The need for constant vigilance and accounting
>> Saturday, November 5, 2022
THOUGHTS AND VIEWS
Fr.
Roy Cimagala
CHRIST reminded us
about this need of ours when he said: “Be sure of this: if the master of the
house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his
house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not
expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Lk 12,39-40)
We have to be keenly aware that our life here on earth is a testing ground God uses to see if what he wants us to be is also what we ourselves would want to be. God wants us to be his image and likeness, to be sharers of his divine life and nature, thus, he gave us our spiritual powers of intelligence and will so we can know him and love him, and want to be one with him. Besides, he gives us his grace, so we can attain the supernatural level of his life and nature.
Every event in our life is actually an occasion to test us if we also would like to be like him. Thus, he gave us his commandments to guide us. Much more than that, he gave us Christ himself, “the way, the truth and the life,” so we would know how to be with God given our wounded condition.
We need to be always vigilant and do abiding accounting of how we are doing, given this original and ultimate condition and purpose of our earthly life. Since God has made us stewards of our own life, we need to learn how to manage the many resources entrusted to us so that we can be fruitful and productive in this life. Let’s remember that God will always ask us to account for what he has given us.
Among these resources, our time occupies a prominent and crucial place and plays a strategic role. It has been said that time is very precious because once it has passed, it can never be recovered. Some saints have regarded time not only as a treasure but also as glory, depending on how it is used.
We have to be really good in managing our time, being clear about the proper motives, priorities and standards in the use of time. The motives should be none other than love of God and others. The priorities should always be God first, then others, then ourselves.
And we should all have an abiding concern for accounting everything that we are and that we have. We just cannot go on with our life as if we are not answerable to anybody, especially to God, from whom we all come and to whom we all belong.
This is an indispensable part of our life, an unrelinquishable duty to perform. Our problem is that many still are ignorant of this duty, and of those who already know about this, the tendency is to take it for granted or to do it badly or to avoid it if given the chance.
We need to find a way of instilling this duty in everyone, starting with oneself and then encouraging others to do the same, in the context of the families, schools, parishes, offices, etc.
We have to be most aware of where we come from, what dignity and status we are given, what duties and responsibilities are entrusted to us, etc. And let’s remember that we need to handle them properly. -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
We have to be keenly aware that our life here on earth is a testing ground God uses to see if what he wants us to be is also what we ourselves would want to be. God wants us to be his image and likeness, to be sharers of his divine life and nature, thus, he gave us our spiritual powers of intelligence and will so we can know him and love him, and want to be one with him. Besides, he gives us his grace, so we can attain the supernatural level of his life and nature.
Every event in our life is actually an occasion to test us if we also would like to be like him. Thus, he gave us his commandments to guide us. Much more than that, he gave us Christ himself, “the way, the truth and the life,” so we would know how to be with God given our wounded condition.
We need to be always vigilant and do abiding accounting of how we are doing, given this original and ultimate condition and purpose of our earthly life. Since God has made us stewards of our own life, we need to learn how to manage the many resources entrusted to us so that we can be fruitful and productive in this life. Let’s remember that God will always ask us to account for what he has given us.
Among these resources, our time occupies a prominent and crucial place and plays a strategic role. It has been said that time is very precious because once it has passed, it can never be recovered. Some saints have regarded time not only as a treasure but also as glory, depending on how it is used.
We have to be really good in managing our time, being clear about the proper motives, priorities and standards in the use of time. The motives should be none other than love of God and others. The priorities should always be God first, then others, then ourselves.
And we should all have an abiding concern for accounting everything that we are and that we have. We just cannot go on with our life as if we are not answerable to anybody, especially to God, from whom we all come and to whom we all belong.
This is an indispensable part of our life, an unrelinquishable duty to perform. Our problem is that many still are ignorant of this duty, and of those who already know about this, the tendency is to take it for granted or to do it badly or to avoid it if given the chance.
We need to find a way of instilling this duty in everyone, starting with oneself and then encouraging others to do the same, in the context of the families, schools, parishes, offices, etc.
