Category: General

After his elevation to the Papacy, Francis did something that was novel. He decided to started paying attention to people on social media. On one occasion he responded to a person who called out to him in a certain South American country, I forget which one. After appreciating that he was paying attention to social media especially in regard to places he would be visiting, I penned my own blog post considering that he would be visiting Uganda in November 2015.

In that blogpost, I pointed out (in summary) that the work of the Church was being hindered by an inadequate appreciation of the complexity of communication and a lopsided understanding of the the passion of Jesus as an act of obedience to God but is not as an action of his free will (I lay down my life for my own sheep). In so doing, I argued out that the agency of the Christian was being undermined along with it the teaching authority of the Church. If you wish to see how this “obedience” undermines the teaching authority, you need to read the article, but it does.

Although the Pope never responded directly to my blogpost (for prudential reasons). Judging from his public statements and actions which I closely watched there after, I believe he read it and acted accordingly. Today, I can testify that the reasons that prompting my writing of that blogpost were addressed beyond my wildest imaginations. Among the changes that I am happy about is the movements towards a synodal Church. The Church needs to foster listening to people not because the people are right and clergy wrong although once in a while that could be true. Rather, it is because the Church can only truly only know how to communicate the love of God by listening. And in fact listening is in itself a communication of the love of God, even when and especially when there is little understanding of the situation of which people are talking. We need Pastors to listen to their sheep and who open their hearts to God (open to see the good even in a terrible argument, so that they can give that good a chance to grow). Only by listening will they be able to see and appreciate the different paths along which God has destined each person to walk to salvation.

Pope Francis had an audacious and loving heart. It is one which pitched him against a class of clerics who consider themselves orthodox. People who in the words of the Pope place dogma above Faith without appreciating that Faith is the mother of Dogma. Among the most contested of his acts was Fiducia Supplicans which I have written a blogpost defending. The other I wish to speak out for is the issue of the Pachamama (Mother Earth).

I thank God for the gift of Pope Francis. For his deep love, deep faith and courage. In his advocating for the Church to be a synodal Church. He showed his deep understanding of the complexity of communication. Of the limitation that language possesses on our communication. Many people see in Pope Francis a “liberal” Pope. People who implicitly accuse him of resisting the Holy Spirit, but are not able to perceive that they too are capable of resisting the Holy Spirit. In Francis I see a great Pastor whose heart is after the lost and struggling sheep.

I have no doubt that Pope Francis is a Saint, now resting with the Angels and Saints. I am praying that God may grant the outpouring of his grace on the Church on the merits and suffering of his Servant Pope Francis. I pray that the strength of his great love which was so misconstrued while he was alive bring an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to illumine the hearts of many and bring healing to the Church.

And I pray that I too may receive the courage to serve in the capacities in which God has granted that I serve with the same depth of charity and dedication. To live and die in his service like Pope Francis.

Part I: The affections of God

We struggle to conceptualize who God is because we can’t see him. We are told many things about God; told that he is infinitely wise, all-knowing, almighty, just, holy, jealous, and even wrathful. Different aspects of God’s identity stand out more prominently for different people. As a young child I was most conscious of the omnipresence of God, especially in relation to the fact that I could not hide anything from him. He was the man with the big eye who saw everything (I did). For some it is his rage that condemns people to a fiery furnace.

Along the way, and very frequently we hear that God is love, that he is loving. St John speaks most prominently about God’s loving nature in the famous Jn 3:16 (God so loved the world that …). He also speaks about God’s loving nature in the first letter of St John (1 Jn 4:16).

The challenge for us in understanding this is that we associate love with affections, feelings, sentiments, and or emotions. This is true even when the expression of love is also demanded by law for example in the case of married spouses or with justice like for a mother. We might ask and expect the husband to make sacrifices for his wife. But we are conscious that this sacrifice which we now require regardless of sentiment started out as a nice feeling about the other person. Even for the case of a mother, emotions quickly creep in even before birth.

We are affectionate creatures and strongly associate love with affection. When it is a matter of choice, we are drawn to people based on how we feel about them. Our affections reveal to us that we love a person and hopefully (that they love us too). And those affections can move us to make sacrifices for the other person. For these reasons, we cannot perceive that God loves us because we don’t recognize his affections. Without perceiving the affections of God, the distant story of Christ sacrificing himself may not mean much.

However, it is difficult to describe God as affectionate because affections are complex, impossible to measure, quantify, compare or to hold logical arguments about. We may see the effects of the affections that someone has for another person but we can’t reach those affections. We can’t even be sure that there is a similarity in the affections that two people have although they may both describe those affections as love. Additionally, because love proceeds from good intentions which we cannot see, the actions that would reveal to us the affections that people have, may be misleading. A man who buys for his fiancee a car may not necessarily love her more than the one who could only afford a dress. On the contrary it is even possible that he is doing what we see because he only intends to use her for his selfish purposes. In short we can’t describe how the affections of God should feel like.

