Effective vigilance only when we are with God
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
THAT gospel parable about the 10 virgins (cfr. Mt 25,1-13) obviously reminds us
of our serious duty to be vigilant at all times because God can call us anytime and we
should be ready for it. We should also be very vigilant because all kinds of evil can
come and assault us anytime, and can even dominate us.
Nowadays, cases are increasing of persons with some forms of addiction and
obsessions, or of some forms of hidden bondage. They feel helpless before this
predicament of theirs because in spite of their efforts to stay away from these
conditions, they would just find themselves giving in sooner or later.
The question is raised about how to handle this phenomenon. And the quick
answer to that is, of course, for us to be truly united with Christ. Like Christ and with
him, we would know how to suffer the unavoidable attacks of evil on us. Like Christ, we
can die as a consequence of these evil attacks. But again, if we are to follow what St.
Paul once said, if we suffer and die with Christ, we also will rise with him. (cfr. Rom 6,8-
11)
Yes, we are assured of victory as long as we are with Christ. It’s this truth of our
Christian faith that should fill us with peace and confidence that things would just be all
right in spite of the heavy drama we may have to go through in this life.
For us to be effectively with Christ, we need both the human and supernatural
means. The latter would include constant prayers, presence of God, recourse to the
sacraments, especially the sacraments of confession and the Holy Eucharist. We need
to develop and sharpen these practices without let-up, because only with God’s grace
can we truly deal with this predicament.
But neither should we neglect the human means. We need to keep ourselves
occupied always, because an idle mind and a lazy body are the favorite targets of the
agents of evil.
We have to remember that we have to contend with a 3-fold enemy: our own
weakened flesh, the many temptations around the world, and the powerful spiritual
enemies. In fact, St. Paul warned us that we are actually ranged against powerful evil
spirits. (cfr. Eph 6,12)
It would be very helpful if we avail of some regimen that would keep us always in
God’s presence and make us feel his love and power which he likes to share with us.
For this, we should develop virtues like fortitude, patience, temperance, industry, etc.
Again, since people can be so dominated by their weakness, if not by something
more serious, like emotional and psychological disorders, that they are completely
helpless if left on their own, they may have to avail of professional care from doctors,
psychologists or psychiatrists. Let’s hope that we can have appropriate facilities easily
available.
Neither should we ignore the possibility of demonic possession or domination, for
which the services for exorcism or deliverance should be resorted to. When people
cannot understand why they continue to fall into the same sins in spite of their earnest
efforts, it could be that they unknowingly are under the spell of evil spirits.
In the end, it will only be when we are truly with God that we can be properly
vigilant and effective in warding off the assaults of evil against us and instead have the
zeal to do a lot of good always.