Despite whatever, we will always have peace
>> Friday, June 3, 2022
THOUGHTS AND VIEWS
Fr.
Roy Cimagala
THAT’S right. Whatever be the situation and condition of our life, we can still manage to have peace. Why? Because Christ himself reassured us of it. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” he said. (Jn 14,27)
If we truly have faith in Christ, we know that those words are no mere bluff. They are not fake news as are common nowadays. Those words enjoy eternal veracity. It’s important that we believe them fully since we need them as we go through our unavoidable challenges, trials, difficulties, etc., in life.
The peace that Christ gives us is one that the world cannot give, just as what he said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (Jn 14,27)
Of course, with that Christ-given peace comes joy also. The two always go together. They cannot be separated, although their expressions may not tally with the worldly standards of joy and peace.
The joy and peace that comes from Christ is first of all a grace from God and is always a fruit of a continuing spiritual battle to keep God’s love burning in us. It’s a joy and peace that is compatible with the cross, with all forms of suffering. It is not afraid of suffering which also has an important role to play in our life and in the redemption of mankind.
It’s a joy and peace that comes as a consequence of faith and a growing identification with Christ who bore all the sins of men and the evils of this world and conquered them with his resurrection. In short, it’s a joy and peace that expresses guaranteed victory even if at the moment we are still fighting and suffering. It’s an all-weather kind of joy and peace.
We need to examine ourselves to see if we have such joy and peace. It is actually offered to us for free. It’s all there for the taking. We just have to find a way of having and keeping it.
And one important way of doing so is to learn to pray, since prayer is our basic way of connecting with God that hopefully would lead us to a growing identification with him as we are meant to be. Remember that we are God’s image and likeness. With God’s grace we are supposed to do our part, free beings as we are, in realizing this divine plan for us.
We should never depart from this peace of Christ. All our efforts to come up with an estimation of peace for our personal health or for social, economic or political well-being, should always be inspired by this peace Christ gives us. It cannot be any other way.
Christ is the prince of peace. He knows how to tackle any and all causes of trouble, conflict and war. He meets them head-on, not escaping from them, and in fact converts these causes of evil and war into paths to goodness and human redemption.
We know that Christ warned us about this intriguing figure of the “ruler of the world” who will surely give us trouble. (cfr Jn 14,30) But he said: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16,33) -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
Another problem, another chance to grow
Fr. Roy Cimagala
“I
HAVE told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world, you will
have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn 16,33)
What very reassuring words of Christ for us! That’s why no matter what happens in our life, even if we are drowning with all sorts of problems and troubles, we should remain at peace and confident, since Christ has taken care of everything.
Instead, we should sport that have-a-go attitude that would lead us to even take advantage of these situations, to derive something good from them, in order to grow in our humanity and our Christian life, etc.
Remember St. Paul’s words to the Romans: “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (8,28) Yes, even our limitations, our mistakes, our defeats in life, if referred to God, can lead us to something good. These actually are great opportunities to learn new things, to grow and strengthen our virtues, etc.
Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross.
Let’s always remember that God, in his ineffable ways, can also talk to us through these crosses. In fact, he can convey precious messages and lessons through them. It would be good that we have a theological attitude toward them, and be wary of our tendency to react to them in a purely human way, based only on our senses and feelings and on worldly trends.
In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted.
We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. If we truly have a deep faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, everything will be taken care of and some good can always be derived even from our mistakes and failures. God always has the last word. He always wins. We just have to make sure we are with him in all situations of our life.
When we are faced with our limitations, let’s just be game and sport about them, and try our best—with the help of God’s grace, of course—to try to go beyond our limits. There is always that possibility since we are not purely a material and natural being, but also a spiritual being capable of entering the supernatural order. With God’s grace, we can go beyond what our nature can only give.
What very reassuring words of Christ for us! That’s why no matter what happens in our life, even if we are drowning with all sorts of problems and troubles, we should remain at peace and confident, since Christ has taken care of everything.
Instead, we should sport that have-a-go attitude that would lead us to even take advantage of these situations, to derive something good from them, in order to grow in our humanity and our Christian life, etc.
Remember St. Paul’s words to the Romans: “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” (8,28) Yes, even our limitations, our mistakes, our defeats in life, if referred to God, can lead us to something good. These actually are great opportunities to learn new things, to grow and strengthen our virtues, etc.
Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross.
Let’s always remember that God, in his ineffable ways, can also talk to us through these crosses. In fact, he can convey precious messages and lessons through them. It would be good that we have a theological attitude toward them, and be wary of our tendency to react to them in a purely human way, based only on our senses and feelings and on worldly trends.
In all our affairs and situations in life, we should always go to God to ask for his help and guidance, and to trust his ways and his providence, even if the outcome of our prayers and petitions appears unanswered, if not, contradicted.
