By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT amusing episode about St. Joseph thinking of quietly separating from Our Lady because he found her already with child in her womb before they lived together (cfr. 1,18-25) is a good lesson and reminder that we just have to chill out when faced with some contradictions in life.

In any case, worrying and plunging ourselves in discouragement and sadness would not help us any. It would simply make things worse instead, putting us in a position that is prone to more dangers. We have to remember that sadness is always an ally of our enemy.

We need to remember that everything is under God’s control. If some bad things happen to us, it must be because there is a reason and a purpose behind it. We need to see the bigger picture that God provides us through or faith, hope and charity. We should not be guided simply by our own estimation of things. We have to go to God.

If we are lucky like St. Joseph, we might be privileged to have an angel explain things to us in a dream. But even if we are not, as is usually the case since extraordinary means are rare and the ordinary means to know the truth are plenty, we should just go to God asking for light, strength and comfort. That should be our instinctive reaction.

Ideally, we should not be weighed down by any worry since God takes care of everything. Some Bible passages reassure us of this truth. “So do not fear,” the Book of Isaiah says, “for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (1,10)

And St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (4,6-7)

Still, from the Psalms, we have these reassuring words: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” (27,1)

Of course, we also have to do our part in resolving our predicaments. Yes, we may worry a bit, but it should not be for long. We may have to suffer a bit, but again, it should not be overdone. If referred and united with Christ’s suffering, ours would strike us to be meaningful, purifying, redemptive, etc. We would end up loving suffering.

Let’s remember that as long as we are with God, as long as we believe and love him, everything will always work out for the good.  (cfr. Rom 8,28) He knows how to derive good from evil, since everything depends on him, he being the Creator of all things. No matter how a creature goes against him, that creature cannot overcome him.

We need to channel and assimilate this wonderful truth of our faith into our emotional and psychological systems which are where our useless worrying takes place.

In fact, in these aspects of our life, what should reign or dominate always are the sentiments of joy and peace. Otherwise, we can say that our life is not as it should be. If it is not a happy life, then it is not the ideal human life, much less a life of a child of God.

Yes, we should try to know and understand why some contradictions happen in our life. Many times, that is possible. But there can be times when no matter how much we try to understand things, we still fail. That’s when we simply have to trust in God’s omnipotent and merciful providence.

In the meantime, we should just chill out and focus on what we are supposed to do in any given moment.

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When the body drags the spirit. We should always be wary of the usual conflict between our body and soul, and be ready to resolve it as quickly as possible so that the ideal unity of life can be achieved even as we go through the different situations of our life.

Christ already warned us about this. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” he told the 3 disciples who were with him in his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, advising them to always “watch and pray.” (cfr. Mt 26,41)

St. Paul described this conflict very graphically when he said: “I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (Rom 7,22-23)

For this, we have to learn how to monitor the condition of both our body and soul as we go through the different events of day.

It’s a skill worth learning, especially because it is basic and indispensable in our effort to effectively attend to the real purpose of our life here on earth—our sanctification. Holiness is not only an affair of our spiritual soul. It also integrally involves our body.

It’s ironic that many of us know a lot of practical skills, but we miss out on this one which is more important than any of them. We need to see to it that since we are supposed to be a unity of body and soul, both constituent elements of our humanity should work in synch with each other, and ultimately be animated by the real and original source of life, unity and beauty, and that is none other than God.

When the body is tired, bored, stressed, hungry, sick, etc., we should know what to do with it to make it properly animated in spite of those conditions which can give an opening for temptations to come and eventually dominate.

This is where, as Christ himself said, that we have to learn to “watch and pray.” We should not allow the miseries of the body drag our soul to the same condition. The ideal condition is that even if the body finds itself in its weaknesses, it should still be properly connected with God through prayer, sacrifice, recourse to the sacraments, exercise of the virtues.

The whole idea is that we should avoid becoming a carnal man rather than a spiritual man as described by St. Paul. (cfr. 1 Cor 2,14-16) For this, we should see to it that as we go through the different events of the day and as our body goes through all kinds of conditions, the proper spiritual animation of our body is not lost.

Practically speaking, this should translate into making the effort that right at the beginning of the day, our spiritual and supernatural bearing should already be made strong and firm through some exercises like saying some vocal prayers, doing some mental prayer or meditation, doing some devotions, etc.

And such bearing should be nourished and reinforced with some acts of piety all throughout the day. When we notice that our body is tired, bored or stressed, then we should intensify our prayers and spirit of mortification to prevent it from falling prey to the blind urges of the body that can seek rest and compensation in ways that are not proper to our dignity as persons and children of God.

We cannot deny that when a tired body, for example, is not properly inspired by the spirit of love of God and others, it will seek its rest and recreation, its desire for reward and compensation in ways that are not healthy and even sinful. It can indulge in overeating, oversleeping, if not fall into the vices of drinks, drugs, gambling, pornography, sex, etc.

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com