Faithful and fruitful

THIS should be the ideal condition we have to pursue and achieve with respect to any commitment we enter into. Starting with our own birth where we are already committed, albeit unknowingly at first, to live our life according to God’s plan, all the way to the different commitments we enter into during our baptism, and other states in life, we should try our best, with God’s grace, to be ever faithful and fruitful. 

 Everyone should be made to be aware of this duty and taught how to pursue that condition. We just cannot live our life without any sense of commitment. That would mean that we would have no clear purpose in our life. 

 Of course, the usual thing that happens is that everyone can have some sense of purpose with its accompanying commitment. But unfortunately, that sense of purpose is usually not that serious. It can easily vary and even abandoned according to mood, fashion and trends around. To top it all, it is a sense of purpose that misses the real and ultimate purpose of our life. 

 We need to get real and serious with our commitments. That’s when we promise to stand by them faithfully, regardless of the changing circumstances. That’s when we exercise a special kind of love that is supposed to endure till death. 

 But how can we be faithful to our commitments given our obvious limitations and imperfections, and the unavoidable mistakes we can commit along the way? 

 The answer is simply to grow in love. It is to enter into the dynamics of love that needs to grow and grow without measure. It is to see to it that our love increasingly reflects God’s endless love for us. 

 It is this love that can conquer everything, including sin and death. It is this love that can make everything new. As St. Paul would put it, it is the love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13,7) In other words, we can only be faithful if we identify ourselves with God whose essence is love itself. 

 The fidelity to our commitments should also be fruitful and innovative. We have to realize that God has already given us everything that we need not only to survive but also to improve our lot that ultimately translates into realizing the fullness of our dignity as image and likeness of God, as children of his. 

 In this regard, we truly should be most enterprising, coming up with daily plans and strategies such that at the end of the day, when we make our examination of conscience, we can show God that we have gained something, and that the daily balance sheet of our spiritual life is in the black, not in the red. 

 We have to realize that the capitalization of this enterprise cannot be any better. God has given us everything—life, talents, intelligence, freedom, all kinds of capacities, his graces, etc. 

 And even if we commit mistakes or we fall into sin, no matter how grave, his mercy is always available. It’s really just for us to make use of what is all there for the taking. 

 We have to assume the attitude of a shrewd businessman who is keen in discovering new possibilities of making money and expanding his business. Thus, in our spiritual life, in our relationship with God and with others, we should never say enough in loving God and everybody else.