We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. If we truly have a deep faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, everything will be taken care of and some good can always be derived even from our mistakes and failures. God always has the last word. He always wins. We just have to make sure we are with him in all situations of our life.
When we are faced with our limitations, let’s just be game and sport about them, and try our best—with the help of God’s grace, of course—to try to go beyond our limits. There is always that possibility since we are not purely a material and natural being, but also a spiritual being capable of entering the supernatural order. With God’s grace, we can go beyond what our nature can only give.
As an old love song would put, let’s
have that attitude that whenever we are faced with difficulties, we should be
convinced that we can overcome them. And when it is something impossible for us
to do, let us also convince ourselves that it may just need a little more time
to get it.
The fact is, Christ is always around. He allows some negative things to happen in our life to derive a greater good for us!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
SOMEHOW the gospel of Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter, taken from the Gospel of St. John 16,12-15, shows us how Christ talks about the Trinitarian mystery that has the most important relevance in our lives.
And that’s because Christ is made alive and present in us through the Holy Spirit and that what Christ does to us is entirely what the Father wants for us. In other words, it is the whole Blessed Trinity, the three persons in one God, who is intervening in our lives.
This is how the gospel goes: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
As we can easily glean from this gospel, we are given how the Trinitarian God works in relation to us and how there is complete unity and harmony among the three persons.
We should never doubt about God’s constant interventions in our lives. We should never doubt that Christ continues to be with us through the Holy Spirit and what he does is to bring to us the will of the Father, which is that of making us to be God’s “image and likeness.”
On our part, we just have to learn how to deal with the three persons. The unity among the three persons is due to the eternal knowing and loving that drives the very being of God. The Father cannot be without the Son and the Holy Spirit. The same with the Son and the Holy Spirit—they cannot be without the other persons.
Trying to fathom this mystery will obviously be overwhelming, but let’s hope that the unfathomability of this mystery draws us closer to it rather than drives us away from it. We should try to move on with our life, always being in awe with this mystery.
Let’s make this mystery the abiding impetus to our endless knowing and loving in this world that involves our relation with God and with everybody else. It’s the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that shows us how to know and love.
Like the Father, we should be full of goodness, doing things with total gratuity. Like the Son, we should try to do good perfectly in the truth, since he provides us with the best pattern of the things we do, including the way of restoring them in case they get damaged. Like the Holy Spirit, we should persevere in doing good all the way to the end, sanctifying everything that we touch.
There can be many other considerations we can derive from considering the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. We have to spend time meditating on it, always asking for God’s grace so we can be enlightened and enabled to pursue what we can realize.
We need to realize more deeply that by dealing with each person of the Blessed Trinity, we would have a more complete understanding of how our life ought to be. Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
The fact is, Christ is always around. He allows some negative things to happen in our life to derive a greater good for us!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
Christ reveals how Trinitarian mystery works
Fr. Roy CimagalaSOMEHOW the gospel of Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter, taken from the Gospel of St. John 16,12-15, shows us how Christ talks about the Trinitarian mystery that has the most important relevance in our lives.
And that’s because Christ is made alive and present in us through the Holy Spirit and that what Christ does to us is entirely what the Father wants for us. In other words, it is the whole Blessed Trinity, the three persons in one God, who is intervening in our lives.
This is how the gospel goes: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
As we can easily glean from this gospel, we are given how the Trinitarian God works in relation to us and how there is complete unity and harmony among the three persons.
We should never doubt about God’s constant interventions in our lives. We should never doubt that Christ continues to be with us through the Holy Spirit and what he does is to bring to us the will of the Father, which is that of making us to be God’s “image and likeness.”
On our part, we just have to learn how to deal with the three persons. The unity among the three persons is due to the eternal knowing and loving that drives the very being of God. The Father cannot be without the Son and the Holy Spirit. The same with the Son and the Holy Spirit—they cannot be without the other persons.
Trying to fathom this mystery will obviously be overwhelming, but let’s hope that the unfathomability of this mystery draws us closer to it rather than drives us away from it. We should try to move on with our life, always being in awe with this mystery.
Let’s make this mystery the abiding impetus to our endless knowing and loving in this world that involves our relation with God and with everybody else. It’s the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that shows us how to know and love.
Like the Father, we should be full of goodness, doing things with total gratuity. Like the Son, we should try to do good perfectly in the truth, since he provides us with the best pattern of the things we do, including the way of restoring them in case they get damaged. Like the Holy Spirit, we should persevere in doing good all the way to the end, sanctifying everything that we touch.
There can be many other considerations we can derive from considering the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. We have to spend time meditating on it, always asking for God’s grace so we can be enlightened and enabled to pursue what we can realize.
We need to realize more deeply that by dealing with each person of the Blessed Trinity, we would have a more complete understanding of how our life ought to be. Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment