Always be charitable

It’s sad to note that charity seems to be clearly absent in the usual discussions and exchanges we have in the media.Especially in the American scene and slowly in ours, we often see a lot of slamming, fault-finding, sour-graping and gloating. It seems that these are now the normal things to do. What worsens it is that the press also makes its own spin and often distorts the reporting.

Those involved, generally in the political arena, usually assume a know-it-all attitude and are quick to shoot down any contrary or even just different opinions from others. Even when the issue isnot yet thoroughly studied, they are quick to give their shooting-from-the-hip views that clearly show their biases and personal or partisan preferences.

This is unfortunate because the atmosphere that isinevitably generated gets increasingly toxic. And it would just be a matter of time before we will have a free fall to outright hatred and even violence. In the end, the common good becomes the victim.

I would not be surprised if later on we can find some correlation between the surge of terroristic attacks in the US and the toxic media world there that is full of anger, hatred, rash judgments, etc.

We have to learn to be charitable always, especially in our unavoidable differences in the fields of politics, culture, lifestyle and in our respective temperaments. To top it all, we should be most charitable because we are all sinners and we just have to understand one another and try our best to help each other instead of waging "war" with each other.

This was the attitude of Christ which He continues to show to us since He is always with us and continues to interact with us. If we care, we can actually notice that and should be inspired by His example. He knows how to handle any situation we can find ourselves in.

In fact, if we truly are aware of the presence and action of Christ in our life and in our daily activities and concerns, we will always be happy and at peace, able to find meaning in any situation whether good or bad, or whether we are contradicted, insulted, offended, etc.

Like Christ, we should be very patient and just try to drown evil with an abundance of good. As St. Peter would put it in his first letter: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." (3,9) This is the way to go.

We have to have a firm grip on our emotions and passions, and should see to it that our reasoning is always inspired by God's love for us. There we can find understanding and compassion, fairness and willingness to bear the burden of the others and to suffer for them. These will go a long way in defusing the tensions in our differences and conflicts.

We should try to be broad minded and eager to listen to others, no matter how different their views are as compared to ours. Let's try to salvage any point in the arguments of others that can serve as a unifying element, rather than focus on those points that divide us. This can always be done if we are humble enough.

Charity has reign always. And I mean the charity shown to us by Christ, who himself commanded us to love one another as he has loved us!