God should be the primary object of our faculties
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
THAT’S right. All our human faculties, both spiritual and corporal, should have
God as the primary object. As of now, it is clear that this truth of our Christian faith is still
unknown or, at best, some breaking news yet, for which many of us still have to make
the appropriate training.
We are reminded of this truth in the readings of the 2 nd Sunday of Advent which
talk about the need for preparation for the coming of the Redeemer. (cfr. Is 40,1-5.9-11;
2 Pt 3,8-14; Mk 1,1-8)
We need to develop and nurture this need for preparation since we all know that
especially nowadays we are practically swallowed up by our earthly concerns. Thoughts
of God and everything that concerns our duties toward him are hardly given any serious
attention.
Our intelligence and will, our emotions, passions, memory and imagination, our
senses should be trained to look for God first and be anchored with him. Otherwise,
there’s no way but for us to get lost and confused, even if we think we are having a
good time by just attending to our earthly concerns.
Let’s remember what Christ said when asked what the greatest commandment
was. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind,” he said. (Mt 22,37) It’s quite clear what priorities we have to observe with respect
to our loving.
To those who ask if God can be found in the things we handle daily and in the
issues, challenges and trials we have to tackle everyday, the answer cannot be any
clearer. God is everywhere. Being the creator of all things, he is in everything that exists
since he is the one who gives and keeps the existence of things. Without him, nothing
exists or reverts to nothing.
Thus, a psalm describes this truth beautifully when it says, “Where can I go from
your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are
there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if
I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand
will hold me fast.” (139,8-10)
With our modern world of very developed sciences and technologies, we should
not forget that God is right there in the middle of everything. We should just train our
faculties, inspired by faith and powered by God’s grace and our effort, to discern God’s
presence, his will and his ways, if we want to be on the right track in our life.
This, of course, is another way of saying that we need to develop a truly
contemplative life where even in our most mundane conditions, we are still with God
and everything that he gives us, including a taste of heaven.
Thus, we need to develop a certain yearning for Christ, a longing, an urge, a
passionate desire, since this is a basic necessity for us, given the fact that Christ is
everything to us. He is our savior. He is the pattern of our humanity. We achieve the
fullness of our humanity when we fully identify ourselves with him, which is something
that can take place only with God’s grace, but also with our all-out effort.
Let’s be wary when we let our faculties get trapped in our earthly concerns.