By Fr. Roy Cimagala
IF we really know what the purpose of our life is and are dead serious to achieve it, then we should see to it that right at the beginning of the day, we put ourselves in the proper frame of mind, and with the appropriate attitude, plans and strategies to support our quest for the day.
We have to be wary of the many factors and elements that tend to undermine this ideal which is actually a duty for all of us. We know that we have to contend with our weaknesses, like laziness, disorder, distractions, superficiality, our exaggerated love for comfort and convenience.
This is not to mention that we have to contend with many temptations that come not only from our own selves, but also from the world itself and from the devil and other evil spirits that actively conspire to ruin our spiritual life.
That is why we need to first of all recover our senses as fully and as quickly as possible when we wake up, and then spend a few moments of reflection and planning in order to put ourselves in our proper spiritual and supernatural bearing.
Of course, we have to do all this with naturalness, although we cannot deny that we need to exert effort and self-discipline to achieve this ideal condition. But as long as we persist in doing this, time will come that combining naturalness with effort and self-discipline will become automatic, as in, it becomes second nature to us.
This practice, I believe, important and indispensable as it is, should be widely popularized until it becomes an integral part of everyone’s life and of the people’s culture in general. Thus, we need models, endorsers and trainers who can actively and effectively promote this basic practice. Let’s hope that we can get many people for this purpose.
Truth is we are confronted with the daunting challenge of a world that is getting increasingly secularized. Even those who profess themselves to be Christian believers find it hard to keep the bearing proper of their condition as believers.
For one, we cannot deny that the world is now saturated with a lot of information, data and other materials that, while serving some valid purpose, can also easily become distractions and occasions for all kinds of temptations.
Many people are swallowed up merely by the dynamic of worldly values. They fail to relate them to God and to the ultimate goal of our life. As Christ said, they may be gaining the world, but are losing their soul. (cfr. Mk 8,36)
It’s important that people in general know right at the beginning of the day what the real purpose of our life is, and are properly motivated and equipped to fulfill that purpose. They should know how to relate everything in their life—their work, personal circumstances, conditions and situations, whether good or bad in human terms, etc.—to this ultimate purpose of our life.
We have to graduate from the level of simply giving some lip service to this most important ideal of our life to making it a living reality, albeit done in a quiet way, devoid of ostentation and the thinking that we are doing something extraordinary.
The morning ritual that we ought to develop would obviously play a crucial role in developing such understanding of our life and the corresponding attitude, plans and strategies it would involve.
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
