Just trace the God-given roadmap to heaven

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

ONCE again, since we are approaching the end of the liturgical year, we are reminded of the end of time and the duty to prepare ourselves for it, having the proper focus and following the God-given roadmap to our final destination.

This reminder is somehow made in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over what he saw as he was approaching Jerusalem. (cfr. Lk 19,41-44) “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides,” he said. (v. 42-43)

We have to remember that we should have a proper focus in our life, knowing exactly where we are ultimately going, avoiding getting lost, since in this life we are just having some kind of a journey toward our eternal home.

And God has actually given us a very powerful roadmap to follow, because everything that he created has been designed precisely to lead us to him. It is up to us to discern this design, to trace this roadmap, and then just follow it.

To be sure, this roadmap is infinitely more powerful than our current apps like the Waze or Google Map, since it not only gives us the direction to an earthly destination. More than that, it never runs out of alternative possibilities to be led back to him, no matter how many times we make a wrong turn in our life. It will always recalculate, so to speak, and offer us a new route.

Considering that our life here on earth offers us a lot of things and options, plus the fact that we of course enjoy freedom, we need to be reminded that we have to learn how to have proper focus in life, especially because we have a lot of distractions in our world.

It will surely help us if we develop the habit of always referring everything to God. After all, he is the creator of all things, and therefore should know how things ought to be, how they ought to be seen, understood, done, etc. Besides, God being God, he is everywhere and is actually always intervening in our life. We should never disregard this wonderful and basic truth about ourselves and about our life.

We should have the proper focus in life, which is today a big challenge. At the moment, we can see a disturbing development involving many people, especially the young. A big segment of the people is getting addicted to games and the many other novelties played out in the Internet and in the new technologies.

They are now getting more self-centered and self-absorbed, prone to idleness, laziness and comfort and pleasure seeking. God and their relationship to others are all but blotted out of their consciousness.

We now have the huge challenge of how to make God the be-all-and-end-all of our life. We need to present Christ’s words in this regard in a way that would be attractive to the people of today with their peculiar sensitivity and culture. Let’s remember that Christ himself did everything to adapt himself to us to carry out his redemptive mission.

Let’s help everyone learn how to trace the God-given roadmap to heaven.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com