Christ is never indifferent to our suffering

LIKE those who went to Christ for healing, (cfr. Lk 4,38-44) we too should immediately go to our Lord especially when we find ourselves in some form of suffering, be it a matter of sickness or some difficulty in the different aspects of our life, financial, professional, social, etc. 

 We should never suffer by our lonesome, coping with our problems through some human ways alone. This method can only go so far. What we need to do is always to go to Christ who teaches us and enables us to suffer with meaning. 

 With Christ, there is even the possibility of solving our problems while here on earth. We can be cured of any illness we may have. And if these problems cannot be solved anymore in our life, Christ can turn them into a way of our purification and salvation. Christ can always derive from it something good for us. 

 We need to develop in ourselves the instinct to go to Christ immediately. We have to be wary of our tendency to get stuck in the human level when some suffering comes our way. Christ always listens to us and gives what is best for us at the moment and in the long run. He is never indifferent to our needs. 

 Of course, his ways may not be what we specifically would want to happen. In this, we have to be ready to develop the appropriate attitude of acceptance and abandonment in the often-mysterious providence of God. We should just strengthen our faith that whatever happens, as long as we have begged God for help, everything would just work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 We should avoid unnecessarily dramatizing our predicaments. Obviously, we have to learn how to suffer which can be done as long as we learn how to suffer with Christ. That is why a certain toughness in us should also be developed. 

 And we can have that toughness if we follow what Christ one time spelled out for us. That is, if we want to follow him, we have to learn to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) And that, on a daily basis. 

 We just have to follow the example of the many characters in the gospel who, feeling helpless in the many predicaments they were in, earnestly rushed to Christ for some succor. They went to him unafraid and unashamed and they got what they wanted. 

 There is no denying that life always has more to offer us than what we can understand, let alone, cope. And they can come in all shapes and sizes, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, likeable and hateful. There are surprises and moments when we seem to rot in expectation and still things we long for don’t come. 

 In the face of all this, I believe the attitude to have and the reaction to make is to be calm, pray hard, and while we do all we can, we have to learn to live a certain sense of abandonment in the hands of God. 

 In those situations, I believe we just have to allow ourselves to play in God’s game plan, in his abiding providence whose designs are beyond reckoning, or are way beyond our comprehension and appreciation. 

 In this life, we need to develop a sportsman’s attitude, since life is like a game. Yes, life is like a game, because we set out to pursue a goal, we have to follow certain rules, we are given some means, tools and instruments, we train and are primed to win and do our best, but defeats can always come, and yet, we just have to move on.

God shares his power with us

THAT’S right! God shares his power with us. If we are truly God’s image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature, then it should come as a no-brainer that we too can share in his tremendous power. 

 We are somehow reminded of this wonderful truth of our faith in that gospel episode where people were amazed both by Christ’s teaching which they considered as being with authority and by the driving out of the devil that possessed a man. (cfr. Lk 4,31-37) 

 That God shares his power with us can also be shown by the fact that he gave his apostles, who were then his closest helpers at that time, great powers like the authority over unclean spirits, and the power to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. (cfr. Mt 10,1) 

 Eventually, Christ gave them such powers that, as he told them, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Mt 18,18-20) 

 Thus, Sts. Peter and Paul, despite their human weakness, were able, for example, to heal a crippled beggar, raise the dead, exorcise a demon, etc., all recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. And throughout the history of Christianity, saints had been performing many miraculous deeds that only showed they shared the powers of God. 

 There’s hardly any better way to show that indeed we are meant to share also in the tremendous powers of God! The condition, of course, is if we truly identify ourselves with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit which is what we should try to do since that is the ultimate purpose of our life. And God has provided us with all the means that we need for this purpose. 

 In other words, things just would really depend on us. Are we willing to do our part and go along with God’s will and ways, or do we prefer to be and to do things simply by our own selves? 

 This is a truth of faith that we have to slowly process in our mind and heart, since definitely it’s a truth that is very incredible for us to accept. Usually, given our natural limitations when referred to the supernatural dimension of our life, our reaction would be disbelief to this truth of our Christian faith. 

 This is then where we truly have to humble ourselves to let the light to faith to guide us rather than keep ourselves to our own human estimations and ways. God is ever willing and eager to share his power with us. Our sharing in God’s power starts with our faith in God, but for that faith to take root in us, we need to be humble. 

 We should spend time meditating on this truth of our faith, and we should try to overcome whatever awkwardness and disbelief we have about it. Truth is, given the way the world is developing today, with so much drifting away if not rebellion against God, we need some divine powers to put ourselves afloat in our true dignity as children of God. 

 To be sure, if we have the right intention to share God’s power, we would always remain humble and ever eager to help others. Otherwise, we would be playing the game of the devil!

This serious business of becoming like Christ

WE need to be clear about this very fundamental truth of our Christian faith. We are meant to be like Christ for the simple reason that he is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. Everything in our life should be made an occasion, a means, a reason to pursue that goal of ours. 

 We have to be wary of getting trapped in the technicalities of our temporal affairs that would desensitize us from this ultimate purpose of our life here on earth. If ever, these technicalities, while given our utmost attention and care, should only be a way to become more and more like Christ. 

 Especially in these days of the new technologies that can so mesmerize us as to be wholly dominated by them, we need to develop a certain mechanism that would always keep us in the proper spiritual and supernatural outlook in this life. In other words, we need to be real contemplatives even while immersed in the things of the world. The ideal is to have an abiding intimacy with Christ. 

 One clear way is to be and to do everything with Christ and for Christ. That’s because Christ is everywhere. Being God, he is the foundation of all reality. We are not fantasizing if we look for him everywhere to find, love and serve him. And being God who became man, he offers us “the way, the truth and the life” proper for us. 

 What can be very helpful in this regard is to develop the practice of saying ejaculatory prayers or aspirations all throughout the day. They are very helpful in quickly and easily putting ourselves in Christ’s presence, especially when we immerse ourselves deeply in the things of the world as we ought. 

 They help us relate ourselves and everything that happens to us to Christ, again as we ought. They help us in keeping a spiritual and supernatural outlook as we go through the different events of the day. In short, they help in keeping us spiritually alive, and not just alive in the body and to the world. 

 They help us see things better in the sense that we just would not see them with our senses and our human understanding alone, but also and more importantly with our faith, which is what is ideal and proper to us. They somehow put us in an intimate relation with Christ. With them we will never feel alone nor distant from Christ. 

 My personal experience with ejaculatory prayers shows that they are very helpful even in making me calm and rested even in the middle of a tense situation for the mind or for the body. They help in making me breathe more deeply and thus give some relief. 

 Also, not to forget is that they are very helpful in protecting and defending us from temptations and sin. They make the spiritual combat and ascetical struggle, so unavoidable in life, more manageable. 

 They also help in preparing us for the more serious forms in our relationship with Christ as when we have to do our prayers, our sacrifices and our recourse to the sacraments. 

 We should all do our best to make it a habit to say ejaculatory prayers often during the day. Any short and earnest expression of our faith and piety will do. And also in this regard, the many vocal prayers that are already available can be very useful. The “Our Father’s,” “Hail Mary’s” and “Glory be’s” are truly helpful.