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If
we closely follow our Lord's footsteps, we will soon realize
nothing in our life is too small to merit our attention. There's
really nothing of little importance. If there's love, everything
becomes great and significant.
We
can gather this intriguing truth from our words of our Lord
himself: "He who is faithful in little is also faithful
in much. He who is unjust in little is also unjust in much."
(Lk 16,10)
He
backed up these words with his deeds. First, he as the second
person of the Blessed Trinity became man, in a phenomenon
described in St. Paul's letter to the Philippians in these
words:
"Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant…"
(2,5-7)
He
was born poor, he spent 30 of his more or less 33 years of
earthly life doing ordinary little things as one more citizen
in Nazareth, and even in his busy public life, he gave no
signs he paid little attention to small things.
Though
feeling the burden of his tasks, he always managed to show
affection to everyone, to be meek and humble, patient and
merciful. And his miracles were done with utmost discretion
and naturalness.
These
teaching and example of Christ were followed by saints and
holy men and women, notably our Lady, St. Joseph, the apostles,
etc. They were all ordinary, common people who found love
in following Christ in the little things.
This
is what we have to understand clearly, deeply and consistently.
Unless we internalize this teaching, our effort to love and
to serve God and others would be hampered and compromised.
It
could even be averted.
How
can one sincerely say he loves God and others when he ignores
and even ridicules the little things?
It
is in our care for the little things that we show our love
and build that love up. It makes our heart beat with love
all the time. It is what feeds our heart and soul.
The
little things offer us many occasions to develop all kinds
of virtues, purifying and identifying us more and more with
Christ. It teaches us order, tenacity and perseverance, spirit
of sacrifice, temperance.
When
properly pursued, the little things make us strong and prudent,
and so assure us of our continuing presence of God that we
grow in integrity and unity and consistency in our life.
Though
we have our own share of frailties and weaknesses that make
us prone to tiredness, laziness and vulnerability to temptations,
if we take care of little things, we can manage to rise above
all these conditions.
The
care for little things is really necessary for us to learn
and master. Especially today when we seem to be seduced to
care only for the big things and the popular and what seem
to be powerful, we have to rev up our will to focus more on
the little things.
This
duty is urgent. The big things mean nothing if not ably supported
by the little things. And around us is a persistent bombardment,
especially in the media, of the twisted value of puffing up
the big things at the expense of the little things.
Let's
see to it that this love for the little things never escapes
from our heart and mind.
We
have to nourish it with our prayers, with our constant efforts
to make good use of our time and to be generous in the little
details involved in our work and in our relations.
In
our dealings with others, we should try always to smile and
to be nice, going above our usual differences and conflicts
big and small. Let's see to it that we make daily resolutions
to renew and refresh our love for the little things.
Let's
grow in the virtues of living in God's presence, zeal to love
others, warts and all, spirit of penance and hard work, by
dint of the repetition of small acts.
This
is how we build our spiritual edifice, putting one little
stone on top of another or mixing them with sand, making and
pouring concrete, placing those iron bars and thousands of
other little items.
**********
Fr.
Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise
(CITE) in Talamban, Cebu City. You can email him at:Email: roycimagala@boholchronicle.com | 
