I’m currently listening to Day 9 of the Bible in a Year Podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz. It’s truly a great blessing to be able to listen to these Bible verses with a brief reflection and prayer by Fr. Mike Schmitz.
You can find all the episodes at the following link: All Bible in a Year Episodes
You can also listen to the first episode below:
Perhaps I’m not the only person who’s had a dilemma about God’s Mercy and Justice. It’s not easy to reconcile the two, especially for people like us whose wisdom falls short of the wisdom of God.
Many times, I’d rather focus on God’s Mercy. I have to admit that it’s because I need it. I often fall into sin and I’m truly grateful for His immeasurable love. I want to know that I can be forgiven, and that someone understands my shortcomings.
On the other hand, whenever I hear about the sins people commit against others, I can’t help but invoke God’s Justice. I’d like the guilty to be punished. I want to give the victims of crimes the justice that they deserve. Once again, I am grateful because I know that there will be a Judge who will be really fair and who will not have any selfish agenda for His judgments.
In the end, I guess God’s Mercy and Justice are inseparable. God is Merciful because He is Just, and He is Just because He is Merciful.
While He cannot allow the guilty to escape from his punishment, neither will He forsake those who sincerely repent for their sins.
For all His thoughts and His actions, God is a God of Love. And from this Love both comes His Justice and His Mercy.
I have always disliked the phrase “perfect is boring”. I could somehow understand where such a sentiment is coming from, but I just couldn’t agree with it.
Why should something perfect be boring? If it’s boring, it wouldn’t be perfect at all.
Perfection is wholeness, beauty, truth, and wisdom. When something is perfect, we can’t help but admire it. We aspire for it! That’s what we naturally do.
Perhaps people confuse our unrealistic drive towards perfection with perfection itself. While there is nothing wrong with perfection, we could be wrong in our assumptions about it.
This is quite evident in our spiritual growth. While we were commanded to “be perfect” (Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. – Matthew 5), we were not expected to be perfect instantly or through our own efforts alone.
Perfection in the spiritual sense often involves many stages of development that happens through time. We also can’t achieve it without God’s grace. It is wrong to expect it instantly from ourselves or from other people. But it is also wrong to be content with our imperfection and to give up hope in God’s wonderful plan for us.
Let us not exhaust ourselves in trying to do what we cannot do on our own. On the other hand, let us not make a mockery of God’s command. Let us not use the difficulty of trying to be perfect to remain in our sins and our weaknesses. On the other hand, let us offer all our miseries to God who is Merciful and who will never give up on those who hope in Him.
“The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, ‘Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?’”
– Jonah 3:5-9, WEBBE
The Kingdom of Nineveh repented and they were saved from an impending calamity. Should we not do the same? Ours is a world already beset with various kinds of disasters, including the COVID19 Pandemic that changed the way we live. We are already within the threshold of darkness, but we remain stiff necked and unwilling to mend our ways. Even if Jonah himself would warn us, would we repent?
It is not wrong to survive. It is not wrong to find ways to adapt to our current situation and to sometimes try to forget the many troubles that we have.
But I think there is something wrong if we do not notice the kind of world we’re living in. It is no longer a world where Christianity reigns. Rather, it is a world where secularism has made its way into our lives, urging us to forget what little faith we have, exposing our young ones to the idea that belief in God is absurd and all those who think otherwise are either hypocrites or unlearned men.
“Why is it that so few realize the seriousness of our present crisis? Partly because men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because it involves too much self accusation and principally because they have no standards outside of themselves by which to measure their times. If there is no fixed concept of justice how shall men know it is violated? Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world. The great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on. The tragedy is not that the hairs of our civilization are gray; it is rather our failure to see that they are.” – Fulton J. Sheen
“Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment in history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world.”– Pope Benedict XVI
“God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.” – Jonah 3:10, WEBBE
Bitcoin had a drastic increase in value in the last quarter of 2020. Because of this, many people have become interested again in investing in the said cryptocurrency. Many people also regretted the fact that they have not invested in it when its value was much lower.
The problem, however, is that many people who had regrets about Bitcoin were unable to benefit from it because they only viewed it as a short term investment. They wanted to make profits right away. They couldn’t wait for its value to increase through the years. Also, whenever Bitcoin’s value decreases, they become worried right away and decide to withdraw their money even though they have not made enough earnings yet. They just don’t have the faith to hold on to it for the years to come.
Isn’t it the same with heaven? Many people don’t want to even look at the idea of heaven because they just can’t wait for it. They want to have fun here and now. Even some who have tried to join some form of religion withdraw from it quickly whenever times of trouble and testing comes.
Heaven is about eternity and the eternal value of everything we do on earth. To possess it, we must be willing to give up everything else that gets in the way. We must not look at temporary pleasures nor must we count our temporary losses along the way.
Just like Bitcoin Hodlers, are you in it for the long run?
“Whatever you do will have sense only if you see it in terms of eternal life.” – Chiara Corbella Petrillo, A Witness to Joy
Note: This article does not intend to recommend investment in Bitcoin or in any other cryptocurrency and is a personal opinion meant only to emphasize the importance of time and eternity.