The struggle to be immaculate

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          THE Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed

Virgin Mary, celebrated annually on December 8, reminds us of that

most wonderful truth of our faith that we all are actually meant to be

immaculate, that is, sinless, completely holy which means we are truly

and entirely identified with Christ who is holiness himself.

          Yes, we may not be conceived immaculate like what the

Blessed Virgin Mary enjoyed as a divine privilege given to her, but we

should strive, with God’s grace, to be sinless, always fighting

against sin and against anything that can lead us to sin. In a sense,

we have to develop a zeal to be immaculate, like Our Lady, which

definitely would involve constant struggle against sin and

temptations.

          That may be an impossible pursuit, since we all know that we

are all sinners, but it should not prevent us from doing our best to

struggle to be as sinless as possible. In this regard, we should never

forget to develop and strengthen our personal skills in handling

temptations. This concern never goes passé, and it touches a basic,

indispensable aspect of our life in all levels.

          These days, temptations can come to us in the subtlest and

trickiest of ways. This can be due, at least in part, to the increased

level of sophistication both in people’s thinking and in world

developments, especially in the area of technology and ideology.

          With these developments, temptations can easily come

undetected, and sin can be committed in a most hidden way and can even

be easily rationalized. How important therefore it is for us to always

grow in humility and simplicity, aggressively finding practical ways

to achieve them! If not, we would just be lost.

          As can be easily noted these days, the healthy fear of God

is disappearing. In its place, a most heinous sense of self-importance

is dominating. The criteria to determine what is good and bad have

become blurred. They have gone almost completely relativistic and

subjective, declaring total independence from any absolute and

objective rule or law that comes from God.

          Truth is, we always need God in our battle against

temptations. We should disabuse ourselves from the thought that with

our good intentions and our best efforts alone, we can manage to tame

the urges of temptations.

          We cannot! That’s the naked truth about it. We only can if

we are with God. And we have to be with him in a strong, determined

way, not in a passive or lukewarm way. Do flies flock on a hot soup?

No. But they do on a cold or lukewarm soup.

          We need to do everything to be with God. Our mind and heart

should be fully and constantly engaged with him. We always have reason

to do so—at least, we can thank him for what we are having at the

moment: health, food, air, work, etc.

          And to be with God can mean that we have to be actively

involved in the lives of others, since our relation with God always

passes through our relation with others. The more we get involved in

the lives of others, knowing them well, praying for them, helping them

in any we can, etc., the more we get to be with God. And the more we

are with God, the stronger we become to resist sin and temptations.

This is the way toward the ideal of becoming immaculate like our

Mother Mary.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com