God always knows what is in our heart

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S why we have no reason at all to keep things to ourselves alone. Everything we have in our mind and heart is known by God. We would be fooling ourselves if we think we can keep things from God. What we should rather do is to learn how to always be with God, especially in our thoughts and desires, from where all our words and deeds would spring.

This truth of our faith was highlighted in that episode where Christ told his disciples who among them would betray him. (cfr. Mt 26,21-25) “Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me,” he said. Then Judas asked: “Is it I, Rabbi?” To which Christ simply said, “You have said it.”

Let’s always remember that we by nature are not only rational, but also relational. The mere fact that we have intelligence and will can only mean that we are rational beings meant always to enter into relation with others. Of course, in our relation with others, the most important and indispensable one should that with God who, being the Creator, is the very essence and personification of truth. He knows everything.

This is where we have to consider more deeply certain duties that we have. We cannot be passive and indifferent to our relationships. Our growth, our maturity and perfection depend on how well we take care of this essential aspect. Otherwise, we would end up not only in error but, worse, also betraying and denying God himself.

We have to actively purify our mind and heart so as to put them in proper relation with God, and from God with everybody and everything else. We just cannot allow them to drift in any direction, blindly obeying the forces and impulses of the flesh and the world. They have to be directed.

We have to understand then that we are made to enter into relations with God and with everybody else. Having relations is not a marginal or optional aspect of our life. It is essential to us. Even in our conception and birth, we need parents, we need a family, then a community, and all sorts of persons, both individually or collectively considered. And most especially, we need God.

We need to understand therefore that truthfulness can only start with our proper relationship with God. Other than that, our truthfulness, even in what we may consider as its best form, would always be suspect and vulnerable to elements that undermine the truth.

In short, we can only be truthful and sincere when we are with God who revealed himself in fullness insofar as we are concerned in his Son who became man, Jesus Christ.

Thus, Christ clearly said that he is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through him.” In other words, we can only be truthful through him. We can only find the proper way for whatever is good for us through him. We can only have the real life, proper to us, in him.

Christ said it very clearly. “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.” (Mt 5,37)

Truthfulness therefore starts with our relationship with God, and with how well we maintain that relationship. This is something we have to realize more deeply, since very often we get contented with mere human criteria for truthfulness, that are often subjective, incomplete, imperfect, and vulnerable to be maneuvered and manipulated. And with that, the next thing to happen is to betray God, like Judas.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com