The world may not recognize it, but it’s in a desperate attempt to be happy. We’re quite desperate, we just don’t realize it yet.
We try to act cool. We try to talk as though we’re confident and successful and in control. But deep inside, we’re worried, and tired and a little bit mad.
We’ve been disappointed too many times. We have expected much and we have been failed by those we esteemed the most.
Now we’re losing not only hope but faith. Faith that things can still get better. Faith that despite all the chaos we see around us, we can still find our way to peace.
There is no longer order in anything. Beauty fades the instant we try to touch it. We try to live for the moment, but even the moment eludes our grasp.
And so we act as if we don’t care. We try to take pride in our failures, we live wildly and recklessly because we could no longer see where we’re going.
There is no more mystery, there is no longer anything that can surprise us along the way. Could there be any other purpose in life rather than surviving the moment and numbing our emptiness away? Could there be any higher plan, a grander scheme to things we could stake our lives upon?
If there is no more meaning to life, then we are lost. If there is no destination to look forward to, then we are only wasting our days, killing time, trying to forget that we have ever craved for anything deeper.
But we have become too proud to continue looking. Our hearts have become too cold to seek some warmth.
This is all there is, and all we have is darkness. This time is all we have, and this time is worth nothing but tears that drip on speedily into the void.
It pains us to think that there could be anything more. It pains us to think that it is now too late for us.
We have therefore made our prisons into our homes. We have claimed imperfection as our fate. And all of those who claim otherwise couldn’t possibly be telling the truth.
We can no longer see the skies, that’s why we paint our canvasses with shades of gloom. We have refused to see the light, and that is why we keep on stumbling in the dark.
Thus says the LORD:
“You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
“If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”
PSALM RESPONSE
PS 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength, O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies. R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock! Extolled be God my savior. You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed. R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
MY REFLECTION
The above readings made me feel how compassionate God is, how He loves me, protecting me from my enemies, especially the enemies of my salvation.
Having realized my weaknesses and my total dependence on God, there was a fear in me, much fear in falling. These verses have assured me that God is there, helping me and defending me from those who would harm my soul and my relationship with Him.
I was also reminded of His faithful love. He is not ignorant nor uncaring about my troubles and about those who hurt me. He is in fact moved and He will not remain silent in the presence of my enemies.
“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”
? Augustine of Hippo
God is love. And religion, I believe, can be most understood when we look at it through the lens of love.
Without looking at it this way, religion can so easily fall into a mere set of rules and rituals. It can fall into various ideas about a Divine Being who acts on a whim and watches us ever so closely to judge and to condemn us for our every fault. I think it is within these perspectives that people often start to leave “religion” and prefer “spirituality”.
Not a mere set of rules and rituals
People leave religion because they see it as a mere structure of obligations and punishments. They see it as an institution that must be pleased, or a hobby that can be outgrown. God is therefore seen as a tyrant that stifles one’s freedom, a God who constantly reminds us of our sins.
Looking through the lens of love, however, we start to see religion in another way.
Looking through the lens of love, we begin to see that religion is not a chain that stifles our liberties, but a tie that binds us to the One who loves us most.
That is why it is not so easy for a true believer to just leave one’s religion. To leave is to let go of Someone you love, Someone whom you love above all else and who loves you even before you were even born.
A precious relationship
To someone who believes, one’s religion is one’s most important relationship. It is that relationship that gives meaning to everything else in life. A relationship that shows you what true beauty and happiness is.
How could one just give it up when one has realized how much he or she has been loved?
Jesus is love personified. He has shown us love to the utmost, a love that is willing to sacrifice and to suffer for the one who is loved.
To know Him is heaven; to be separated from Him, even while on earth is hell.
The freedom to love
This is the freedom God gave us?—?to choose to be loved or to refuse His love forever.
It is not the fiery chasms of hell that a believer fears, it is to be apart from God. For to be away from Him is utmost loneliness and emptiness. It is a life one cannot possibly imagine enduring for all eternity.
And that is why the one who loves God is one who does not forsake Him easily. The believer is one who is willing to do what it takes so as not to lose one’s relationship with God.
