Choice

Were the ones who perished in these recent calamities, or in any calamity for that matter, less loved by God?

I have just read, and been blessed by, an article from Erwin Tulfo (whose name, by the way, a brother of mine thought, should have been my name too: those who know my brothers know what this means). And I saw in one of the comments an opinion that maybe Erwin's prayer was stronger than the prayers of those who died, that maybe he was wearing the right scapular.

It seems so unfortunate that someone will choose to see it that way. Here is a fellow human being, grateful to be alive because of his faith, and another fellow human being who sarcastically demeans what the other sees as the reason for his "second chance" at life. The latter seems to totally miss the point when Erwin said he "realized one thing. If it is your time to go, you can’t stop it. However, if you ask Him to put it on hold, [H]e may just do that provided that it will be for your good and that of your loved ones and above all, for His greater glory. After all, [H]e owns our lives."

Which leads me to be reminded: These events highlight what our sojourn on earth can ultimately mean--a choice to acknowledge and enter into a living relationship with the God who causes the gentle light of the rising sun, who permits thunder to toll and waves to roll, who can stretch us to become the best of ourselves if we allow Him to, who challenges and at the same time empowers us to be "holy as He is holy", who can give meaning to and beyond the ordinariness or even the cruelty of transitory, earthly life, and who will receive us in the eternal embrace only if we let Him, who after all has only lent us our lives.

Or we can choose to simply rely on our petty, selfish selves, who can neither control the rising of the sun or seas, who at our basest can and will stop at nothing to be above others, who by ourselves are ultimately only dust.

Paraphrasing Paul of Tarsus: sin, selfishness, self-centeredness lead us to death... But thanks be to God who gives us the choice for life, meaning and hope in Jesus Christ [cf. 1 Cor 56-57].

So, were the ones who died less loved by God? They are in the eternal embrace, in the fullest love there could ever be. And for us who are left in this valley of tears? Each of us can choose to live deceiving ourselves that "I am sufficient", or to live in search of meaning that can only come beyond the self and, finding it, live it, breathe it, die for it.

P.S. Here is the link to the article by Erwin Tulfo - http://manilatimes.net/there-is-indeed-a-god/52046/