CHRIST WATCHES over His people not to catch them doing sinful acts but to invite them to live a truthful life filled with purity and modesty, a University official said.
In his homily during a university-wide Ash Wednesday mass on March 5, Vice Rector for Religious Affairs Fr. Pablo Tiong, O.P. likened God’s role in people’s lives to a closed-circuit television (CCTV) that knows what is in their hearts and could see through the surface.
“God the Father knows our heart, even in the most secret moments of our lives. Everything. Our anger that is too much—maybe we can’t express it, [and when we] endure it, we can’t forgive. [But] God knows. And in this world where purity and modesty are not popular virtues, God knows,” Tiong said at the Plaza Mayor.
“When you enter [UST], it’s written there that the campus is protected by CCTV. There are crimes in a barangay, let’s review the CCTV… But can all truths be seen in a CCTV? There is ‘Christ’s Call to Veritas…’ Christ calls us to live a truthful life,” he added.
Tiong lamented that individuals tend to put on a persona that is acceptable to society but not necessarily to God.
“It is a world where we are accustomed to prepare for how other people would look at us. Every day because of this, we might forget that God is in front of us,” the vice rector said.
While emphasizing Christ’s call to veritas or truth, Tiong said the will of God for His people is not to monitor all of their private activities and pursuits but to help them seek repentance even when they think no one is looking.
“God brings forgiveness and God gives grace so that we may look forward, we may look forward beyond these days of Lent, beyond Holy Week, to that Easter glory when Jesus rises from the dead—Christ’s call to victory over sin and death,” he said.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lent, a 40-day season of prayer and fasting in preparation for commemorating Christ’s resurrection. Ashes are applied on the devotee’s forehead in the shape of a cross to remind them of their mortality and to repent for their sins. F
