Our real identity

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

IT is Christ who tells us very clearly who we really are. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14,6)

Again, if we have to take these words of Christ in faith as we should, then there is no other conclusion we can make but to affirm that for us to get into the right way to know the truth about who we really are, and to have the life proper to us, we need to go to Christ who is our way, and to be with Christ for us to be in the truth about who we really are and to be Christ himself to turn that identity into a living reality.

Incredible things we being told and challenged with these words of Christ! But we just have to learn how to deal with them. We have our whole lifetime to pursue that goal and to grapple with that ideal. But what is more important is to realize that we have actually been given everything—all the means and instruments, etc.—so that we can achieve what God wants us to be.

The secret is, of course, always to live by faith, which in itself is already a big challenge. To deal with that reality, we have no other recourse but to humble ourselves, that is to say, to admit and to convince ourselves that we are nothing without God, that we are helpless without the guidance of faith. Without God and faith, the only thing possible for us is to take the path of error and sin.

For this, we can get some helpful ideas from one of the psalms which, as we know, are inspired words that express the proper spiritual and supernatural attitude and reaction we ought to have to anything that occurs in our life.

We have to study and meditate on the psalms well so that we can internalize their real meaning and imbibe the spirit behind the words. We have to know the psalms that are relevant to every act we do and every situation we can find ourselves in.

For example, Psalm 25 says: “Lord, make me know your ways, teach me your paths, make me walk in your truth and teach me.” This attitude and sentiment should always be with us, expressing and articulating it as explicitly as possible, since that is the proper attitude and sentiment to have.

The Psalm continues: “If anyone fears the Lord, he will show him the path he should choose.” If we are wondering how to choose the path proper for us, this psalm tells us to have that healthy fear of the Lord, a gift of the Holy Spirit, for only then can we be shown that path. We have to be wary of our tendency to take this duty to develop this healthy any holy fear of God for granted.

Still the psalm continues: “The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him. To them he reveals his covenant.” There we are clearly given how we can develop, nourish and keep that necessary friendship with God. It is when we revere him. Do we really adore and worship him by praying and by converting everything that we do as a way to glorify him?

Let’s bring these considerations into our prayer and start coming out with plans, resolutions and strategies to bring what are suggested in this psalm into action, into life and reality itself!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com