Our genealogy starts with God

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE need to be clear about this. We may have our human ancestry that defines our biological and natural identity. But we should not forget that we all come from God and our identity is not limited to the biological and other natural standards alone.

Let’s always remember that we are not simply natural beings. What actually defines us and distinguishes us from all other creatures in the universe is that we have a spiritual soul that comes directly from God and is a sharing of his very life and nature.

We should therefore be most mindful of the spiritual and supernatural character of our humanity and try our best, always with God’s grace, to be consistent to it. It would not be presumptuous on our part to claim that there is something already divine in us, just by the way we are. We should just constantly reaffirm that truth and step by step bring it to its fullness.

We need to be more adept in attending to the world of the spiritual and the supernatural which is where we also live, whether we like it or not, aware of it or not. The supernatural aspect of our objective reality can be verified by the fact that there are many mysterious, naturally inexplicable things that take place in our life. There are miracles and other wonders that simply go beyond the limits of our nature.

We have to learn how to deal with our spiritual and supernatural world because that is where the real action is and where our ultimate goal is. That’s where we are truly defined, where our radical dignity is established. That’s where we can have our encounter with God.

We therefore need to think, speak and act in such a way that this spiritual and supernatural character of our humanity is consistently lived out. As God’s image and likeness, our life will always be or should always be a life in God and with God. Let’s feel at home with this fundamental truth about ourselves and do something about it, because while it is God who is the main agent in making our life spiritual and supernatural, we are expected to cooperate and correspond to his will and ways.

And one secret that we can use to keep ourselves spiritual and supernatural is precisely to give some spiritual and religious consideration or meaning to every act we do and to every situation, condition and circumstance we can find ourselves in.

We need to develop the proper attitude, skill and habit of giving spiritual and supernatural considerations to everything that we think about, say and do, so that we can really say that we would always be with God. That is the ideal that we should try to actualize.

One way among many other ways of doing this is to make use of the psalms which are inspired words that express the proper spiritual and supernatural attitude and reaction we ought to have to anything that occurs in our life.

Of course, we have to study and meditate on the psalms well so that we can internalize their real meaning and imbibe the spirit behind the words. We have to know the psalms that are relevant to every act we do and to every situation we can find ourselves in.

Obviously, we have to fight against our tendency to ignore or belittle the importance of the psalms. Given the pervading mindset and culture of our times, we really would need to exert significant effort to appreciate the value of the psalms in our life.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com