By Fr. Roy Cimagala
WE all have to be reminded of this basic truth of our Chistian faith. Our life here on earth is actually a journey toward our place of origin and our ultimate destination, which is heaven, where God is, from whom we came and to whom we belong in the most intimate way, since we have been created by him in his own image and likeness, meant to share his very own life and nature.
And it’s a happy journey because God through Christ in the Holy Spirit has given us everything we need to make that journey a success. It really would just depend on us to make that journey reach its proper destination.
In the Book of Isaiah, this truth has already been foretold with the following passage: “Many people shall go, and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (2,3) And a psalm describes that journey in the following words: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” (122,1)
Let’s hope that though we would not know when this journey would finally reach its destination, we should have the sensation at least that everyday we are making progress, that we feel we are getting nearer to it.
This will presume that we are very much aware of this character of our earthly life and are doing the appropriate plans and preparation. Let’s hope that in this regard, we can echo what St. Paul once said: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Cor 9,24)
And to highlight the need for due training and preparation, St. Paul continues by saying, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training…Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly.” (1 Cor 9,25-26) We need to have some sort of regimen to follow.
We may not be the gold medalist in this race of our life, but we should at least be a finisher. That is what is most important. We have to be wary of the danger of getting distracted and confused in our life, trapped in our earthly affairs and failing to refer everything to God.
We need to inculcate in ourselves this mind-frame of an athlete, a racer, a sportsman out to win a race or a game. Our life has a meaning and a purpose that is set not by us but by the Creator of our life. God wants to make us to be his image and likeness, sharers in his divine life. We need to be clear about this real and ultimate meaning and purpose of our life, so we would avoid going about our life without the proper sense of purpose and direction.
We have to develop the proper attitude and skills with regard to this most basic aspect of our life. First of all, we should really ask the ultimate questions of where we came from and where we are supposed to go. Definitely, we just did not come from our parents. We just are not meant to achieve some earthly and temporal goals that by their nature are perishable.
Everyday, with the mind of an athlete, we should make plans and strategies to pursue our ultimate goal through the things we handle in our earthly life.
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
