The Fullness of Life
A God-Centered Life (Part II)
In our past reflections we had considered the need of having a unifying center in life and that center has to be God. God, who alone can satisfy the inexhaustible craving and thirst of the human heart, must be our goal, our focus, and our center if we want to attain to the fullness of life.
The human heart has infinite capacity. This nature of the human heart is sometimes called "capax Dei," which simply means, "capacity of God." In other words, the human heart is not made for created things, which are limited and imperfect, but only for God who is eternal and perfect.
If we turn to Sacred Scripture, we hear the Word of God telling us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength and all our will. Our Lord Jesus also tells us that we must be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. Consequently, in order to attain to the fullness or our vocation as children of the One God and Father of all who alone is perfect, we must surrender our whole being to Him.
In the first part of this reflection, we looked at the examples of two men who decided to turn away from the distractions and temptations of the world in order to hasten in the way of God's commands. This does not mean that it is impossible to live a God-centered life amidst the distractions of a secular life. As we shall see later, in the life situations of two women, St. Elizabeth of Hungary (queen) and St. Catherine of Sienna (a Dominican tertiary), by God's grace it is possible, amidst whatever condition in life to constantly turn to God for guidance and strength to do His holy will. (To be continued)
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These days have been very busy for us. We hosted the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous People-Western Visayas 2nd Regional Consultation Workshop on Indigenous People's Education here at the Consolers of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery from April 25 to 28. It was participated by Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo, D.D. (CBCP President and Chairperson of the ECIP national secretariat. Our invited speaker was Dr. Alicia Magos, Ph.D., noted anthropologist and educator who talked on "Indigenous People's Culture and Education and the Need to Have an IP System of Education."
This is followed by a Life in the Spirit Seminar by a group of about 40 young people from the city today, April 29.