Fr. Roy Cimagala
WE need to know the difference as well as the intimate link between the two. The other day while presiding at a wedding, I brought up this topic to underline an often forgotten and misunderstood truth of faith.
Newly weds will most likely become parents soon, and they need to know the difference and the link between the two, so they can carry out their parenthood properly. There’s a lot more than meets the eye.
Creator, in the strict sense, is only God. He is the only one capable of bringing to existence something or someone out of nothing other than himself. As creator, God is the maker of everyone and everything. Everyone and everything is his creature. Everyone and everything cannot help but be a creature of God.
A procreator is the creaturely instrument who begets an offspring definitely not out of nothing, but from something. He only cooperates in the work of God’s creation. Everything that reproduces itself, in a sense, is a procreator, though the term is more properly used to refer to human parents.
A parent as the human instrument in the process of human reproduction begets a child obviously from some biological raw material that he or she has. But that’s not all. As procreator, he cooperates in the bringing into existence of another human being who is not purely a biological or a material being that can be reproduced biologically, but also a spiritual being that can only come directly from God.
In other words, every human person is not just a biological entity. He is, much more than biological, a spiritual being. His existence just cannot come about merely through biological processes.
His existence depends directly on God. In fact, everything depends on God directly for its existence even if its coming to existence goes through the different forms of reproduction.
In the case of man, his coming into existence depends first of all on the knowing and willing cooperation of the human instruments with God’s work of the creation of a human person. That is why, these human instruments, the parents, are called procreators, strictly speaking, since they have to actively cooperate in God’s creation.
Not so with the other creatures. They beget their offsprings in some automatic fashion dictated by some laws of biology and other laws of nature. And that’s simply because the plants and animals do not have intelligence and will that would enable them to cooperate actively with God in the process of reproduction. Their nature determines the kind of reproduction they can make.
This distinction is crucial since it will bring out the fact that the husband and wife as procreators of their children have to carry out their responsibility as procreators by always keeping in mind the will, the purpose, and the means God has for creating a person.
Begetting a child should not just be a physical, biological or emotional expression of one’s urges and love. Begetting a child has God in the middle of it. In fact, it has God at the beginning and end of it.
Parents as procreators should always bear this fundamental truth in mind, and conform their duty to beget children according to this truth. In our country, thanks to God, we still have a generally religious culture that recognizes every child as a gift from God. That fact is indeed a blessing, but we need to go much further than such basic recognition.
According to our Catechism, God has a plan for the creation of every person. Parents as procreators should fully do their part in fulfilling the divine purpose for the creation of a person. I would say this is their most important responsibility as parents. This is the summit of their responsibilities. Everything else has to be subordinated to this.
In the Compendium of the Catechism, we have the following point that articulates God’s plan for man:
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.” (1)
It is important therefore that couples who want to enter into marriage be made to realize this duty more deeply and effectively. Once married, they should be constantly guided and helped so they can carry out this responsibility properly.
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We should form the habit of frequently invoking the name
of Jesus. If there’s any name that we should call most often, it should be that of Jesus. It is the most important and necessary name we can call, as attested by St. Paul himself who said: “God greatly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2,10-11)
Calling his name, for sure, is never just an empty form of pietism, or some kind of superstition. Calling his name corresponds to a basic necessity of ours who always need to be helped, enlightened, strengthened and ultimately redeemed.
We are assured that Jesus always listens to us and promptly attends to our needs, although in ways that may be different from our own expectations. It’s not in Jesus to be indifferent to our needs, no matter how unworthy and undeserving we are. His great love for us will always lead him to intervene always in our life.
The name of Jesus means “God saves.” Invoking that name will always remind us of our need for salvation, that is, our ultimate salvation from sin, from death, from all pain and suffering. It’s not simply liberation from some transitory hunger or worldly need. It’s liberation to eternal life.
If invoked with faith and love, if done with great piety, calling the name Jesus can only give us a lot of good. It can even give us an immediate relieving and calming effect.
I remember that one time, I had some muscle pain in my legs and in my back. A “manghihilot” was recommended to me, and he told me to have strong faith and to follow him in calling the name of Jesus as he did his therapy. I must say that it worked.
But more importantly, we need to call Jesus’ name when we are faced with big challenges and difficult, if not irresistible, temptations. Somehow doing so generates a certain kind of spiritual strength that would enable us to handle these situations effectively.
When we feel our weaknesses stirred up, or when, for some mysterious reasons, we seem to be strongly drawn or lured to do something sinful, calling the name of Jesus would really help. More than just recovering our senses, we can feel a strong mysterious spiritual force that will enable us to do what we ought to do.
And if, in spite of everything, we still manage to fall, then calling Jesus’ name facilitates our repentance and reconciliation with God and with others. We do not actually need to go far or do extraordinary things for us to be helped, guided, enlightened, strengthened and redeemed. We just need to call Jesus’ name, and the process of healing starts.
Some people question whether it is practicable to be truly holy in the middle of the world that is full of sin and temptations.
The answer to that is a resounding, “yes.” Christ would not command us to be holy if that is not doable. And the practicability of holiness can start simply by calling the name of Jesus—with faith, love and piety.
The lives of saints can attest to this. And even our own personal experiences can prove it. Calling Jesus’ name can immediately soften our mind and heart that can tend to harden due to the pressures of life, not to mention, the temptations and sin around.
Calling Jesus’ name will always remind us to be good to others, to be charitable, understanding and compassionate with them.
It will prod us to think well of the others, to be quick to serve and help them. It will push us to do a lot of good, never saying enough.
Calling Jesus’ name will help us to be quick to ask for forgiveness if we commit a mistake as well as to forgive others. It will lead us along the way of humility and patience.
Calling Jesus’ name will strengthen us so we can tackle the many and endless challenges and problems of life. It will help us to handle situations when we are insulted, mocked and offended. It will encourage us to identify with him on the cross when we suffer all kinds of injustice.
Calling Jesus’ name will also show us what else to do to follow him all the way to the end.
E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com
