Evolving with the world

Fr. Roy
Cimagala .

BECAUSE we are told through our first parents to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living animal that moveth upon the earth,” (Gen 1,28) the world cannot help but to evolve with us as the motor of such evolution.

Of course, we can only carry out that task with God, following his will and ways, following his commandments. In other words, we are made his stewards of the world he created for us. We have a great responsibility over it.

Obviously, the world has its inherent God-given law, its God-given nature which we should respect and develop. What makes our task more exciting and challenging is that our sins—starting with those of our first parents down to those of us in the present—have left their mark in the world and we also have to contend with the effects and consequences of our sins, as we as its steward develop and care for it.

When we say that we have to evolve with the world, it means that we ourselves have to evolve to adapt to the continuing and changing challenges the world poses on us. We cannot remain in a static way of handling the world, because the world is constantly evolving. We have to try to dominate it rather than be dominated by it. This is the constant challenge.

To properly evolve with the world, we have to be truly identified with God, its creator and provident keeper. Otherwise, there’s no way but to be confused and to get lost. God in dealing with the world goes all the way to “send his only-begotten son” so that we do not perish but rather gain eternal life. (cfr Jn 3,16) Without him, we cannot dominate the world but rather be dominated by it.

God himself, in converting his eternal designs for the world into time to accommodate our human condition, has to send his son who became man. He completely adapted himself to the condition of man, including assuming all the consequences of sin without committing sin.

This is how we also have to evolve and adapt to the world.

With Christ, we should be willing to go all the way to assuming the ways of the world that are affected by our sins without committing sin.

That’s the ideal. The reality is that no matter how careful we are in dealing with the world, we always manage to err and fall into sin. And yet, as long as we return to Christ, quickly asking for forgiveness and his grace, what may seem impossible for us to do can become possible, what is broken is fixed. And we just have to continue dominating the world even as we evolve with it, following God’s will as best as we can.

This can mean many things in practical terms. We have to learn how to be faithful and consistent in following God’s will while being dynamic, open-minded and versatile in dealing with the world.

We should not run away from the challenges of the world, but face them properly, with due preparation. We should be willing to get dirty even as we try not to get dirty in what is important and essential to us. And if we get dirty inside, that is, if we commit sin, we can always find ways to clean up.

The world has to be dealt with the way it is, warts and all, and not the way we want it to be. With Christ, we can do all things, bear all things, etc.

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Prowling for the Ruin of Souls. The warning is actually meant for everyone, but I believe it is meant especially for priests who carry the most delicate task of ministering the people of God so that Christ, not the priests, would

always be shown to them, and that Christ’s words, not the priests’ words, opinions, theories, etc., are what the people hear.

The warning comes from the first letter of St. Peter: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (5,8) We, priests, should take these words very seriously.

It cannot be denied that a certain worldly culture, so prevalent these days, can easily lend credence to the subject of this warning. Priests are the best target of the devils because when they fall, they don’t fall alone but bring many others with them. The devils are shrewd and they know about the so-called “economy of scale.”

And we have to understand that when we get closer to God because of our work of sanctification and our position in the Church and society, the devil works double-time to trick and trap us. He will use very subtle means, coming up with many good-looking and sweet-tasting ploys that are injected with his venom.

We should always be most discerning. We cannot let our guard down at any time, because the devil does not take vacation until he succeeds with his plots against us.

We, priests, should know how to do spiritual combats with the devil. We ought to know the art of offense and defense. And this can only happen if we try our best to keep our spiritual and supernatural bearing.

We should be the first one to heed what St. Paul said: “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6,13)

We, priests, should take our life of prayer and sacrifice seriously. We should be the first to wage continuing interior struggle, never falling into complacency in this regard. Doing all these does not alienate us from the people, but rather would attract them to us properly.

We have to overcome the myth that by being serious with our spiritual and supernatural identity, we end up acting strange and weird, unable to relate ourselves with the realities on the ground.

Hardly anything can be farther from the truth. By being close to Christ, we in fact would know how to act with total naturalness, knowing how to blend with anyone and anything, without compromising the essential.

Let us follow Christ’s advice to deny ourselves and carry the cross with him. That is how we can keep ourselves safe from the deceptive tricks of the devil. That is also how we can effectively show Christ to one and all in an abiding manner, and not just intermittently.

Let us just focus on what we are supposed to do, and give our all there. We are promised that what we give will actually return to us a hundredfold. It’s the best deal that we can have.

One good prayer that we can say everyday in this regard is that addressed to St. Michael:

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do you, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com