The best security

Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE worry about all kinds of security. And it’s all understandable. We need them for some peace of mind. We want to have security from physical harm, security in our job so that we can have steady source of income, security in some unavoidable conditions like old age, sickness, etc.

We cannot overemphasize the effort we exert to attain as much security as possible. And it’s good that we already some significant structures to provide all these kinds of security.

But we have to remember that the most fundamental and indispensable security we can and should have is that of maximizing as much as we can our faith, hope and charity in God and in others. This is the kind of security that underwrites all the others. Whatever happens, it’s in our faith, hope and charity that will bring us afloat to our final and definitive destination.

As St. Paul would put it, “I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,11-13)

Of course, this fundamental spiritual and supernatural sense of security should never be made to undermine all the effort we need to attain the necessary security in the temporal and worldly sense.

We have to guard ourselves from lapsing into some kind of superstitious and fideist attitude that precisely relies exclusively on one’s so-called faith without the corresponding human effort to put that faith into practice. We qualify the word, faith, with “so-called,” because a faith treated that way is no faith at all.

This anomaly can happen just as much as that of the other extreme, when we would just rely solely on our human powers without any recourse to faith, hope and charity. Yes, it’s true that we should try our best to be selfeliant, but our selfeliance should not come at the expense of our absolute dependence on God.

We need both. The perfect balance is when we can truly say that we depend on God 100% and also depend on ourselves 100%. It’s not a 50%-50% proposition, nor any combination that divides the 100% ideal.

Thus, both our spiritual and supernatural life, on one hand, and our natural life of work and human ingenuity, on the other, should be at their best state. Everything has to be done to achieve that ideal.

In the school where I work, this is the thrust I am pushing with the help of all the other teachers and mentors. The students have to be trained to be both spiritual and practical. And so far, my experience has been that the students have a deep stock of potentials in both the spiritual and the practical.

If dealt with properly, the students correspond well to the challenges not only in the school but most especially all the challenges in life in general. They possess a deep sense of security that is above the ups and downs of earthly life. No matter what happens, they can afford to be at peace and to be certain of where they are going.

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Contented with what we have. While we are always a work in progress, always moving on and pursuing our dreams and aspirations, we should not forget that we have to be contented and thankful with what we already have and accomplished. Let’s count our blessings, and avoiding complacency, let’s make use of what we have to get to our dreams and aspirations.

Somehow this is the message of the gospel of the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, which is about the parable of the landowner hiring workers at different hours for the usual daily wage. (Mt 20,1-16)

The worker hired at the first hour compared himself with the one hired at the last hour and thought that he would be given more than what the last worker received, since he obviously worked longer than the other.

But the thing was that the wage was fixed and agreed upon before the first-hour worker was taken in. He ended up complaining against the magnanimity and generosity of the landowner who just wanted to give the same amount to the workers who only worked for one hour.

We should refrain from comparing ourselves with others to the point that we fall into envy and later fault God himself for not giving us what we want. That would be a disaster!

God has his reasons to apportion his graces and blessings in different ways and amount to each one of us. Ours is simply to ask for these graces and to make use of them as best as we can. We should not waste time comparing what we have with what the others have received from God.

If ever we have to consider what the others have, it is for the purpose of establishing how what we have can work in tandem with what the others have. Since we always live in some form of communion, we cannot help but work together with others, harmonizing our different gifts for the good of all.

And so, we have to slay envy everytime it makes us its port of call. We have to let it know immediately that it is unwelcome. And the way to do it is to go to Christ immediately, praying, sacrificing, and reminding ourselves of Christ’s example and teaching.

We need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, however we are placed and situated in life. Not everyone can be bright, talented, successful, etc. Some have to do the menial job, take care of the little things, be at the background.

We should not feel inferior to anyone because we are all children of God, equally loved by him although shown in different ways. Everyone has the same dignity and vocation, though lived and pursued in different ways.

We have to love everyone as Christ has loved all of us, without exception. He even told us to love our enemies. But given our human weakness, we need to be more pro-active in living out what St. Paul once advised: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” (Phil 2,3)

It’s important that we understand this piece of Pauline advice well and let’s be comforted by these words of his:

“God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,” he says. “God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1,27)

In this regard, we have to be most careful in handling our intentions. They play a strategic role in our life, for how and where we direct them would determine whether we want to be with God and simply be with our own selves.

Our intentions express who and where in the end we want to be. Do we choose God, or do we simply choose ourselves, or the world in general? It’s actually a choice between good and evil.

Even if we are not aware, or refuse to be aware, of this choice, which is usually the case, the choice between God and us, between good and evil, is always made with every human act we do.

We need to realize then that we have to take utmost care of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God.

We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it, since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com