Holiness in our helplessness

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

WE know that holiness is for everyone. That’s what God wants us to be, since we are his image and likeness, children of his. He wants us to be like him. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Christ told us very clearly. (Mt 5,48)

But we many times think that to be holy and perfect, one should be spotlessly clean of any sin, defect and error. To be sure, to be holy has aspects of these qualities. We have to try our best that we be good all the time, productive and fruitful in our endeavours, active in the service of God, the Church and society.

But holiness should not be seen only in that light. Such understanding of holiness would make it an achievable goal only for a few. It becomes a concern only to the elite who happen to have qualities favourable to these aspects. It can only become the domain of the well-endowed, the strong-willed, and even the superheroes, if not the superhumans.

Holiness has another side. It can and should be achieved in the middle of our weaknesses, our stupidities and follies, our mistakes and sins, our helplessness, as long as we know how to relate them to God.

We cannot deny that in spite of our best efforts, which actually can be a very relative thing since what is best to one is only good to another, we many times find ourselves helpless in the face of our own weaknesses and the strong temptations around.

We cannot deny that in this world, no matter how brilliant and gifted we are, we act like little children who really would not know everything that affects him, much less, how to cope with the many mysteries in life.

Let us always remember that cry of St. Paul when he noticed two conflicting laws raging within himself, the law of the mind and the law of the flesh. (cfr. Rom 7,22-24) Many times, we find ourselves in this situation, and we do not know exactly what to do.

I would say that on these occasions, we just have to suffer our weaknesses, and everything else that are allied to them—our stupidities and follies, our helplessness, etc.—in the way Christ suffered in his passion and death. On that occasion too, Christ made himself helpless against all the malice of man, so he could teach us how to deal with our own helplessness.

We know that Christ made himself helpless to obey the will of his Father for our own salvation. He bore all our sins. This should be the mentality to have when we are reduced to our own state of helplessness.

We should not just suffer our own weaknesses, etc., alone. We should suffer them with Christ, and in that way we convert them into a real path to sanctity. In fact, we can say that the more we suffer, the more chances we have of identifying ourselves more intimately with Christ, who achieved our redemption through his own suffering and death.

Let us always remember that when we suffer and die with Christ, we will also resurrect with him. (cfr. Rom 6,8) Suffering and death do not have the last word in our life. It is redemption, eternal life of bliss with God and with everybody else, that has the last word.

We need to give a full and more fair picture of how holiness can be achieved both in good and bad times. We should not focus on one without the other, because in that way we would be distorting the true nature of holiness and debasing the power of God.

We need to be more open-minded about this issue and avoid stereotyping holiness in some concrete form.

Holiness can be achieved in many and even infinite ways.

The only thing necessary is to relate everything to God.

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Please be welcoming to God. This should be the attitude to have in our relation with God. He always takes the initiative to come to us, to knock at our heart’s door. We should be welcoming to him, and more than that, we should be appreciative of his love and concern for us and learn to correspond by knowing, thanking and loving him better each day.

Toward this end, we may just need a few moments to touch base with this reality and to make it our guiding spirit all throughout the day. We have to feel this need for him, for without him, we can only do nothing, or worse, the only possibility left for us is to sin.

Christ spelled out this innate need for God when he said: “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me, and I in him will bear much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned…” (Jn 15,5-6)

Thus, we have to learn the art of praying, or spending a few moments of meditation, which is not only a matter of technique but more, that of learning how to be with God. A few minutes of meditation is like the refueling and the recharging that we need to make us going properly throughout the day.

Remember that God first created us. And upon our creation, he took the initiative to establish a personal relationship with us.

He talked to our first parents, gave them some instructions. And even if our first parents, and then us, messed up the original plan of God, he did not sever that relationship with us.

Yes, there was and will be divine anger and punishment because of our sins, but he will never abandon us, unless we dare to abandon him. But it is his love for us, shown most especially in his gratuitous mercy he offers to us, that would contain all the aberrations we tend to commit.

Let’s take comfort in what a psalm says about God our Father: “His anger is fleeting but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.” (30,5) Let’s keep these reassuring words always in mind.

We should just try our best to be welcoming to him and to correspond to his will and ways, which is for no other reason but for our own good. We have to realize that the best condition we can be in any given time is when we are with him, actively and intimately corresponding to his will.

Let’s remember that more than us it is he who is shaping and directing our life. We should never dare to shape and direct our life by our lonesome. Not even with the help of many others on whom we can count in some ways. We have to remember that our life is a life of sharing with God. It is a life of communion with him.

We have to be wary of our tendency to do things on our own. Especially these days when we seem to be able to accomplish many things with hardly any reference to God, or when we are intoxicated by our own powers and achievements, we have to deliberately humble ourselves so we would always feel the need for God.

Praying is the most fundamental thing we need to do to keep that relationship with God. And it need not be a matter of saying so many vocal prayers. It is more a state of mind, a way of life where in our own very personal and unique ways, we are conscious that we are with God and doing things with him. We have to be men and women of prayer!

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com