Breaking the ‘as-usual’ mold

Fr. Roy Cimagala . 

WE have to be wary of our strong tendency to fall into routine that can spawn many other anomalies such as complacency, spiritual lukewarmness, mediocrity, a self-satisfaction that seeks no further improvement in oneself, etc.

It’s true that many times we do the same things day in and day out. But we should try our best that we avoid falling into simply doing them mechanically, that is, mindlessly and/or deprived of the love that is always needed in all our activities.

Besides, with how things are now, many times we really have to react to the ways things are done usually because of the many imperfections such ways have. That is why many people give a negative connotation of resignation or surrender when they say ‘politics as usual,’ for example, or ‘business as usual.’

We have to see to it that whatever we are doing, even if it is done in a routine way due to its nature, should be done with love. Where there is love, everything will always appear and feel new and fresh even if it is done a thousand times in a day and even for a long period of time. We would never get used to them.

With love, there will be no boredom at all. Tiredness will hardly be felt. The dangers of stress are properly handled. There will always be some kind of drive and zeal, a sensation of excitement, thrill and suspense.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Given our human condition, we cannot deny that we are easily prone to all these not-so-welcome situations of boredom, tiredness, stress, etc. But we have a way of dealing with these predicaments.

And what is this way? It is the way that Christ taught and showed. It is to actively look for the reason to love, which in the end is a matter of looking for God. Otherwise, we would just succumb to our human limitations and weaknesses, and put ourselves prone to temptations.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” Christ said. (Mt 7,7) In other words, we should not just wait for some special inspiration to come to us for us to continue loving God through what we are doing. We have to actively look for love, for God in the routine things we do.

And neither should we just have that attitude of following where the things will lead us, a rather popular meme among some young people today. Given our limited, not to mention, weakened and wounded condition, if we just follow where things will lead us, then sooner or later will we find ourselves nowhere, or confused, if not lost.

We have to actively look for God, by making acts of faith, hope and love. In that way, even in situations that challenge or go beyond our comprehension and our human condition, we can still manage to do things with love.

And this should be done irrespective of whether our moods, our physical, emotional, psychological and intellectual condition at a given moment are favorable or not in making those acts of faith, hope and love.

In this way, we would be asserting our spiritual and supernatural bearing, freeing ourselves from the grip of our purely material and worldly condition. And we would get to see things differently.

Even the negative events—the difficulties, challenges, even the failures, setbacks, etc.—acquire meaning, shed new lights, provide new angles of understanding. As St. Paul would put it, “all things work together for good to them that love God.” (Rom 8,28)

We have to help one another acquire the skill of breaking the ‘as-usual’ mentality and lifestyle, so common these days. We have to help everyone to do things with real love, so that even in their routine activities, they will see things always new and fresh, and urged to embark on an adventure of love.

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Altruism vs. narcissism. We have to be aware of this danger. With how things are now, it is quite easy and tempting for something that is good to be spoiled because of a rotten intention one has in carrying it out. Yes, one can give alms, do a lot of social work and many works of mercy, but the motive is not true love for God and for others, but self-love.

This is when altruism is used as a mask for narcissism.

How many times do we notice that some prominent people—usually politicians and even clerics, bishops not excluded—showing off their good work! It’s truly a pity.

They simply go against what Christ said. “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Mt 6,1)

They simply go against the example of Christ—the way, the truth and the life for us—who performed a lot of miracles, but who always told the beneficiaries not to announce these miracles openly.

Christ knew how to pass unnoticed even while carrying out the most important mission for mankind. When he was asked to go to Jerusalem to show his good works there, he refused. (cfr. Jn 7,1-10)

But when disciples went there for the Jewish Festival of the Tabernacles, he also went, but not publicly. He did it in secret.

We have to be wary of our tendency and the strong temptation to bask in the limelight, flaunting whatever we have or have done. Such tendency and temptation is our way of glorifying ourselves because we would then be acting on our own authority and not on the authority of God.

Regarding this point, Christ said, “He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him is a man of truth. In him, there is no falsehood.” (Jn 7,18)

To be able to distinguish between authentic altruism and a fake one that can only masks one’s narcissism, we need to defer always to the authority of God. Our thoughts, words and deeds, our intentions, desires and plans should only be inspired by God’s will and ways, by his tremendous love for us that knows how to pass unnoticed.

It’s amazing that nowadays we see a lot of prominent people, including high clerics, falling into the false charms of narcissism by deftly using the mask of altruism. They do a lot of selfies, they flaunt their accomplishments, they show unashamedly the foreign places they gone to, the restaurants and the food they have eaten, the number of fans they have, etc.

They talk a lot about themselves. Actually the spotlight is more on them than on their good deeds. The latter are mere props, simply used to feed their own egos. We have to be careful with this kind of leaders. Christ already warned us amply about false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, etc. We have to be discerning to avoid being taken for a ride.

While it’s true that some kind of publicity is needed in one’s work, extreme care should be made so that we do not hijack for ourselves the glory that only belongs to God. In everything that we do, only Christ should be known, loved and served. We should try to avoid the incidental glory that can fall on us due to our work. And if it cannot be avoided, we should immediately refer it to God.

In this regard, constant rectification and purification of our intentions is needed. We should be able to echo what St. John the Baptist once said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn 3,30)

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com