Order in this fast-changing world

Our concern for order should be an abiding one. The reason is that order is inherent in our world and in our life. We need to conform to that order in a vital way.

We can glean the truth of this assertion from the narration of the world’s creation. There we can see the ranking of creatures made by God—from the simple to the complex, from the inert to the living, from the material to the spiritual-material, ending with the creation of man, God’s image and likeness.

We can also look around and see how, in spite of some inexplicable things and occasions where disorder is apparent, there is some kind of order in our environment. There is day and night. Weeks, months and years roll by in a fixed, predictable fashion. Plants and animals remain so, unless they die or are killed.

Nature is governed by laws, physical, chemical, biological, etc., that while stable are also dynamic. These laws put order into our world.

Since we are part of this world, we too are subject to some laws and need to live order in accordance to those laws. Except that in our case, our order is not just physical and material, but spiritual and moral. It’s not merely passive but also active.

While we receive and obey these laws, we also need to make those laws our own, loving them as we live them. The order we have to live is one which we have to build up, deliberately keep and develop. It requires us to be creative and inventive.

It also demands us to defend it since many are the elements that can destroy or weaken it.

In short, we have to understand that the order proper to us can only take place if we have an actual link with God who is the source of order and the power to live it in the world.

No God, no order. No order, no unity of life. No unity of life, no life at all sooner or later. Death came to us precisely because of sin, which is the greatest disorder in our life. Of course, before death can come to us in this world, all sorts of disorder can occur, if we are not vitally connected with God.

We need to root our understanding and motivation to live order in every aspect of our life here on these considerations we have just made. These reminders should be made to cross our mind regularly, since we tend to forget them and to behave according to the law of what comes naturally and spontaneously.

We have to help one another in this task so everyone is facilitated to think more deeply, more comprehensively, more properly. This way, we can always be discerning of the continuing implications of order.

Like, we should always realize that order can only be lived if we have an actual contact with God and are eagerly corresponding to his will. This is not an exaggeration. This can be done and has to be done.

Also, that loving relationship with God gives us a keen sense of priority—God over all, others before us, the spiritual over the material, the family obligations over professional duties, labor over capital, etc.

Order requires us to develop a good sense of prudence, flexibility and naturalness. It leads us to make good use of time and of all the other talents and God-given endowments we have.

Order can teach us how to work at God’s pace and also to wait and make up whenever we commit mistakes. It can show us the way to reengineer ourselves whenever needed, and to adapt to different situations and different people with different characters.

In this present fast-changing world where the possibilities are high of getting confused and lost in the sea of many concerns and data, this virtue of order is most necessary.

We really have to help one another to go through the learning curve as we get increasingly bombarded with new gadgets and new technologies that introduce us to new situations and challenges. We need to map out the unfamiliar terrain and see how we can dominate it, and not be crushed by it.

It’s when we live order that we can manage to turn the prose of each day into beautiful verses of love, and civilize and cultivate the forest of the unexplored new possibilities open to us.

Order truly humanizes us. It builds and keeps our dignity as persons and as children of God.

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