By Fr. Roy Cimagala
THAT’S right! God shares his power with us. If we are truly God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature, then it should come as a no-brainer that we too can share in his tremendous power.
We are somehow reminded of this wonderful truth of our faith in that gospel episode where people were amazed both by Christ’s teaching which they considered as being with authority and by the driving out of the devil that possessed a man. (cfr. Lk 4,31-37)
That God shares his power with us can also be shown by the fact that he gave his apostles, who were then his closest helpers at that time, great powers like the authority over unclean spirits, and the power to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. (cfr. Mt 10,1)
Eventually, Christ gave them such powers that, as he told them, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Mt 18,18-20)
Thus, Sts. Peter and Paul, despite their human weakness, were able, for example, to heal a crippled beggar, raise the dead, exorcise a demon, etc., all recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. And throughout the history of Christianity, saints had been performing many miraculous deeds that only showed they shared the powers of God.
There’s hardly any better way to show that indeed we are meant to share also in the tremendous powers of God! The condition, of course, is if we truly identify ourselves with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit which is what we should try to do since that is the ultimate purpose of our life. And God has provided us with all the means that we need for this purpose.
In other words, things just would really depend on us. Are we willing to do our part and go along with God’s will and ways, or do we prefer to be and to do things simply by our own selves?
This is a truth of faith that we have to slowly process in our mind and heart, since definitely it’s a truth that is very incredible for us to accept. Usually, given our natural limitations when referred to the supernatural dimension of our life, our reaction would be disbelief to this truth of our Christian faith.
This is then where we truly have to humble ourselves to let the light to faith to guide us rather than keep ourselves to our own human estimations and ways. God is ever willing and eager to share his power with us. Our sharing in God’s power starts with our faith in God, but for that faith to take root in us, we need to be humble.
We should spend time meditating on this truth of our faith, and we should try to overcome whatever awkwardness and disbelief we have about it. Truth is, given the way the world is developing today, with so much drifting away if not rebellion against God, we need some divine powers to put ourselves afloat in our true dignity as children of God.
To be sure, if we have the right intention to share God’s power, we would always remain humble and ever eager to help others. Otherwise, we would be playing the game of the devil!
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
