THERE’S no doubt about it. We are meant to assume the
identity of Christ, because he is the pattern of our humanity and the
savior of our damaged humanity. We can only be as we ought to be when
we assume Christ’s identity. That is to say, when Christ and us become
one.
A fantasy? A gratuitous exaggeration? Would we not fall
into some grave presumption here or some psychological disorder? Such
reactions, of course, are understandable. As they say, we are only
human (sapagkat kami’y tao lamang), and so we can never aspire to be
like Christ, much less, to be Christ himself.
But Christ himself said so in so many words. “He who hears
you hears me,” he said, “and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who
reject me rejects him who sent me.” (Lk 10,16) Though spoken directly
to his apostles, such words can also be addressed to all of us.
More than that, his ardent prayer before he entered into
his passion and death was that we be one with him and he is one with
his Father. “…that all of them may be one, as you, Father, are in me,
and I am in you. May they also be in us…that they may be one as we are
one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete
unity…” (Jn 17,21.23)
That is why St. Paul went to the extent of saying he had
the mind of Christ. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him?” he asked. “But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor
2,16)
And what is to have the mind of Christ? St. Paul offers
some ideas. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,”
he said. “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality
with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made
himself a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
death—even death on a cross!” (Phil 2,5-8)
To be like Christ, to have his mind, to assume Christ’s
identity, to be “another Christ” as some theologians have described
what the ideal is for us is to be humble, to be obedient, to love
everyone, including the enemies, to be willing to suffer for all, to
preach the truth, to have the attitude of wanting to serve and not to
be served, etc.
To be sure, for us to be ‘another Christ’ is not our
initiative. It is God’s initiative for which he has given us all the
means for it to take place. He has given us his word and his
sacraments. He has given us the Church and the many instrumentalities
it possesses.
In the end, he has given us Christ himself, the living
Christ who offers his life for us, in the Holy Eucharist. Christ makes
himself so available to us that we can have him for the taking.
We really have no reason why we cannot assume Christ’s
identity. Of course, we have to do our part. We have to want and to
love him. Before that, we have to know him more and more, perhaps
through regular reading and meditation of his life and teaching as
contained in the gospels. Not only should we be familiar with his
words and deeds, but should also make those words and deeds as our
own.
This will require a certain plan of life that will always
bring us to Christ whatever the situation and circumstance of our
life. But it would not be wrong if very often during the day we remind
ourselves, “I am another Christ. I have to see things, understand them
and react to them, as Christ would!” We have to overcome the initial
awkwardness to enter into the ultimate reality meant for us.
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