Keep the conversation going

I AM referring to our conversation with God. This should

be kept alive always and we should just try our best to find the

appropriate ways to achieve it amid the changing circumstances of our

day and despite setbacks, mistakes, failures and the sins that we may

commit.

            We have to be wary of our strong tendency to converse only

with our own selves or, at least from time to time, with others. We

need to talk to God. Without him, there is no way but simply for us to

be confused, tempted and eventually fall.

            For this we have to process well the truth that our

freedom that gives us a sense of independence and autonomy would not

be true freedom if it is not latched onto the will and ways of God,

who is the origin, pattern, end and power of freedom. Quickly dismiss

the thought that our freedom is just a matter of what we want. That’s

clearly a suggestion of the devil.

            We need to talk to God and, of course, to listen to him as

intently as possible, because first of all our life just cannot be by

our own selves. It is a life with God, whether we like it or not. If

we really have to get real, then we should realize that our greatest

need, one that is so indispensable that we would be nothing without

him, is God himself.

            And second, it is God who takes the initiative to direct

and shape our life, prompting us always about what to think, judge,

say and do, etc. He can never be absent from our life since as

Creator, he is always at the core of our existence. Being our Creator,

he is still forming us to be what he wants us to be.

            Third, ours is simply to correspond to his promptings and

constant interventions by always orienting our attention to him,

keeping ourselves in his presence, and repeating some short prayers

that would convey how we are, what we are feeling and wanting, etc.,

at a given moment.

            The thread of our consciousness should always have God in

the middle. The moment we seem to lose him, we should react

immediately by looking for him. Otherwise, we will be swallowed by the

dynamic of self-seeking, and that is toxic to us.

            And this possibility of simply playing the self-seeking

game is very likely to happen, since if we don’t have the proper

spiritual and supernatural bearing that we ought to have, there is no

way but be seduced by the many allurements of today’s world. There

simply cannot be any resistance to them if we are mainly guided by our

senses, feelings and the mainstream materialistic and consumeristic

culture.

            To keep the conversation with God going, to keep the music

playing, so to speak, we really would need to rev up our faith and

love for him and for others, we really would need to see him

everywhere and in everyone, saint or sinner, rich or poor. We should

really be attracted to him.

            If what mainly attracts is not God, then we have to

realize there is something wrong, and we need to correct it. Perhaps,

it’s because we have not spent time praying and meditating on his

words and on his life as recorded in the gospels and taught by the

Church. Perhaps, it’s because we do not have a spirit of sacrifice

yet, and so are easily overtaken by worldly things.

            Our relationship with God just cannot go on if we do not

do our part in developing and maintaining that relationship. To be

sure that relationship is initiated by God himself. It started with

God creating Adam and Eve and then talked to them, giving them

instructions, etc., something that he did not do with the other

creatures.

            We have to do our part in keeping that conversation going.