God always comes to our aid

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE should make this truth of our faith a strong and abiding conviction in us. In the gospel, we are warned that toward the end of time, all sorts of persecution can be heaped on us. But we should not worry because God will always take care of everything. (cfr. Lk 21,12-19)

“They will lay their hands upon you, and persecute you…you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren…you shall be hated by all men for may sake,” Christ told the crowd. But not to worry, because as he said, “Don’t meditate before how you shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay…not a hair of your head shall perish.”

Let’s always remember that God is always with us and is for us. That’s because our life is first of all the life of God which he shares with us and for which we have take care as responsible stewards. But given our human weaknesses, there will be times when we will find ourselves helpless before certain challenges and difficulties. But we should not worry. We should go through that condition always with God.

Let’s always reinforce our belief that God never abandons us. We should have that kind of conviction. No matter what kind of difficulties we can find ourselves in, we should always remember that God never abandons us. He is always around to help us, although in ways that may escape our notice.

When we are in difficulty and on the brink of discouragement, overwhelmed perhaps by the burdens in our life, let us try our best to remain calm and be prayerful. Let us avail of the sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist, so that what we cannot handle can be taken care of by God himself.

We should have a good control of our emotions and our other human faculties that certainly cannot cope with all the mysteries of our life so that these do not give problems to our faith and trust in God’s ways.

And, yes, we have to learn to suffer. In this life, there is no other way but to suffer. This is simply the consequence of all the sins of men. But if we unite our suffering with that of Christ, we can look forward also to our resurrection and victory over sin and death with Christ.

We should just be sport in this life, always managing to be in good spirit, cheerful and optimistic, even if the circumstances are dark and painful. We should never forget that there is such thing as divine providence and all we have to do is to develop a good and healthy sense of abandonment in that providence of God.

We have to remember that God completely gives himself to us. He is not sparing in this. He is now with us in the Holy Spirit. In a sense, he is all there for the taking. It’s really just up to us now on how to take advantage of this reality.

We just have to learn to go to Christ with deep humility and great faith. Christ is always passing by our side. In fact, he always looks at us and after us, especially when we are in an impossible situation, with special concern, ever ready to give us a helping hand.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com