God Reveals Who We Are

"When God reveals Himself to us, He reveals who we are."  These were words spoken by Msgr. Allen Aganon in the last Mission Core teaching night.  I come to reflect on this statement. I'll try to rephrase it.  When we come to know God, we come to realize who we really are.  By our relationship with Jesus, our true selves come out.  Our purpose, our worth, our design, and why we have experienced all the sweet and bitter things of life come to realization when we are one with the Lord.

We reflect on some people to whom God revealed Himself.

A drug addict comes to embrace the salvation of the Cross and becomes a renewed productive citizen, then shares his life and inspires others.

A heart that was badly hurt because of much betrayal, then comes to know the loving mercy of Jesus, and is given the grace to forgive and heal.

A corrupt businessman upon knowing the true riches of Heaven, gives up all that is illegal and decides to help the poor.

An inspirer, healer, helper of the poor, among other things that are great are who really are.  God through His love, reveals our true nature.

Who We Really Are

When ordering in a coffee shop or fastfood, 9 out of 10 times my name gets misspelled. It's either Kervin, Kerby, Korby or some other version. I find it very amusing.

Names have a lot to do with identity. 'Who we are' is very important to us. We may have different concepts of our own identity, but there are truths about our identity that are constant.

1. Our real identity is that we are God's children.

What does it mean to be identified as a son of God? It means that we have to reflect the goodness of our Father king and that we are heirs to His kingdom. The devil, like Rumplestiltskin, wants to snatch us away from the Father's arms and entices us with deceivingly attractive deals and compromises to our own demise.

2. As God's children, we are to be like Christ, our brother. We are to be identified as Christians. "No longer I but Christ." Gal.2:20.

Jesus is the Word become flesh. His life meant to be an example for us to follow, for our own salvation. Christ is in us, in our hearts, and He will shine through us if we let Him.

3. The expression of our Christian identity is to be a witness.

More than preaching, the way is to live out our identity in Christ. When people imagine Christ, can they relate through our lives? Witnessing is a day to day challenge and a measure of the depth of our relationship with Christ.

Knowing ourselves is a journey of humility. When we look at our real intentions and motivation, we discover our weaknesses and how far we are from becoming like Jesus. But acknowledging our weaknesses before God is the way to move forward.

"But He gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scripture say, "God opposes the proud but favors the humble." James 4:6

Forbidden Fruit Syndrome

tI went to mass the other day, and heard the priest talk about 'The forbidden fruit syndrome.' Looking at wikipedia on forbidden fruit, it defines it as any object of desire whose appeal is a direct result of knowledge that cannot or should not be obtained or something that someone may want but is forbidden to have.
The priest explains that there are two effects of the forbidden fruit syndrome. One, it produces a heightened level of curiosity, knowing its forbidden. I remember that some announcements posted in the club corner of our school wrote 'PLEASE DO NOT READ.' It would actually get more attention and be read more.
Another effect is that when more and more people do what is forbidden, it becomes the norm. Like pre-marital sex in many western countries.
The goal of the enemy is make us bite the fruit. The devil builds up our curiosity through his lies and lure of comfort. After we've given in to temptation, he wants us to justify our actions by blaming others or simply saying 'its in my nature.' After we make our justifications, the devil then wants us to enroll other people in the act until we get the illusion that it's the logical thing or worse that it now becomes the right thing to do.
This is the story of how a personal sin can evolve into a structural sin. We see this happening through corruption, tax evasion, legalized prostitution, legalized abortion, divorce, legalized drug use, and more.
Now in the Philippines, many people think that we are poor because of the population. In fact, the true wealth of a nation is its people. The root of our poverty is one man's personal greed becoming a structured greed. One man taking a bribe and convinces the rest that it's "Standard Operating Procedure." So they blame the population to cover up for greed. Eve takes the bite and convinces Adam that it's okay.
May we stand firm in the Lord and ask God's grace to resist temptation. By the Holy Spirit we shall overcome the lures of the forbidden fruit. It is a matter of valuing our identity as children of God and honoring the gift of free will by choosing to do what is right.
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Know Thy God to Know Thy Self

Me and my cousins were able to visit our lola's youngest sister, lola
Mary. Her neighbors refer to her as Mama Mary. She's now 84 years old.
She's still strong and sharp. She fondly recalls how little we were
and how'd she round us up and force us take our baths.
She invited us to go to her room and take a look at her hidden
treasures...old family pictures! These pictures are very important
since most of our old pics were destroyed when our Cebu ancestral home
burned down. There we were introduced to more of our family. Knowing
more of my family's past gave me stronger sense of self identity.
During the lenten season, we need to take time to know ourselves more.
Jesus went to the wilderness for forty days and nights to prepare
himself for the mission ahead. Here are some things that may help us
in our S.E.L.F. discovery.

Seek the Lord
Prayer always come first. In seeking the Lord, we are journeying
towards our creator. Once we know the Creator, it is easier to
understand His creation... us. The more we know about the Lord, the
better we understand ourselves. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Mt.6:33).


Evaluate Your Life.
What important decisions have you made in your life? Evaluate these
and pray if you are still on track in God's leading for your life.
What are the things should you stop doing, continue doing, and start
doing?

Let go of unnecessary baggages.
It's time to let go of hurts, failures, and even victories. These are
things that drag us. All these we should surrender to God. These can
be a source of pride. In our way towards the Lord, it is important to
travel light, bringing only faith, hope, and love.

Fast.
Fasting disciplines us spiritually. When we sacrifice something for
the Lord, we are detaching materially and physically so we can grow
spiritually. A bishop that gave us a talk said it should be a joyful
fast and not a miserable fast. When we are attuned with our spirit and
God's Spirit, His will for our lives become clearer and our decisions
are done with His wisdom. Fasting allows us to go back to our core. We
get to realize the things we need against the things we want.

Knowing ourselves as sons and daughters of a great God, we act in a
certain way that should honor Him.

Like my lola's old pictures, the Bible helps me realize my own
history in the plan of God for our salvation. May we know ourselves
more by seeking to know more about God.