A common “complaint” God makes of us, if we may call it that way, is that we do not use our senses — our sense of sight, hearing, smell, touch, etc. — to perceive what is really most important for us to perceive.

A common “complaint” God makes of us, if we may call it that way, is that we do not use our senses — our sense of sight, hearing, smell, touch, etc. — to perceive what is really most important for us to perceive.

It’s always good to be on fire, burning with religious fervor, driven, active, fully inspired, etc. But let’s see to it that we do not fall into fanaticism and bitter zeal. We have to learn to distinguish between the two that, in these times, can be confusing since the line between them is often blurred.

With the somehow foreseeable new landscape of the post-Covid world, we can tell that we have no time to waste as we face new and, most likely, formidable challenges. It’s very likely that we have to do some innovations, reinventions and upskilling, if we want not only to survive but rather to prosper and contribute greatly to the quest of the common good.

While it is good to have a high self-esteem, it is not when we get fat in self-importance. A high self-esteem is the objective awareness of who we really are. An obese self-importance is an exaggerated sense of our value and importance.

Since we do not know how this whole Covid pandemic will play out, how long it will take before things get somehow settled down, and what lasting effects it would make, we should be, of course, hoping and praying for the best while preparing ourselves for the worst.

The parable of the wheat and the weed (cfr. Mt 13,24-30) reminds us that in our life we have to learn how to contend with unavoidable evil even as we do many good things. We are somehow warned not to overreact to evil that would do us more harm than good. We have to learn to be realistic about this condition without, of course, compromising what is truly essential in our life.

This is something we have to be most aware and careful about. The more gifted we are, the more humble and child-like we should be. That way the good things and the blessings God has endowed us with and that would make us better than the others or superior to them in some ways, would not spoil us. Rather, these good things become powerful means to help the others.

Though we may see the defects and mistakes of the others, we have to learn to look kindly at them all the time. We have to realize that seeing and looking are two different acts. Seeing is just in the level of our sense perception, while looking is already in the level of judgment. The former does not yet enter into the realm of morality while the latter does.

If we want to flow with the changing times without getting confused or lost, then we have to realize that we need to flow with God always. He after all, being the Creator and original and ultimate lawgiver of the universe, would be our sure guide who knows how to adapt to the times without compromising what is essential and necessary in life.