Total detachment and apostolic life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

IF ever we wonder why Christ told his apostles to take nothing with them when they were sent out to preach the Kingdom of God (cfr. Lk 9,1-6), one plausible answer is that that was how Christ went about his redemptive mission. He took nothing with him, starting with his own birth in a manger all the way to his burial in a borrowed sepulcher. And in his journeys, he simply depended on what his friends gave him.

If the apostles—and then we, if we want also to be Christ’s apostles as we should—were to truly follow Christ, then they and we should have the same lifestyle as that of Christ. This will make sure that our whole life would be fully dedicated to continue the redemptive mission of Christ, pursuing it with seamless continuity and consistency.

It will avoid being diluted with merely earthly ulterior motives. It will be fully focused on the spiritual and supernatural goal of our life. Whatever temporal good we can encounter in our mission should only be a consequence of pursuing our apostolic mission.

We have to be wary of our tendency to get entangled in earthly goods and treasures, which is always a proximate danger because we—clerics, especially—can easily be lavished with money by the people. We need to be constantly guarded against this danger. We should have nothing superfluous in our life. This lifestyle would actually free us from unnecessary burden in carrying out our apostolic duty.

Another plausible answer why Christ told his apostles to take nothing with them in their apostolic work is that it would only be in this kind of life when the tremendous powers Christ gave his apostles can be properly exercised.

According to the gospel, Christ gave his apostles the power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases and heal the sick. These powers can only be exercised if one has the very mind and spirit of Christ. Let us do our part in corresponding to this stupendous truth of our faith.

And the only way to do that is to give our all to God. Let us be generous and magnanimous as God is overwhelmingly generous and magnanimous with all of us. There has to be that mutual dynamic of love and self-giving that has been initiated by God himself. God loves us first, and we have to learn to love him in return, a love that is also expressed in loving everybody just as God loves everybody irrespective of how they are!

This is a call to generosity. “Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give,” Christ told us. (Mt 10,8) Christ himself embodied this principle when he, being God, became man, and not contented with that, he went to the extent of offering his life to conquer all our sins. He finally gave himself to us in the sacraments, especially in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is a real madness of love.

Everyday, let us grow in our identification with Christ. Let’s hope that slowly but steadily and surely we can feel the conviction that we are becoming “other Christ” (alter Christus), if not “Christ himself” (ipse Christus).

Let’s not be afraid of the effort and the sacrifices involved in this process. It will all be worthwhile. If we truly try to identify ourselves with Christ, we would be confident that Christ himself would give us the same peace and joy that he had as he went through his own passion and death on the cross.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com