Let’s always be faithful to our commitments

By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THAT gospel parable about a landlord who leased his vineyard to tenants (cfr. Mt
21,33-43) reminds us that we should be faithful to whatever commitments we enter into.
Commitments are an expression of an undying love which can only be carried out if we
have true and undying love as well, one that is the fruit of God’s grace and our all-out
effort.
In other words, we can only be faithful if we are truly with God, that is, if God is
the principle and goal of our commitments. Outside of that dynamic, that is, if we rely
only on our own powers, we would have serious reasons to suspect that we cannot go
the distance in fulfilling our commitments. Pieces of evidence of these unfortunate
cases are plenty.
But how can we keep our commitments of love—of God and of everybody
else—till forever? How do we keep the flame of love ever burning despite the cold and
the dust that can come our way? I believe the answer is in our understanding of the very
nature of the commitment of love.
For many of us, we understand the commitment of love more as a matter of
feelings or of material, bodily or carnal attraction. Of course, it is true that in love,
everything that we have and we are, are involved. The emotions and the passions play
an important role. Except that in true love, we have to give the primary role to our
spiritual faculties of the intelligence and the will, not to mention, the primary role of
God’s grace.
It’s these faculties or powers that would enable us to enter into the spiritual and
supernatural dimension of love. And it’s in these dimensions where we can find the true
source, pattern, energy and purpose of our commitment of love, who in the end is God.
It’s in these dimensions that can make our commitment persevere and constantly
burning despite the ups and downs of our life, or the dizzying drama of our earthly
sojourn.
The commitment of love that is a participation in the love of God can take on
anything. The good things would not spoil us, making us proud, conceited, vain,
complacent, etc. And the bad things would neither put us down, no, not even the
scandals and betrayals of those close to us.

This true commitment of love will always stay on course, just like what couples
promise on their wedding day—to love and honor each other “for better, for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”
When young people come to me telling me that they are already dating
somebody, I always give them a primer on relationships which should be anchored
properly on God and the whole truth about what love, commitment and fidelity would
involve. They usually have a very narrow and shallow view of these realities that they
like to chase more with their emotions only.
When they are still very young, as when they are still studying, I tend to
discourage them from making any serious relationship, since they are not ready for
marriage and family life. I tend to advise them in a ribbing way by saying that at their
age, they should make as many friends as possible so that when they are ready to
marry, they can choose the best one for them.