Christ’s initiative and our correspondence

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

FRIDAY in the Octave of Easter has this gospel reading about Christ taking the initiative after his own resurrection to reveal himself to his disciples. (Jn 21,1-14) This kind of behavior is always a given in Christ. We should try our best to be quick to correspond to this reality and do it as best that we can also. Let’s remember that as St. John also said in his First Letter, we can manage to love because God loved us first. (cfr. 4,19)

We should not doubt this basic truth of our faith regarding Christ’s relationship with us. Much less should we ignore it. We need to enliven this truth of our faith and, in fact, make it a constant and driving element in our very consciousness.

That is why it is important that from time to time, we pause and consider this truth so that it would really sink into our consciousness, making it the original and ultimate shaping and directing principle of our thoughts, desires, words and deeds.

Let’s always remember that God in Christ through the Holy Spirit will always love us, irrespective of how we are toward him. In fact, even when we stray from the path proper to us, God’s concern and love for us increases. This truth has been vividly dramatized in those parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the prodigal son.

We should learn how to react to this tremendous love God has for us. We have to learn how to repay love with love. And that means that we should try our best to identify ourselves as completely as possible with God’s will and ways. That’s how love works.

Because of God’s love for us, he makes himself man in Christ, even going to the extent making himself like sin without committing any sin, just to identify himself with us. He showers us with many good things and ultimately gives us mercy since we cannot avoid falling into sin one way or another.

If we have to repay God’s love with love, then we have to do our best to identify ourselves with him, by getting to know and to live his very own will and ways as revealed to us in full by Christ and made perpetual through the Holy Spirit.

That is why we have to come up with a plan of life that would effectively capture and put into action this truth about us in our relation with God. We need a time for prayer. We need to study the doctrine of our faith. We need to undertake ascetical struggle, given our weaknesses, limitations and the enemies of God and our soul as well as the spiritual and supernatural goal that we have to pursue.

We need to become true contemplatives even while immersed in the things of this world. That means that our temporal affairs should be no hindrance in our abiding relationship with God. In fact, they should become the occasion and the means to keep us with God. Even the unavoidable negative things in our life should be a reason to go and to be with God.

That’s how our correspondence to God’s tremendous and abiding love for us should look like. This should be the normal way of life for us. We need to help each other to cultivate this kind of culture in our society and in the world in general!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com