To be truly Christ-like

Knowing that as a human person we are patterned after Christ, we should aim at making ourselves more like him. This should be our daily concern. All other concerns, no matter how important and urgent they may be, should be subordinate.

This fundamental desire does not undermine our humanity but brings us to our human perfection. We should not be afraid to prioritize this desire for it can only put all our other plans and ambitions in their proper order.

To be truly Christ-like requires that we know Christ thoroughly. So we have to read and meditate on the gospel regularly, for it is where we can find Christ. As St. Jerome said: “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” We have to make it a daily habit to read, study, and meditate on the Bible. With our new technologies, this should not be difficult.

To be truly Christ-like is an endless affair. We can never say we are definitively Christ-like, since we can never exhaust the richness of Christian life. We just have to try and try. At least, every day we should be able to say we are becoming more like Christ in a specific aspect.

If we want to be truly Christ-like, we should be full of goodness and love. Reach out to everybody, no matter how difficult or undeserving others may be of our attention. Like Christ, we have to be willing to empty ourselves to identify with everybody. We have to fan into a bursting fire this desire to serve others.

Like Christ, we have to assume the attitude of wanting to serve everybody and not to be served. We have to be wary of our tendency to fall easily to self-importance or conceit. Like Christ, we have to be willing to “wash and kiss the feet” of everybody.

We have to love our enemies, and bear the burden of everybody, willing to replicate in our life the very passion and death of Christ, so that we too can join him in his resurrection. We should be willing to offer mercy to everyone as well as to ask for pardon for our own sins.

We also have to understand that our identification with Christ can be achieved sacramentally. Aside from baptism and confirmation, let us see to it that we regularly go to confession and receive Christ in the Eucharist.

Like Christ, we have to pray constantly, and in all situations and circumstances of our life.

Like Christ, we have to have a hunger for souls. The apostolic dimension of our life should be considered essential and indispensable.

Wherever we are, whatever our situation, the apostolic concern should always be in our mind and heart. We should always be praying for souls and thinking of how we can help them get back to God.

Like Christ, we have to offer everything in our life and give up everything for God, to live true detachment from earthly things even as we continue to use them. We have to reach that point where we are willing to offer our life to God, unafraid of death and all the suffering that goes with dying. All these to a heroic degree!