CHRISTIANS, WE ARE CALLED TO GIVE GOOD EXAMPLE. WE ARE CALLED TO BE “OTHER CHRISTS, CHRIST HIMSELF.”
St. Paul exhorts us: “I therefore…beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Eph 4:1).”
We too must behave worthily, in accordance with our vocation, following and imitating our Lord’s example. “Bene omnia fecit,” the people said of him.
• He did everything well, to perfection. Not only the great miracles, but also the little everyday things that didn’t dazzle anyone, but which Christ performed with the accomplishment of one who is perfectus Deus, perfectus homo, perfect God and perfect man.
We must do more than live an upright life and practise the basic Christian virtues, if we want to bring Christ’s light to everyone.
• “I really wish we Christians knew how to serve, for only by serving can we know and love Christ and make him known and loved. And how will we show him to souls? By our example. Through our voluntary service of Jesus Christ, we should be witnesses to him in all our activities, for he is the Lord of our entire lives, the only and ultimate reason for our existence…Embracing the Christian faith means committing oneself to continuing Jesus Christ’s mission among men. We must, each of us, be alter Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ himself. Only in this way can we set about this great undertaking, this immense, unending task of sanctifying all temporal structures from within, bringing to them the leaven of redemption. (St. Josemaria, Christ is Passing By, nn. 182 & 183).”
• By acting in this way, St. Josemaria says, “you will feel the warm affection of so many people who seek you out and who will continue to seek you out – for you are other Christs – if you are very godly as well as very human; and if, with God’s grace, you practise the human virtues, which are so often missing in those who boast of supernatural virtues, which is why their work frequently comes crumbling down.
• Cultivate the art of being pleasant. Treat other people politely, and avoid any arrogance. Be generous. Never be an icy model that others can admire but not love. Have God’s grace and a sense of humour; and a smile that is sincere, clear and open, even though at times it cannot hide many human disappointments.”
Let us ask Jesus and Mary to overcome our weaknesses so as to live our life as Christ lived, giving example to others and winning souls for God. LORD JESUS, MAY WE STRIVE TO BE “OTHER CHRISTS” IN OUR THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS. Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
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