Skip to main content

Becoming Another Christ


It all started with the Prayer for Detachment by St. Peter Faber, S.J. The thing about St. Peter Faber is that he evangelized people by befriending him. He didn't give hard core teaching about the Catholic faith but the friendship he offered said everything about it, and it was his genuine love and care that drew people to believe in God. 

Here goes the prayer: 

I beg of you, my Lord,
to remove anything which separates
me from You, and You from me.

Remove anything that makes me unworthy
of Your sight, Your control, Your reprehension;
of Your speech and conversation,
of Your benevolence and love.

Cast from me every evil
that stands in the way of my seeing You,
hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching You;
fearing and being mindful of You;
knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing You;
being conscious of Your presence
and, as far as may be, enjoying You.
This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from You. Amen.

Then, Fr. Xave presented the topic in a very reflective way, truly Ignatian. :)

So here are my notes during that night of beholding and pondering. Be very blessed! :)
To be another Christ, we need to come close to Him and constantly look. 
Grace: My dear Lord Jesus, I beg of You the grace of knowing You more deeply, loving You more dearly, following You more nearly that I may embrace the call of being Alter Christus. 
  • Called to be alter Christus by virtue of our baptism. In baptism, we are united with Christ. We are also united with His body, the Church, which is called to be Christ's presence on earth. 
  • Recalling the Call
    • How did Jesus call?
    • Whom did Jesus call?
    • Luke 5:1-11. Jesus calls His first followers
    • Matthew 9:9-13. The call of Matthew
    • How do we look at people? Do we see the bad reputation first? Or do we see the persons like us, weak, sinner, unworthy, yet capable of greatness through God's grace and mercy?
    • Notice how Jesus calls and leads. 
    • Jesus encounters and calls each of his disciples where he is - on the shore, at the tax collector's table, etc. - as each one is busy. Jesus enters their world and disturbs them. And it is good that the disciples allow Him to. 
    • How did you experience Jesus disturbing you? How is Jesus disturbing you now? 
  • On Becoming Like Christ
Prayer of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
Above all, give me the sensus Christi - the sensing of Christ about which St. Paul speaks (1 Corinthians 2:16), that I may feel with Your feelings, with the sentiments of Your heart, which basically are love for Your Father and love for humanity. 
Teach me Your way of relating to disciples, to sinners, to children, to Pharisees, to Pilates and Herods. 
Teach me how You deal with Your disciples. How delicately you treat them on Lake Tiberias, even preparing breakfast for them! How you washed their feet. 
May I learn from You and from Your ways, as St. Ignatius did: how to eat and drink, how to attend banquets, how to act when hungry or thirsty, when tired from the ministry, when in need of rest or sleep. 
Teach me how to be compassionate to the suffering, to the poor, the blind, the lame, and the lepers. 
Teach me Your way of looking at people: as You glanced at Peter after his denial, as You penetrated the heart of the rich young man and the hearts of Your disciples.
We have to learn from You the secret of a close bond or union with God: in the more trivial everyday actions, with that total dedication to loving the Father and all humanity. 
Give me the grace, that sensus Christi, Your very heartbeat. that I may live all my life, interiorly and exteriorly, proceeding and discerning with Your spirit, exactly as You did during Your mortal life.
  • Mary, the Son's First Disciple
    • She is the Christ-bearer, not only welcoming Jesus into her very self but also carrying Him to others. 
    • She walks the difficult way of the cross, standing by her Son at Calvary, sharing His pain.
    • She offers us her Son, her very life revolves around Him, ever points to Him. 
  • Called to be alter Christus to one another.
    • Acts 4:32-35. The community of believers was of one heart and mind. They had everything in common. There was no needy person among them.
    • "I hold that every poor man, every vagrant, every beggar is Christ carrying his cross. And as Christ, we must love and help him. We must treat him as a brother, a human being like ourselves. If we were to start a campaign of love for the poor and homeless, we would, in a short time, do away with depressing scenes of begging, children sleeping in doorways and women with babies in their arms fainting in our streets." -St. Alberto Hurtado
    • The most difficult prayers to pray are the most beautiful prayers, just like this one: "Dear God, please help my annoying seatmate pass Science." 
  • Become whatever Jesus is! As Mary instructed the servants, "Do whatever He tells you!" (John 2:5)
Notes from CFC MC Teaching Night, August 19, 2014
Topic: Alter Christus, Nurtured by Mary
Speaker: Fr. Xavier Olin, S.J.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding Lupang Hinirang

