“SOLO DIOS BASTA” (GOD ALONE SUFFICES). This comes from a Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila, the last verse of a short poem she wrote entitled: “Nada Te Turbe”.
Amidst the ups and downs of life, this verse kept on ringing in my ears. Hence, I have prayed and asked for further enlightenment on what it really means. After a long period of reflection I wish to share my humble thoughts to those who may lend me their ears.
Last year, on September 29, 2008, I have celebrated my 80th birthday. I thank the Lord for all the blessings He has poured on me during those 80 years of my life. Today as I reminisce the past I could not but ask these questions: “Why, Lord, have you brought me into existence? Why all the joys, sufferings, problems, difficulties, temptations, humiliations, exaltations, and all the events, joyful or sorrowful, that came into my life? Would it not have been better if I had not existed at all so as not to have gone through all these events? What after all have I been created for? Is it just to live here on earth for several years, 80 or more, and then vanish away when death comes?
Indeed, the vanities of life here on earth seems to have no meaning at all if after all “to dust I shall return”.
These thoughts kept lingering in my mind until the words of St. Teresa of Avila reached my ears: “Nada te turbe … Solo Dios Basta”. “Let nothing disturb you … God alone suffices”.
Who, then, is this God Who Alone suffices?
Who, then, is this God Who Alone suffices?
This, indeed, is the Greatest Mystery of life here on earth. Men, perhaps, can try to understand and fathom the significance of so many phenomena in this world, but the greatest of all the challenges that the human mind can ever explore is the identity and reality of GOD.
Our Christian Faith tells us that God Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, Who became Man, said: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul”. (Matthew 16:26).
This statement reveals to us that man has a soul and that this soul is of more value than the whole visible world. If so, what is this soul?
In John 3:16 it is said: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This means that there must be something in man which cannot be destroyed by death and is destined to live forever. This something must be what our Lord Jesus Christ is referring to, which is the soul.
If man’s life is forever, where is the Source of the Power that can give him a life without end? And what kind of life shall await him forever? The answers to these questions, I believe, can only be found in that Greatest of All Mysteries, GOD Himself.
And so, while man can never fully understand the REALITY OF GOD, I in all humility must acknowledge together with St. Augustine: “Man has been created for GOD, and his heart is restless until it rests in GOD.” – “S0LO DIOS BASTA”.
By: Salvador B. Cagurangan
Jun. 7, 2009
Jun. 7, 2009
