Channeling Christ

IF we are to be authentic Christians, we have to know how

to channel Christ to everyone in every situation. We have to know how

to show Christ to everyone. We have to have his mind, his spirit. Our

words and deeds, our reactions to things and our behaviour in general

should be those of Christ first before they are ours. The ideal state

for us is when anyone who sees or hears us sees and hears Christ.

            And this is because our identity is fundamentally based on

being God’s image and likeness. And Christ as the Son of God, the

second person in the Blessed Trinity, is God’s own perfect image and

likeness. Our humanity in effect is patterned after him.

            And as God who became man, Christ is the savior of our

humanity that is damaged by sin. Christ is therefore the pattern and

savior of all mankind before we put in our personal and specific

qualities, traits, peculiarities, etc., that would make each of us a

unique individual.

            It is this basic Christian pattern of humanity that makes

us all children of God and brothers and sisters among ourselves

regardless of our personal, racial and other various differences among

ourselves. It is this basic Christian identity of all mankind that

urges us to care and love one another. We have to see in each one of

us the image of Christ, and together with that image, the whole

Christ.

            That is why our theologians have described each one of us

to be “alter Christus” (another Christ). And Christ himself said that

he is “the way, the truth and the life.” Our life can only be true

life when it is lived in Christ who as God created us before it is

procreated by our parents. Our life has God the Son as its pattern and

Christ as its redeemer after our fall.

            We have to learn to show Christ to everyone everywhere.

And this is especially so among the clergy who are conformed to Christ

as head of Christ’s body, the Church. That is why the clergy should

always be mindful of who they are and who they represent. They have to

be clear about their mission in life which should be the very mission

Christ came into our world.

            That is why we cannot overemphasize the need for the

clergy to truly assume the identity of Christ. Whatever he says and

does should be done in such a way that it can be clearly seen and

understood that it is Christ as head of the Church, bent only on

saving men, who is doing it. They have to always assume the role of

ministers who work for Christ and not for themselves nor for anybody

or anything else.

            To put it bluntly, the spotlight should always be on

Christ. It would be a disorder if the clergy would grab it, even if

only partially, for themselves. Things should be such that after each

priestly duty, the people who benefited from it should be thankful to

Christ and should be made to feel Christ’s redemptive work on them.

            The clergy should see to it that all his talents and other

God-given endowments be fully at the service of the redemptive work of

Christ. They should always have rectitude of intention and the

constant awareness that it is Christ whom they are serving.

            They have to be most careful with the frequent temptation

to be proud, vain and feeling privileged and entitled because of their

position. They have to learn how to give themselves fully to their

ministry and yet know how to hide and disappear, so that it is only

Christ whom people get to see and hear.

            Their responsibility to personify Christ is graver than

that of the laity. They have to be so identified and united with

Christ in a living way that they can echo St. Paul’s words: “Be

imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ.” (1 Cor 11,1)