Begin and begin again

THAT is a basic law that governs our life here on earth. And the New Year reminds us of it. We should try our best not to take it lightly. We have to be more aware of this principle.

We need to begin and begin again because, in the first place, our human nature demands it. We always do things in steps or stages. That's why we need to renew ourselves constantly. In Sacred Scripture, we are often told: "Today I will begin!" This should be our daily motto.

Even if physically and in some other aspects, we may deteriorate, we are actually ruled by the inescapable law of growth, development and processing that is motored by the impulse of having to begin and begin again.

The young who, still full of energy, go about this law in a more or less effortless way, should not be surprised when one day they have to pursue their goals with greater effort and will power.

And the not-so-young who may grow weary with doing the same things every day each year, should learn to find newer
reasons and fresher impulses to push us in the usual activities we do.

The goal of human maturity, for example, a clear goal that needs a lifelong process, is and must be pursued far beyond the capabilities of our physical powers.

We may already have exhausted our physical potentials, but our other human potentials remain as vibrant and challenging as ever. And developing them requires ways other than just the physical way.

We actually have some human capacity to do this. Our intellectual and spiritual faculties enable us to make choices and decisions vital to our life and dignity in spite of physical impossibilities or difficulties.

In other words, as long as we "will to do" something or simply just "will to be" something, somehow we are pursuing our goals, even if not perfectly. It's when we give up willing that we cease to develop as we should.

That is the reason why we have to take very good care of these faculties, because our true human development depends mainly on them.

We enter into crisis, first in the personal level, then later on the family and social levels, if not, God forbid, in the global level, when we allow ourselves only to be dominated by our physical and biological aspects of our life.

We have to correct emerging tendencies in our society that show this kind of drift in our development as persons and as a people. Things like the obsession to look or feel good so rampant among the young and so-called beautiful people should be promptly corrected.

Not that these things are wrong in themselves. They are not, but they need to be integrated properly to a higher principle often ignored by many blinded by the delights they derive from the material and sensual world.
Otherwise, we tend to become self-centered, narrow-minded, indifferent to others, asocial, oblivious to the common good. We tend to become childish.

Even a more significant reason why we need to begin and begin again are the demands of our spiritual and supernatural purpose in life. These require a constant renewal in our life.

This is what we see in the lives of saints, and the reason why our Lord himself taught about continuing vigilance. The gospel gives us an idea of continuing spiritual growth that requires having to begin and begin again:

"Do you accordingly strive diligently to supply your faith with virtue, your virtue with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with patience, your patience with piety, your piety with fraternal love, your fraternal love with charity." (2 Pt 1,5-7)

The enemies of our soul -- our own wounded flesh, the devil and the corrupted world -- never take vacation in trying to ensnare us with their antics and temptations.

And if we go by popular wisdom, these enemies become more vicious and tricky with the passage of time, and with the development of our skills to resist them. That is just how they are, we should not fool ourselves.

Even if we may already have matured spiritually, having tackled successfully many trials in life, we still need to be on guard and to keep on renewing because the old weaknesses can easily come back.

We should never allow ourselves to drift to complacency. This is actually what keeps us young and fresh in spite of our growing age and the wealth of knowledge we may have accumulated through the years!