Working daily on our fidelity

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE should never take for granted this duty to work daily on our fidelity. We cannot presume that just because we were fervent when we professed to be faithful to some commitment we made, we can hack it simply by going along what is expected of us. We need to do more than that. And definitely, we need, first of all, to always ask for God’s grace since fidelity is not simply a matter of human effort. It depends on God’s grace.

Remember that episode where St. Peter told Christ he was willing to die for him in order to follow him? (cfr. Jn 13,37) Christ responded in no unclear terms: “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen I say to you, the cock shall not crow, till you deny me three times.” (Jn 13,38) And so it happened as foretold.

We need to realize that the key to fidelity is the love that is nothing less than a living participation of God’s love for all of us. It’s the love that will always make us young, new and refreshed, in spite of the passing of years. It is self-renewing and creative, and never runs out of initiatives to look and try new ways of expressing that love in deeds.

It’s the love that is not afraid of problems, challenges, trials, failures, mistakes, difficulties, suffering, etc. It does not surrender to them even if death overtakes it. It regards them as opportunities and occasions to grow more in love, to grow more in trust in God’s loving providence where everything works for the good as long as we cooperate with him. It’s a love that will always fill us with peace and joy whatever the situation.

We have to understand that this kind of love can only be had if we try our best to be with God, to identify ourselves with him through Christ in the Holy Spirit. This kind of love can only be had if we pray always, if we constantly look for Christ, find him, serve him and imitate him, making him direct and shape our daily life.

This kind of love can only be had if we have recourse to the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist where we have Christ offering himself as the bread of life. In that way, our love acquires a supernatural power that goes infinitely beyond our natural powers. With him, what we cannot do or solve are all taken care of.

Yes, we have to do our part, and we, in fact, should give our all. But we do it always with Christ. With him we would not be afraid where our love and our life will take us. He takes care of everything. What he simply expects from us is to trust him and to try our best to cooperate with him. We therefore would always have hope. And we would always find meaning in everything we experience in life.

Let us see to it then that we are with Christ always. He is real and alive, and not just a figment of our desire to believe. We do not make him up in our mind. More than that, he is full of love for us, full of solicitude toward us. He always has us in his mind and heart. And he is actually actively guiding us at every moment. There is no moment when he is indifferent to us. If we are lost, he, like the Good Shepherd, will take the pains to look for us and rescue us.

We have to learn to discern his presence and his constant interventions in our life. That is why, we need to develop certain practices of piety so that we also can properly and actively correspond to his constant guidance over us.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com