God is not to be outdone in generosity. These words uttered by that formidable woman, St Teresa of Avila, have resonated throughout the centuries and are ever true and sacred.
They are as relevant today because the devil, “a liar and the father of lies” as Christ called him, deceives us into believing that there is so much to lose when we adhere to God’s divine laws.
It is almost as if the latter takes away from us the freedom to make our choices, leading us to live a sad and depressed life. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a myth to believe that sin will somehow make us freer and happier.
The adherence to God’s laws, which ultimately means carrying out His will in our life, ensures that, despite falls, trials and tribulations, we are on the right road to eternal life which should be the final goal for us all.
Sin, on the other hand, leaves us with that bitterness and distaste for ourselves, which is the inevitable consequence of being cut off from God’s love and mercy.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a good example of this. Having eliminated all those who stood in his way in his insatiable thirst for power, he found that his crimes haunted him mercilessly, offering him no joy or peace. This even affected his relations with others, especially his wife, whom he had previously much loved.
Ours is a society, which distinguishes itself from those coming before, in the fact that, among others, when we choose to live a life of sin we often compulsively feel the need to tell all and sundry about this, often using the media as the means to do it.
However, beneath all the smiling faces on glossy magazines there is the harsh reality that “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John, 8-34). Christ, on the other hand, made it clear to us that it is the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.
Since God will always remain faithful to his words, when we follow His will we are ensured that the “hundredfold in this world” – peace, joy, serenity – that Jesus promised, even amid much unexplained suffering, is a constant reality to be cherished.
The alternative, leading to much solitude, anger and emptiness, is the price we pay when we choose the wide road that leads to perdition and which many, alas, choose to tread, as the Lord told us.