The difficult and the impossible

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *


          WE have to learn how to deal with the difficult and the
impossible things in our life. Let’s remember that as long as we are
here on earth, we have to contend with all sorts of difficulties,
trials and temptations.


          And as if these are not enough, we also have to contend with
the truth of our faith that tells us that we are meant to pursue a
supernatural goal that definitely cannot be achieved simply with our
own human powers, no matter how excellent they are.


          The secret is always to go and to be with God who can make
the impossible possible. 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.


          This should be the attitude to have. It’s an attitude that
can only indicate our unconditional faith and love for God who is
always in control of things, and at the same time can also leave us in
peace and joy even at the worst of the possibilities.


          Remember the Book of Ecclesiastes where it says that for
everything there is a season, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a
time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill,
and a time to heal…” But everything is under God’s control, and even
if we are capable of eternity, we just the same “cannot find out what
God has done from the beginning to the end.” (3,1ff) We just have to
trust him.


          We have to follow the example of the many characters in the
gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in,
earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid
and unashamed and they got what they wanted.


          There is no denying that life always has more to offer to us
than what we can understand, let alone, cope. And they can come in all
shapes and sizes, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, likeable and
hateful. There are surprises and moments when we seem to rot in
expectation and still things we long for don’t come.


          In the face of all this, I believe the attitude to have and
the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we
can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the
hands of God.


          In those situations, I believe we just have to allow
ourselves to play in God’s game plan, in his abiding providence whose
designs are beyond reckoning, or are way beyond our comprehension and
appreciation.


          In this life, we need to develop a sportsman’s attitude,
since life is like a game. Yes, life is like a game, because we set
out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given
some means, tools and instruments, we train and are primed to win and
do our best, but defeats can always come, and yet, we just have to
move on.


          We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can
come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our
vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined
only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of
the spiritual and supernatural world.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com