Developing unity and consistency in our life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WHILE Christ was always patient, compassionate, merciful and the like with everyone, we cannot deny that there were occasions that he showed anger and expressed some lamentations. He even did this with his disciples, and especially with those self-righteous leading Jews of his time and those who converted the temple into a marketplace.

On one occasion, while being invited for dinner by a Pharisee, he was criticized, at least interiorly by those around, for not observing the prescribed washing before the meal. That’s when he told the host, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?” (cfr. Lk 11,37-41)

This gospel episode somehow warns us that we are always prone to fall into all kinds of formalism and legalism without the proper spirit and motive behind our actions, laws, culture, etc. It reminds us that we have to be truly consistent and to develop a certain unity of life that can only be achieved if we are with Christ, who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity.

Developing this consistency and unity of life should be an abiding concern for all of us. Even if we have to contend with many aspects and dimensions of our life, it is only one life that each of us has, not two or three. And thus, to build and keep our unity of life is a daily task of ours. We can neglect it only to our own serious risk and damage.

Our life is not only biological that relies simply on our biological functions. Neither is it just purely physical or material that requires merely material nourishment.

Our life has many more important aspects and dimensions that need to be integrated into one whole consistent thing. There’s the manual and intellectual, the active and contemplative, personal and social, the material and spiritual, the temporal and eternal, etc.

And precisely because of our spiritual nature, we open ourselves to a supernatural level. That’s just how the cookie crumbles. Thus, we should also be aware of what is natural and supernatural in our life, the mundane and the sacred.

We can manage to have this consistency and unity of life if we identify ourselves with Christ. Let’s remember what Christ said so clearly. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can only have life, let alone, consistency and fruitfulness in our life, if we are united to him. Outside of him, we can only expect death, inconsistency and sterility.

Yes, only in and with Christ can we have the real principle of unity and fruitfulness in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize this basic truth about ourselves.

This, of course, is a truth of faith, not so much of science. And that’s where the problem lies. There is a crisis of faith in the world, especially involving those who rely more on their human abilities than on belief in Christ.

We have to correct that predicament by realizing more deeply that our life is supposed to be a life with God since not only are we one of his creatures, but a creature that is meant to be his image and likeness. We are meant to be like God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. That’s how we can have consistency and unity of life.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com