“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days…”?—?Deuteronomy 30:19–10, WEB-BE
When difficult times come
You don’t just abandon your loved one when difficult times come or when you are not happy about other things that come along with loving Him. If your Lover has cousins or friends who are annoying you, do you leave your Lover because of them? If your Lover had been betrayed by those who professed to believe Him, must you leave the One you love because of those who failed to be true to Him?
That is also the reason why true believers are even willing to die rather than forsake their faith. Religion is not a mere crutch to depend upon or an illusion that could make one feel warm inside. It is a reality to every believer that one is willing to suffer for.
“Suffering…purifies the soul. In suffering, we learn who our true friend is.”?—?St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul
When we fall short in love
Looking through the lens of love, we also begin to understand what sin is. Sin is not just something meant to cast us down or to condemn us. Sin is falling short of loving fully.
Do we not fall short even in our human relationships? And is it beyond our grasp to understand how important it is to acknowledge our faults so we could keep the relationships that matter to us?
To be in a relationship, we learn the value of being forgiven. And to be forgiven, we must humbly recognize our imperfections. Imperfections that hurt the ones we love.
Rules of love
For even in love, there are certain rules. Rules that teach us how best to treat the other person, and how best to treat ourselves.
It is the same with God’s commandments. His laws are not meant to merely oblige us with heavy burdens. His laws are rules of love to help us keep the relationships we have: our relationship with each other, and our relationship with God.
Do we not observe the same rules in our relationships? Truth, kindness, gentleness, generosity, patience, unselfishness. Are these not necessary when you love someone? And do we not try to keep our loved ones from harm by letting them know what is good and what is bad for them?
This then is religion through the lens of love. It is about a relationship. It is about Someone.
Love rituals
If we see religion as a mere set of rules and rituals, we’d avoid it like a plague. But if by grace our eyes are opened, and we see it as falling desperately, passionately and blissfully in love with the most Beautiful One forever, all of us would suddenly desire to be saints!
When we look at it from this perspective, we begin to see that even the rituals observed in honor of one’s religion can be likened to the rituals we have in our human relationships. For what is a ritual? It is but a thing we do to remind us of the importance of our loved ones. It is something we do to keep our relationships healthy and alive.
The song that a believer sings to God is like a serenade that warms a human heart. The readings from the Bible are like love letters from a Lover who is far away. Prayers are conversations with the Lover who awaits to hear from the beloved.
“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”?—?St. Jean Marie Vianney
An attentive Lover
To others, the image of an All-Powerful God is something uncomfortable. Being constantly watched is a fear of many about God. But is not Someone who loves attentive to His beloved? Do we not notice even the smallest things with those we love?
While God should be rightfully feared for His power, He should also be endeared to us for His love. A love that knows no limits. A love that does not end or fade away. A love that is true, gentle and kind.
A compassionate God
Jesus came down to us and loved us just where we are. He became a little child, a vulnerable human being whom we could approach and hold upon our arms.
For a true believer, mere spirituality is not enough. The one who loves surrenders all?—?heart, mind, body and soul to one’s Lover, the greatest lover of them all.
“To the extent that we know this God made man, we come to love him madly. I would like you to know him in order to be truly in love with him… How not to love this Jesus of our soul? He is uncreated Beauty, eternal Wisdom, Goodness, Life, Love… Oh! Love Jesus. Who can love you better? He thirsts for your heart”?—?St. Teresa de Andes
“You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.”?—?Jeremiah 12, WEB-BE
“Why do you stand far off, LORD?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”
— Psalm 13, WEBBE
Sometimes, the hardest thing we could ever experience in our relationships is not when our loved one is arguing with us; it’s when he or she is silent. Why does he not talk? What could he be feeling at the moment? Is there something I did that hurt him?
Moments of silence are so painful that we just want it to be over right away. Many times, our instinct is to nag the other person so we can finally draw him out into talking with us.
But there are times when even silence is necessary. And the same is true when we cannot seem to hear the voice of God.
There are times when all that we could hear is the silence of God. We want Him to tell us what to do. We need Him to answer the many questions we have. We desire to hear His voice of comfort, telling us we need not worry or fret. But all that we hear is His silence.
Why does He not speak? Why does He not tell us He is going to answer our prayers? Why does He seem so far away?