We have to be most aware of where we come from, what dignity and status we are given, what duties and responsibilities are entrusted to us, etc. And let’s remember that we need to handle them properly. -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
The limits of our human laws
Fr. Roy Cimagala
IN the gospel, many are
the instances where Christ had to correct the leading Jews at that time for
their too strict and too literal interpretation of their laws. (cfr. Lk
13,10-17) These Jews acted as if they had the exclusive possession of what is
right, moral and legal just by citing their laws. Obviously, they themselves
could not follow those laws to the letter. And Christ pointed that out to them.
We obviously need to craft laws to guide our life in common. But we need to understand that since these laws are human laws, they cannot capture everything involved in man’s life that can also involve spiritual, let alone, supernatural realities. Even in the level of our ordinary human affairs, complicated situations can take place that can go beyond the purview of our legal system. Depicting justice as a blindfolded woman with a weighing scale tells us a lot about this predicament.
We should be wary of our tendency to fall into legalism, formalism and political correctness. Thus, Christ bewailed this common danger among the leading Jews by saying, “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Lk 11,42-44)
We should always be on guard against all these forms of inconsistency, always rectifying our intentions and also regularly editing our life, much like what writers do with their work before they are submitted for publication. That way, we can monitor how things are going and can have the chance to make appropriate corrections, improvements, revisions, etc.
Our human laws are meant to lead us to our ultimate goal which is none other than to be with God, to be holy as God is holy, etc. Irrespective of their immediate temporal purpose, our laws should lead us little by little to become God’s image and likeness as we are meant to be. They in the end should serve the fundamental religious purpose of our life. That should always be the constant purpose of our laws.
All the other objectives of our laws, let alone their technical requirements, serve only as an occasion, a reason or motive for this ultimate purpose. Setting aside this ultimate purpose would empty our laws of their real legitimacy, making them rife for all kinds of manipulations and maneuverings by some shrewd men who may enjoy some power at a given moment.
We have to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc.
While these things have their legitimate role to play in our legal and judicial systems, we have to understand that they cannot be the primary and ultimate bases. It should be God, his laws and ways that should animate the way we make laws as well as the way we apply and live them. After all, being the Creator of all things, he is the one who establishes what is truly good and evil. -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
We obviously need to craft laws to guide our life in common. But we need to understand that since these laws are human laws, they cannot capture everything involved in man’s life that can also involve spiritual, let alone, supernatural realities. Even in the level of our ordinary human affairs, complicated situations can take place that can go beyond the purview of our legal system. Depicting justice as a blindfolded woman with a weighing scale tells us a lot about this predicament.
We should be wary of our tendency to fall into legalism, formalism and political correctness. Thus, Christ bewailed this common danger among the leading Jews by saying, “Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Lk 11,42-44)
We should always be on guard against all these forms of inconsistency, always rectifying our intentions and also regularly editing our life, much like what writers do with their work before they are submitted for publication. That way, we can monitor how things are going and can have the chance to make appropriate corrections, improvements, revisions, etc.
Our human laws are meant to lead us to our ultimate goal which is none other than to be with God, to be holy as God is holy, etc. Irrespective of their immediate temporal purpose, our laws should lead us little by little to become God’s image and likeness as we are meant to be. They in the end should serve the fundamental religious purpose of our life. That should always be the constant purpose of our laws.
All the other objectives of our laws, let alone their technical requirements, serve only as an occasion, a reason or motive for this ultimate purpose. Setting aside this ultimate purpose would empty our laws of their real legitimacy, making them rife for all kinds of manipulations and maneuverings by some shrewd men who may enjoy some power at a given moment.
We have to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc.
While these things have their legitimate role to play in our legal and judicial systems, we have to understand that they cannot be the primary and ultimate bases. It should be God, his laws and ways that should animate the way we make laws as well as the way we apply and live them. After all, being the Creator of all things, he is the one who establishes what is truly good and evil. -- Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
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