Never be afraid to approach God

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA, roycimagala@gmail.com
August 17, 2017

NOR be ashamed. Even if we have offended him big time or find ourselves in a most shameful condition, let’s never hesitate to approach God to ask for pardon or any kind of help. God is always a Father whose only delight is to love us all the way. He is ever ready for that, and, in fact, very eager too. He will do everything to help us in any way.

This is what we learn from the episodes of the Canaanite woman (cfr Mt 15,21-28), the official whose daughter just died, and the woman suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years. (cfr Mt 9)

In the case of the official, Christ dropped everything to go to the house of that official and along the way happened to help the woman also.

In the case of the woman, it has to be noted that she was publicly regarded as an outcast. But she was determined to approach Christ even secretly, and even if only to touch Christ’s cloak.

“If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured,” she said to herself. Her strong faith, her confidence, her humility, all contributed to the granting of her desire. “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you,” Christ told her. And she was cured.

Let’s take note that more than just the cure of her hemorrhages, Christ told her she was saved. Christ is more interested in the salvation of our sinful soul, which is more important than in the cure of any health problem.

In the case of the Canaanite woman, Christ readily saw how great her faith was, and so he relented even if at the beginning he ignored her. Christ was simply testing her faith. And by so doing, he also showed that faith can transcend and cross racial and cultural boundaries.

Let’s hope that we can have the same attitude as the Canaanite woman, the official and the sick woman. Let’s not delay in going to Christ by whom all our needs are satisfied. Let’s have the same attitude, the same faith, confidence and humility that these three characters had shown.

More than that, let’s also show among ourselves the same attitude that Christ had toward these three characters. Let’s be quick to help others, to understand them, to be patient and merciful with them. Let’s develop a universal heart that can accommodate everybody with love.

Let’s remember that we have to like him, since as the Son of God, he is the very pattern of our humanity, and as the Son of God who became man, he is our redeemer who definitely resolves our earthly human predicament.

Let’s spend time meditating on this wonderful truth about the fatherhood of God to us in the hope that we can develop that intimate spirit of filiation to him. Let’s remember that our divine filiation should be the foundation of our relationship with God.

We are not just one more creature of his. We are the masterpiece of the whole of his creation. We are children of his, yes, in spite of the mess that we can manage to create because of the misuse of our freedom.

We have to learn not to be afraid of him, nor ashamed to approach him because of our stupidities. The fear of the Lord, which is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is simply the fear of offending him, but not the fear to approach him after we may have offended him.