WE have to learn how to see Christ in
everyone, how to see
God behind every event and situation. This is crucial, because unless
we see Christ and see God, we cannot find the true good in every
person and in any event and situation that we can have in life, and
thus can find neither reason nor power to properly love them, which is
what we are supposed to do all the time.
We have to wary of loving others based not on God’s love
but on some merely human and worldly values. That’s because no matter
how legitimate these latter values are, they cannot go very far. The
love they generate would be very limited, incapable of tackling all
possible scenarios, and can even be dangerous as it can lead us to a
perverted kind of love.
This art of seeing Christ and seeing God in everyone and
in everything, for sure, is not some ravings of a madman, a gratuitous
claim with no leg to stand on. This has firm basis.
In the first place, it’s because we are all creatures of
God, and as such, we actually cannot help but reflect some semblance
of God, our Creator, much like any work of art would somehow leave
some imprint of its maker. When we look at a particular painting, we
could somehow tell who painted it by its style or some other criteria.
Besides, we all know when God creating us and the whole of
the universe, it was purely out of love. And in loving, the lover is
in the beloved. That’s the dynamics of love. And so we can say that
God as the lover is always in his creatures, his beloved. We should
learn to discern that reality in everything that we see or experience.
This is especially so in our case, since as human persons,
we have been created in the image and likeness of God. Obviously, it
is not so much in our physical or biological attributes that that
divine image and likeness is imprinted on us. It’s more in our
capacity to know and to love that, if properly used, would enable us
to participate in God’s nature and very life, and thus resemble us
with him.
And even if that image and likeness has been deformed by
our sin, we have to realize that such divine image and likeness has
not been completely damaged, and that the deformity has, in fact,
increased God’s love for us.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those
who are sick,” Christ said. “For I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners.” (Mt 9,12-13) These words should make it clear that our
weaknesses, defects, failures and sins, while somehow deforming us,
actually draws God to us in some special way. This truth we should
manage to discern.
We need to make adjustments in the way we look at others
and view and understand the many events of our life. We have to
conform, little by little, to the ways indicated by our Christian
faith that eventually leads us to the highest virtue which is charity.
In this, we have to admit first of all that we are like
little children who are in need of education and formation. We can
never outgrow this need to learn the ways of our faith, hope and
charity, unlike in our purely human and natural education--the
academics, for example--where we may say we have already learned
enough.
We need to transcend our usual way of looking at persons,
things and events that will always be conditioned by our human and
natural attributes. Yes, we cannot do away with the many conditionings
we are subject to, but just the same, with our spiritual nature that
precisely makes us God’s image and likeness and that is enhanced by
grace, we are capable of going beyond them.
That’s what “to transcend” means. It’s going beyond what
we have or how we are conditioned, but not discarding them. If ever,
what happens when we transcend something is that we go beyond it while
modifying, purifying or elevating to another level as we keep it.
So in our daily earthly and temporal affairs, we can still
manage to have our differences, preferences and subjective views and
opinions even though we can be above them or go beyond them.
This is how we can be Christ-like, and how we can see
Christ in others, and the hand of God behind every event or situation.
This is how we can love one another truly despite our differences and
conflicts.
God behind every event and situation. This is crucial, because unless
we see Christ and see God, we cannot find the true good in every
person and in any event and situation that we can have in life, and
thus can find neither reason nor power to properly love them, which is
what we are supposed to do all the time.
We have to wary of loving others based not on God’s love
but on some merely human and worldly values. That’s because no matter
how legitimate these latter values are, they cannot go very far. The
love they generate would be very limited, incapable of tackling all
possible scenarios, and can even be dangerous as it can lead us to a
perverted kind of love.
This art of seeing Christ and seeing God in everyone and
in everything, for sure, is not some ravings of a madman, a gratuitous
claim with no leg to stand on. This has firm basis.
In the first place, it’s because we are all creatures of
God, and as such, we actually cannot help but reflect some semblance
of God, our Creator, much like any work of art would somehow leave
some imprint of its maker. When we look at a particular painting, we
could somehow tell who painted it by its style or some other criteria.
Besides, we all know when God creating us and the whole of
the universe, it was purely out of love. And in loving, the lover is
in the beloved. That’s the dynamics of love. And so we can say that
God as the lover is always in his creatures, his beloved. We should
learn to discern that reality in everything that we see or experience.
This is especially so in our case, since as human persons,
we have been created in the image and likeness of God. Obviously, it
is not so much in our physical or biological attributes that that
divine image and likeness is imprinted on us. It’s more in our
capacity to know and to love that, if properly used, would enable us
to participate in God’s nature and very life, and thus resemble us
with him.
And even if that image and likeness has been deformed by
our sin, we have to realize that such divine image and likeness has
not been completely damaged, and that the deformity has, in fact,
increased God’s love for us.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those
who are sick,” Christ said. “For I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners.” (Mt 9,12-13) These words should make it clear that our
weaknesses, defects, failures and sins, while somehow deforming us,
actually draws God to us in some special way. This truth we should
manage to discern.
We need to make adjustments in the way we look at others
and view and understand the many events of our life. We have to
conform, little by little, to the ways indicated by our Christian
faith that eventually leads us to the highest virtue which is charity.
In this, we have to admit first of all that we are like
little children who are in need of education and formation. We can
never outgrow this need to learn the ways of our faith, hope and
charity, unlike in our purely human and natural education--the
academics, for example--where we may say we have already learned
enough.
We need to transcend our usual way of looking at persons,
things and events that will always be conditioned by our human and
natural attributes. Yes, we cannot do away with the many conditionings
we are subject to, but just the same, with our spiritual nature that
precisely makes us God’s image and likeness and that is enhanced by
grace, we are capable of going beyond them.
That’s what “to transcend” means. It’s going beyond what
we have or how we are conditioned, but not discarding them. If ever,
what happens when we transcend something is that we go beyond it while
modifying, purifying or elevating to another level as we keep it.
So in our daily earthly and temporal affairs, we can still
manage to have our differences, preferences and subjective views and
opinions even though we can be above them or go beyond them.
This is how we can be Christ-like, and how we can see
Christ in others, and the hand of God behind every event or situation.
This is how we can love one another truly despite our differences and
conflicts.
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