Finding meaning and beauty

WE are now in the eye of tragedy and misery, and though we are overwhelmed by the ugliness and pain of it all, deep in our heart an impulse can still be felt asking what is the meaning and beauty of all this.

There must be some meaning to all this. There must be some beauty, because our heart always longs for it no matter what. And even if such question is at the moment ignored or, like a can, is kicked farther, it lingers and visits us at some unexpected moments.

As we take some break from our hands-on interventions that our present predicament demands, we need to find a way to grapple with this question properly. We need to go to our core beliefs to get some answers.

To those who have the Christian faith, we know that the Word of God is what gives us the complete picture. It is the eternal word that sheds light far beyond the limitations of space and time, and the confusing play of the different aspects of our life—our genetics, our personal, professional, social, economic, political conditions, etc.

Christ himself said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Mt 24,35) In short, God’s word enables us to enter the eternal scope of our life, including the mysteries that we just cannot handle.

These are words worth relishing these days because they show us where to go to find meaning and beauty in this whole mess we are in now. Let’s see if we can find time to go back to the Gospel and take up God’s word again.

We have to be wary when we confine ourselves to some human knowledge and wisdom alone, made up at best by our sciences and technologies, and usually colored by our personal and collective experiences, our feelings and estimations of things. No matter how brilliant, they can only cover so much.

We have to be wary when we just go about our usual mundane activities without considering the sacred, spiritual and supernatural realities of our life. This is our usual predicament which we have to learn how to correct.

Remember Christ saying at one time, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Lk 17,26)

We need to listen to God, to his word that, being living and eternal, never fades away nor becomes obsolete and irrelevant.

And what does God’s word tell us about pain, suffering, tragedy, misery and the like? A lot!

First, that while in the Old Testament, flooding and burning were ordered as punitive measures against people who have gone openly against God and perverse, in the New Testament, what we know is that Christ himself took on all the suffering of men and converted it into our way of our own salvation.

All this is encapsulated in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, and perpetuated so that the historical event can be made actual all throughout time in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

That is why now, suffering and pain, in whatever form they come, be it through sickness or misunderstanding, tragedies and finally, death, is not just pure suffering and pain to be experienced by each one of us alone.

It can be an experience we can have with Christ who converts a purely negative and destructive event into something positive, constructive and salvific. We should not miss this very important meaning and beauty of suffering.

Our concept of beauty should not just be confined in the context of a Miss Universe or Miss World title. It should include the harsh realities of our life that are now assumed by Christ and converted into something good for us.

We have to make some adjustments in the way we think and behave. Let’s take Christ’s words seriously, like having to love our enemies, learning how to see Christ in everyone, especially the poor, the weak, the sinners.

Remember Christ saying, “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these least brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25,40) And, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt 16,24)

May we manage to find true meaning and beauty in the disasters we are having now amid the unavoidable suffering!