Always purify our intentions

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

PURIFYING or rectifying our intentions should be a constant concern of ours. That’s simply because our intentions play a crucial part in the moral quality of our actions and of our whole life in general. Our intentions determine whether we are with God, as we should, or we prefer to be by our own selves.

We are reminded of this concern in that gospel episode where St. John the Baptist, considering what he was doing then, was asked who he was. (cfr. Jn 1,19-28) “I am not the Christ,” he said. And neither was he one of the prophets.

He simply said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” He was clear about who he was and the intention of his mission.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of having the right intention. We have to do our best to see to it that we always have purity of intention in everything that we do, so that we only love and serve God, and because of that, we can properly love and serve everybody else.

We need to realize then that we have to take care of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God. We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility.

Right now, we can say that hardly is this concern given due attention. People seem to be simply pursuing their own personal intentions, practically doing self-indulgence. We need to correct this anomaly.

When our intentions are not pure, when they are contaminated with some ulterior motives, there is no way but for us to fall into some form of inconsistencies and improper priorities.

We should be very careful with our intentions. Since they are hidden, we can easily play around with them. We can appear good outside but bad inside. Our deeds may be considered as acts of generosity and compassion, but the intentions may be those of envy, conceit and the like.

In determining the morality of our human acts, the intention plays a very crucial role. Together with the matter or object, and the circumstances surrounding our acts, our intention can referee whether they are good or bad.

With our intention, we can direct our acts to God, following what was once indicated by St. Paul, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) That’s how our acts become good, or moral. Otherwise, they are bad, or at least dangerous.

This is so, since God, being the Creator, is the standard for everything. And more than the standard, he is, in fact, the very substance of what is good, true and beautiful, what is fair and just, what is perfection itself.

We need to actively purify our intentions, since we have to contend with many spoilers in this regard these days. In fact, we just have to look around and see how openly opposed many people are of directing their intentions to God.

To them, intentions are strictly personal and confidential matters that others do not have any right to meddle. While there is a certain truth to this claim, we have to remind ourselves that our intentions too are subject to a moral law that is laid down by God himself for us!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com