdom where in Rev 21:4, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."  We know how the story ends and we can therefore have the joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of that promise.  But how does this help us deal with the gruesome reality of suffering at the moment?
   For me, understanding the root of suffering helped me snap out of the delusion of those who ask; "how could a good God allow so much suffering."  This question assumes that it is God's will that we should suffer. The opposite is just the truth.  suffering is a consequence of our sin and this is where most of our suffering comes from. I have found in my life that suffering makes me reflective of my life and it would be an injustice if God allowed man to continue enjoying all good things after he disobeyed him.  Suffering  often reminds me of my loss and especially my loss of God's friendship through my sinfulness.  Is it any wonder that most of us call upon God when we suffer and ignore him mostly when we are content in our temporal wellness. Not at all.  Therefore, suffering can be taken as a grace that reminds us of our loss.  The second kind of suffering which is redemptive suffering is however the one that could add the most meaning to our lives. If we understood that the Innocent Man took upon suffering to redeem us, we who are not innocent would accept our suffering, offer it up to him and allow him to transform us.  The suffering of Christ through his crucifixion helps us understand that God always brings good our of even the most grieveous evils.  When asking ourselves "how come good people should suffer?" we should reflect on the fact that the only one who was not only good but perfect and the standard of goodness itself suffered for our sake. Before we despair, we should look at how God transformed the evil committed to His Son on the cross (and there is none greater) and made it the source of eternal life for all who would believe in Him. So When we suffer and even when we do so innocently, we should be hopeful that God will bring the greatest good out of it. At the end of times, the suffering will be infinitely pale compared to the glory that comes from it.  Finally, we should rest assured that by the resurrection of Christ, "death has been swallowed up in victory" and that is our sure destiny where no suffering, not even death will have power over us, and only happiness, peace and joy will be our possession.

On Prayer

     This past Tuesday evening, about 10 of my friends got together and had a bible study focused on prayer. Now I know what you are thinking; we met at a central location and opened our bibles like a normal bible study? Not this group! It ended a little before midnight, and everyone could jump into their beds if not already on them since we did it on a Video conference through skype, each one at the comfort of their home.  Seeing this, I know Sts. Peter and Paul are probably asking the Lord in Heaven why they couldn't have lived in a time with that kind of technology for they could have reached millions with the Gospel? Well atleast, I am sure St. Peter might ask that.  Beside the details sorrounding this bible study, my purpose is to explore this topic of prayer for since then, I have been in 3 more meetings and the focus was prayer which tells me maybe the Lord want me to share my humble reflections on it. Lets take the journey together.
     Like any journey, you must have a map and a destination. Having this in mind, I wish for us to accomplish 3 goals on prayer; The What, The Why, and The How of prayer.
Why?
   I have decided to start with this question since if we don't know why we should do something, we will do it half heartedly or not at all. Another reason is to make sure that I don't waste your time, for after this, if you can't answer that question, it serves you no purpose to read any further.
   My memory is still vivid when about 5 years ago, I sat with my newly found spiritual director, a Benedictine monk who had been recommended to me by a priest as a suitable spiritual guide.  I was in a place in my spiritual journey where my faith had been revived with great vigor and I was seeking direction on how to recognize, listen and do God's will, whom I was seeking to please above all. I was narrating my dissapointments, my aspirations and even my desparations, seeking great advice from someone I sensed to be very wise in spiritual matters. After my narration, I waited patiently to hear the words that would change my life. Well to say the least, I was dissapointed when after hesitating for about a minute, instead of giving me advice, he just asked me a question; how is your prayer life? After answering, he went ahead to explain to me how everything good I seeked could only be found in God, and prayer is the intangible access to Him.  Five years later, I am still contemplating and unpacking the truths confined in that simple statement.  This was confirmed  by the Master himself (Jesus) in the Gospel of St.Matthew 7:7 when he told his followers, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  If you ask me why we should pray, I would say that if you seek anything that is good, you not only should pray, you must pray for God is the source and summit of all that is good, and He has promised that whatever we ask in the name of His Son, he would give it to us. 
       Well is it as simple as that? the answer is Yes, but let me let you in on something further I have learned.  In the book of Psalms, we see King David complaining to God that those who were neither seeeking nor loving Him seemed to be enjoying great proseperity.  I have asked this question myself on why those who seem not to pray still enjoy good things.  Simply put, God in His generosity has seen it fit to "let the rain fall on the good and evil as well," but like we hear in the book of James 4:3, "you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."  With this in mind, I have realised that the separation of generosity of God's gift comes when we know what to ask for. One thing for sure, God will never give us holiness without us asking for it. Sure He will grant us the grace to know to aspire for it and seek it for if He doesn't give us that, we won't be able to even take the first step, but to move forward and persevere, He will not grant to those who do not seek. With this in mind, we should therefore ask The Father to grant us the grace to become what our Lord commanded us to be; "Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect." (Matthew 5:48).  For those ambitious type in the spiritual matters, this should be the greatest reason to pray: to become Holy, for as St. Paul tells us to strive for "holiness without which no one will see the Lord," (Hebrews 12:14) and which without prayer is simply impossible. You will never meet a saint who didn't pray. 
      I can write a thousand pages on why we should pray, but from this, any person of reason should be convinced of the neccesity of prayer. This is only a start, but let us move forward to our next question

