To be sure, our life is supposed to be happy one. And Christian life, much more so! That's simply because in spite of the many challenges, difficulties and trials in life, we have been wired to find joy in any situation. Besides, for those who believe in God, we have the assurance that everything will be all right as long as we cooperate with him.
But we should neither forget nor even underestimate the enormity of the challenges, difficulties and trials that can come our way, situations that can cause severe tension, at least, if not great suffering and pain that ends in death.
Our Christian faith tells us that all our suffering and pain are due to sin. While in the beginning when the first man and first woman enjoyed immortality, complete integrity and impassibility, now with sin and its effects, we are certain to die, to face conflicts and contradictions, and to experience all kinds of suffering.
These are the facts of life that we always have to bear in mind. But we have to reconcile it with another wonderful truth of faith, the Good News that is meant for all of us.
And that is, that with the redemptive work of Christ, all these suffering and pain, which are summed up in Christ's cross, are also now converted into our way of salvation and human and Christian perfection. As a liturgical prayer would have it, the tree of death is turned into a tree of life.
We too can avail of this passage from death to life, from suffering to joy, if we unite ourselves with Christ. We ought to die with him to be able to rise also with him, for only in him is this transition from death to life possible.
This dying with him is what may be described as the spirit of penance that we all should try our best to cultivate and develop. Christ, in speaking about this need for dying, alludes to the example of the grain of wheat.
"Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, of itself it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." (Jn. 12,24-25) And he proceeds to invite everyone to follow him. "If any man ministers to me, let him follow me. Where I am, there also shall my minister be." (Jn. 12,26)
We have to realize ever more deeply that this spirit of penance, this dying a little every day, is a crying need for us. This is because, in spite of our best intentions and best efforts, we cannot avoid to commit mistakes and sins both big and small, and cause scandals, both of the passing type and the more institutionalized one.
The very least that we can do is to say sorry to anyone to whom we may have caused some distress, no matter how slight. This practice, especially when it becomes habit, would lead us to realize that we need to say sorry ultimately to God who is always affected every time a mistake or sin is committed.
To this practice of saying sorry should be the desire to make whatever atonement and reparation is necessary or even just convenient, if only to smoothen ruffled feelings and recover and strengthen strained relations with God and with others.
This spirit of penance actually lightens our mind and heart, and paves the way for reconciliation. It greatly helps in building up joy and peace personally and socially. It's truly a wonderful thing to have, though it needs to be better understood and appreciated.
We should develop a culture of penance that should go beyond the motions we go through during Lent and especially during the Holy Week. The spirit of penance has to be with us all the time, organically blended with our desire for happiness.
We have to be wary of a demonic trick to picture our human aspiration for joy and peace as one without the Cross of Christ. That is pure and simple delusion. And yet many are falling for it.
Let's spread this Good News about our need for a spirit of penance. And let's develop the appropriate practices that we should try to learn starting from the homes, then in schools, then in the places of work and even of our rest and recreation, etc.
Let's explode the myth that our true joy can be attained without the Cross. As a saint once said, our joy should have its roots in the shape of the Cross.
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