More concern for the divine economy

WHILE it’s true that we have to give due, if not utmost, attention to our human economy in its different levels—local, national, global—it’s even more true that we have to give a most special attention to the divine economy or the economy of salvation. We have to be more familiar with how this divine economy works.

This is not to pit the human economy against the divine economy, or vice versa, since both economies mutually affect each other. It is just a matter of the priority we ought to give to the spiritual and supernatural dimension of our life over the material and temporal character of our life, and to God’s will and ways over our own ways, since God is the Alpha and Omega of all things, and we just have to cooperate with him.

Obviously, our human economy can already demand a lot from us. It’s no laughing matter at all. While the government and the official economic planners and agents in all levels of our social life take the lead, the ideal is that everyone somehow should be involved in making the economy really serve the common good of all.

The ideal to reach is to have a highly participative economy where everyone contributes to the working of the economy and enjoys its fruits. As much as possible, no one should be marginalized, much less, ostracized, regardless of the class one may belong to.

The divine economy, which is all about the management of God’s creation and especially of us, the leading creatures of all his creation, demands a lot more than what the human economy can demand from us. This divine economy is meant to achieve the salvation of all humanity.

Yes, it’s true that God takes the lead in seeing to it that this divine economy succeeds in its purpose, but we also have a big and indispensable part to play in it. Of course, everything depends on God, but in some mysterious ways, everything also depends on us. That’s because as image and likeness of God, as children of his, we cannot help but get involved in this divine economy the way God is involved in it.

As such we have to be open to the divine ways that this divine economy works, and in fact, we should try our best to cooperate in these divine ways as best as we can. And what are these divine ways and means that God employs for the salvation of all mankind?

They are nothing other than that, like what Christ underwent, we should be willing to suffer and die for all the sins of men. Yes, like Christ, we have to clarify the truth about God and us and the world in general. We have to do a lot of good like what Christ did abundantly. But in the end, it is the willingness to suffer and die for all the sins of men that completes and perfects everything in the mission of the salvation of mankind.

We, therefore, should not be surprised if we are made to suffer even if we think that we have been behaving well and therefore not deserving to suffer. In this case, we would be like Christ who is made to suffer for the sins of all men. This is how the divine economy works. This is how the economy of salvation reaches its goal.

We, therefore, should not complain when we are made to suffer. In fact, the contrary should be true. We have to welcome suffering. That way, we are contributing a lot to the economy of salvation and for sure, we will also be enjoying the fruits of that successful, prosperous economy of salvation.

We need to broaden our perspective, so we can more actively participate in the working of the divine economy.