When We Reach Our Limits

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

SINCE true Christian love will always ask for more and, in fact, endless things, we should not be surprised when at a certain point we will reach our limits. We know that we are supposed not to say enough in our self-giving, but given our limited natural condition that is poised to enter into the supernatural life of God, there will always be a limit in that self-giving.

When that moment arrives, we should just assume the very attitude of Christ who, when on the cross reached the limit of his self-giving in spite of the overwhelming effort to do a lot of good to everyone, just left everything in the hands of his Father. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” he said. (Lk 23,46)

We should just leave everything in the hands of God who will be the only one to complete and perfect everything that is meant for us. Remember St. Paul telling us: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6)

This can only mean that while we do everything we can, we should in the end learn how to live a healthy spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have.

A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith.

In this life, we need to acquire a good, healthy sporting spirit, because life is actually like a game. Yes, life is like a game. We set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we are primed to win and we do our best, but losses can come, and yet, we just have to move on.

Woe to us when we get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in a hanging narrative, when a comma, a colon or semi-colon would have sufficed.

We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world.

We should never forget that God is always around. He never abandons us in spite of our stupidities. In fact, the more we stray from him, the more solicitous he would be of us. We should just learn how to convert this psalm into reality: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (95,8)

We always have to go to God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. This is not an exercise of surrender and futility, but rather of conquest and victory. With God, everything always works for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28)

St. Paul precisely recommended this move. “Do not be anxious about anything,” he said, “but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 6,6-7)

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com