“BE
LIKE CHRIST!” This for me is Man’s
Destiny.
Reflecting
on the great mystery of INCARNATION – God the Son becoming man – the big
question that came to my mind is: “Why has JESUS CHRIST, the only Begotten Son
of God, a Divine Being, deigned to become a human being and live on this earth
for 33 years, going through all the vicissitudes of earthly life and allowing
Himself to be tortured, crucified and put to death, withholding His divine
power to protect Himself?
The mystery
of the Christ’s RESURRECTION has somehow given me an insight that must be the
reason for the so-called ‘ACT OF REDEMPTION’ which is to redeem man from his
sinfulness and enable him to become a child of God – like JESUS CHRIST.
CHRIST is risen from the dead in a
Glorious Body – a Body endowed with supernatural powers – such as, the power to
be visible or invisible, the power to travel with limitless speed, the power to
be in different places at the same time, and specially the power to live
forever.
I believe that in creating man God
in His infinite wisdom wants everyman to like His Son, JESUS CHRIST. Somehow, however, man put an obstacle to
this original plan of God because of his sinfulness. To give man a second chance (so to say),
Christ offered Himself to become like us, a human being, in expiation for our
sins, so as to live and suffer in our behalf and thus obtain for every man the
grace to become like Him – a Son of God.
It is said that while God has
created man without his consent, He, however, cannot redeem man without his
consent. Hence, man has to avail of the
Graces of Redemption won by Christ through the reception of the Sacraments
instituted by Christ to enable man to become like Him. The first three sacraments called the
Sacraments of Initiation, are Baptism,
Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. These enable man to be incorporated into the
Mystical Body of Christ, strengthened by the Holy Spirit and nourished by the
Body of Christ. When man falls into sin,
Christ provided the Sacrament of Reconciliation to bring him back to God. When man gets sick, the Sacrament of
Anointing of the Sick can be availed of to be strengthened spiritually and even
physically in accordance with God’s will.
For those who are commissioned to render a special service in the
administration of the sacraments Christ has instituted the Sacrament of Holy
Orders. For those who are entrusted with
a special responsibility to serve the needs of society, Christ instituted the Sacrament
of Matrimony. The Graces of Redemption, therefore, when availed of by man, help
him to become like Christ.
BECOMING LIKE CHRIST means being like Him in His GLORIOUS STATE with
tremendous supernatural powers, specially the power to be a Child of God and
live forever.
by: Buddy Cagurangan
April
7, 2013
