Orchestrating the small steps to achieve the grand design

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THIS should always be our constant concern. We should have a good grasp of what the big picture is of our life, what our ultimate goal is. And then we should be concerned about how we can relate all the items of day, both the big and small, the material and spiritual, and the different aspects of our life to this ultimate goal.

For this, we need to have the proper focus of our life, knowing what the real and ultimate purpose of our life is, and then build up a certain unity of life that puts all the different elements of our life into a coherent whole in such a way that the ultimate purpose of life is abidingly pursued.

This is, of course, a big challenge we have today, considering the tremendous amount of distractions we have, both the legitimate and the illegitimate ones, the latter far outnumbering the former.

Yes, we need some distractions as a way of rest and relaxation. But in this human need, we should not lose our proper focus. Rather, we have to learn how to stay properly focused while having those legitimate distractions. We have to be most wary of our tendency to be so carried away by them that we compromise that focus.

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 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.

Indeed, there’s now a deeply felt need to tackle this spreading predicament, and some serious studies are now undertaken to confront this challenge.

Still, most of the efforts remain in the purely human and natural level, examining the psychological or sociological aspects, etc., but hardly beyond. Though some helpful data can be derived, I’m afraid these studies will fall short of the goal. We should not just prescribe a placebo for this predicament.

We have to understand that the problem is basically a spiritual and moral one. It cannot be effectively solved by treating the symptoms only. We need to identify and isolate the virus itself, and destroy it.

We need to realize that in the end and always, it is only God, the living God, our Creator and Father, as well as our Savior and Sanctifier, who can provide us with the real principle of unity in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we don’t go all the way to recognize this basic truth about us.

This, of course, is a truth of faith, not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in God.

We have to reiterate the truth that we need God to have a solid, genuine unity of life and an unwavering focus even in the midst of so many things in our life.

We just have to learn how to strengthen our relation with God, overcoming our natural awkwardness and difficulties, knowing how to pray, studying and assimilating the doctrine, availing of the sacraments, rectifying our intention, developing the virtues, observing proper priorities, etc.

This way, we would be effectively orchestrating the many elements of our life to achieve the ultimate goal of our life!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com