By Fr. Roy Cimagala
ESPECIALLY these days when we are easily carried away by many distracting elements, what with all we can devour in the social media, videos, etc., we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life.
We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness, adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in eternity.
Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy even if we feel we are having a good time in our life.
This fundamental truth about ourselves should be proclaimed time and time again because we are notorious for taking it for granted, if not for violating it. We have to remind everyone that we have to take the necessary steps for us to be aware of this truth and to live according to it.
Obviously, what is truly helpful in this regard is that everyone learns really how to pray, how to engage God in a continuing conversation, or at least to have an abiding awareness of his presence and interventions in our life.
That is why prayer is indispensable in our life. It is what would make us aware of who we really are, what the real purpose of our life on earth is, how we ought to behave in the different situations and circumstances of our life. It is what would help us to refer everything to God, what would keep us in the proper focus.
When we truly pray and keep that prayerful attitude throughout the day, converting ourselves practically into a contemplative soul even while immersed in the things of this world, we would know how to organize our day properly, keenly discerning and discriminating among the many options we have at a given moment.
When we pray, we would know how to be in the world without being of the world or worldly, as Christ mentioned in his priestly prayer. (cfr. Jn 17,16) We would know how to be immersed in the things of the world without being swallowed up by them.
Indeed, when we pray we would become most productive and fruitful in our life, able to convert everything into a means of our sanctification, with its indispensable companion of apostolate, which is what truly matters in this life.
It’s a pity that many people get entangled in the things of this world, as in business and politics, arts and sciences, culture and technologies, but not knowing how to orient these things to God. As a result, while they may show some accomplishments, they end up eaten up by pride, vanity, lust, greed, envy, etc., an example of how people can gain the world but lose their soul. (cfr. Mt 16,26)
We have to convince ourselves that it is all worthwhile to always have a sense of focus in our life.
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
