Sharing Christ’s powers

IF Christ is the pattern of our humanity, if we truly are meant to be “alter Christus” (another Christ), then we can also conclude that we are meant to also share the very powers of Christ. 

 This thought can come to our mind when we consider that gospel episode where the people were amazed when at Christ’s word, a devil that possessed a man was rebuked and thrown out. (cfr. Lk 4,31-37) “What word is this, for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they go out?” the crowd said. 

 Yes, we can share the supernatural powers of Christ if we would just allow ourselves to be truly identified with him. This possibility should not be far-fetched. Christ himself assured us of this possibility when he said: 

 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (M5 17,20-21) 

 Indeed, through the years, we have seen some men and women who have shown some extraordinary powers because of their faith-driven identification with Christ. We can start to cite St. Peter himself who managed to raise Tabitha from the dead in Lydda. (cfr. Act 9,36-43) 

 We should at least be open to this possibility though it may not be advisable for us to insist on it, since it can show a trace of pride and arrogance on our part. God can share his special powers with us if he wants to and if we are open to it also. 

 Let’s remember that gospel episode where Christ, after choosing his apostles in some random way, gave them tremendous powers. “Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Lk 9,1) 

 We have to be most aware of what we can have in our hands. We may feel unworthy of all this, as we should, but the undeniable truth is that Christ can share his powers with us. Let us do our part in corresponding to this stupendous truth of our faith. 

 And the only way to do that is to give our all to God. Let us be generous and magnanimous as God is overwhelmingly generous and magnanimous to all of us. There has to be that mutual dynamic of love and self-giving that has been initiated by God himself. God loves us first, and we have to learn to love him in return, a love that is also expressed in loving everybody just as God loves everybody irrespective of how they are! 

 This is a call to generosity. “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give,” Christ told his disciples. (Mt 10,8) Christ himself embodied this principle when he, being God became man, and not contented with that, he went to the extent of offering his life to conquer all our sins. He finally gave himself to us in the sacraments, especially in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is a real madness of love. 

 Everyday, let us grow in our identification with Christ. Let’s hope that slowly but steadily we can feel the conviction that we are becoming “other Christ” (alter Christus), if not “Christ himself” (ipse Christus). This will open the way for us to share Christ’s special powers.

To know Christ is to know ourselves properly

THE earlier we realize this, the better for us. And that’s simply because Christ is the very pattern of our humanity. How he is should also be how we should be, not of course in terms of our physical appearance and other natural attributes that we have, but rather in terms of the spirit that should animate our whole life. The ideal condition to have is first to know and love Christ so that we may know and love ourselves and others properly. 

 This was what St. Augustine precisely said. “Noverim te, noverim me,” Latin for “May I know you (Christ), may I know myself.” It is when we know and love Christ first that we get to know who we really are and ought to be. Christ is not only the pattern of our humanity but also the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 It is Christ who will tell us what is true and false, right and wrong, moral and immoral. It’s not us who define and determine these things. And if we know Christ first, then we would know how to relate ourselves with the others, how to love them properly the way Christ loves us, as shown, taught and commanded to us by Christ himself. (cfr. Jn 13,34) 

 Thus, if we really want to truly fall and remain in love with our beloved, if we want our relationships to last long until forever, then we have to base it on our knowledge and love of Christ first. There can be no other way to assure us that our relationships here on earth would last! 

 Even in our wounded condition here in this life, Christ offers us the way how to handle it such that we can still manage to be with him. That’s because Christ himself said that he is “the way, the truth and the life.” (cfr. Jn 14,6) 

 Our relation with Christ should not only be in the level of knowledge. We have to live that knowledge to such an extent that we become “another Christ.” We are supposed to be ‘alter Christus,’ the goal and ideal that is meant for us, though we need also to do our part, free beings as are, to achieve that status. 

 God, our Creator and Father, wants us to be that way, though he does not impose it on us without our consent that should also be shown with deeds and not just with intentions or words. 

 We should try our best to have the very sentiments of Christ who has everything that is good and proper to us. When he said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, whoever does not gather with me scatters,” it is quite clear that for us to be ‘alter Christus’ is a necessity. It’s not something optional, though it has to be chosen freely. 

 With Christ we would have the proper understanding of things. We would have a universal outlook, and we can take on anything that can happen to us, whether good or bad, because Christ himself has assumed everything human including to be like sin even if he himself has not committed any sin. “He (God) made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor 5,21) 

 We have to be wary when we rely simply on our common sense, or some powerful philosophy or ideology, because no matter how brilliant these are, they cannot cope with everything that is possible to happen in a man’s life. Only Christ can!

When we just go through the motions

WE have to be wary of this tendency of ours. We should not just follow rules and practices blindly and would just go through the motions for the sake of mere compliance. As much as possible, we should know the reason and motive behind our actions and mean them as sincerely as possible. 

 We are reminded of this danger in that gospel episode where Christ lamented over certain practices of the Jews of his time that showed they were just doing them more for the sake of appearance rather than out of a sincere heart. (cfr. Mk 7) 

 “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,” he said and continued to say, “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.” (Mk 7,6-7) 

 To be guarded against this tendency, we need to pause from time to time, and check whether our actuations truly come from the heart, and our intentions are pure. In fact, as much as possible we should make our intention actual, and not just habitual or virtual. 

 This is to protect us from falling into routine that deadens our intentions and leads us to do things just mechanically. As much as possible we should not allow our routinary tasks to muffle our enthusiasm and love for God and others. 

 The challenge is how to keep ourselves burning with love in spite of our routinary tasks. In fact, if we are clever enough like the serpent that Christ talked about, (cfr. Mt 10,16) we can even make use of these routinary tasks as a way to nourish our love for God and others. 

 For this, we have to see to it that we are always activating our faith, hope and charity by making frequent acts of faith, hope and charity in spite of the lack of gusto for them. Much like everything else in our life, there are things that we should just do even if do not feel like doing them simply because they are necessary to us. These frequent acts of faith, hope and charity can do a lot of wonder and can fan into a flame our waning enthusiasm and love for God and others. 

 These theological virtues, these God-given gifts are the ones that enable us to live our life in a way that is full of love, the love that comes from God himself. It’s a love that always renews itself, not allowing itself to get accustomed, much less, bored by what we do every day. 

 As the Catechism would put it, these theological virtues “bestow on one the capacity to live in a relationship with the Trinity. They are the foundation and the energizing force of the Christian’s moral activity and they give life to the human virtues.” (CCC 384) 

 Also, when we do things with the zeal of love for God and for others, we would effectively protect ourselves from the attacks of our own weaknesses and the many temptations around. 

 We need to see to it that every move we make is always done with actual love, a love that should be a channeling of the very love of God as shown to us by Christ. It is a love that knows how to handle any situation in our life, whether good or bad in human terms. It is a supernatural love, not just human love. 

 It is this love, more than anything else, that truly matters in our relation with God and with others.