A reminder on communion

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
September 5, 2018

BEFORE we get carried away by the dynamics of our present life, it is good to remind ourselves that whatever we do or whatever situation we may find ourselves in any given moment, we are meant for communion with God and with one another and that we should keep and foster it, and not just tolerate or suffer it.

Always living in communion with God and with everybody else is not an option that we are free to choose or not. It is a necessity for us, although a necessity that has to be pursued in true freedom. We should live it not because we are told to live it, but because we just want to live it (“me da la gana,” in Spanish) and because we are convinced it is what is essential in our life.

While we will always have some differences in our life and contend with all kinds of variety and diversity, we have to remember that all these are not meant to undermine our communion, but rather to foster it.

Our unavoidable differences and conflicts are not meant to be divisive, but rather to be instrumental in enriching our life as a communion. We just have to find a way to live and develop that communion amid and even through these differences and conflicts.

These differences and conflicts are rich opportunities to mature and purify our love and care for one another. They can occasion to develop in us the love that is a reflection and participation of the love that God has for us.

Obviously, the basis, source, power and end of communion is God who has also given us all the means for this communion to be achieved. With God, who reveals himself in full to us in Christ who in turn is made present in the world today in the Holy Spirit, we would know how to enter into communion with everyone including those who for one reason or another we may consider to be our enemies.

It is only through Christ that we can manage to love even our enemies. This is the dynamics of communion. It is to know and to love God and everybody else. It is to love one another the way Christ has loved us. For this purpose, like Christ we should be willing to suffer and die in obedience to God’s will. We have to be ready for suffering which will be unavoidable in our life.

We have to be wary of our tendency to react to some issues based on instincts alone, or on our physical, emotional, psychological, cultural condition alone. We have to find a way of reacting to things on the basis of our faith which tells us that whatever we do, we should uphold the ideal of being in communion with God and with everybody else.

In this regard, it would be good if we spend some time processing this truth in our prayer, in our intimate conversation with God from whom we can always ask for the necessary grace and with whom we can start making the appropriate strategies to attain the desired ideal.

Indeed, we have to go through a process of persistent practice until the necessary attitude and skills are acquired. All the effort needed, to be sure, will always be worthwhile. In the end, we can see and judge things better, and make fair decisions that will uphold our need for communion despite our differences.