Be amazed and avoid over-familiarity

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

“A PROPHET is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” (Mk 6,4) Famous words of Christ that tell us that we should be wary of our tendency to take the things of God for granted, especially nowadays when we can feel we can depend on God less and less because we happen to know more, do more and achieve more. 

This is a very common danger to all of us, and is at bottom a result of letting ourselves be simply guided by our senses, or feelings and our other ways of human estimation, without the guidance of our faith that should lead us to develop the appropriate piety.

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.

Yes, we should cultivate the attitude and habit of always being amazed at everything since everything in the end comes from God and is meant to lead us to God and to glorify him.

We always tend to believe that we can manage to live our life and to handle all kinds of situations just by relying on our own powers, practically denying the fact that our powers come from God and are supposed to be a participation of God’s powers. This is especially so since we now appear to be gaining more power through our inventions and creations.

We obviously have to do our part. In fact, we have to make full use of everything we have to resolve whatever problems, difficulties, issues, etc., we have in this life. Yes, we have to be very realistic and practical about everything. But we should not forget that we always need God.

Even in our small, usual and very manageable concerns, we should go and be with God first before we attempt to tackle them. We have to remember that everything depends on God, and also in a certain sense, everything also depends on us. It’s a 100%-100% proposition. 

This does not mean that we are getting too dependent on him. Truth is, we actually depend on him for everything even if we also should fully use whatever capabilities we have. Yes, we enjoy a freedom that enables us to have a certain autonomy but never a total independence or separation from God.

We have to remember that being God’s creatures who have been created in his image and likeness, we are meant to live our whole life with him. Our relationship with him is not that of a parasite to a host, but rather that of a child to his father. That is our undeniable and inalienable lineage. God and us are meant to be together always. We are meant to share the same life and nature, since God made us his image and likeness.

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 organisms, 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. 

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com