Learn to leave all behind

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

This is not meant to be a morbid piece. Far from it. Rather, it’s meant for us to be realistic and to really focus on what is absolutely necessary and essential in our life, without getting unduly entangled with the things in this life that at best only have a relative value.

Our present condition, where we are deprived of certain comforts, conveniences, privileges, etc., is a good occasion for us to learn the art of how to leave everything behind , because one day it will be our turn to go, and what is left with us would be what we have in our heart.

 

This is what we are going to present to our Creator when we go back to him on judgment day. This is the only thing necessary. (cfr. Lk 10,42) Of course, that love can only be proven by the way we handle all the things in this life—whether we did them or lived them always with love for God and for others in mind and heart.

 

Love for God and others should always be the motive of everything that we do — from our thoughts and intentions, to our words, and to our work. It should also be the motive when we have to go through the different circumstances of our life, the good ones as well as the bad ones, our fortunes and our misfortunes.

We have to be wary of our tendency to get entrapped in our earthly and temporal affairs or when we fail to live love for God and for others in the different events and circumstances of our life.

We usually have the strong tendency to be motivated only by human and earthly values in everything that we do. We have to be more wary of this danger and do everything to avoid it or correct it.

As St. Paul once said: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) Not contented with this, he again said: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col 3,2)

Not that our earthly and temporal affairs are not important. They are! They are very important, in fact. But as means and occasions to love God and others. Failing in that love, we can be accused of what Christ once said: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Mk 8,36)

As said earlier, our earthly and temporal affairs only have a relative value, and they acquire that value only when it is related to the absolute value, which is none other than love for God and others.

 

That relative value of our earthly and temporal affairs certainly would lead us to love them — and we can love them with a certain passion — but also with a certain detachment. We should not consider them as our ultimate end.

A saint once said that our affairs in this world can and should be the “divine paths of the earth.” It is there where God intervenes in our life in his continuing work of creation and redemption. Because of this truth, he even went to the extent of “passionately loving the world.” But, of course, without becoming worldly.

 

Thus, we always need to rectify our intentions and motives, because we are easily seduced and beholden to worldly values only. In this we have to constantly examine ourselves. Our human condition here on earth is very precarious insofar as our proper motives for doing things are concerned.

Toward this end, we definitely need frequent reminders and appropriate practices of piety, like doing examinations of conscience,  saying many ejaculatory prayers and aspirations all throughout the day, as well as some human devices like looking at the crucifix and religious images if only to put us in the proper spiritual and supernatural mode as we go through our earthly affairs.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com