Strengthening our belief in Christ

WE SHOULD try our best that our belief in Christ is strong and abiding, so much so that he is always in our mind and heart, and is the spirit behind every thought, word and deed that we do. This is actually what is ideal for us, since Christ is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our humanity damaged by sin.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel of St. John where it says: “The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.” (Jn 3, 31-34)

We have to be wary of our tendency to take Christ for granted, considering him only as a historical man who lived in the past and is now no more than a memory. He is both God and man who is alive up to now and all through eternity, and is actively intervening in our lives.

He is the fullness of the revelation of God to us, and offers us the “the way, the truth and the life” so we can manage to be on the right path amid the twists and turns of our earthly pilgrimage.

In this particular above-cited gospel, we are told that Christ relays the very words of God, words that would lead us to eternal life. This part of the gospel should push us to continually study and meditate on the gospel, each time drawing from it practical resolutions that should little by little and steadily make us to be “another Christ” as we should.

Gospel-reading and spiritual reading in general should be a staple practice in our daily life. That way our spiritual operations — our thoughts, desires, intentions, down to our imagination, memory, feelings and passions — would be inspired and guided by Christ’s words and would channel the very spirit of Christ.

We should make this practice popular to counter the strong and tight grip of the new technologies that seduce us to fall into self-indulgence, leading us to only satisfy our emotional, intellectual if not carnal curiosities. For this, we obviously have to follow what Christ himself told us clearly — that if want to follow him, we should deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16, 24)

We should do everything that would help us make Christ alive in our lives. We should avoid ignoring Christ, overcoming that predicament once expressed by St. Augustine who said in this regard: “You were with me, and I was not with you.”

Everyday, we should go through certain practices that would make the presence of Christ in our life strong and abiding. If in our bodily life, we need to eat and drink, do some exercise, engage in some work to survive, we should also do something appropriate to survive in our spiritual life. We need to pray, do some sacrifices, develop virtues and avail of the sacraments.

We have to be realistic in developing our spiritual life, in our relation with God, that in the end is the most important aspect of our life here on earth./PN