What Matters Most

(The following article came out in my regular column in our parish newsletter in 2006. It was also published in the Lenten issue of the Philippine broadsheet, The Manila Times.)

It’s lenten season once again and we are to recall the passion and death of Christ. Passion, as found in the Webster Dictionary, means (1) sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and death; (2) boundless enthusiasm.

Allow me to deal with both meanings. The first meaning refers to the ordeal Jesus Christ went through to save mankind from sin. Even if He was God’s only begotten son, He was not spared from agony. How does this then apply to each of us in our daily lives? We are all sinners. If Christ, who was God-Man, went through the trials He never deserved, how much more sinners like us? Every sin we commit may be compared to every whip He received during his passion. Every sin we make nails Him to the cross. It is easy for us to say, “…because we are human, we are not perfect.” But isn’t it God who said that man was created in His image and likeness? That, if God is perfect then we are made for perfection? Of all God’s creation, it is only man who was created in His image and likeness. That is our greatest privilege and honor.

Christ's passion is to save us from sin. Our passion (as we go through trials) is for us to take on God’s values, attitudes and character. Trials mold us to become what God has wanted us to be in the first place. Character molding is never automatic like a washing machine, nor instant, like coffee or noodles. It is a slow, very long, arduous and exhausting process. I have been through so many trials and once in a while, my minute mind still cannot comprehend why I deserve such. But, I always keep in mind what Fr. Jerry Orbos always say, “look at the bigger picture”. Before we are into the future, God is already there. So why fear? Remember that after every Good Friday, there is Easter Sunday. After every passion, there is resurrection. That gives me a glimmer of hope.

The next meaning refers to an intense feeling – boundless enthusiasm. We can be enthusiastic about so many things in life. But does it bring us closer to where God wants us to be? Or does it bring us closer to where we want ourselves to be? We have to keep in mind that what we want may not be the same as what God wants for us. As I look back through the things I have gone through in the life, and as I try to link it up with what I am passionate about these days, I see a glimpse of what God wants me to do (at least for now).

I have mentioned in the previous issue of our newsletter, of the website I put up in November, 2003. The site, http://www.femalebattle.net is an electronic magazine and an online resource center whose mission is to give information and inspiration for women, as a wife, a sister, a mother, a friend and a social individual. This is what I am passionate about these days, reaching out to others through this service. I may not have successfully handled this gargantuan task, had God not prepared me for this. He made me go through domestic problems to personally experience and feel what it is like to be in the midst of trouble. How could I effectively give light to others if I had not been in darkness myself?

At the end of the day, what matters most is not whether we came out unscathed from each trial we’ve gone through. It is what we have learned, how we were transformed and how we can turn our passion to more a productive endeavor that will bring us closer to what God had planned for us. Circumstances are temporary, but the values, attitudes and character we acquired will last forever.

A fruitful lenten season and a joyous Easter Sunday to everyone!


And for some reflective and inspirational song...