Advent time to develop deep yearning for Christ

By Fr. Roy Cimagala*

          “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of

heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” (Mt

11,12)

          With these words, Christ is actually telling us that we have

to be forceful and determined in following the will of God who wants

us to be his image and likeness, children of his, and sharers of his

divine life.

          And the season of Advent is a good time to develop this

burning desire to be with Christ. Actually, more than just being with

Christ, we are supposed to be like Christ, to be “another Christ”

himself. That’s what God wants us to be. That’s how we become God’s

image and likeness, children of his.

          We have to develop an abiding and burning desire to fulfill

the real purpose of our life which is precisely for us to be “another

Christ.” We should be clear about this ultimate purpose of ours so we

can have the proper sense of direction and focus in our life, and the

corresponding urge to fulfill it.

          Our problem is that we often take our life’s real and

ultimate purpose for granted, preferring to sway and dance according

to the music played simply by worldly conditions. We prefer to be

guided by our senses and emotions, or by our reasoning alone as

expressed in our man-made different ideologies, philosophies, sciences

and technologies, etc.

          We ignore the guiding light of our Christian faith that

gives us not only a global picture of things but also the means to

attain our true goal of eternal life with God in heaven. We have to

remember that our Christian faith shows us the ultimate dimensions and

purpose of our life that definitely includes the spiritual and

supernatural realities.

          We often fail to realize that our earthly life is a voyage

of faith in time that is heading towards the eternity of God. This

predicament has to be resolved, and the earlier the better—of course,

with due consideration to the readiness of each one of us to

appreciate the value of our Christian faith, something that has to be

worked on.

          In this regard, the first thing to do is to look at the

example of Christ who is “the way, the truth and the life” for us. In

several occasions, Christ would say that what he was doing was in

fulfillment of what the prophets of old, the advance proclaimers of

God’s will for Christ and for all of us, said. (cfr. Mt 26,54.56; Mk

14,49; Lk 18,31; etc.)

          For this, we need to exert some forcefulness. Not

destructive violence, not pervert obsession, but a certain

forcefulness that helps us to grow properly and love God and care for

one another. That´s what we need. This is clear in our human and

natural conditions, both in our personal and social aspects. And if we

have to consider our ultimate supernatural goal, then this

forcefulness becomes even more necessary.

          We have to follow the example of Christ. In fact, we have to

assume the same mind and mission of Christ. It’s clear that Christ

already had in his mind that he has to follow and fulfill a purpose

and a mission already spelled out for him beforehand. This should also

be the mentality we ought to have. We have a purpose and mission

already spelled out for us beforehand, and we should do our best, with

God’s grace, to fulfill it.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Advent time for planning and strategizing

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          IT’S the season of Advent again, opening a new liturgical

year. There can be many things that can come to mind with this season

of Advent. For one, it’s a time of expecting and preparing for the

birth of Christ on Christmas. That is in the short run. In the long

run, it is also a time of expecting and preparing for the second and

glorious coming of Christ, the Parousia.

          Advent also means that since it marks the beginning of

another liturgical year, we need to re-enliven our sense of making a

new beginning in our spiritual life that is the very foundation of our

whole life, since it is what relates us to God, our Father and

Creator, our be-all and end-all, as well as to everybody else. There,

therefore, is a great need to make some serious and effective plans

and strategies to pursue that most important goal of our life.

          We have to remember that our life here on earth is like a

divine project that has a beginning and an end, and a very concrete

purpose. But it’s a project that we also take active part in, since as

an intelligent and free creature of God capable of knowing and loving

God and others, we are meant to knowingly and lovingly correspond to

God’s plans for us individually and collectively. We are not passive

materials in this project.

          And this divine project takes the form of a yearly cycle,

what we call as the liturgical year, where the working of the whole

economy of salvation that God has for us, takes place. God’s

interventions in our life are actually constant and abiding.

          This yearly cycle of the divine project is meant to prepare

us for our ultimate eternal destination. It would be good if we make

ourselves most aware of this truth of our faith, so that we know what

we ought to do in this earthly life of ours.

          For this, a prayer that can be helpful is the Glory Be,

where we find the words, “As it was in the beginning, is now, and will

be forever.” Let’s put our mind and heart into these words if only to

remind ourselves strongly that we need to have a good sense of

continuity and consistency between our beginning and end, between the

past, present and future, and between time and eternity.

          Let us foster the awareness of this basic truth about

ourselves and about our life here on earth. We need to encourage

everyone to have a clear and strong sense of purpose, and to know how

to pursue it given our human condition and all the means that God has

given us.

          We therefore cannot overemphasize this basic need of ours to

make plans and strategies. If we have to develop ourselves as we

should, if we have to be truly productive and fruitful, if we have to

take advantage of everything in life, whether good or bad, to attain

our ultimate goal, then we have to plan and strategize our moves.

          Making plans and strategies may require some time and

effort, but it’s an investment that is all worth it. The little time

and effort required can actually multiply our time and make our

efforts more productive at the end of the day. It’s like the little

rudder that St. James talked about in his letter. (cfr. 3,4) Our plans

and strategies can have the power to accomplish great things, like a

little rudder giving direction to a big boat.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com