Maintaining and changing

In these increasingly complicated times, we need to learn the skill of what to maintain and what to change as we go on with our life. There definitely are things that we should keep constantly, no matter what, but without getting rigid, and things that can and should vary, depending on the circumstances, but without getting lost.

This, to me, is a skill that should be learned by all of us, especially the young ones who will bear the brunt of all the challenges of our modern times. Let's hope that we can put up the proper structures for this purpose, the proper hardware and software, so to speak, especially in the context of the family, school, and the apostolate with the youth.

Every day, we need to ask ourselves this question of what to keep and what to change, since every day we have to adapt ourselves to different persons and situations which can expose us to a dizzying variety of possibilities.

St. Paul offers us a clue when he said that he had to be all things to all men. To the weak he became weak. To those under the law as if he was under the law, etc. (cfr 1 Cor 9,21ff)

If we look closely at this Pauline passage, we can see that the very motive of St. Paul's adaptability that gave him a certain consistency is the salvation of souls.

"I became all things to all men, that I might save all," St. Paul said. So, it is our salvation that drove him and should also motivate us in all our efforts to adapt ourselves to every person and to every situation of our life. It is the eternal salvation of man that would give consistency to the changing demands of adaptability.

Our adaptability should not just be a function of an exclusively practical and worldly value and purpose like convenience, or the pursuit for wealth, power and fame. Of course, these motives can be legitimate as long as they play an instrumental role, always subordinated to the necessary motive of our eternal salvation.

In this regard, we have to understand that the true standard and measure, the true source and purpose of our adaptability, flexibility, versatility, and consistency can only be Christ.

We have to be wary when we reduce our sense of these qualities to some human criteria alone, like sheer practicality, publicity, or worse when we make them a tool for hypocrisy, deception, and other ulterior motives.

What we have to do is to avail of a personal plan of life that contains certain acts of piety, spread throughout our day, our week, months, and years. These should help us to be closely in touch with Christ so we can follow him in his ways.

This should include a time for prayer, continuing study of the doctrine of our faith, recourse to the sacraments, never-ending ascetical struggle to develop virtues, and fighting against sin and temptations, etc.

Very often during the day, we need to pause and ask ourselves: Is this what Christ is asking me to do at this moment? Is this how Christ is asking me to do?

This way, we can expect to be both consistent and flexible in our ways, and achieve the effectiveness of the mission of Christ himself.