Developing our constant need for Christ

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THIS is the lesson we can draw from that gospel episode where people with all kinds of sicknesses went to see Christ for healing. (cfr. Lk 6,12-19) But for us, we should not wait for some serious illness or difficulty to beset us before going to him.

We should go and be with him all the time, both when we feel high, which can be corrupting, and when we feel low, which can be discouraging and depressing. Even in our so-called normal times, when things seem to be just ok, we should all the more feel this need to be with Christ.

We are meant to be with Christ always. Without him, we actually would just be relying on our undependable human estimations and devices which can only go so far. And to be sure, Christ is actually always with us. We should just do our part to acknowledge his presence and constant interventions in our life, and be guided accordingly.

And even in our worst condition when we find ourselves held captive by a serious fault and sin, we should not forget that Christ, who is a Good Shepherd always in search for the lost sheep, is actually doing his best to recover us. We should not make it hard for him to find us. With humility, let us ask for forgiveness which he will readily give and regain our true dignity as a child of God.

This need for Christ is actually impressed in our nature which God created. Yes, believe it or not, we have a natural longing for God, though such longing can be thwarted by a number of reasons.

This is how the Catechism explains this point. “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.” (27)

As to how such natural desire for God can be thwarted, the Catechism says: “But this ‘intimate and vital bond of man to God’ can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.” (29)

We have to see to it that this natural longing for God is always protected, developed and pursued all the way to its last consequences. We should always feel the necessity for God, an abiding hunger and thirst for God.

We have to realize that we need him always, that we need to refer everything that we are, that we have, that we do—from our most private and hidden thoughts, desires, intentions to our most overt and big actions—to him.

We need to realize that everything has to begin and end with him. He should be the inspiration and the purpose, as well as the pattern and the way from the start to the end of things. He is the very author of everything in reality, the creator of the nature of each creature, be it living or inert, etc.

We need to see to it that we develop a real hunger and thirst for God to such an extent that we would really feel the corresponding urges. Our yearning for God should not just be a spiritual or intellectual affair.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com