This Imperfect Life!

Every day, several times when I pray, I pray for thanksgiving but admittedly, most of the time, I end up requesting from the Lord to solve problems especially in the family since I am not anymore working full time. During the Lenten season which is forty days, I found sufficient time to imagine the passion of Jesus Christ which culminated in his death on the cross. I then realized that what He did for us was the ultimate of one of the most painful ways of dying which tells us bluntly that only few saints have experienced such suffering and pain while a vast majority of us suffer less degree of suffering and pain.

Oh, God, for so many years, here we are praying daily to remove suffering and pain from our lives on earth, which is not at all possible. Why Lord, did I realize this quite too late? Since Adam and Eve sinned, as said in our holy book, sin came down to the people on earth. The effects of the original sin is part of our human nature even when Jesus saved us by forgiving our sins and promising life hereafter when we die. To repeat, our life here on earth from beginning to end, is a constant struggle to stay sinless but only with God’s grace. We also have the sacraments to help us more to stay in God’s grace, avoiding sin.

Each one of us is unique. It is not an exaggeration to say that never could there be two same persons who existed. God is so wise and wonderful as to make each one so different from one another. One person occupies his own space and therefore this alone makes a difference, that is, the location of one from the other. I said this to emphasize that since persons are different from each other, the needs, wants, joys and pains of one are different from others. Each person is imperfect differently from others. The joy, happiness and success as well as the problems, suffering, pain, sadness, distress and anxiety of one are not the same as another. The positive and negative feelings and experiences of persons are changing from moment to moment. In a day, the positive and negative experiences and feelings are intertwined and therefore, every moment, there are experiences and feelings we thank the Lord for as there are experiences and feelings we must ask pardon for or request God for relief or solution.

This tendency to sin, a reality I overlook, and now I am conscious of, somehow makes me feel less demanding of our Lord. How unrealistic of me to ask for the removal of problems, erase them as if daily life should be in bliss. I have to accept that there are actions most likely to happen as a consequence of the past happenings with me, in the family or in the community. I should accept them calmly. This is very difficult but must be done with his help as said in the prayer he taught “ …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”

The insight I had on the original sin which accounts for our imperfect nature led me to think of the enjoyment of the beatific vision which we will enjoy in heaven when we die with the grace of the Lord. Before, I recited the 8 beatitudes without linking them to the concept of an imperfect life on earth. Now, the 8 beatitudes gain special meaning because of the imperfection of life in this world. Many martyrs died violent and horrible deaths, billions died painfully, all have experienced suffering and sadness and pain here in their lifetime. If there is no heaven where they will be rewarded, the sufferings here on earth will have no spiritual meaning as Jesus would have just died without resurrection. The eternal happiness in heaven speaks of God’s sense of justice and compassion out of his love for the human person whose form he took to be the concrete model in flesh while on earth.

If life is imperfect whose reality at first is difficult to accept, then passing away to a perfect life of everlasting bliss may not be easy to accept at the start. But a relief from the imperfection would lead us eventually to accept the passing away to where Jesus is, who had resurrected.

We may offer this prayer: Our dear Lord Jesus, brought up to manhood by the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, may we live the imperfect life here on earth with your grace, accepting its reality, suffering its consequences of original sin, rejoicing the blessings we receive and ever grateful of your redeeming love and the receiving of the sacraments guiding us to our passing on to the everlasting life of eternal bliss of beatific vision with you in heaven.