Closing the gap

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

WE have to acknowledge this lifelong predicament of ours and do our best to do something about it. There will always be a gap between our intentions and our deeds, our words and action, our desires and our capabilities, the theory and the practice, the principle and the performance, our beliefs and their fulfillment, our plans and the results, etc.

They are part of our human condition. They are unavoidable. We should not be surprised nor overly worried by them. We should avoid getting sad, frustrated and, much less, depressed by them. These would just make things worse.

If anything at all, they should spur us to more action, fuel our hope, and after doing all that we can, we should just leave everything in the hands of God. A certain sense of trust and abandonment in God’s providence is always necessary.

For this to take place, it’s important that we humble ourselves, because it is pride that will surely lead us to reactions and conditions that are not good to us. Humility enables us to see things objectively, especially about ourselves, since it is far easier to see others than to see ourselves.

When we are truly humble, we would have keen self-knowledge. We would have a good idea of our own strengths and our limitations, and thus, we would know how to play around with those given conditions, coming up with the appropriate strategies.

When we are truly humble, God’s grace and everything that he gives to guide us in our earthly sojourn would have, in a manner of speaking, an easier way of entering our life, shaping and directing it, amid life’s confusing conditions and drama, to its proper end.

When we are truly humble, it would be easier for us to always feel our need for God. We would not be deceived by the thought that we can do things solely on our own, especially when we know we have some excellent talents and privileged status in life.

True humility will always make us thankful to God and to everybody else, irrespective of who or how they are to us, and thus, we would always feel united with them, avoiding thinking that we are alone. It makes us live in effective communion with everybody, starting with God.

True humility would also make us thankful for everything that can happen to us, including the negative ones, since it would remind us that everything happens for a purpose, and that with God all things would work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

It is humility that will keep us going and on course in our earthly journey toward heaven. Our successes and victories would not stop us by spoiling us. Neither would our failures and defeats prevent us from proceeding. Humility would simply encourage us to move on, always keeping a sporting spirit.

When we feel down, frustrated and disappointed, true humility would teach us how to react properly. And that is to go to God, or rather to make our union with God stronger and more intimate, convinced that what we cannot complete and perfect, it is God who will do it for us. What is impossible for us to attain, he will make it possible in his own way.

I believe that is the secret of how to close the gap between our intention and our deeds, our words and our actions, etc.

 

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com