The conceptions of Christ and John the Baptist

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

BOTH conceptions came about with clear divine intervention involved. Christ’s conception in the womb of Our Lady was completely virginal. That of John the Baptist involved a natural process though the parents were already in a condition where it would have been impossible for them to have a child.

But both came about because of the faith of the parties involved. Mary’s faith was pure and wholehearted, while that of Zachary was a bit doubtful. Still, faith played a major role in these conceptions. (cfr. Lk 1,5-25)

What all these tell us is that God and us truly share the same life because we also share the same nature, since God wants us to be his image and likeness, children of his. This is a basic truth of our faith that we should never forget. Rather, we should try our best to be consistent to it not only from time to time. It should be a constant truth that we act on in our daily life.

Again, it’s a matter of faith that would make this truth a reality in our life. Let’s try to follow the example of Mary who shows us how pure faith is. The faith of Zachary, though not quite perfect, still prevailed over his human doubts and disbelief. Because of this faith, the humanly impossible became possible. Faith does not suppress our human nature. It enables us to enter into God’s life and nature while remaining human.

Indeed, it’s faith that would enable us to do things that otherwise we would hesitate, if not refuse, to do. It’s faith that would enable us to do the very things of God. From the Book of Proverbs, we read a relevant affirmation: “Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make our paths straight.” (3,1-6)

We have to learn how to be keenly aware of this basic truth about ourselves, so that we can go on with our life without unnecessary doubts and fears, and so that we can do a lot of good instead of being hindered to do so. Remember that even without Christ telling us, there are a lot of things we need to do to uplift the conditions of everyone.

This awareness of our sharing in the life and nature of God here in this life should be cultivated, resorting to appropriate practices of piety and ongoing formation, so that we can live our life as it should be lived—with confidence, always with good intentions and willingness to do the very things of God which actually are for our own good.

Let’s try to approximate the faith of Our Lady and Zachary and of the many characters in the Bible who chose to believe God and in his ways despite the difficulties, sacrifices involved. Actually, if our faith is strong, whatever difficulty and sacrifice we make would always be regarded as meaningful and a source of joy.

With faith, there is really nothing to worry, and we would be on our way to our human perfection when God and us would definitely be together for all eternity in heaven. With faith, we would always feel light and happy, always optimistic despite whatever, and eager to do a lot of good.

Let’s see to it that everyday we can see some progress in this regard. We should feel the very effects of faith taking place in our daily life. Let’s make this promise a gift to God who gives us the best gift—the birth of Christ on Christmas Day!