Stories of Coming Home

This morning I was blessed to read a testimony of a convert to the Catholic Faith. I respect our protestant brothers and sisters who devoutly keep their faith ,while at the same time, I feel blessed to be born into the Catholic Faith. A phrase that really got into me from the testimony is the assertion that some who are born as Catholics need to understand and love their faith deeper than they do now because converts from Protestantism, in immersing themselves into the richness of Truth in the Church, put to them to shame in their complacency.

There is the question of sola scriptura, sola fide, works, and grace in the article and the question begs, "What can save man?" Is it by scripture alone, or faith alone, or works, or grace? Protestants have long taught that scripture alone holds authority and faith alone brings salvation. Catholic Catechism I have read taught me that it is a triumvirate of faith, work, and God's grace.

Allow me to bring you along my train of thoughts...

Adhering to my Faith, I believe that God's grace prompts us to have faith in Jesus and gives us strength to do good works. Our faith is the root of our works while our works will not be enough without faith. We need to do both otherwise we fall into error. Yet it is not enough still, for it is not by power of man that man saves himself.

And this brings me to a dilemma. Can I then ask God to give give me grace that I may be saved? Would my asking be from my own strength or is it still grace coming from God? I remember St Paul saying that everything is Grace. I would opine that even the act of seeking redemption is grace. But then, philosophizing about it, if it is by grace that I seek redemption, why is it that not all men seek redemption? Does God play favorites with His grace?

Now I feel I am in dangerous waters. I must be missing something... and yes, there is something wrong in how I understand God's grace.

God by nature is all-Benevolent. He lavish with His Grace and He showers it on everyone and everything there is. I would go on to say that the universe is immersed in God's grace. Since it is the will of God that every man be saved, then everything must be working hard to ensure man's salvation. The universe and all that is in it has been sweating it out to guide us to salvation.

Isn't it that the stars have been faithful enough to shine every night that our wonder may be aroused and we may ask who made them? Isn't it that the warmth of the sun, the cool breeze, the verdant lush all speak of beauty and intricate design that brings us back to God? Isn't the phenomenon of life an outstanding breakaway from an infinite statistical improbability in a universe of entropy? Yes, everything has been grace. My life, my history, my person, and my being have all been grace that were given that I might find Him.

Going back to the question of why not all men are seeking redemption, I discover that each man does and years for God. The question of happiness, its search, and man's perennial failure and retry to find it is indicative that he is looking for something, or someone. And here, I see a play between Divine Will and Human will.

While Grace has been at work all along, in the foreground and background, consciously or unconsciously to man, the choice of redemption is all up to man. God patiently waits for man. He inspires him, He bombards him with beauty, goodness, and knowledge, and in His power orchestrates the universe to play music, and He waits for man to join in singing. He does not force, he inspires.

However, the human condition is complex.

Each one of us has a story, has his own interior life, his own person and character. The beautiful thing is, God deals with us individually, as if we are the only one left to be saved in the universe.

And so we get different responses. Some easily open up and say yes to God's invitation. Some take a lot of prodding. And some are still trapped in their human condition still waiting for a spark of light.

Back with the triumvirate of Grace, faith, and work, I see the primacy of God's grace in human redemption. It is not by man's power that man is saved but by God. In the question of sola scriptura, there is a need to ask if God's grace can only be found in and limited to scripture. In the teaching of sola fide, there is a need to ask if man's faith is equal to God's grace. In the idea of working our way to heaven, there is a need to ask if we all have the energy to finish such work.

We need to discover the graces that God has peppered into our existence that we may be saved. It could be the Communion within the Church, the Sacraments, our loved ones, our daily tasks, or even this internet connection we now enjoy. It is the ultimate generosity and love of God that saves.

There is so much to discover. There is so much to treasure.

Such is the love of God - unmerited and lavish.

A Higher Call for Extra-ordinarili-ness

First, what was that word?

We often quote St John Bosco on the popular slogan among Bosconians, "Do your ordinary duties extraordinarily well". The sentence is engraved in every Bosconian's heart and soul but interestingly, the phrase is not original of Don Bosco but is often said by him.

For most of us, it means putting our best foot forward in everything that we do. That is how the sons of Don Bosco became known to be talented and skilled people. Most Salesians would explain it that way and I have grown up understanding it that way. For most, our human effort of turning the ordinary into extra-ordinary is truly sanctifying for such good, or would I say best, works are pleasing to God's eyes.

In an ordinary breakfast, Fr Fidel and I were happily discussing the aspirants' schedule of the day, to do's, chores and work until the conversation ended up here. He gave me a strong argument to challenge the common understanding of the saying.

The phrase could also mean that, in a higher perspective, those who are in God's grace are given the power to do things extra-ordinarily beyond the level of what they normally can. It is no longer us who does the extra-ordinary, putting a notch higher the mundane things we do, but it is God who empowers us to do much more than what we possibly can.

It was the little Johnny Bosco of Becchi who stunned the world. A humble peasant from an obscure village in northern Italy rose to become an influential figure in the Church and state, rightly earning during his time the title "living saint". A boy who received not the best of education became one of the best educators. St John Bosco's story of success is a powerful testament to the grace of God who lifts up the humble from their lowliness to seat them with kings and nobles.

Now back to the saying. Can we then say that the saying is a higher and stronger challenge to stay in the grace of God which empower us to transcend our normality towards the extra-ordinary? This is something more theologically sound since it is not by man's effort that he sanctifies himself but through the generous and unmerited love of God.

Should we accept this paradigm shift, then Don Bosco must have asked for his sons and daughters to stay in the grace of God always, that they may witness to the "normal" world the extra-ordinariness of God. When we have followed his advice of frequent Confession and Communion, a spiritual director and confessor by our side, and a real friendship with Jesus and Mary, then we can stay in God's grace. And the extra boost of extra-ordinarili-ness will come not just from our own effort but also from the empowering love of God.

In But Not Part Of

I was playing football with the aspirants this afternoon when some approached to play with us. Two of the aspirants called me to the side to warn me that these people play rough. Their concerns were not without basis as many indeed would play rough in order to win. They told me however that it would be my call and they would just be obedient (as they always are to me).

I thought it over and decided that the aspirants play with them. I thought to let the ball roll.

I was quite amused at how many of our aspirants tried their best to defend in their positions. At the end of the game one of them admitted he didn't really want to play since those who invited themselves to the game usually wouldn't pass the ball and that they were too hot-headed to keep a friendly game. True enough, during the game some of the aspirants didn't push enough to make a decent goal.

I pointed out to them two things: one, that the world is never fair; and two, they must deal with it.

It is true that the world is never fair. No, not to anyone. No, never. To complain that opponents are too rough is not some reason to stop playing. It is a challenge to keep fighting on despite the un-fairness, keeping yourself fair to others. It brings to mind Jesus' challenge: you are in the world but not of the world. When these formands would become professed Salesians one day, they would realize that not even those you expect to be fair would be honest at all. How many times have our priests been duped by the very persons they trusted?

The danger of staying in a regulated environment is to begin to think that the world works the way it does inside the seminary walls. Outside the comfort of our boundaries, the world is vicious, competitive, and difficult. Our formands must wake up to the fact that that is the nature of the world, and that is the object of our mission - to purify the world that the Kingdom of God may reign.

Keeping calm in spite of the roughness of opponents is a tough thing to do. Yet it is the very witnessing that St Paul challenges us to: conquer evil with good. So I told my too-idealistic charge that it is the very challenge of playing as an aspirant before other people: to be tough in the game but kind and sportsmanly.

We cannot expect the world to work the way we want it to but we will always have the power to change it by our faithful witness.