Let’s learn to always have the right intention

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE have to realize more deeply that our intentions play an indispensable role in our moral and spiritual life. It’s in our intentions where we can determine whether we are with and for God or simply with and by our own selves.

And if we would just have a little of common sense and, of course, faith, we know that we should always be, as much as possible, with God. Everything we do should always be for his glory which would redound to our own dignification as true children of his.

We are reminded of this truth of our Christian faith in the gospel reading of Wednesday of the 11^th Week in Ordinary Time. (Mt 6,1-6.16-18) There we are told not to show off our good deeds to impress others, but rather to do them in secret since God anyway would know them and would be most happy to see that we are doing them solely for his glory and not for ours.

But given the prevalent and strong world culture today where we are always egged to be strut our stuff, we cannot deny that we have a big challenge to face and tackle. Thus, this task of rectifying our intentions is going to be a tremendous one.

To be sure, we can only rectify our intentions when we are truly with Christ, eager to identify ourselves with him and to follow his example. Imagine that being God he emptied himself to become man and went to the extent of offering his life just to bring us back to him.

To have the rectitude of intention means to assume the very intention of Christ in coming to this world to redeem us. That’s the long and short of it. Outside of that principle, the only thing to happen is to fall into some forms of self-indulgence which can come in very subtle and even imperceptible ways.

It’s important that right at the beginning of the day, as we wake up, we already set our intentions for the day in their proper place. And all throughout the day, we should make some strategic pauses to see that our intentions are still on the right track.

We need to realize that we should offer everything to God and to do nothing other than to do his will, since in the first place, that is really the real purpose of our life here on earth.

We should develop an offering attitude which is the fundamental and indispensable attitude all of us ought to have. It corresponds to the reality that we are God’s creatures, created in his image and likeness, made children of his through his grace, and meant to live our whole life with him.

Absent this attitude, we would be living our life wrongly. We would undermine our own nature, our own freedom, peace and joy. We would be at the mercy of improper forces that may give us temporary advantages but will surely destroy us in the end.

By offering ourselves to God, we would meet the most basic requirement of our human dignity as persons and children of God. Otherwise, we detach ourselves from the very source of life and of everything that is proper to us. We would stupidly dare to live our life by our own selves, relying simply on our own powers as if these powers did not come from God himself that ought to be used according to his will and laws.

            Email: roycimagala@gmail.com