Fausto Gomez OP
As a theology student, I began to acquire the habit of writing down sayings that I considered relevant for my life as a pilgrim with a thousand destinations plus One: human hopes on earth and Christian hope in heaven, respectively. Hereafter, I wish to share some salient sayings that have helped me on the journey of my life. These sayings – many of them you know, perhaps, are like signposts on the path of the life of pilgrims of hope. They point out the smooth road ahead, the bumpy road, the dangerous curves, the lightened part and the darkened kilometres. My dear co-pilgrims of hope:
HAPPY JOURNEY!
The Gospel tells us that Mary, the Mother of the Son of God Jesus Christ, meditated, contemplated, ruminated everything that happened around her Son. We are invited to do something similar when we read these sayings or signposts throughout our journey. W focus mainly on three: life, love, prayer.
LIFE
Life is the fundamental human right we all have. Without it, all other human rights have no meaning. Therefore, the fundamental human right is to respect and protect life – always
“Human life must be defended from the moment of conception to natural death” (Cardinal Joseph Bernardin): from its beginning at conception, to its end – natural death. No to abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, homicide and suicide… God is the Lord of life and death. With due respect to all persons (but not to evil that must be fought peacefully), it is a tragic, terrible thing not to realize that life begins with conception and ends with natural death. The life of the old and the sick must be respected. Human life must be defended, too, in-between beginning and end: a dignified life for all.
“There is no favourable wind for one who does not know where he is going” (Seneca). We are pilgrims of hope. First question a pilgrim has to answer: Where am I going? Thus, St. Thomas Aquinas begins his Moral Theology with the end: Beatitude, happiness, glory, heaven – God. After this comes the question, what are the means to reach heaven, the end of life? Marvelous: “Every moral quest is a longing for happiness” (St. Thomas Aquinas). We are “citizens of heaven” (St. Paul). At the end of our journey, we will be examined on love” (St. John of the Cross).
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jesus Christ). For a disciple of Jesus, He is everything: the way to walk on, the truth to be known, and the life to be lived. The Lord is also the light that illumines our way, our hearts, our life. Without him, we can do nothing. With him, we can scale any wall.
“To know and not to do is not yet to know” (Buddhist Saying) I believe in Christ, but I do not follow him. Then, I do not really believe. Our life entails knowing and doing, theory and practice: orthodoxy and orthopraxis. And doing is more important than knowing.
Am I right now where God wants me to be?” Says the simple and poor priest, the protagonist of G. Bernanos’ luminousDiary of a Country Priest. Plato says that the unexamined life is not worth living. From time to time, daily, we have to check ourselves to see if we are on the right path – the path that leads us onward to happiness. Am I, are you on the right path, on the path of Jesus, who is the Way, our only Way?
“Life is a series of moments either lived or lost” (Zen Buddhism). Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not yet, the only thing in our hands is today: “If today you hear his [God’s]voice, harden not your heart,” the Psalmist tells us. In fact, only this moment, now is in our hands. What is to lose the moment, today? It isto place the self first, the “fat ego” in what we do: I, mine…What does it mean to live the moment, today? To put love in everything we do – big or small. What are your plans for the future? St. Teresa of Kolkata was asked. Her answer: “Yesterday is past; tomorrow, not yet. I only have today to love Jesus.”
“Let us live simply, so that others may simply live” (Canadian Bishops). In a rich world, which has enough for all to live a dignified life -, there are millions of poor, hungry, miserable people who beg our help. Our conscience, our Lord ask us not to waste, overspend, overconsume, throw away usable things. In this unjust situation, we are called to live a simple lifestyle. Jesus woods keep ringing in my heart: “What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me.”
“One of the greatest evils we can do in life is to make others suffer” (Albert
Camus). We are asked by our humanity and our faith to carry our personal cross (part of our fragile life) with patience and hop, and – if we can – to help others carry their heavy crosses. We ought not give crosses to others.!
LOVE
Love is the word most used – and abused – in all languages. True love means to wish good to another, to do good to others, to leave our own self to encounter a child, a woman or a man with open arms and heart.
“Love and do what you want” (St. Augustine). If one truly loves, he/she will lovekindness, compassion, solidarity, humility – the cross.
“To be is to love” (E. Mounier). To be a human being is to be a fellow human being” (M. Buber). Indeed, we learn what we love (J. L. Martin Descalzo). Love, passionate love is the great motivation to do things well – and live well.
“Put love where there is none, and you will reap love” (St. John of the Cross). We try
to practice it daily. It does not fail.
“To forgive and be forgiven make the world new every day” (Anonymous). True love forgives, forgets, heals.
“There is no way to peace, peace is the way” (Gandhi). Love is peaceful. It was said: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” War is never wholly good. Hence: “If you want peace, prepare for peace.” In the midst of misery, hunger and death, the so-called “deterrence” or piling up weapons to defend my country against others is immoral, unjust.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential Is invisible to the eye” (A. Saint-Exupery). Says the fox to the Little Prince. Love is a way of knowing as it is clearly shown by the mystics. A friend – not others – knows his/her friend best.
“Be tolerant with the intolerant but not with the intolerable” (Paul Ricoer). There are evils that cry to haven: genocides…, killing of civilians in war (the hypocrite “collateral damage”)
“We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song”. Joy is a quality of charity, of true love. And so are peace and mercy. Charity, God’s love in our hearts, is hopeful: God is the future of those who know to love(J. A. Pagola).
“What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me” (Jesus Christ). True love is merciful, compassionate, and shares something with the least: the poor, the sick, the marginalized.
PRAYER
Prayer is the universal language to communicate with God, with the Supreme Being, who is above all creatures, the “totally Other.” It is a deep longing for God. It is a conversation with God, a conversation to praise him, to thank him, to give him glory, to ask for his divine help.
Prayer is humble and hopeful and trusting and loving. Our number one sin is pride, which is cured with humility, a grace of God. Without humility nothing is valuable on the way to the Kingdom. Humility is such an essential virtue: not the most perfect (love), not the most fundamental (faith), not the most urgent (hope), but the foundation of all virtues. :
“Humility, humility, humility, humility.” Prayer is humble. St. Bernard was asked what are the four most important virtues we ought to practice? He answered: “Humility, humility, humility, humility”. St. John pf the Cross says creatively that “the humble one hides in his proper nothingness and knows how to abandon himself to God.”
“Never leave prayer. There is always remedy for those who pray” (St. Teresa of Avila). In a cold and violent world, prayer is the fire that keeps us warm. Hence, we pray to be close to the fire and thus not allow the virus of the world-the flesh-the devil to catch us. The closer one is to the fire of true prayer, the warmer and happier he or she will be. The saints, especially the mystics, prove it beyond any doubt.
And to conclude! Respect life, practice love, and pray humbly. We will never regret it. And we will be happy – here relatively but truly, and hereafter outrageously happy.
If I had to select one saying among the many we have encountered, I would choose one that has helped me and others much.
PUT LOVE WHERE THERE IS NONE, AND YOU WILL REAP LOVE.
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