Christ in the making

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

THAT’S what we all are in this life. We are still a work in progress. We as a creature of God are still under construction. And the completion of that divine project is when we become another Christ, “alter Christus.” Yes, we are still Christ in the making.

That’s because Christ being the Son of God is the perfect image God has of himself. Since we have been created in God’s image and likeness, we are supposed to be children of God in the Son. He is therefore the pattern of our humanity.

And as God made man, Christ is the savior of our humanity that is damaged by sin. For this, Christ has given us all the remedies for the deficiencies and irregularities we may have in this life due to our sin-damaged condition.

In other words, the mould of our humanity is Christ. This mould is already in us, and we need to flesh it out. It would not be presumptuous on our part then to presume that we already have the mould of Christ in us. We just have to fill out that mould, making ourselves more and more like Christ.

But first, let’s be conscious that we have that mould. This may cause us some awkwardness at first, but it’s an awkwardness that we just have to overcome. It’s part of our human weakness, let alone, the consequence of our sinfulness, that we feel that way. But Christ reassures us that we are meant to be one with him.

For this, Christ has reassured us by always showing how in the gospel he reached out to the sinners and those in all kinds of human weakness and misery. “Be not afraid,” he would often say. “Come to me,” he would invite us. He wants all of us, and not just some of us, to be with him, no matter how we are.

The fact that we are still light years away from being like him should not deter us from going to him. Rather, it should be the very reason to go to him. To be sure, Christ is not scandalized and disturbed by whatever unworthiness we feel with respect to Christ.

We need to get over it as soon as we can. We just have to be humble to accept this reality about Christ and us.

No matter how awkward and clumsy we may be in this respect, let’s be determined to acquire or assume Christ’s mind, heart, spirit, will, ways, etc. We just have to aim at becoming another Christ.

To be sure, it will be Christ who will accomplish everything for us. On our own, we simply cannot, and we should not be bothered by that fact. What we need to do is simply to be as docile and as malleable as we can be for Christ to make us like him.

This means that we, of course, have to know him as best we could, using all the means that Christ himself has made available—his life, word and example as found in the gospels, etc.

And let’s hope that from that knowledge we can develop love and affection for him. He has left us with the Church, the sacraments, etc., that would perpetuate his redemptive presence and action in us. We have to find a way of being aware of this reality and to correspond to it properly.

It would serve us well in this regard if at every moment of our life, at every step of the way, whenever we have to think, speak and act, we first ask Christ, “Lord, what is it that you want from me now? What would you like me to think, speak, act or react at this particular instance, etc.?”

And whatever happens in our life, whether good or bad, let us be quick to refer ourselves to Christ. There has to be a conscious effort to do everything with and for Christ!

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com