By Fr. Roy Cimagala
THE earlier we realize this, the better for us. And that’s simply because Christ is the very pattern of our humanity. How he is should also be how we should be, not of course in terms of our physical appearance and other natural attributes that we have, but rather in terms of the spirit that should animate our whole life. The ideal condition to have is first to know and love Christ so that we may know and love ourselves and others properly.
This was what St. Augustine precisely said. “Noverim te, noverim me,” Latin for “May I know you (Christ), may I know myself.” It is when we know and love Christ first that we get to know who we really are and ought to be. Christ is not only the pattern of our humanity but also the savior of our damaged humanity.
It is Christ who will tell us what is true and false, right and wrong, moral and immoral. It’s not us who define and determine these things. And if we know Christ first, then we would know how to relate ourselves with the others, how to love them properly the way Christ loves us, as shown, taught and commanded to us by Christ himself. (cfr. Jn 13,34)
Thus, if we really want to truly fall and remain in love with our beloved, if we want our relationships to last long until forever, then we have to base it on our knowledge and love of Christ first. There can be no other way to assure us that our relationships here on earth would last!
Even in our wounded condition here in this life, Christ offers us the way how to handle it such that we can still manage to be with him. That’s because Christ himself said that he is “the way, the truth and the life.” (cfr. Jn 14,6)
Our relation with Christ should not only be in the level of knowledge. We have to live that knowledge to such an extent that we become “another Christ.” We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus,’ the goal and ideal that is meant for us, though we need also to do our part, free beings as are, to achieve that status.
God, our Creator and Father, wants us to be that way, though he does not impose it on us without our consent that should also be shown with deeds and not just with intentions or words.
We should try our best to have the very sentiments of Christ who has everything that is good and proper to us. When he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, whoever does not gather with me scatters,” it is quite clear that for us to be ‘alter Christus’ is a necessity. It’s not something optional, though it has to be chosen freely.
With Christ we would have the proper understanding of things. We would have a universal outlook, and we can take on anything that can happen to us, whether good or bad, because Christ himself has assumed everything human including to be like sin even if he himself has not committed any sin. “He (God) made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor 5,21)
We have to be wary when we rely simply on our common sense, or some powerful philosophy or ideology, because no matter how brilliant these are, they cannot cope with everything that is possible to happen in a man’s life. Only Christ can!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
