THERE used to be great concern for order. Nowadays, such concern is all but lost. Expressions such as “law and order,” “peace and order,” etc., used to proliferate in ages past and commanded due attention and respect.

And people in general tried their best to put order into their things and their affairs. But now, all that seems to have disappeared from the horizon of our general consciousness.

We need to recover our sense of order. I suspect that the basic cause of this loss of the sense of order is that we have been grounding it wrongly, or at least inadequately. Not only that. Many of us do not know exactly why we have to live order, what its ultimate purpose is. In short, we are not clear about its beginning and end.

We get contented with what may be called as middle-term order, a conception of order that is detached from its proper roots and ultimate source and inspiration on the one hand, and its ultimate purpose and goal, on the other.

We have been satisfied with some material order only, or a civil social order that is more external than formal, more on appearance than on substance. It’s an order that comes more from an outside pressure rather than from an inner conviction actuated by a spiritual and supernatural principle who is God.

It’s an order that is motivated mainly by considerations of convenience and practicality, and nothing much else, and much less by motives of love of God and neighbor.

That’s why when these practical considerations are already satisfied, then the reason for living order disappears. It cannot countenance trials, sufferings, etc., as part of its consequences, given our current human condition.

Thus, we have a lot of disorder, or an order that can go only so far. It cannot go all the way. It gets disrupted sooner or later. We see this predicament all over.

Especially these days, with the coming of the new technologies, the plunge to disorder is made easier and graver. That’s why we have many cases of people falling into all sorts of manias and obsessions. They fall into certain attachments hardened by the ease with which these attachments can be served because of the new technologies.

Disorders arising from these causes can go to both extremes of overzealousness in some areas and apathy in others. These disorders usually spring from self-righteousness, scrupulous and lax consciences, and lead to things like unfair discriminations, a highly selective and biased sense of preferences, etc.

We need to cultivate in an abiding way a certain culture of order that is proper to us as persons and children of God. It should be an order that is inspired mainly by love, by charity, which is very much compatible with patience, understanding and compassion, flexibility and not rigidity.

This would bring order beyond the criterion of mere practicality and puts it at play in a bigger field, more complete picture and perspective.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that is human, not mechanical. It has a feeling heart, not a mindless machine. It discerns nuances in persons, events and situations. It is not a blind application of rules that puts everything in one easy, sweeping generalization.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that knows how to distinguish between what is absolute and what is relative, what is of eternal value and what is of temporal worth. It does not absolutize the relative, nor relativize the absolute. Neither does it eternalize the temporal, nor temporalize the eternal. But it knows how to relate these categories according to the mind of God.

It should be a sense and a culture of order that has a clear hierarchy of priorities, that knows how to live and defend it in charity, and that knows how to get up and make up once some disturbances throw it into some disorder. In short, it is a sense of order that knows how to recover and renew itself once it is disturbed or lost.

To achieve this goal may seem very lofty, if not impossible.. But it is worth the effort. The journey of a thousand steps, as the saying goes, starts with the first step. Let’s be hopeful and optimistic. We can reach that goal if we want it, since the grace of God is never lacking.

Obviously, we have to start with what we have here and now, with the small things of our day—organizing our day, our daily tasks, etc. (Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )