Being a chaplain in the United States Armed Forces, I can say that many of our heroic, hard-working, and patriotic troops are not very religious or have little care for any type of faith. Very few actually live their faith in an intentional discipleship. Many tend to only have faith in themselves, their teammates, people they trust, somewhat in their leadership, or the larger government at best. Even though it sounds natural and a very human thing to do, these people, circles, or institutions that we tend to trust will often fail us. Nonetheless, even with our best intentions to be the best and everything for everyone, we are broken and limited in many different ways. In a very broken and imperfect world, true faith is needed, else we will be caught up, stuck, and held back by our very own self-centered resentment, distrust, anger, or cynicism that are often caused by failures, fears, and reservations. In a world that often caused us to be held back or locked up in our very own selves, we need Christ — no matter how little or much it might seem — because without Him, we really have nothing to give to one another that is genuine, life-giving, transcendental, and everlasting.
In a society that is becoming more pluralistic, hedonistic, and secularistic each and every single day, where everyone is taught and “inspired” to be the best version of themselves, working hard to achieve and become whoever they want to be, there has to be something more. For us as Christians, this answer is, of course, Christ Jesus, but we do have to find personal, genuine, and creative ways to bring His presence into this world. Why? I believe that we are living in an age and time where not many people know, care, or find the time to seek the divine presence and try to understand themselves anymore. Fewer people will go out of their way and change their lives to become disciples. It has to be the disciples who go out and bring others to Him! Hence, we cannot do it in typical ways as we have done in the past. We need to pray, reflect, and discern creative ways to truly bring our faith to others.
If we speak about faith right away, many people will immediately be turned off because of what they think we are trying to do or react according to past experiences with religious people. In a secular world, we can no longer begin conversations with God or the life of faith but by how we care, be patient, gentle, and kind to others with our very own lives. I have had people who dislike me in my chaplaincy ministry, not because they dislike me but because of what I represent or who they think I might be. I have had colleagues and people who avoided, repelled, or negatively reacted against me because I represent religion, self-righteousness, moral absolute, or whatever they have concluded, prejudged, or stereotypically imagined with their own perceptions.
While it is hard to love and continue to choose to love people who do not love us, this is what we are called to do as Christians. It is easy to be friends with those who are like-minded, prayerful, nice, kind, and share similar Christian values, but we would not be genuinely evangelizing and living our faith out loud in a humble and unpretentious way. In a world where many people can be whoever they think they want to be, so busy trying to be somebody and endlessly chasing their never-ending dreams, we are called to not identify, glorify, justify, or do whatever to prove ourselves but to let His love radiate through us. Simply put, we change the world by our very genuine self, not full of our egocentric version of self, but by the self-donating, sacrificial, genuine, tender, and loving gift of our very own self in service of others. We choose to be kind, loving, patient, and caring to others because we understand how God has first been patient, loving, and kind toward us.
I love the prayer Mother Teresa’s Sisters say after they receive communion…
They pray that their love of Christ will be radiated to others, not by their own abilities or efforts, but by how much they choose to genuinely love Him. They ask to love Him more each day and that by and through that love for Him, they will be transformed, enlightened, and able to radiate His loving presence — even when they do not recognize or think that they have nothing to give! I find the Sisters‘ prayer to be very beautiful because it is not about them or their abilities, but through a genuine love of Him and self-giving service for others, people can recognize that Christ Jesus is in, through, and with them. The saints, too, have attested to this reality in similar ways! In our search for wisdom, we will be transformed into friends of God, knowing and speaking on behalf of Him. We are reminded that we are called to be in a personal, self-giving, committed, and loving relationship with the One who desires to set us free from shallow worldly manipulations and lifeless redundancies.
As a matter of fact, the Second Vatican Council taught us, through her dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, that we are called to be the light of the world. Through the grace of God, we enrich this world with our own life of faith and its practice of theological and moral virtues. The gifts given to each and every one of us are not for us alone but to benefit the Church in her renewal and mission in this more secularistic and lost world.
By living our theocentric vocation and purpose-filled life, we are able to be more grateful for the gifts endowed to us by the Almighty for the sake of others. When we recognize each other as gifts in our very own self, we are able to embrace, respect, and be grateful for one another instead of objectifying, manipulating, or treating them as means to our own benefit. When we recognize the eternal truth and beauty that have been endowed by the Lord for the sake of our liberation from the enslavement of this world and the good of others, we are able to console, assist, and genuinely give ourselves to those who are around us, helping each other along the pilgrimage of life. As collaborators and stewards in the Lord‘s vineyard, we are called to be mindful of our brothers and sisters who are around us as well. We answer to a higher calling and standard as a personal way to respond to His heed, to use our gifts and blessings to seek the greater good and needs of the world at large.
When we know our eternal purpose and mission, we can use what we have in all genuine humility and limitations to help one another along the way. If we are able to will the good of the other person as a brother or sister in Christ, we are able to love them in all of their gifts and failures, hence able to treasure and respect them as they are instead of what they should be for us alone. When our faith is grounded in the truth to love, treasure, and collaborate with our Creator to make this world better, we become more humble, patient, respectful, and loving because we are to love one another as truly made in His image and likeness instead of treated as objects, products, or means. When we love and give ourselves wholly and completely, our self-worth becomes holistically grounded in the transcendental, eternal, and everlasting, hence being in touch, awakened, aware, and sensitive to the power and working the Holy Spirit in our midst.
St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata and many saints who went through the dark moments of life when they could not sense or feel the presence of God continued praying and loving Him. They never stopped praying. They persisted and kept coming back to the place where they encountered Him. Even though they could not feel His presence, His loving grace filled them without their knowledge. That was why the people around them could see Him through them, even at times when they could not feel His presence! The saints were faithful in their vocations, and their faithfulness was blessed tremendously. They testify and bring comfort into the world with God’s radiating love because they dared to live as He called them to be without worrying about making a name for themselves. As they drew sweetness from their lives of worship and prayer, the Almighty radiated and gave His light to them to be shared and given to those who were around them. They have done all these things, not with the typical noisiness of this world, but with simple, soft, gentle, life-giving acts of love.
Therefore, let us be simple, humble, genuine, and committed to our lives of faith, opening our hearts to receive His love through a life of dedication and prayer. May what we have received from the Lord be shared with those around us, not with words, but with a life committed and founded in Him. Please remember that we can only give what we have, and if we do not have God and receive from Him in prayers, we have nothing substantial to give to others! May our dedication bring genuine comfort in a cold, lost, hopeless, and cynical world with simple acts of love that we have received in the silence of our hearts through prayers. May we help one another to see that true, life-giving gifts of self do not have to be noisy and egocentric, for it is through His holy presence and will for each and every one of us, we will transform the world (one person at a time). May we give the gift of God, centered and founded on faith enlivened through worship and prayer, to one another without the pretense and need for words.
If we know the freedom and love we have in God, we will be able to assist one another along the way to the truth, eternal, and beautiful. Indeed, the power of the Gospel enables us to grow and mature in His loving truth, yet at the same time perpetually renews and transforms by it so we can sanctify and enrich this world not with our own humanistic likings but to the truth and everlasting values in and through His life-giving love. No matter where we are or who we might be in our very own state of life, we are endowed with particular gifts and blessings made in His image and likeness for the good of others as collaborators and stewards of His grace. Hence, living in the truth, loving the eternal, and searching for what is beautiful helps us to be readily willing to answer and serve the needs of our neighbors, preach the Gospel, and sanctify this world with our very own gift of ourselves.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 