Every Filipino knows Lupang Hinirang (though some know it better as " Bayang Magiliw "). How can you not know it when it is the national anthem of the Philippines? But do we really mean the lyrics that we sing? Do we understand it in the first place?  Photo Credit:  http://diazi.ism-online.org This video has gone viral weeks ago. This afternoon, I shared it to my teammates, and one commented, "Yun pala yun . Ngayon ko lang naintindihan."   He immediately downloaded it and converted to MP3.   So for those who have not seen it, once again, here is Joey Ayala's version of Lupang Hinirang. And I agree, you would never want to sing it in another way. (But that's just me. :D) This rendition is simply beautiful. Truly Filipino. :) Of course that doesn't mean we need to revise our national anthem but maybe we can consider about correcting the way we sing it (read: proper pronunciation). Read more about the Philippine National Anthem here .
6 comments
Read more

Jesus Week 2015: A Time To HEAL ♥

I had the best, most meaningful HOLY WEEK ever, so far (the best is yet to come!). :) Thanks to Joy who shared the Jesus Week poster on Facebook. It was God's personal invitation, and I couldn't thank Him enough for the grace that He also gave me to respond. Everything is grace. It was not just my personal decision to join. It was God's grace that allowed me to.  So how did it go? Well, as what I have told my friends, it was amazingly beautiful! The experience was priceless! On Holy Monday, I posted Fr. Jerry Orbos' acronym for HOLY WEEK . I experienced all of that and more! :)  I won't be able to share everything as there is just a lot of personal, intimate encounters with the Lord. But if I were to summarize, it was a time for me to HEAL. :)  H alt . Indeed, I was able to stop and just rest in the Lord. Before leaving Manila, I have already told myself that this retreat will be all about Jesus ( Jesus Week nga e :D ). No emails, no texts, no calls. I
Post a Comment
Read more

Thank You, Lord! :)

It has been a long and stressful day (the past three days have been lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng and stressssssssssssssssssssssssssssssful), but You are just so amazing, Lord that I couldn't sleep without telling You how grateful I am. :) Thank You, Lord for the miracle that You did yesterday. Break even and more. :) Thank You, Lord for the laughter and stories shared during the post-mission meeting with Team Thailand. :) Team Thailand - Princesses from SFC Metro Manila :) Thank You, Lord for Lawrence. He is just the (almost) perfect man. He has his flaws, but they are acceptable; he makes mistakes, but they are all forgivable. There are a lot of men but there can never be anyone else. He's really the one. And You know it very well. :) ♥ Nemo. Love. ♥ Thank You, Lord for giving me strength and endurance each day. :) Thank You, Lord for the short but restful sleeps. :) Thank You, Lord for every waking moment and every opportunity that You give
2 comments
Read more

The Holy Spirit*

*Cluster 4 Household Topic Reflections from John 15:26-16:4 True friendship is strengthened in adversity. Jesus offers His disciples the best and truest of friends. Who is this promised friend?  Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Counselor and Advocate (also translated Paraclete or Helper). Counselor is a legal term for the one who will defend someone against an adversary and who guides that person during the ordeal of trial. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate and Helper who brings us safely through the challenges and adversities we must face in this life. As Jesus approaches the hour that He was to be glorified - through His death on the cross and His resurrection - He revealed more fully to His disciples the person and the role of the Holy Spirit. What does Jesus tell us about the Holy Spirit?  First, the Holy Spirit is inseparably one with the Father and the Son. It is the Holy Spirit who gives life - the very life of God - and who kindles faith in hearts receptive
Post a Comment
Read more

Interesting Facts Courtesy of Celebrity Bluff :)

I was writing a different post, but Celebrity Bluff  is just so fun and informative, I had to stop from blogging to list down the fun facts that I learn from each round. :)  Thought it would be nice to share them here as well. For future reference. :D  Q: In 2012, what kind of animal was named after Beyonce? A: Horse Fly Q: What rare job in China will pay you US$50,000 a year?  A: Fart Smeller Q: What alcoholic drink literally means "water of life"? A: Whisky   Q: In which part of the body can you find the tragus? A: Ear Q: According to Merriam-Webster, what is the female equivalent of dude? A: Dudine Q: What is longer in the male turtles than in the females?  A: Nails And the final question is... Q:  According to Box Office Mojo   what are the top four (4) movies of 2013 according to global profit? A: (1) Iron Man 3, (2) Despicable Me 2, (3) Fast and the Furious 6 (4) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire That's all
2 comments
Read more