Beware of the problem of over-familiarity

THOUGHTS AND VIEWS

Fr. Roy Cimagala

“AMEN, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Lk 4,24) With these words, Christ is telling us to be wary of our usual tendency to take the very important things related to God, our faith, our spiritual life, for granted. Especially these days when we are bombarded with a lot of distractions, we need to be doubly guarded to avoid falling into this anomaly of over-familiarity.
    That’s when we can give an appearance of piety when there is hardly anything in it, because we may just be going through the motions of praying and availing of the sacraments, and still we fail to be in touch with God and to show that fact with our deeds.
    Over-familiarity is a common and usual danger to all of us. It is due to the limitations of our human condition that can lead us to take many things, even the important ones, for granted.
    Instead of seeing God in everything and be amazed and excited about it, we only see the externals and go through some routine that usually has the bad trait of deadening our sensibilities, if not our faith, then our hope and charity.
    We need to see to it that no matter how we are physically, emotionally or otherwise, we have to be spiritually and morally amazed at God in all situations of our life. This is always possible, though it may require some effort, even heroic, extraordinary effort sometimes.
    It would be good if we develop the attitude of simply having to begin and begin again in our spiritual life, not allowing whatever difficulty and challenge we have to tackle to dominate us. Neither falling into anger, bitterness, self-pity and sadness, nor just drifting into familiarity, complacency and routine could properly handle those difficulties and challenges.
    What we need to do is to continue, without let up, having to begin and begin again. This is a practical law of life that we should apply in our daily affairs. Let’s not get too sentimental and wait for some strong inspiration before we move. With a simple act of the will, let’s just do it—that of having to begin and begin again.
    We have to be more aware of this danger of over-familiarity and install the necessary defenses against it. More than that, we have to aggressively cultivate the art of always being amazed at God and at all his works. That should be the proper state for us to be in.
    We have to understand, though, that this abiding state of amazement that we should try to develop is simply not a matter of sensations. Of course, it would be good if we can always feel amazed and in awe. But given the limitations of our bodily organism, we cannot expect that to happen all the time.
    The ideal abiding state of amazement is more a matter of conviction, of something spiritual, moral and supernatural. It should be the result of grace that is corresponded to generously and heroically by us.
    It is a state of amazement that sooner or later, of course, will have some external manifestations like an aura of serenity and confidence even in the midst of great trials and suffering. It will most likely show itself in the lilt in one’s voice, optimism in his reactions to events, a smile, a warm word of praise and encouragement to others, etc. -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THOUGHTS AND VIEWS

The true value of suffering

Fr. Roy Cimagala

“BEHOLD, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Mt 20,18-19)
    With these words, we have to understand that like Christ we have to learn to suffer, to see the redemptive value of suffering. We have to realize that in this life of ours in this world, we can never avoid suffering in one form or another.
    Suffering is part of our human condition that is wounded by sin and all sorts of weaknesses and our natural human limitations, and the fact that we are meant to live a supernatural life which we can never attain unless we are truly with God, and the fact is, we seldom are truly with God. We can only be completely suffering-free when we are with God in heaven.
    But we are given a way of how to handle our suffering properly, to the extent of converting our suffering as a way to our own salvation and eternal happiness. And that is always to follow the example of Christ as he went through all the suffering in his redemptive life here on earth.
    We have to be willing to suffer the way Christ suffered for all of us. That way, we attain the true essence of our humanity which is love, channeling the love of God for us in us. No wonder then that Christ himself said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15,13)
    No wonder also that as St. Peter said in his first Letter, “He (Christ) did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” (2,23) We have to learn to restrain our urge to make revenge whenever we are offended in some way by others.
    It is this willingness to suffer that would show how, like Christ, we can go all the way to giving ourselves completely to everyone, irrespective of how they are. That is also why Christ commanded us, as an integral component of true love, that we even love our enemies.
    In true love, the lover goes all the way to identifying himself with the beloved with the view of giving the beloved what is objectively good for both the lover and the beloved. There is a kind of unification between the two that is based on what is objectively good for both.
    We have to train ourselves to develop this kind of love. And we can use the usual conditions, concerns and circumstances in our daily dealings with others to develop that kind of love. Whenever some differences and conflicts occur among ourselves, we should be willing to suffer for the others, bearing their burdens, even if we also try to sort out and settle these differences and conflicts as peacefully and charitably as possible.
    This willingness to suffer should be an active thing, not a passive one, waiting for suffering to come. We have to look for the opportunities to suffer. That would be a real proof that we are truly in love. What is more, such attitude would help us in protecting ourselves from temptations, sins and all other forms of evil!
Sports -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com