Christ: the one for all

IN the gospel, we can hear Christ declaring himself as the door of the sheepfold. (cfr. Jn 10,7-9) “I am the door,” he said. “By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.” 

 With these words, we are made to understand that he is the sole legitimate entrance to human salvation, the protector who safeguards the sheep (us) from harm, contrasting himself from false leaders and prophets who would only exploit the flock. 

 In other words, he depicts himself as the only and unique mediator, as articulated once by St. Paul when he said: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 2,5) In short, his salvific mission and mediation have a universal scope, and not just meant for some people. 

 In this regard, we can cite some points from a Vatican document, issued way back in 2000, entitled “Dominus Iesus, on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church.” It responded and clarified certain theological trends that denied Christ’s exclusive mediation and proposed alternative and complementary revelations. 

 It’s definitely a delicate topic that has to be studied well and thoroughly. But first of all, it has to be studied in a way that is always guided by faith and not just by pure human reason that can present all kinds of theories, hypotheses and assumptions. 

 Let’s remember that the ultimate proof of the credibility of our Christian faith is the fact that Christ who is regarded as the fullness of revelation can truly be regarded as God because among the many good things he did, he finally resurrected from the dead. 

 Christ’s resurrection is the pivotal event that validates his claims about his divinity. It shows his power over death and the fulfillment of the prophecies that showed his relationship with God—that he is not just a man, a very special man, but first of all, he is God, the son of God who became man for our salvation. 

 We need to constantly strengthen this belief especially nowadays when there are many elements that tend to distract and weaken our belief in Christ. There even are open efforts to present an alternative to Christ. 

 We need to do everything to make Christ the constant focus and center of our life. May everything that we do, from our thoughts and desires to our words and deeds, begin with Christ as the inspiration, continue with Christ as our main help, and reach its target with Christ as the goal himself. 

 Let’s convince ourselves that any way of being and acting that is outside of this loop would expose us to deadly moral and spiritual dangers. Thus, right from the beginning of the day, as when we wake up, the first thing that should come to mind is regain this awareness that we need Christ always. 

 And so, we should develop the practice of making a morning offering to Christ of everything that will take place on that day as soon as we get up from bed in the morning. It’s what saints and many other people have been doing to set the proper human and supernatural tone to their daily affairs, giving them a sense of direction and purpose for the day. 

 The effort to give the first thought of the day to Christ is all worthwhile since it corresponds to the fundamental reality that our life is always, from beginning to end, a shared life with Christ and therefore also with God the Father, Creator, and God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. Christ should be our all! (cfr. Col 3,11)

“Go out to all the world and tell the Good News”

THAT’S from the Gospel of St. Mark (16,15), words that Christ addressed to his remaining 11 apostles (Judas already quit) soon after his resurrection. In no unclear terms, he commanded them to go to the whole world and to preach the Good News, that is, the Gospel. 

 Now, if we truly feel that we are among his disciples, as we should, we should also feel that these words are also addressed to us. We are also being asked to get out of our own little world, trapped in our own personal affairs, to go global, spreading God’s word worldwide. 

 Here, Christ is giving what may be described as the Great Commission, a call to action for believers to spread the message of salvation through him. Let us remember that Christ is the only mediator between God and man (cfr. 1 Tim 2,5) 

 We need to do this with utmost care and prudence, with utmost discernment and obedience to God’s will and ways, considering that in the world we can encounter all sorts of people with all kinds of beliefs and worldview, some atheists and agnostics, others with religions that offer another god. 

 We need to learn the art of proper inter-religious dialogue to explain as best that we can the unicity and salvific universality of Christ which we have to uphold, explain, defend, etc. 

 Everything has to be done always with charity, because even in the bitterest of differences and conflicts in beliefs, it is charity that will win over. Charity upholds and defends the truth about the role of Christ in our life, and it contains the whole and ultimate truth about ourselves, despite whatever. 

 But we should cultivate the urge to reach out to as many people as possible. While it’s true that we are always limited by certain conditions, we have in our humanity blessed by God’s grace the capacity to go beyond those conditions. Yes, we may be limited by some circumstances, but through God’s grace, we can be given the strength to rise above them. 

 For this, we can use the modern technologies, such as the internet and the social media, as a “pulpit for the whole world.” We have to avoid falling into a parochial or tribal attitude toward our apostolic duty. While it’s true that because of our personal conditions, each one of us will have a particular niche in his apostolic activity, everyone should try to have a universal apostolic concern. 

 We have to be ready to get interested in everyone apostolically. We should be interested both in the rich and the poor, those in the mainstream of society as well as those in the peripheries. 

 We have to learn how to dance with the rich and crazy as well as to get wet and dirty with the poor and miserable. We should be able to do apostolate in any part of the world. We have to learn how to be all things to all men as St. Paul said. (cfr. 1 Cor 9-22) 

 For this, we need to be patient, persevering, creative and versatile. We have to learn how to “waste time” with everyone, especially those who may be very different from us in terms of temperament, social and economic status, etc. 

 We should not wait for some favorable circumstances before we do apostolate. To do apostolate should be like our heartbeat. We should feel its urge the way we feel the urge to breathe, eat and drink.

God’s initiative to draw us to him

THAT’S what Christ said very clearly. “No man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draws him,” he said. (Jn 6,44) These words remind us that there is such thing as divine providence. We need to be most aware of it so we can do our part in corresponding to God’s constant intervention and guidance over us so we can attain our ultimate goal and perfection in life. 

 As our Catechism puts it, providence are “the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward their perfection…By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made…(n. 302) 

 Furthermore, the Catechism says that “the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history.” (n. 303) 

 We need to understand that as God’s creatures, our creation is still in the making. We are still being formed and led to our perfection, which is none other than to be God’s image and likeness, children of his and sharers of his divine life in the eternity of heaven. He is continually directing and shaping us as he wants us to be. But we need to correspond as best that we can. 

 We have to realize then that God is constantly intervening in our lives, a reality that we should always acknowledge and correspond to properly. There is nothing in our life where God is not present or where he is inactive. 

This is the objective truth about the relation we have with God. For this, we have to be guided first of all by our faith rather than by our mere human powers that can only go so far. It is through faith that our intelligence, will and all the other faculties we have can discern this most wonderful reality of our life here on earth that can already give us a taste of eternal life here. 

 That is why, we need to cultivate our spiritual life, our relation with God which is otherwise called as our religion, that has to be constantly nourished through a life of piety that should be kept as vibrant as possible. 

 Otherwise, there is no other way but for us to fall into self-indulgence that has no other possible end than tragedy. We would be easy prey to our weaknesses, the many temptations around and sin itself. 

 That is why the Catechism tells us that “Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs.” (n. 305). We should not dare to live solely on our own, something that we need effort to uphold, since our tendency is to think that we can simply be on our own. 

 This basic truth about our need to live under God’s providence should be inculcated on everyone as early as possible, giving out the appropriate means to make this ideal a reality. As the day wears on, we should be asking questions like, “Lord, what do you want me to do now, etc.?” 

 Asking this kind of questions should be like an instinct to us. It definitely would help us to make good use of our time, to have a keen sense of order that would set the proper priorities over the many things we have to deal with everyday. 

 What definitely a wonderful world we would have if all of us learn to live under God’s providence!