THE TIME OF FULFILLMENT
Mountain
trekkers and climbers are familiar with the experience — that moment
when one either retraces his steps back down, or decides to make that
“final assault” to conquer the peak. But in order to face the “time of
fulfillment,” one needs to make difficult decisions and hard choices. One
has to travel light, to say the least. One has to leave behind all
other accoutrements and pare oneself down to the bare essentials. And
there is no tarrying, no bargaining, no ifs and buts. One simply has to
choose and decide wholeheartedly.
In
my much younger years, I remember a time we took the longer and more
difficult route from Pulag, via the Kabayan trail. We had a guest climber
from abroad who hoodwinked us into believing that he had training and
experience. At a particularly precipitous and dangerous part of the
climb down, he panicked. He froze. And he wouldn’t budge, shaking with
fright. The fear was contagious and paralyzing. As team leader, I knew I
had to act swiftly and decisively, as there was no turning back at that
point.
I
would like to think that after the massive floods that Noah
experienced, there was also no turning back. They just had to move on
with life and move up to a higher plane. They were being invited by the
Lord Yahweh to a covenant. It was a moment of fulfillment, something
akin to what anthropologists refer to as a liminal moment, a threshold
experience that leads one to something bigger, better, nicer and nobler.
God did His part of the bargain. He promised no more floods ever. But
Noah and his companions were taken to task, with a huge reminder for
everyone to see — a “bow in the clouds to serve as a sign.”
That
sign gives way now to a bigger one — that of the Son of Man who came
down from the clouds, bringing a multiplicity of other signs. It is now
the “time of fulfillment,” He says. And our end of the bargain is:
“Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTION: Where do you find fulfillment?
Lord God, my soul longs to find fulfillment in You.
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