God’s initiative to draw us to him

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THAT’S what Christ said very clearly. “No man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draws him,” he said. (Jn 6,44) These words remind us that there is such thing as divine providence. We need to be most aware of it so we can do our part in corresponding to God’s constant intervention and guidance over us so we can attain our ultimate goal and perfection in life.

As our Catechism puts it, providence are “the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward their perfection…By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made…(n. 302)

Furthermore, the Catechism says that “the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.” (n. 303)

We need to understand that as God’s creatures, our creation is still in the making. We are still being formed and led to our perfection, which is none other than to be God’s image and likeness, children of his and sharers of his divine life in the eternity of heaven. He is continually directing and shaping us as he wants us to be. But we need to correspond as best that we can.

We have to realize then that God is constantly intervening in our lives, a reality that we should always acknowledge and correspond to properly. There is nothing in our life where God is not present or where he is inactive. This is the objective truth about the relation we have with God.

For this, we have to be guided first of all by our faith rather than by our mere human powers that can only go so far. It is through faith that our intelligence, will and all the other faculties we have can discern this most wonderful reality of our life here on earth that can already give us a taste of eternal life here.

That is why, we need to cultivate our spiritual life, our relation with God which is otherwise called as our religion, that has to be constantly nourished through a life of piety that should be kept as vibrant as possible.

Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to fall into self-indulgence that has no other possible end than tragedy. We would be easy prey to our weaknesses, the many temptations around and sin itself.

That is why the Catechism tells us that “Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs.” (n. 305). We should not dare to live solely on our own, something that we need effort to uphold, since our tendency is to think that we can simply be on our own.

This basic truth about our need to live under God’s providence should be inculcated on everyone as early as possible, giving out the appropriate means to make this ideal a reality. As the day wears on, we should be asking questions like, “Lord, what do you want me to do now, etc.?”

Asking this kind of questions should be like an instinct to us. It definitely would help us to make good use of our time, to have a keen sense of order that would set the proper priorities over the many things we have to deal with everyday.

What definitely a wonderful world we would have if all of us learn to live under God’s providence!