By Fr. Roy Cimagala
“SOME seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” (Mt 13,8)
With these words, Christ is telling us to be that rich soil that would faithfully and gratefully receive God’s word, and to make it so inspire us as to drive us into a most meaningful and fruitful life of personal holiness and apostolate.
Let’s always remember that in the end what really matters in life is for us to be holy and apostolic. And we pursue this goal and ideal through all the events, affairs and circumstances of our life. Let’s hope that we don’t get confused and lost along the way, getting trapped in our temporal concerns that only have a relative value and only play an instrumental role.
It goes without saying that we need to study God’s word well, making it flesh of our flesh. On this, St. Paul said: “Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” (Rom 2,13) St. James says something similar: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (1,22)
Christ himself lived by this principle, even at the expense of his own life. “I do nothing of myself, but as the Father has taught me…” (Jn 8,28) And in the agony in the garden, he expressed that most eloquent submission to his Father’s will, “Not my will but yours be done.” (Lk 22,42)
To study and live by God’s word will always be an ongoing and never-ending affair in this life. Just the same, whatever we know and learn from it, let us also share it with others as widely as possible. We have to continue the sowing, taking the effort also to prepare the ground so that the seed of God’s word would not be wasted but would rather bear a lot of fruit.
But we have to understand well what the word of God really is. To be sure, God’s word is not just any word. Neither is God’s word just a brilliant idea, a practical doctrine, and effective ideology. It’s not just a strategy, a culture or a lifestyle.
God’s word, of course, can involve all these. But unless we understand that God’s word is Christ himself, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the perfect image and word that the one God has of his own self, we will miss the real essence and character of God’s word. It’s this word that would bring us to the fullness of our humanity.
We need to realize then that the word of God is inseparable from God himself. That’s because God is so perfect as to be in absolute simplicity. As such, God has no parts, no different aspects, no quality or property that is distinct from his very being. His word and his being are one and the same.
Of course, Christ, as God’s word, comes to us in human form that is subject to the limitations and fragility of our human condition. He can appear to us right before our eyes, but we still cannot capture everything about him. Such state of affairs should prod us to know him more and more so as to love him more and more also. Our relationship with him should be a matter of continuing knowing and loving
That’s how we can handle God’s word properly!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
