By Fr. Roy Cimagala *
THE gospel of the Second Sunday of Advent (cfr. Lk 3,106)
somehow reminds us to appreciate the role of St. John the Baptist in
the whole economy of salvation. It’s definitely a role that encourages
us to be very clear about our ultimate goal in life for which we have
to do everything, so we can attain it. Let’s remember that this is the
most important concern we have in this life.
And this ultimate goal is nothing other than that we be
“another Christ” who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of
our damaged humanity. All the other things in our life—our personal
circumstances, our profession, our politics, etc.—should only serve as
means to our ultimate end. While we have to be immersed in them, we
should see to it that we are not confused, trapped and lost in them,
diverting us from our true goal.
We have to be more sharply and continually aware that all
the things in our life serve simply as the occasions where Christ is
intervening in our life to create and redeem us, to shape us to be
like him. For this, we have to avail of the appropriate means to keep
that awareness alive. Ignoring this condition in our life would
compromise the real purpose of our life here on earth.
Thus, we have to come up with the proper plans and
strategies that would help us effectively act on this condition and
purpose of our life. They obviously should be plans and strategies
that should be inspired by our faith and not by some human motive or
ideology alone.
Let’s remember that our faith gives us the complete picture
of the reality and purpose of our life. Any awkwardness or difficulty
we have in living our faith should be overcome. This obviously will
require some discipline. But we need to study our faith, and start
living or putting into practice what our faith teaches us.
We have to understand that our formation in this regard
should be a lifelong business. We need to realize that our Christian
formation will take our whole lifetime. This should come as no
surprise to us, since our ultimate goal in life is none other than for
each one of us to be “alter Christus,” another Christ. And can anyone
dare to say that he is Christ-like enough?
We always have to remember that our march toward full
development and maturity, human and not to mention Christian, never
ends in this life. It’s supposed to be an ongoing affair, a work in
progress. We should never say enough.
The duty to take care of our formation is coterminous with
life itself, which will always give us lessons. And that’s because the
basics and essentials, the absolute, old and the permanent truths,
which we may already know, will always have to cope and somehow need
to get enriched by the incidentals in life, by the relative,
innovative and changing things.
In his second letter, St. Peter urges us to go on with our
formation: “Strive diligently to supply your faith with virtue, your
virtue with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your
self-control with patience, your patience with piety, your piety with
fraternal love, your fraternal love with charity.” (1,5-7)
And as we all know, charity is a never-ending affair, ever
making new demands on us, and introducing us to more aspects,
dimensions and challenges in life. It will always push us to do more,
to give more, to be more!
* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
