Our certainties and life’s mysteries

WE have to be humble enough that our certainties can never cope with the mysteries of life. No matter how objective and scientific these certainties are derived, no matter how deep and exhaustive our philosophies, theologies and ideologies are made, our certainties just cannot take all the mysteries in our life.

Even in the world of nature where in theory we have the capacity to know things conclusively, we often find ourselves in situations of tentativeness and even of outright error. That is why we are always in the process of discoveries and we would not know when we can end it, that is to say, when we can say that we have known everything to be known in the world of nature.

This does not mean that our certainties can never know the truth, even the absolute, and not just relative, truths. Yes, we can, but the best that we can do is to project ourselves to infinite possibilities, because even the absolute truths are not things that are frozen. They are always dynamic.

Our certainties can only tackle some aspects and levels of the reality that is proper to us. We need to realize more deeply that we have to contend not only with natural and even spiritual realities but also with supernatural realities that simply are above our nature to know, unless some revelation is made which should be corresponded to with our act of belief.

Indeed, we have to be truly humble to acknowledge this fact of life and behave accordingly. While we can know some aspects of the truth, we can never say that we know everything. Not even our mathematical precision and scientific accuracy can warrant us to claim that we know everything.

That is why we need to be most careful with our judgments. We have to judge fairly, that is, with love of God and neighbor as the main motive for judging. From the Book of Leviticus, we read: “You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.” (19,15)

If we have love for God and neighbor as the main motive for judging, we would know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. And somehow we can manage to judge all things, just as St. Paul once said: “He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor 2,15)

We have to do everything to be able to judge people and things with love for God and neighbor as the driving force. This can mean that we really need to pray and meditate closely on the life, words and deeds of Christ who knew how to read the minds of people, and what to say, how to say it and when to say it.

We may still not be able to fully capture the many mysteries of our life, but at least we are approximating them. And that is why it is also necessary that we be always game in this life and never to lose our good humor so that even in our mistakes, we can still manage to move on.

We also have to make sure that our inability to fully capture life’s mysteries should not dampen our eagerness to know and love Christ more. Rather it should prod us to know and love Christ better. And with that motive, let us polish and refine our certainties some more.