New Year Talk, Past informs, Grace transforms

Past informs, Grace transforms

Sr P. Michelle Mathias FSP

The concept of beginning a ‘new’ year rings in a sense of joy and hope. Joy – because the season of Christmas has brought the joy of God’s Son becoming human out of love for us and we celebrate the occasion with our family and friends with great fanfare. Hope- because it is that virtue that keeps us envisioning something better in the year to come. No matter how painful, trial-filled the past year may have been, the heart hopes and longs for a future that is beautiful, better, stronger and positive. It is this hope that keeps us going.

Somebody forwarded me an SMS the other day which said that the ‘Past has passed, Tomorrow is yet to come, but the Present is ours to live.’ Indeed the statement was true, but my own personal understanding of this SMS took me into the deeper intricacies that enveloped my life. At one point, the question that strongly raised its hood and stood before me was, “Can I actually forget my past because it has passed away? Can I just ignore it and say, ‘this is not good’ I will bury the past, change and begin afresh? Unfortunately or fortunately, memories don’t just fade away. To put it in simple terms , we cannot just forget the past instances of our life, especially those that were coated with pain, sorrow, hurt, challenges, and on the positive side, certain moments of exhilarating joy, love and cherished moments.

While we cannot forget the past, there are two ways of facing the past. One is the path of the optimist which makes the past a learning experience. The other path is that of the pessimist, where one fails to learn from the past mistakes and tries to bury or escape the past, and makes unsuccessful herculean attempts to shape the future.

The story of our journey of life is long and is marked with every possible twist and turn, hallmarks and downfalls, glories and tragedies, openings and closings, the list goes on. Our life is filled with innumerable stories that have shaped us. I read a book some time back, I must apologise that I have forgotten the author’s name, but his words are true. He says, “Through our stories, we learn WHO we are and WHOSE we are And HOW we got to where we are today.” He further adds that through these stories we hear how our history impacts our future.

In my own personal life, I have always drawn inspirations from my past. It is my past that has prepared me to face my future with better confidence and maturity. My past has shaped the way I make my decisions and choices. Some instances have been so strikingly painful that there were moments when I would think, Will I ever overcome this? Or I am in the dumps!” But it was precisely these dumps that prepared me to face my future. When in pain, I could have given up on my hope to recover and brood over the painful occurrences. But nay, it was not meant to be so, the grace of God which continuously assists us, helped me to take life with courage. I eventually came out of my pain. Today when I face struggles in my life, I say to myself, “If the Lord helped me to go through that incident, then there is nothing which I cannot handle with God.”

A lady who lost her mother had this to say, “I realise that we gain so much from every past experience.  Sometimes, it is the most difficult times that make us grow, gain compassion and empathy and find strength we never even realized we had.  Even though my loss is new, I have found that I am able to better relate to my children as I realize how precious life is and that, as my mom influenced me throughout my life, it is my job to be there to influence my girls and give them all of the tools they will need in life to continue to grow and become the women they are meant to be.  Life is not always easy, but through our hardships, we can and should gain better insight as to who we are.  I have changed much throughout my life and grown into the woman I want to be.  Life is a climb and as we grow and mature, any change that allows us to become a better and more loving person is positive.” As someone rightly said, "The present is the place where the past meets the future, and we can decide which colours we will paint our sky with.”

But more often than not, the problem occurs when our past "immobilises" us and we don't allow ourselves to open our future to different experiences. As it is said, “there is a clear distinction between letting our past inform us and wanting to stay there!” Our past may have been so alluring that some fail to face the future with courage as they prefer to dwell in the past and destroy their future. For others, the past has been so painful, that they fail to muster the courage to stand strong and face the future head on. Accepting our failures of the past, talking about them and making them a learning experience can prove beneficial both the one who has suffered in the past and the one who listens to these stories and draws inspiration for his/her own life.

The real Hero/Heroine is the one who learns from the past, acts in the present and thus shapes her future. Therefore, it is popularly said that ‘History informs us, and the grace of God transforms us.’ What is required is that we learn to acknowledge the working of God’s grace in our lives and draw inspirations from His Grace. 

Even the Bible narrates incidents that have shown people learning from their past mistakes and transforming themselves through the power of Grace and thus shaping the present and future. St Paul, who was the stalwart missionary of Christ, could have brooded and messed up his ministry had he allowed his past actions to overcome him and destroy him. He was leading an attack against Christians and was even involved in the cold-blooded murder of St Stephen. But when Grace touched his heart, he did dwell on the past, but not to cry over it. He quoted his past to proclaim the wonders the Lord had done in his life. His ministry was highly effective. The same goes for Alexander who stabbed St Maria Goretti brutally. Grace transformed this sinner, he repented, transformed and became a man of God.

Just like Paul and Alexander, our past life too may have had great pitfalls, mistakes, errors and dumps, what is required is that we trust in God’s grace that can transform us, and help us to face our present thus shaping our future. May 2019 become a channel of transformation, strength and courage for each one of us-Amen!