In times when we cannot hear, may we listen to faith, and may we hold on to hope.
God’s silence does not mean He does not love us. God’s silence does not mean He doesn’t care.
But His silence is love itself, wisdom itself. It is to work in us something that can only be accomplished without noise.
The sun rises each day without the need for trumpet or sound, but it blesses the whole world as it makes the seeds grow and the flowers blossom, giving warmth and life to all.
Let us not be discouraged by God’s silence. Let us not think that love has vanished just because it could not be heard.
For God’s love is ever constant. He who watches over us night and day knows truly what we’re going through.
Even in times when He is silent, He is accomplishing for us much more than we could ever understand. For He is there. He is supporting us with unseen hands.
How difficult it is to hold back our answers from those we love the most! What strength is needed to keep ourselves from giving in too soon, lest we spoil the best gifts we desire to bestow.
But God is strong. And God is kind. His kindness is more than our own kindness. His silence is as beautiful as His replies.
When God Speaks Through Silence
God speaks to us in many ways. He speaks to us through our various circumstances, through the people we meet, and through the Bible. But it isn’t the words He speaks to us that causes our difficulty. It is His silence that is often unbearable.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, WEBBE) Didn’t we cry out the same thing when we failed to hear God’s words just when it’s darkest in our lives?
We wanted to hear Him speak to us, to encourage us, to tell us something that would put a little light where we are, and yet sometimes, all we could hear is His silence.
What I’ve realized however is that God continues to speak to us even in His silence. It may not be easy to understand, but after the trial, we’d discover how valuable that silence was. Without that silence, we may not be able to hear His most important lessons for us.
What are some of the things God could be saying in His silence?
-It is not yet time.
-I want you to rest for now.
-I want you to trust me more.
–I am watching you now as you grow.
-I have a plan.
-Give me time to accomplish what you cannot do on your own.
“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” — Revelation 8, WEBBE
There are many kinds of despair. But one kind of despair that even believers can succumb to is the kind of despair that can make us lose hope in our walk with God. Too many times in my life, I felt so close to such a despair. The despair of never being good enough to avoid causing pain to others. The despair of never being holy enough to avoid failing God again and again.
This is where St. Therese of Lisieux has helped me. If there’s one important lesson I’ll never forget from her, it’s to trust in God’s infinite love and mercy. This is the “little way”, the way of a child who trusts her Father.
At first, this lesson seems obvious and easy. But if we look at it deeper, it’s something that can really save us from despair. I know this because it has saved me many times.
I’m a naturally scrupulous person. I’m also a melancholic type. It’s easy for me to see how I lack something. It’s so easy to always have my many sins before me, sins that make me unworthy of God’s love.
It’s not that I don’t try to grow. I really do! I try so hard but I still fail. I fail myself, I fail the people around me, and I fail God.
What St. Therese has taught me was to acknowledge this weakness, and that even in this weakness, God can still love me.
Here are some unforgettable excerpts I’ve noted from St. Therese of Lisieux:
“I see clearly that you are mistaking the road, and that you will never arrive at the end of your journey. You want to climb the mountain, whereas God wishes you to descend it. He is awaiting you in the fruitful valley of humility.”
“Offer to God the sacrifice of never gathering any fruit. If He will that throughout your whole life you should feel a repugnance to suffering and humiliation—if He permit that all the flowers of your desires and of your good will should fall to the ground without any fruit appearing, do not worry. At the hour of death, in the twinkling of an eye, He will cause fair fruits to ripen on the tree of your soul.”
We read in the Book of Ecclesiasticus: ‘There is an inactive man that wanteth help, is very weak in ability, and full of poverty: yet the Eye of God hath looked upon him for good, and hath lifted him up from his low estate , and hath exalted his head: and many have wondered at him, and have glorified God. . . . Trust in God, and stay in thy place. For it is easy in the Eyes of God, on a sudden, to make the poor man rich. The blessing of God maketh haste to reward the just, and in a swift hour His blessing beareth fruit.’”
With these thoughts in mind, I can hold on to the hope that one day, I will be fully redeemed from my fallen state. With these in mind, I need not despair because God can supply everything else I lack. If I should strive with all of my will up to the best of what I can do, will He not give the grace to accomplish everything else I could not?
