Even Christ ‘failed’…

Fr. Roy Cimagala .

WE have to acknowledge this truth and learn some precious lessons from it. We cannot deny that Christ is God made man to save us. As God, he is supposed to be all powerful and nothing is impossible with him.

And yet he failed miserably in the sense that in spite of his best efforts he did not manage to convert men into saints as he wants us to be. In fact, he was made to suffer and die a most ignominious death on the cross.

We, of course, know that his suffering and death do not have the last word for him and for his redemptive work. His death led to his resurrection, that final victory that conquered all our sins and death itself. This victory of his resurrection has the last word in his redemptive work.

This resurrection was not the result of human effort at all. It was God’s divine power that did it. We should not think that we too can resurrect to eternal life based on our human effort alone.

Though we have to merit it, our own victory of the resurrection to eternal life should be understood as a gratuitous gift from God.

We should make some helpful conclusions from the considerations we have so far made above. And one of them is that our earthly life here will always end with death, the consequence of sin. It will be hounded always by our human weaknesses, temptations, failures, sins.

No matter how good and holy we try to be, we can never achieve our ultimate goal of being blessed forever while here on earth. Even the holiest man here on earth will die with problems and issues still unresolved, human goals not attained. We should not be surprised by this reality, much less worried and saddened by it. God assures us that he will save us if we only dispose ourselves to be with him, doing his will the best way we can.

So, it would not be right if we imagine our life here on earth as having the possibility of attaining the bliss that can only be in heaven. It would be wrong to picture Christian life here on earth as so perfect that there would never be any problem.

We just have to learn to contend with our weaknesses, temptations and sin that will always be with us till the end of time, not in the sense of justifying them, considering what is wrong as right, or sin as not sin at all. We just have to learn how to suffer them, convinced that if seen with faith, they can actually give us some good.

We have to learn how to convert our weaknesses, temptations, sins and failures as occasions to go to God, asking for help and forgiveness, and deriving from them precious lessons, for good lessons there will always be. In short, our weaknesses, temptations, sins and failures should not separate us from God, but rather lead us to him.

While we try our best to be holy by following God as closely as possible, we should never think that we can achieve a life here on earth that is completely free of pain and suffering in all their forms, much less, achieve the fullness of our being a child of God here on earth and with our own effort alone.

We have to firm up our belief that as long as we refer everything to God, out of love for him, everything—including our weaknesses, temptations, sins and failures—will work out for the good. “Omnia in bonum.” (cfr. Rom 8,28)

Christ allowed himself to fail with his passion and death to identify himself completely with us in our worst condition, and to convert that condition into a way of our salvation with his resurrection.

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The Joy and Peace from God. If we are truly with God, we will always have peace whatever the situation in our earthly life would be. It’s a peace that the world cannot give, just as what Christ said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (Jn 14,27)

Of course, with that Christ-given peace comes joy also.

The two always go together. They cannot be separated, although their expressions may not tally with the worldly standards of joy and peace.

The joy and peace that comes from God are always a fruit of a continuing spiritual battle to keep God’s love burning in us.

It’s a joy and peace that is compatible with the cross, with all forms of suffering. It is not afraid of suffering which also has an important role to play in our life and in the redemption of mankind.

It’s a joy and peace that comes as a consequence of faith and a growing identification with Christ who bore all the sins of men and the evils of this world and conquered them with his resurrection.

In short, it’s a joy and peace that expresses guaranteed victory even if at the moment we are still fighting and suffering. It’s an all-weather kind of joy and peace.

We need to examine ourselves to see if we have such joy and peace. It is actually offered to us for free. It’s all there for the taking. We just have to find a way of having and keeping it.

And one important way of doing so is to learn to pray, since prayer is our basic way of connecting with God that hopefully would lead us to a growing identification with him as we are meant to be. Remember that we are God’s image and likeness. With God’s grace we are supposed to do our part, free beings as we are, in realizing this divine plan for us.

Learning to pray would obviously need some plan. We have to go by stages. First, I imagine, would be to learn the vocal payers, which are already very important as they are inspired prayers given to us if not by Christ himself like the Our Father then by many holy men and women down the ages.

As such, these prayers are very enlightening and would teach us what to say, how to say, and the kind of attitude or disposition we ought to have when we pray. Going through them slowly, trying to figure out what they mean, would certainly help us connect with God.

Then we should just spend some moments everyday doing nothing other than meditating on God’s word as found in the gospel, and on the life and teachings of Christ as reflected in the lives and writings of the saints.

We should persist in this practice until it becomes a habit that would lead us to feel God’s presence and distinguish his voice since God is actually guiding us every moment of the day.

Yes, when we persist in praying we stand to hear those reassuring words Christ told his apostles who were caught with fear: “It is I, do not be afraid.” (Jn 6,20) We really have no reason to fear or to worry at all, since Christ will take care of everything.

What we cannot do, he always can. We just have to trust in his merciful omnipotence.

Let’s hope that with this joy and peace that comes from God, we can focus more directly on what we are supposed to do here on earth. And that is nothing other than to do a lot of good. It is to love the way Christ has loved us, a love that goes all the way. (cfr. Jn 13,34)

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com