Never say enough

Fr. Roy Cimagala /

WE are, of course, aware of our limitations and many times we have to say enough. And that’s good to do. It shows we are humble and realistic enough to acknowledge them.

But there’s one area in our life where we should never say enough. And that’s in our spiritual life, in our duty to love God and others as Christ himself has loved us, that is, all the way to death on the cross.

And with Christ, our death is not an end, but what leads us to our resurrection to eternal life. As St. Paul would put it, “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rom 6,5)

The duty itself of loving knows no bounds. As St. Francis de Sales said, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” And we might ask, is this possible, is this doable?

The answer, of course, is yes. In the first place, there is in us a spiritual capacity that would lead us to the world of the spiritual and supernatural, the world of the infinite.

And what is possible in us because of our spiritual faculty is made actual because God himself gives us his grace, that free gift that would enable us to actually enter into the very life of God. We are reassured that this grace is given to us in abundance.

Even if sin abounds, God’s grace will still abound even more, St. Paul tells us.

With his grace, we can manage to have a supernatural life with God, the kind of life meant for us since we are God’s image and likeness, children of his. Our very human nature is meant to have a supernatural life in God. It not meant to a merely natural human life, much less, an animal life ruled mainly by instincts and emotions alone.

With his grace, what is impossible for us to achieve by relying only on our spiritual powers is made possible, for nothing is impossible with God. (cfr Lk 1,37) St. Paul verified that when he said: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,13) Yes, we can do all things with Christ in spite of our limitations.

In view of all these truths of our faith, we should try to have a go-getter and can-do attitude toward life in general. We should reflect the spirit behind Christ’s words when he said, “For their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth.” (Jn 17,19) Yes, we can do more and be more than how we are at the moment.

Again, St. Paul echoes the same sentiment when he said: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24) That’s the attitude to have, the “carpe diem” attitude!

We should avoid falling into the state of complacency and mediocrity in whatever we are doing. We have to aim always higher, not so much in terms of the physical output of our work as of the intensity of the love we put into our work. In loving, there is no limit. Its very law is to give it without measure.

That way, even our ordinary, prosaic things in life can acquire a purifying, sanctifying, redemptive and eternal value. And when we come face to face with our weakness and are tempted to say enough, all we have to do is to pray and beg God to help us to go on.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com