By Fr. Roy Cimagala
THIS is the lesson we can learn from that gospel episode where Christ corrected his disciples who wanted to bring fire on a Samaritan village that did not welcome them. (cfr. Lk 9,51-16)
We cannot deny that in our life, in spite of our good intentions and deeds, there will be times when we still can be rejected and even ridiculed by some people for one reason or another. We have to be guarded against reacting on these occasions in a purely human way, not the Christian way.
Indeed, our zeal to follow Christ can intriguingly counter what to be a true Christian is. We should not be too surprised by this phenomenon. It’s part of our wounded human condition here on earth. But we should correct ourselves as soon as possible.
A true Christian loves everyone, including one’s enemies. He is willing to suffer, and even to die, if necessary, out of love for God and for everyone else. The contradictions he encounters in life do not snuff out his eagerness to continue doing a lot of good.
Yes, we will always be hounded by contradictions in our life, but let’s learn the art of converting them into occasions to go to God more closely. And that’s when, with God, we can manage to derive good from evil.
On our part, we just have to be humble enough to accept this fact of life, and more, to go to God to ask for forgiveness and help every time we are feel the sting of evil. It is pure pride when we refuse to acknowledge this fact of life, and more so, when we refuse to go to God for forgiveness and help.
We have to realize that the root of this all-too-human reactions of ours before certain contradictions is the fact that we are not yet as spiritual and supernatural as God wants us to be. St. Paul offers some explanation in his Letter to the Romans:
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
“So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work with me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (7,14-25)
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
