Doers of God’s will

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

“NOT everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 7,21)

It’s very clear that with these words of Christ we should do everything to live by God’s will and ways. Given the many distractions we have these days, we really need to exert the appropriate effort to be able to do just that.

In this regard, it is indeed advisable that we pause from time to time to check on how we are taking things in general, on how things are developing and on how our intentions are. We know quite well that things can change in the process. What may be good at the beginning can start to stray somewhere along the way.

Indeed, we may start by looking for God in the things that we do, giving him glory and conforming ourselves to his will and ways. But along the way, we can start giving in to our own desires, our own will and ways. From loving God, we can easily slide to loving self. We are very notorious for this tendency. 

That’s why we really need to pause and check ourselves often. We have to see to it that we manage to keep our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing. In other words, we have to realize that whatever we do, whatever the situation is, we somehow would still be in contact with God. Somehow everything should be a form of prayer.

This will require us to develop the skill of knowing what truly comes from God and what simply is a matter of self-indulgence. We need to be very discerning and discriminating in this regard. Not everything that presents itself before our mind comes from God. It can come from other sources—our weakened flesh or concupiscence, the world and the devil himself.

We should not be naïve and just accept things as they come. We need to check if the spirit behind anything that involves us comes from God or not. We cannot deny that there are many things that can look good but actually are dangerous to us.

In this, we have received enough warnings from Sacred Scripture. “Beloved,” St. John, for example, in his first letter tells us, “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (4,1)

There are many kinds of spirits roaming around the world, and we have to learn how to discern them. There is the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ as opposed to the anti-christ. There is also the evil spirit, and the spirit of the world that is dominated by the evil one. There is also the spirit of the flesh.

For this to take place, we certainly need a kind of plan or program to keep our spiritual life alive and vibrant even as we go through the drudgery of routine things or the excitement of new and challenging things.

But we need to discipline ourselves to follow that plan, knowing that no matter how good that plan is, if we fail to deny ourselves and carry the cross, as Christ himself told us, (cfr. Mt 16,24) we cannot keep our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing, and thus become prone to a distraction that can lead us to our destruction!

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Doing God’s will

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          WE need to realize more deeply the crucial role of doing the

will of God in our life. We have to understand that it is doing God’s

will that would make us his image and likeness as we are meant to be.

It’s how we live our life with God, as it is meant to be. This truth

of faith should be very clear in our mind and should be made an

operative principle in our daily life.

          We are reminded of this truth of our faith when Christ

talked about the two sons who were asked by their father to work in

the vineyard. (cfr. Mt 21,28-32) The first said, yes, but actually did

not go, while the second said, no, but eventually went.

          Christ concluded, of course, that of the two, it was the

second who did the father’s will which is what is truly important.

It’s an episode in the gospel that somehow wants to convey the truth

that it is in obeying and doing God’s will that we truly become his

image and likeness.

          No wonder then that Christ said that the greatest

commandment is to love God with our whole heart, which, in concrete

terms, means that we have to carry out God’s commandments. St. John in

his first letter said as much: “This is the love of God, that we keep

his commandments.” (5,3)

          We have to find ways of how we can always feel the impulse

and the urge to be guided by God’s will and commandments rather than

simply guided by our own will. We have to realize more deeply that our

will cannot and should not be working simply on its own, and that by

working on its own puts it in a dangerous condition. Our will needs to

be always referred to and be animated by God’s will.

          For this purpose, we may have to develop certain practices

of piety that would help us in this direction. Like, spending time in

prayer, in meditation, in regularly reading the contemplating the

gospel, in rectifying our intentions, referring them always to God. We

have to develop virtues like humility, detachment, holy purity,

patience and optimism, fortitude, etc.

          Very important in this regard would be to familiarize

ourselves with the teaching, deeds and the very life of Christ

himself, fully convinced that he is the very pattern of our humanity.

We have to make Christ alive in us to such an extent that we can truly

say that we are “alter Christus,” another Christ, as we are meant to

be.

          In this regard, we have to be convinced that our life should

also be a liturgical life, since it is in the liturgy where the whole

mystery of Christ and his redemptive work is made present and

effective in our life. It is in the liturgy, especially in the Holy

Mass, where we can most fittingly do our part in corresponding to that

whole mystery of Christ and his mission. It’s where we can be one with

him, sharing in his redemptive mission.

          We need to feel the need for doing a widespread catechesis

on this truth of our faith. With gift of tongue and making use of

today’s powerful technologies, let us reach out to others, leading

them to realize the crucial role that doing and living God’s will has

in our life.

          Just like what St. Paul once said, we have to “preach the

Word, be prepared in season and out of season…” (2 Tim 4)

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com