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By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
“THIS generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” (Lk 11,29)
Words of Christ that expressed his disappointment at the weakness of the faith of the people then. Despite the many signs that showed his divinity and his mission as the redeemer of humanity, they were still doubting Christ.
It’s a complaint that can still be addressed to us today. We cannot deny that even if we pride ourselves as a Christian country, already for 500 years, we can never say that our faith is already invincibly rooted in our mind and heart. There are many signs that point to this reality.
The increasing cases of mental illness can be traced to a large extent to the lack or the weakness of faith. That many people do not know how to deal with their problems and difficulties can point to that.
Our life of faith is an ongoing affair. It needs to be taken care of, regularly nourished and fortified. In fact, among the many concerns that demand our attention, our faith should rank as the first. That’s because everything else in our life depends on it. Our faith plays a foundational role in our life. It’s the main light that should guide us. Our intelligence and other faculties depend on it.
Taking care of our faith means that it should not just remain at the theoretical or intellectual level. It has to be a functioning one, giving shape and direction to our thoughts and intentions, our words and deeds. In fact, it should shape our whole life.
The ideal is that we feel it immediately. Indeed, it should be like an instinct such that whatever we think, say or do, or whenever we have to react to something, it is our faith that should guide us.
For this to happen, we should take the conscious effort to let faith guide us rather than be directed simply by our senses and our reasoning. It’s a Christian duty to acknowledge this need, since we have the tendency to simply rely on our human faculties.
We have to understand that it is our faith that gives us the global picture of things, since it is God’s gift to us, a gratuitous sharing of what God knows about himself and about the whole of creation. It is meant for our own good, for us to live out our true dignity as children of God.
It is a kind of knowledge that will lead us to our eternal life. It will make us relate everything in our earthly life, both the good and the bad, to this ultimate goal in life which is to be in heaven with God, a state that is supernatural. But it is a divine gift that we need to take care of. It is like a seed that has to grow until it becomes a big tree that bears fruit.
For this, we really need to have a living contact with Christ who is the fullness of God’s revelation to us. He is the substance, the content and the spirit of our faith. So, the first thing that we have to do is to always look for him in whatever thing we are thinking, saying or doing.
