Our fears, failures and sense of abandonment

THAT rather amusing gospel story of the apostles frozen with fear when they were in the middle of a raging sea and saw a figure that later turned out to be Christ walking on the water (cfr. Mk 6,45-52) tells us what to do with our unavoidable fears and failures. We need to develop a healthy sense of abandonment in the ever solicitous providence of God over our life. 

 To be sure, Christ never fails us, though, again, his ways may not be what we expect or even want. What we have to do is to develop the habit of always referring everything to God, especially when we find ourselves in situations of fear and helplessness. He is always there for us. 

 We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair. 

 With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have. 

 A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith. 

 In this life, we need to acquire a good, healthy sporting spirit, because life is actually like a game. Yes, life is like a game. We set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we are primed to win and we do our best, but losses can come, and yet, we just have to move on. 

 Woe to us when we get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in a hanging narrative, when a comma, a colon or semi-colon would have sufficed. 

 We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 An indispensable ingredient of this healthy sporting spirit is the sense of acceptance and abandonment that we need to deliberately cultivate. This does not come automatically, as if it’s part of our genes. We have to develop them.

Our fears, failures and sense of abandonment

THAT rather amusing gospel story of the apostles frozen with fear when they were in the middle of a raging sea and saw a figure that later turned out to be Christ walking on the water (cfr. Mk 6,45-52) tells us what to do with our unavoidable fears and failures. We need to develop a healthy sense of abandonment in the ever solicitous providence of God over our life. 

 To be sure, Christ never fails us, though, again, his ways may not be what we expect or even want. What we have to do is to develop the habit of always referring everything to God, especially when we find ourselves in situations of fear and helplessness. He is always there for us. 

 We need to know how to handle and deal with our fears that are unavoidable in our life. Fear is an emotion that we need to educate also. It just cannot be on its own, guided only by our spontaneous judgments and reactions, and appearing when it’s not supposed to, and not appearing when it’s supposed to. It has to be grounded and oriented properly, expressing the sublimity of our dignity as persons and children of God. 

 Let’s remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. It’s the good and healthy fear of a child who is afraid to offend his father. It’s a filial fear, not a servile one. It’s one that, instead of being tempted to run away from God, would rather motivate one to get closer to him. It’s the fear of losing God, even if we may have offended him and have to do something to atone and repair. 

 With all the things that we have to contend with in this life, we certainly need to have a healthy sense of trust in God’s loving and wise providence, abandoning ourselves in his will and ways that often are mysterious to us and can appear to be contrary to what we would like to have. 

 A healthy spirit of abandonment in God’s hands is necessary even as we exhaust all possible human means to achieve our goals or simply to tackle all the challenges, trials and predicaments of our life. We should never forget this truth of our faith. 

 In this life, we need to acquire a good, healthy sporting spirit, because life is actually like a game. Yes, life is like a game. We set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we are primed to win and we do our best, but losses can come, and yet, we just have to move on. 

 Woe to us when we get stuck with our defeats and failures, developing a loser’s mentality. That would be the epic fail that puts a period and a finis in a hanging narrative, when a comma, a colon or semi-colon would have sufficed. 

 We need a sporting spirit because life’s true failure can come only when we choose not to have hope. That happens when our vision and understanding of things is narrow and limited, confined only to the here and now and ignorant of the transcendent reality of the spiritual and supernatural world. 

 An indispensable ingredient of this healthy sporting spirit is the sense of acceptance and abandonment that we need to deliberately cultivate. This does not come automatically, as if it’s part of our genes. We have to develop them.

Our weakness attracts God’s power

THAT beautiful gospel episode on the multiplication of the loaves (cfr. Mk 6,34-44) clearly shows us that our helplessness in certain situations should not worry us so much. God is always around and knows what to do, though his ways may not be what we expect or want. But it will always be for the good. 

 Thus, we should not be all too bothered when we find ourselves in situations of helplessness. In fact, we should not only expect and suffer them. We should welcome them when they come, because they are great occasions to get closer to God and to receive and feel his tremendous power and mercy. That’s when we can echo St. Paul’s words, “It’s when I am weak that I am strong.” (2 Cor 12,10) 

 We should always expect the possibility for us to fall into some state of helplessness, not only of the transitory type but also of the permanent one. That’s just being realistic. And upon that possibility, let’s make the necessary preparation, building up the appropriate attitude, skills and practices to tackle it. 

 There’s always hope even in our worst scenario. And that’s because God never leaves us, but continues to love and care for us, in spite of all. He gives us everything we need to handle this situation. 

 We should be quick to realize this truth of our faith, and act accordingly. Let’s avoid aggravating the situation by avoiding falling into discouragement and depression, a fertile ground for the devil to tempt us into worse conditions. The devil obviously wants us to be alienated as much as possible from God. Rather, like the prodigal son, let’s return to God asking for mercy which he readily gives. 

 We should not doubt that we have our human and worldly limits. And yet in spite of that, neither can we doubt that deep within us is, at least, the desire to go beyond our limitations. And there’s objective basis for that desire. 

 Given the fact that our human nature is not only totally material, but is also spiritual, we should not be surprised when we feel those seemingly contrasting sentiments. The truth is that we are a material being that is poised for eternity, for immortality. In the end, the truth is that we are meant to live a supernatural life, and not just a natural one, that is, a life with God. 

 This is where we have to entrust ourselves to the workings of the spiritual and supernatural realities that also govern our life. We have to remember that we are not ruled simply by biological laws or physical, chemical, social, political, economic laws. There is a higher law that governs us and that would enable us to transcend our human and earthly limitations. 

 This is the law of grace, a law that is spiritual and supernatural in nature. It is the law that enables us to go beyond our human limitations without, of course, compromising our humanity. It is the law that enables us to enter into the very life of God who created us to be his image and likeness. 

 We have to learn to feel at home with this particular condition of our earthly life. We have to acquire the relevant attitude and skills to be able to live with this condition. It is when we seem to reach our human and earthly limitations that we have to abandon ourselves to the more powerful and merciful dynamic of God’s providence over us.