WE HAVE to understand this truth of our faith well. While the life of each of us is very personal and unique, we have to realize that, for our life to be the life meant for us by our Creator, it should be patterned after the life of Christ who, as he said, is “the way, the truth, and the life” for us. (cfr. Jn 14, 6)
Of course, this business of patterning our life after Christ’s life is not a matter of literally going through the same events that comprised Christ’s life as recorded in the gospels.
That’s not possible, since the circumstances of the life of each of us vary. What it means is that we should try to shape our life according to the spirit, the will, and the ways of Christ as he tackled all the possible scenarios that our human condition here on earth would entail.
Developing our life independently of the spirit, will and ways of Christ would not lead us to our proper end which is to be with God, our Creator, in whose image and likeness we have been created.
As we have been taught by our Catechism, Christ as the Son of God and therefore the perfect image that God has of his own self, is the pattern of our humanity. And as the Son of God who became man, he is the savior of our humanity damaged by sin.
We need to understand that the spirit with which the life of Christ was shaped has a universal applicability for all of us. We cannot consider that life is just one more among many others. His is THE life meant for us. Our life would not be as it should be if it is not patterned after Christ’s life.
That’s why we need to know very well the life of Christ. We have to try to discern what Christ is telling us in each event of his life, what he is trying to teach us with his words, deeds, reactions. We have to know what his mission was here on earth, for that also should be our mission. We have to expect to experience what Christ also experienced, although in different ways and forms.
We have to have the very mind of Christ, the very identity of his, to such an extent that with St. Paul, we can say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2, 20)
When we make our plans for our life, let us be more active in conforming our plans with the spirit, will and ways of Christ. That’s because, even if we fail to consciously conform our plans to his, Christ on his part will shape it just the same according to the plan he has for each one us.
It will always be a personal relationship that Christ will develop with each one of us. He is actually shaping us so that we can be God’s image and likeness, and children of his.
His love for us precedes and is meant to inspire our love for him in return. It would be good if we do our part in corresponding to his love as knowingly and lovingly as well. We have to understand that Christ offers us the way of how to properly handle whatever situation we find ourselves here so that we can manage to achieve our final goal. In the end, Christ gives his own self to us.
Christ predestines no one to perdition. If one ends in hell, it is because of his total and direct rejection of Christ, not because Christ destines him to hell. The “Son of perdition” mentioned twice in the New Testament is a reference to a person who formally rejected Christ, in spite of what Christ has done for all of us./PN
