Our animality, humanity and Christianity

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WHILE we can consider our life under many different aspects and levels, we however can somehow distinguish three basic levels or stages that our life is subject to, without denying our basic identity as a human being or person. And that is that we are animals, first of all, that need to be humanized and later on, Christianized.

We are, of course, biologically classified as animals since we possess all the defining characteristics of the animal kingdom. We have tissues and organs, hormones, instincts, etc. We are mammals with hair and mammary glands. We, of course, are on top of the animal kingdom, since we are what they call as primates, with backbones, grasping hands, binocular vision and a high degree of social organization.

But we are not just animals. Unlike the other animals, we are rational animals with intelligence and will, with the capacity to know and to love, to enter into distinctive relation with others. We are not detained only in the sensible world. We enter into the intelligible world.

This is what makes us a human person, with the capacity to enter into relationships. We have consciousness, capacity for empathy, creativity, resilience, and a sense of meaning and purpose of life. We can communicate through our language and abstract thought and reasoning.

But we also have to realize that because of our intelligence and will which bring us beyond the material and sensible world and introduce us to the world of ideas and to things abstract, we are poised actually to enter into the spiritual world that later on would bring us to the world of the supernatural.

This is where we have the duty to Christianize ourselves. And the reason is because we will realize sooner or later, if we become aware of our Christian faith and learn to believe in it, that Christ, the God our Creator who became man, is actually the pattern of our humanity.

Our humanity is actually still in the process of an ongoing creation where we are given a choice of whether we want to remain as another animal, or just human, or as Christian where we can achieve what our faith tells us about ourselves—that we are God’s image and likeness, meant to share in his life and nature.

We need to seek our perfection by humanizing our animality, and Christianizing our humanity. In other words, our creation is still a work in progress, with God creating and redeeming us through Christ but also needing our cooperation since God wants us to be like him. We somehow should also be co-creators and co-redeemers with God.

It’s a pity that many of us do not realize this truth of our faith and, therefore, fail to do our part in our own creation and redemption. Remember St. Augustine lamenting about this fact. “You were with me, but I was not with you.”

He also said that “God created us without us, but he did not will to save us without us.” These words imply that our creation by God includes his work of our salvation. This truth of our faith has basis on what St. Paul once said: “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1,6)

We need to be aware that we therefore have to cooperate with God in our own creation and redemption. Thus, we have to realize that we need to go through the process of humanizing our animality and Christianizing our humanity.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com