But describing God as affectionate also presents other challenges other than being difficult to describe or quantify. One of them is that most of the time we describe God through his attributes. And while some attributes can be equated to God such as Love (1 Jn 4:16) – God is loving, but he is also love, so that the person who lives in love lives in God. Most of the attributes of God cannot be equated to who he is. God is affectionate, but he is not “affections”. The problem that arises is that people may end up seeking those attributes other than God himself. This is the temptation which led our ancestors to the worship of magnificent creatures which displayed the grandeur of God. 

Saying that God is affectionate can lead us to begin to pursue affections for the sake of those affections. This is an act of selfishness which separates God from the affections he gives and from the person who is meant to receive the affections. The man is tempted to seek the affections of God but without God. This is the case for the people who seek for good feelings through psychedelic drugs. But is also true of other non psychedelic drugs (like alcohol), music, and even nice food.

But the fact is that God is deeply affectionate. This is his nature. God is affectionate all the time. It is we who are unable to perceive the affections of God because we are living in an unjust unrighteous state since the fall of man. We are not able to perceive the affections of God because we are literally separated from him. If we were to approach God in this state of separation/injustice, we would not be able to withstand the deepest affections of God. We would run away from him and his affections because we are proverbially naked. We need to be purified in order to experience the full affections of God. And in our fallen world, our total purification is only guaranteed after we die, and become incapable of sinning in the body. So we will not be able to fully experience the deepest affections of God in this world.

In spite of our incapacity to perceive the affections of God which he is always pouring out. We do receive the affections of God through an act of grace won for us by Jesus Christ. These affections come to us as a gift. They come to us to console us in difficult circumstances, to encourage us to do the right thing to show us the way along which we can continue our purification. God gives us his affections in response to a positive and good will. It is because of the deep affections of God that the martyrs are able to endure and even sing through their martyrdom.

These affections come to us in everything that is good and natural, including nature, music (even ‘positive’ secular music), work, e.t.c. God uses all of creation to help us to perceive his affections. We cannot perceive and find peace in music or anything If God does not permit it. If God were to completely withdraw his affections we would run mad. And indeed when we reflect about it, we can  be led to realize that God gives and withdraws his affections as he wills. Something that helps us perceive the grandeur and love of God today can be meaningless tomorrow especially when we try to drain that object of ‘the good feelings’.

The writing of many great Saints also reveal to us how our process of purification brings us into ever deeper experiences of the affections of God. They also tell us that along this journey, God withdraws these affections to strengthen our will to seek him and seek the good (and not seek his affections). They speak for example about the dark night of the senses and the dark night of the Soul. A period of total despair but also of intense purification.

Part II: We live seeking the affections of God

Conversely, we are affectionate beings. We seek the affections of God in all we do. When, as that prodigal son, we return home for food, we are really seeking the embrace of God our Father having come to the conclusion that bodily pleasures do not and cannot bring us satisfaction. When we are unable to get the affections of God, we end up pursuing these affections in earthly things; in wealth, power, money, fame and even in sensual pleasures, in a pursuit in which we are ever hungry, always eating but never satisfied. For us the words of Isaiah the prophet ring loud and true. We spend our money and energy on what does not satisfy us. For us is the invitation, come to me all you who are thirsty, .. come buy wine and milk without money and without cost (Is 55: 1-2).

It is important for us to identify the affections of God, not only because it helps us remain peaceful in difficult moments but also because it helps us to choose the paths along which God desires us to live in service to him and to our brothers. The path along which we find contentment. Logic alone is not sufficient to reveal to us all that God wishes for each of us. For example, the question of whether we should serve God through married life or celibacy is one that can not be resolved through logic. If it was, we would either all be religious or all be married. By paying attention to the affections that God grants us, we are able to select the kind of life that will bring fulfillment to our lives both in the moment and also in the long run. 

The affections of God are always positive. They bring encouragement and consolation. They can happen in response to our actions (even mental actions). They can occur within and outside the confines of the Church. Most importantly, they are NEVER in opposition to the moral commandments (commands 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 …)  but are always in sync with the love of people (even sinners). The affections of God are a gift. They can only be, acknowledged and accepted. They cannot be pursued, although it is sensible to keep doing the things that bring us the positive affections of God.

But we have to add a caveat, the affections of God are unmistakable but human imagination can be deceptive. We can be deceived into believing that an affection which is good (e.g affections from music or nature) is ungodly or that an ungodly affection is good e.g bodily pleasures as affections of God. This is how in the ancient world and even today to a certain extent sensual pleasures were associated with God such that temple prostitution could become a form of worship. But we may also ignore the affections of God because we do not recognize that these affections are coming to us as a gift from God.

God desires us to know that he is affectionate. He has loved us in his ‘feelings’ even before he showed us his love in his actions (through the death of his son). And when he allows us to experience his affections here on earth. It is a foretaste of the deep affections that we shall enjoy when we come to be with him in heaven.

We could also be living at a point in which we are not able to receive the affections of God at all. This can happen either because we are living in sin, guilt and regret or because God is strengthening our will. In either case, we must keep trying to do that which we know is good. Seeking God through the sacraments, through confessions of our failings. In time, God will pour out his affections on all who seek him with a sincere heart and will bring them to the fullest experience of his deepest affections. I also want to add that it is important to seek God through our Faith even though we might encounter his affections outside the Church. It is through the graces the Christ gives through his Church that we are able to perceive any affections of God at all.