A warning on presumption

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

CHRIST said it very clearly. We have to enter by the narrow gate if we want to survive the trials and challenges of our earthly life and arrive at our proper eternal home. (cfr. Lk 13,22-30) We cannot deny that we are prone to fall into presumption. Of course, we can also fall into the other extreme of despair which is not good for us.

To be sure, Christ is not trying to be a killjoy here. He always wants us to be happy and to be at peace, if not always then at least most of the time. But he is just being realistic, given our wounded condition that is prone to be easily spoiled by any good thing we can have in this life.

In fact, in another instance, he spells out what is needed if we want to follow him. And that is that we deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) Of course, as the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, he knows perfectly well what works for us and what does not, what is truly good for us and what is not.

We have to see to it that we are always aware of this necessity and requirement in our life if we want to be truly human and Christian. There is no other way we can attain the perfection and fullness of our humanity.

We know that the anomaly of presumption leads us to think that since God is always merciful, compassionate and understanding, then we can do just about anything. We would immediately rationalize that God will always understand and forgive us of our sins that we could have avoided.

In fact, we would think that we have some kind of license to sin, since God is always merciful. A presumptuous person is usually a reckless, over-confident person. He is deaf and blind to the possibility of divine retribution. He most likely has a lax conscience.

Entering by the narrow gate means that we have to wage to lifelong interior or ascetical struggle, since in this life we have to contend with all sorts of enemies of God and of our soul.

As long as we struggle interiorly, there is spiritual life, the very wellspring that produces the living water for our river of life. As long as we struggle interiorly, we can be assured of our fidelity to whatever commitment we have entered into. Interior struggle is essential and indispensable in our life.

Our life is very dynamic, with all sorts of challenges to face, problems to solve, issues to be clarified. We need to see to it that our interior life, our spiritual life, our thoughts, desires and intentions are firmly rooted on God, their proper foundation.

We need not only to purify our thoughts and intentions from any stain of pride, vanity, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, anger, etc. We also need to fill them and rev them up with true love and wisdom. These are the reasons why we have to engage in a lifelong interior or spiritual struggle.

The ideal situation should be that we are always in awe at the presence of God in our life, making him the principle and objective of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We have to be spiritually fit before we can be fit anywhere else—family-wise, professionally, socially, politically, etc.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com