Both God and man

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

  THERE is that gospel episode where some Jewish leaders started to persecute Christ because Christ, by making an invalid walk, appeared to them as making himself equal to God. (cfr. Jn 5) They just could not accept that.

That was when Christ told them that what he did to that invalid, and later to many others with certain ailments, should prove to them that he was sent by God the Father. “The deeds my Father has given me to perform, these same deeds of mine testify that the Father has sent me,” he said. (Jn 5,36)

We need to understand that Christ is both God and man. In fact, as some theologians have been repeating, he is “perfect God, perfect man.” Obviously, for us to believe this truth of faith, we need faith, since this a supernatural mystery that our sciences and technologies would not fathom.

We need to make that leap of faith, which actually does not suppress our reason and the findings of our human faculties. What it does is to enable us to transcend, with our spiritual powers and the grace of God, our human powers. 

In other words, we should not be trapped in the world of nature alone. We have to enter into the world of the spiritual and the supernatural. We are actually poised for it, but we have to make the decision to take that leap.

Without making that leap, our understanding of who Christ really is has no other way but to be wrong. In fact, some have considered Christ only to be man, not God, though a superior kind of man. Others have regarded Christ only as God, not man, though he appears to be like man.

That Christ is both God and man has been definitively defined by the Church through some councils like those of Ephesus and Chalcedon. It was clarified that Christ was first of all a divine person, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, with two natures, the divine and the human. That would make him both God and man, “perfectus Deus, perfectus homo.” This union of the two natures in Christ is called in theological terms as “hypostatic union.”

This truth of our faith about Christ is crucial in also knowing who we really are. Christ, being the pattern of our humanity, somehow reaffirms the belief that we too are meant to be like God, sharers of God’s life and nature.

For us to be like Christ, and in fact, to assume the very identity of Christ, we have to learn how to die to ourselves so that Christ can live in us. Thus, Christ said, “Whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it.” (Lk 9,24) And, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (Jn 12,24-25)

We should give full force to our pursuit to assume the identity of Christ to such an extent that we can say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2,20) Given our proclivity to simply be by ourselves, Christ has given us the formula of how we can be like him: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mt 16,24)

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Involving the whole man

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

I AM referring to our relationship with God, as well as with everybody else. As much as possible, we should involve our entire humanity, and not just part of it, as in, we deal with God only spiritually and not bodily, only intellectually and not emotionally, etc.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where Christ “complained” about people who “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” (cfr. Mt 13,10-17)

As that gospel narrates, the reason why Christ used parables instead of using a more direct language is because the heart of the people has grown gross. “They will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted,” Christ said.

In other words, the reason why the people failed to see and to understand what Christ is telling them is because they do not want to be converted. This is also the problem that many of us have. We need to be aware of this predicament and try to do something about it.

We really need to have a burning desire to be with God and with everybody else for us to be able to involve our whole humanity in all our relationships. Without that desire, which will also require the grace of God, we would not go all the way in dealing with God and with others. For all that we do that may appear as if we are doing a lot for God and for others, we would just end up indulging ourselves or simply affirming ourselves.

We need to discipline ourselves so as to involve our whole being in all our relationships. We always have the tendency to be fragmented and distracted, especially nowadays when we have a lot of things, a lot of novelties that can attract our attention at the expense of giving due attention to God and to others.

For this, we need to pause and do some spiritual exercises so that our belief and love for God and for others would really trickle down to our senses. In this regard, we have to give due attention to the need to educate our emotions and passions also.

As the Catechism tells us, our emotions and passions are “natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of mind.” (1764)

Our emotions and passions therefore serve as a link between our body and soul. They are where we materialize what is spiritual in us, and spiritualize what is material in us. As such, they create a rich texture in our lives. They create the consistency proper to us as a person and as a child of God. They also help to give focus on our judgments, modulate our will, and add sensitivity to our reasoning.

In other words, they play a decisive role in achieving a happy and fully human life. They contribute to achieving the full potential of our humanity. But given the wounded condition of man, our emotions and passions need to be purified and thoroughly educated.

They should not be allowed to just develop at the instance of our hormones and instincts, for example, and the many other blind or short-sighted impulses and trends in our social, cultural, economic, or political environment. They need to be reined in, to be guided and given direction.

This is how we can aspire to involve our whole being in our relationship with God and with others.

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com