   What?
   During our bible study, this question of what prayer is was brought up and the various answers that were given all seemed to have a common denominator of "it is communication with God." Indeed, prayer in the simplest of terms is a conversation with God.  A more official defination according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church is that"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."  (CCC 2559)
   We see two ways that prayer is expressed throughout salvation history.  The two arms of prayer are public prayer and private prayers, since "there are two sides to our nature, the individual as well as the social". Public prayer simply put is the prayer we pray collectively as the body of Christ.  This could be during the Liturgy where the one sacrifice of the Son of God and the prayers of his bride the Church are raised to the Eternal Father. It could also include any prayers offered to God with another as Jesus said "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) .  Private prayers would then include those prayers which we pray alone in following the words of the Master that  "when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you" (Matthew 6:6) 
    I wish to explore private prayers since many of us can go to Church on Sundays, but it's in the daily prayers where we find ourselves struggling the most and without which, the Sunday Worship "would degenrate into empty ceremony" (Frank Duff).
In this context, we find the 3 expressions of prayer; Vocal prayer, Meditation and Contemplation
2722 Vocal prayer, founded on the union of body and soul in human nature, associates the body with the interior prayer of the heart, following Christ's example of praying to his Father and teaching the Our Father to his disciples. 2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life. 2724 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.
    These three expressions of prayer as explained in the catechism goes to explain and summarize what prayer is by exploring how we enter into that presence of God either using vocal prayer, meditation or finally when God draws us to himself through contemplation. 
   Without further ado, let us move on since we can spend an eternity talking about what prayer is and looking at all the different ways and types of prayer.

How?
  This is the simplest of the questions and one that I will go over quickly. If you ask me how you ought to pray, I would give you the advice of the apostle Paul "pray without ceasing." That is how we ought to pray. But I know that it is not that simple so let us explore further.  When the Lord was asked that question directly, he gave us that great prayer of "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9) Indeed, this is one of the most efficacious of all Christian prayers, and in it contains all the qualities of what prayer should be. From the Praise and acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, to the petition, there lies the great wisdom of God himself on how we ought to pray.  Whether it's formal prayers like "the Our Father" or the rosary which is a meditation on the life of Christ through the eyes of His mother, and any other prayers which are handed to us, or whether it is sponteneous prayers that comes from us, we should make sure "they have in common the recollection of the heart."
     This indeed is how we ought to pray. By following the "three principal parables on prayer as transmitted to us by St. Luke:
"The first, "the importunate friend," (Lk 11:5-13)  invites us to urgent prayer: "Knock, and it will be opened to you." To the one who prays like this, the heavenly Father will "give whatever he needs," and above all the Holy Spirit who contains all gifts.
- The second, "the importunate widow," (Lk 18:1-8) is centered on one of the qualities of prayer: it is necessary to pray always without ceasing and with the patience of faith. "And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" - The third parable, "the Pharisee and the tax collector," (Lk 18:9-14)  concerns the humility of the heart that prays. "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" The Church continues to make this prayer its own: Kyrie eleison! " (CCC 2613)
      With such great wisdom, my formula is to simply approach God constantly with contrition for our sins, humility of heart and unwavering confidence in His goodness.
        Having come to this point where I knew why I should pray, what prayer was and how I ought to pray, I came seeking advice from my spiritual director frustrated that despite my knowledge on the necessity of prayer, I was finding myself not being consistent. Waiting for advice, he asked me, where do you put your shoes? Again dissapointed, I told him like everyone else, I put them on the shoe rack or wherever my hands lets them go. He went ahead to tell me, "why don't you put them under the bed." Seeing the puzzled expression on my face, he explained to me that by putting them under the bed, every morning when I bent down to get them, I would remember to kneel and say my prayers before my day started. Again in simple practical advice, I tried it and it worked. Soon, the grace of habit took over, and my shoes went back to the rack, but my prayer life continued.
       since I know a great reading on prayer does not eliminate the weakness of the flesh which must be forced to comply with the desire to pray, I will give you that same advice that I was given by my spiritual director.  Remember that whatever practical steps you must take to make your prayer life consistent, take them for the good you seek can only be found in God, and prayer is the intangible access to God.