Staying on course

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE have to learn the art of how to stay on course in our life so that we do not get distracted, confused, entangled and lost. For this, we have to be clear about what the real and ultimate purpose of our life is, as well as know how to relate everything in our life—both the good things and the bad—to this purpose.

This, of course, would require us to undertake regular review and updating of our plans and strategies through practices like daily examinations of conscience, monthly days of recollection, annual retreats, etc. And even during the day, we should make a number of pit stops to see if we are still on course or are already getting deviated from the proper way.

We should always keep sharp our awareness that our life is actually something like a journey where we are expected to make daily progress on our way to our ultimate home or destination, which is to be with God in heaven. Yes, we have to realize deeply and abidingly that our life here on earth is also like a test God gives us, to see if what he wants us to be is also what we ourselves would like to be.

We are somehow reminded of this need of ours in the gospel of the Mass on Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter. (Jn 6,30-35) “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst,” Christ told a crowd of people, somehow telling us also that it should be Christ who should be the object of our real hunger and thirst.

Thus, we have to realize that we need to educate our biological or bodily functions, insofar as possible, such that they acquire a theological meaning and purpose and not just purely biological functions.

If we are truly serious in our Christian duty to make ourselves “another Christ” who is the pattern of our humanity and the redeemer of our damaged humanity, then the Christian transformation of our own selves should not only involve our spiritual faculties—our intelligence and will—but also our biological or bodily powers.

Thus, when we experience hunger for food or thirst for some drink, it should not just be food and drink that we should be interested in. We should not remain in the level of the material aspect of our life. Our hunger and thirst should also lead us to God.

For this to take place, we certainly need a kind of plan or program to keep our spiritual life alive and vibrant even as we go through the drudgery of the routine things or the excitement of new and challenging things.

We need to realize more seriously that more than feeding our body, we actually need to feed our soul which, being the principle of our life, is more important than the body. We are not just a biological being, like the plants and animals. We are human beings, persons with a rational nature and animated by a spiritual soul.

We need to discipline ourselves to follow a certain plan that would help us keep alive our awareness of our need to make Christ the constant focus and goal of our life. This would mean that we learn how to be in contemplative mode even as we immerse ourselves in our earthly affairs.

This is the way to properly stay on course in life!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com