Homecoming

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

IT’S always a happy occasion or, at least, one that is full of emotions. And even if we have mixed feelings about it, we would still look forward to a homecoming, since it reminds us of the past, of a sense of togetherness and shared experiences, of our origins. Homecomings are actually a necessity for us. Its immediate effect is undoubtedly one of joy and thanksgiving as we reconnect with familiar faces.

It brings back memories, insights, precious lessons learned, and many other things, happy and sad, that occurred between the past and the present. The road to the present, marked with lights and shadows, has given us a good, meaningful journey. Life may have led us to different and separate ways, but we are still together as one family, one clan, one class.

And regardless of how our accounting of things turns out, whether it is in the black or in the red, a win or a loss in human terms, we would still be happy and thankful because what matters is that, once upon a time and in varying periods of time, we have lived with others who are close to us and with whom we have some intimate relations—our parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, classmates, teachers, friends, etc..

We can never fully account the value they have added to our life. We know by some mysterious ways that they have helped in shaping us the way we are today. We know that God is always in control of things and would know how to derive good even from evil. And so, even if we have experienced some negative things by the hands of others, we still know that with God everything will work out for the good.

We just have to make sure that our homecomings are not simply an exercise of nostalgia and mere sentimentalism. They, the homecomings, have a significance that is truly important to all of us. That’s because in the end, they remind us that we all come from God, our Father and Creator. He is the origin of our togetherness, the pattern, the power and also the end or purpose of our unity.

The homecomings are a good reminder that we are and should be together in our continuing journey toward our ultimate end who is God himself, who made us to be his image and likeness, and wants us to share his very life. Yes, the homecomings remind us that we need each other, and that we are, with God, responsible for one another.

The homecomings are a good reminder that we need to help one another in this universally common journey of ours. They remind us that there is a continuum among the past, the present and the future, and eventually, eternity with God. Our life here on earth is the time God uses to carry out his delicate task of creating and redeeming us. It is a divine initiative that requires our full but free and loving correspondence.

The homecomings also remind us that the way we perform in our temporal life here on earth determines the kind of eternity we will have. So we need to be keen with regard to the great responsibility we have in our hands. They remind us that we be faithful to our commitments and everything else that such fidelity would require.

They are a good occasion to make some kind of accounting and examination of conscience, to know where we are progressing and where we are retrogressing. Let us never miss this aspect of the homecomings. We should come out of them refreshed and renewed, with a clearer vision and stronger impulse to reach our goals.

The homecomings should strengthen our sense of togetherness and of our common and mutual duties and responsibilities for one another. These should be consequences after every homecoming.

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Guarded, protected but on the go. In this life, with all the bad elements we have to contend with, we really would need to be properly guarded, protected but also keeping ourselves always on the go. We should not just be on the defense mode all the time. We should also know how to be on the attack mode especially in our spiritual and moral life.

Yes, we cannot deny that in this world, we cannot escape evil in all its forms. And let’s always remember that in this world, good and evil co-exist. We have been warned about this in that gospel parable about the wheat and the weeds, the good seed and the bad seed. (cfr. Mt 13,24-30)

We should not forget that the many forms of evil can be very subtle because it will always need to have the cover of good things to inflict their malice. Even the temptations of the devil will always be coated with something good and nice.

This confusing mix of good and evil is usually present in the world of media and social communication, where the so-called fake news can take advantage of certain facts to pursue a self-interest and not the common good.

It is also most present in the world of politics where politicians can have selfish interests in mind while promoting projects that in themselves can produce some good. The same is true in the world of business and the use of the new technologies.

We really would need to be most discerning about this phenomenon, learning how to take advantage of what is good in a temptation, for example, while knowing also how to avoid the evil that accompanies them. Doing so is complying with what Christ himself told us: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Mt 10,16)

To be simple and innocent is not equivalent to being naïve and simplistic, fantasizing that we can live in a world where everything will be black and white, or that we can live in an isolated world, escaping from the real challenges in this world. We live in a real world where the combinations of good and evil can be infinite.

We just have to learn how to live with that condition. That is why to a certain extent we need to be immunized, allowing the dirt of evil to come to our system if only for us to develop the relevant antibodies in their proper amount so we can resist the effects of evil and go on living. We can even take advantage of the effects of evil to produce a lot of good.

To be sure, Christ himself has shown us how to deal with this condition. He clearly told us about what is good and evil, what is right and wrong. And since evil in this world will always persist, he taught us how to suffer and die with them so that we can also resurrect with him.

And the saints, following closely the teaching and example of Christ, precisely got involved in some dirt, in some form of evil, suffering them with Christ so they too would resurrect with Christ.

In other words, we cannot expect to be squeaky clean in this life. We have to expect to get dirty in this life. It’s something that is unavoidable. But let’s hope that we can manage to handle that condition without compromising what is most important in our life—our relation of love with God and with others, a love that was shown to us perfectly by Christ.

In this regard, it might be good to review the principles that govern the so-called material, not formal, cooperation in evil. We have to be good in this so that we would know how to live with evil in this world while advancing in our journey towards God, towards heaven.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com