Mark Twain was supposed to have once said “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
It is easy to understand the first part. Whoever is in control of the universe, the One who created it all… caused you to be born. From nothing, you became someone… Your birth is not an accident, even if by human reckoning the manner of your conception may seem like it was.
Every birth is important. Every single one of us born into this earth was meant for something. The One who made it happen is a master creator who accounts for every minute detail that made you, well… you.
The second part is a little difficult to ascertain or understand. So you are born and will be in this earth for maybe 80 or more years. But why? We can often live our entire lives not knowing why.
The only birth whose purpose was known before the day of birth was Christ. He is the Son of God and indeed, he is God himself in the context of the Holy Trinity. He was born to us and, thus, became as human as we are because He had the mission of bringing us back to his Father.
His Father created man in His image, but man has sinned. God’s sense of justice requires man to be shut out from the joy of everlasting life in His presence. The only way we can fully recover is for a perfect sacrifice to be offered in atonement. That perfect sacrifice can only be Christ himself. That’s what we are commemorating this Holy Week.
In his Passion Sunday sermon, Fr. Tito Caluag expanded on this theme of why Christ became man… the purpose of His mission on this earth.
Fr. Hans Kung, S.J., according to Fr Caluag, said that to give people a good and meaningful life we need to give them something to live on, something to live for, and something to die for. So it was in the life of Christ…
“At a certain point, aged 30, he embarks on his something to live for, his mission. He sees this clearly in his beatific vision in the Baptism narrative: ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.’
“For three years, he lives out this mission as teacher, more than being a teacher, his core came from his identity as a the beloved son of God. His mission focused on this… became more and more central to his life and work. This had evolved into a mission where he had something to die for.
“On his way to Jerusalem where he was to fulfill this mission, God reveals Christ’s mission and identity to Peter, James and John – ‘This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.’ – the confirmation not just for Christ, but a public confirmation through the three apostles…
“Christ journeyed to Jerusalem to complete his ‘something to die for.’ He was to enter now his Passion… the rejection, the betrayal of the very people for whom ‘[He] came to serve and not to be served, and to give [his] life as a ransom for all.’ The rejection, betrayal, and abandonment – of his friends – that brought him to the point of surrender: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’
“Our college professor in our philosophy of religion class said… we must remember that Christ, being fully human, struggled on the Cross…
“This was part of Christ’s Passion. He agonized over this in the garden to the point of asking his Father to spare him, and then at that point, he makes his final choice and surrender, ‘. . . not my will, but your will be done.’
“The Passion of Christ gave birth to Christian hope… He completes the cycle, ‘though he was in the form of God . . . he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave . . . becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him . . .’ Now he empties himself of his human life and his Father rewards him with the Resurrection; giving him back the glory that was [his] from the beginning.
“The Passion of Christ is our Passion because it is our hope. Our hope is that everything in our life has meaning – our something to live on and to live for – because of Christ’s Passion, Cross, and Resurrection.”
Christ knew why he was born. Many of us are still figuring out why we were. Surely to win power and riches in this world can’t be it because it’s too temporary. Death comes in 80 to a 100 years, and that’s not even a blip in the timeline of eternity.
Fr. Caluag says “all this will not end in death, rather our something to die for is what gives us the fullness of life, the great freedom to make the great choice and the great act to offer in great love and great service to God and to others, ‘that others may have life, and life to the full.’”
Indeed, we ought to live our lives in the conscious presence of our God… that our purpose is to please him every day of our lives… doing what he has set us out to do even before we were born… so that on the day we die, we can face him and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!... Enter into my kingdom and share the joy of your master.”
Let us celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have a reason to live and to die for … to enjoy everlasting life in the presence of our loving God.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco