Developing a sense of commitment

WE need to develop the sense of commitment in everyone,
and especially among the young ones. It’s what is proper to us, for it
shows we are true to our words, following what Christ once said: “Let
your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ (Mt 5,37)

            For sure, we are capable of entering into a commitment,
because we have both the intelligence and will that will enable us to
know what we are committing ourselves into and to want it for good or
for a time, irrespective of the changing circumstances and
developments that may be propitious or not to us.

            Entering into commitment can only show determination on
the part of the one assuming it, a determination that can only spring
from love, from one’s self-giving to another.

            It is a promise that is taken very seriously, just like
what a marrying couple would promise to each other on their wedding
day—“to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death
do us part.”

            As such, a commitment can truly be considered as proper
when it is inspired by God’s love, since it is God’s love that is its
source and pattern. God is always faithful to us, as can be gleaned
from the Book of Lamentations:

            “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies
never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your
faithfulness.” (3,22-23)

            And even if we are unfaithful to God, God will still be
faithful to us, as St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Romans:
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the
faithfulness of God?” (3,3)

            We need to inculcate this sense of commitment among the
youth since they are the ones most affected by the current prevailing
environment of disloyalty, infidelity and promiscuity. Some have gone
to the extent of equating being non-committed with being free, when in
fact being non-committed can only make them held captive and enslaved
by self-seeking forces.

            We have to convince them that this is the way to their
true happiness and their human maturity and Christian perfection. It
is a way for them to develop authentic virtues. A person who is afraid
or who refuses to enter into commitment ends up being wishy-washy. He
is an unreliable person.

            We have to reassure them that entering into commitment
will not make them rigid persons. Neither will it curtail their
freedom. In fact, the contrary is true. Entering into commitment
enhances and facilitates their freedom, since it will help them to
attain the goal of their commitment despite changing circumstances.

            If entered into out of love of God, there will never be
regrets. Even if the outcome may appear to be disadvantageous, such
disadvantage will only be apparent and would only be so if seen in
purely human and worldly terms. In the eyes of God, such commitment
can only be good to us irrespective of worldly and temporal
consequences.