God Rules The Rules

2011 Sep 3, Saturday: Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Colossians 1:21-23/Psalms 54:3-4, 6, 8/Luke 6:1-5


It should not take a genius to know that if you believe in God, then it should be God who must prevail and be obeyed. However, actual experience seems to show that it is easier said than done. In so many instances, we still disobey God and let our will happen than His.

It was one of the main reasons why God sent His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Aside from the Father's intention of letting us believe that He is with us, He wanted us to see Him, feel Him, hear Him, and even have a taste of His love the human way. But another reason was to let us know the real intent and spirit of His commandments. Salvation should be the ultimate goal and not just doing what He commanded. Everything we do must advance our relationship with God. Everything we do must make us more divine and human. In the same way, everything we do must be a rejection of the attraction of evil. Everything we do must move us farther from the influence of the devil. Everything we do must be a defeat of satan. The laws were supposed to fulfill all of the above.

I was then reviewing for our final examinations in the seminary. One review evening, a fellow seminarian knocked at my door and invited me to pray with him in the chapel. He said he wanted company in asking God for an intention. It was a very tempting invitation. Prayer is a very holy action. I wanted to join him but I was having my review for the next days' examinations. Finally I told him that I could not go because I was deep in my review. If I join him and pray, I will surely risk so much and endanger my passing that subject. I thought that part of my responsibilty to the vocation of the priesthood was to pass my subjects. Had I gone praying and failed in my examinations, I would have done the expectations of a "good" Christian but may have been wanting in becoming a minister of God I was called to be. As the Book of Ecclesiastes say, "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven..." (Ecclesiates 3:1-11). My decision was not because I did not want to pray nor that prayer was not a good act. It was a matter of choice between two goods. And the challenge was to choose God's Will for me at that time and place. It was my review time and not my prayer time. My passing the exams should take priority. It was God's Will for me in that particular situation. Prayer could be done at another time. Here, God helped me see through the invitation of my friend. At another circumstance, I would have easily gone with him in prayer.

St. Ignatius calls it "discernment". It is the capacity to see through things in terms of their apostolic value and salvific relevance. It helps us to do things not just for the sake of doing them but according to the intentions of God. Faced with a lot of rules to follow in our lifetime, we have to remind ourselves that those rules were man-made and therefore limited. The words and actions used to capture those rules were similarly limited. Only God, who is omnipotent and from whom those rules came from is perfect. Therefore, only God rules the rules!