WE have to learn to find Christ in
the little things which
comprise most of our day, if not of our whole life. This is not a
gratuitous, baseless assertion, an act of fantasizing, of hunting
lions in the corridors of the house.
This is as real and true as can be. Of course, it requires
faith, but if we care to listen to faith, we will, in fact, find it
reasonable and practicable, not something quixotic, cocooned in the
realm of the abstract, the absurd and the impossible.
Christ is God made man. As God, he is involved in our
creation, in our getting into existence. As such, since it’s existence
that is involved in creation, he cannot withdraw from us, since by
doing so would be like God withdrawing our existence. Since we
obviously exist, ergo, he is in and with us by the very fact of our
existence.
As God and man, he is our redeemer, the one who, in a
manner of speaking, would re-do or re-create us after our original
state of humanity has been damaged by our sin.
As such, since we all need to be redeemed at all times, he
neither can withdraw from us, since by doing so would be like this
God-and-man, Jesus Christ, withdrawing from our redemption. Since we
need to be redeemed always, Christ is also always with us. He actually
cannot help but redeem us, because of his great love for us.
We need to be more aware of this reality about ourselves,
since we often do not realize it, dominated as we are with the merely
material and sensible realities and with what is the here-and-now and
what is immediately felt. We many times fail to go beyond this level.
This is not to mention that our sins themselves make us
insensitive to this reality which is also a truth of faith. And our
sinfulness can be such that we would not even feel the need for
conversion, thus putting ourselves in some state of invincible
insensitivity to the truths of our faith.
This is the truth of faith that serves as the basis for
our belief that Christ is also everywhere and all the time, and
especially in the little ordinary events and circumstances of our day.
Not only that but also that his omnipresence in our life
is anything but passive and indifferent. He is always actively
intervening in our life, which we can safely deduce if we also believe
that he truly loves us.
Of course, that love can never be doubted if we also
consider that he offered his life on the cross. As he himself said and
as we can easily agree, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man
lays down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15,13)
Since Christ is God, his presence can continue in us and
in our life in ways that are impossible for us to do. To his
disciples, he said: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
(Mt 28,20)
We therefore have to learn to find Christ in everything,
doing so not in some generic, theoretical way, but in a specific,
practical way, one that is abiding and active. This, of course, is a
great challenge to all of us, but if we believe in this truth and we
try to conform ourselves to it and to persevere in it, for sure we can
achieve a certain degree of success.
It should be something normal to all of us to feel
Christ’s presence in all things, especially in our little ordinary
events of the day, and to correspond to that presence as actively as
possible. This ideal is not only for some people who we usually regard
as mystics and very special people.
This is for all of us, but obviously to be pursued in
stages and in other human ways that would involve leaders and
followers, teachers and students, masters and disciples.
We can always start anytime, for what it takes is only an
act of faith that we try to pursue as far as we can. If we persevere
in this effort, for sure, sooner or later we can find Christ even in
the most ordinary and even ugly things of life.
comprise most of our day, if not of our whole life. This is not a
gratuitous, baseless assertion, an act of fantasizing, of hunting
lions in the corridors of the house.
This is as real and true as can be. Of course, it requires
faith, but if we care to listen to faith, we will, in fact, find it
reasonable and practicable, not something quixotic, cocooned in the
realm of the abstract, the absurd and the impossible.
Christ is God made man. As God, he is involved in our
creation, in our getting into existence. As such, since it’s existence
that is involved in creation, he cannot withdraw from us, since by
doing so would be like God withdrawing our existence. Since we
obviously exist, ergo, he is in and with us by the very fact of our
existence.
As God and man, he is our redeemer, the one who, in a
manner of speaking, would re-do or re-create us after our original
state of humanity has been damaged by our sin.
As such, since we all need to be redeemed at all times, he
neither can withdraw from us, since by doing so would be like this
God-and-man, Jesus Christ, withdrawing from our redemption. Since we
need to be redeemed always, Christ is also always with us. He actually
cannot help but redeem us, because of his great love for us.
We need to be more aware of this reality about ourselves,
since we often do not realize it, dominated as we are with the merely
material and sensible realities and with what is the here-and-now and
what is immediately felt. We many times fail to go beyond this level.
This is not to mention that our sins themselves make us
insensitive to this reality which is also a truth of faith. And our
sinfulness can be such that we would not even feel the need for
conversion, thus putting ourselves in some state of invincible
insensitivity to the truths of our faith.
This is the truth of faith that serves as the basis for
our belief that Christ is also everywhere and all the time, and
especially in the little ordinary events and circumstances of our day.
Not only that but also that his omnipresence in our life
is anything but passive and indifferent. He is always actively
intervening in our life, which we can safely deduce if we also believe
that he truly loves us.
Of course, that love can never be doubted if we also
consider that he offered his life on the cross. As he himself said and
as we can easily agree, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man
lays down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15,13)
Since Christ is God, his presence can continue in us and
in our life in ways that are impossible for us to do. To his
disciples, he said: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
(Mt 28,20)
We therefore have to learn to find Christ in everything,
doing so not in some generic, theoretical way, but in a specific,
practical way, one that is abiding and active. This, of course, is a
great challenge to all of us, but if we believe in this truth and we
try to conform ourselves to it and to persevere in it, for sure we can
achieve a certain degree of success.
It should be something normal to all of us to feel
Christ’s presence in all things, especially in our little ordinary
events of the day, and to correspond to that presence as actively as
possible. This ideal is not only for some people who we usually regard
as mystics and very special people.
This is for all of us, but obviously to be pursued in
stages and in other human ways that would involve leaders and
followers, teachers and students, masters and disciples.
We can always start anytime, for what it takes is only an
act of faith that we try to pursue as far as we can. If we persevere
in this effort, for sure, sooner or later we can find Christ even in
the most ordinary and even ugly things of life.
This is so because Christ identifies himself with all
things, and he has assumed everything human, no matter how that
humanity turns, except sin. And even when we are in sin, he precisely
gives special attention to us.
Let’s start by finding Christ in the little things of our day.
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