Introduction

 

One of the demands made in many walks of life is for authenticity. We live in a world of shallow imitations where hypocrisy is the order of the day. A lot of people who go to Church resemble Christians but they lack real authenticity. They have no living vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Hence, we have Christians who go to Church on Sundays and perhaps attend Morning Mass everyday but in moments of crisis, they go to native doctors or fortune tellers or self-styled prophets in Pentecostal Churches to find solution to their problems. That is why also a trader who proclaims to be a Christian sees nothing wrong in selling fake products to a Catholic Priest who comes to patronize him. What shall we say about the Christian youth who is a member of some Marian societies but sees nothing wrong in nude dressing or use of contraceptives? The list is endless.

 

What does it mean to live an authentic Christian life? Authentic Christian life is life based on the model which Jesus Christ, Son of God and the founder of the Catholic Church has set before us. Authentic Christianity never needs advertisement or publicity. It gives off a fragrance and a fascination that attracts people like flies are attracted to honey.

 

The most subtle stratagem ever devised by Satan to deceive and mislead people is that of causing Christians to practice sham Christianity before the world. In sharp contrast to this is authentic Christianity as its founder Jesus Christ Himself intended it to be.

 

Marks of Authentic Christian Living

 

Here are unmistakable marks of authentic Christian living:

 

• The authentic Christian patterns his/her life after the life of Jesus: “Let the same mind be found in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). Note the key phrase: Jesus “emptied Himself”. He set aside the prerogatives and powers of Godhood in order to identify fully with us. He lived the same kind of life we lived, facing temptation, suffering, pain and sorrow, enduring frustration, just as we do. He approached life the same way you and I must approach life: Living in dependence on God the Father, seeking guidance and strength through continual prayer, trusting God and listening to His leading, and being humbly obedient. That is why the authentic Christian must “let the same mind be in him that was in Christ Jesus”. That is authentic Christianity – Christianity in its truest, purest, most distilled form. That is the Christianity which you and I are to follow, the only Christianity worthy of the name.

 

• The authentic Christian loyally defers to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church and follows the lead of the Holy Spirit, Who assures us that even in the midst of tragedy or a troubling or threatening series of events, He will give us His peace, that peace “which surpasseth all understanding”. The Acts of the Apostles are filled with instances of guidance by the Holy Spirit. As one reads the multiple testimonies of Peter, Paul and other disciples about how the Spirit guided them to and from specific towns and circumstances, one gets the feeling that the direct experience of the Holy Spirit guiding the Church was almost commonplace (see Acts 8:28-30; 10:18-20; 11:12; 13:4; 16:6-8; 19:20-22; 20:21-23; 21:3-5). The Holy Spirit guides us in our long-term plans, vocations and choices in life.

 

• Another unmistakable mark of authentic Christianity is unimpeachable integrity.  Webster’s dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty and sincerity”. In the whole of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, we see integrity as a valid, desirable character trait. From God’s perspective, one who has integrity must be of sound moral principle, upright, honest, and sincere in conduct. The authentic Christian does not indulge in hypocrisy or pretence but speaks and acts before God and man with sincerity. In other words, we are to be honest people. We must mean what we say. The world admires sincerity and feels it is the ultimate expression of character; but according to Paul, sincerity is just the beginning of character, God’s minimum expectations of authentic Christians. The very least we should expect from ourselves as Christians and which the world expects from us is that we thoroughly believe and practice what we say.

Closely allied to this is an attitude of transparency, of openness to investigation. That is what Paul means when he says that whatever we do should be done “before God” or “in the sight of God”. To walk in the sight of other people permits us to hide our sins and contradictions behind a façade but to walk in the sight of God requires total honesty with Him and with ourselves because nothing can be hidden from God’s sight. This does not mean we can live sinlessly, but rather that there must be no cover-up or evasion of the facts of our sin when it occurs. It means there are no areas of denial. All is evaluated and tested by the purity and knowledge and wisdom of God — and what is sinful, we confess and we repent of before God. A man who walks in the sight of God is more interested in his inner reality than his outer reputation.

 

• Being able to trust in God is another quality of being an authentic Christian. ‘Many times’, says Dr. Dobbins, author of How to be an Authentic Christian, ‘we as professed Christians are great warriors. But as we grow in relationship with Christ, we learn how to trust God. We learn how to commit things to Him in prayer and we find that he is faithful to respond to our prayers’. Solomon said “Trust in the Lord with all thine hearts, and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6).

 

• Yet another characteristic of the authentic Christian is his faithfulness to daily duty, that is, the duty of one’s state in life. The authentic Christian does not neglect his duty but does it faithfully as enjoined by Paul in Col. 3:23-24 when he says “whatever you do, do it with all your heart as though you were working for God and not for men … for Christ is the real master you serve”.

In 1943, Venerable Sr. Lucia, one of the three shepherd children to whom Our Lady appeared in Fatima in 1917 and revealed many secrets of eternal salvation and world peace said that our Lord told her that “the sacrifice required of every person is the observance of God’s law and the faithful fulfilment of one’s daily duty”. From the first moment of Our Lady’s meeting with the little shepherd, the Virgin of Fatima spoke directly to them of this serious duty of every Christian.

Neglect of business and domestic duties under pretext of piety is a fairly common fault. Devotees, especially of the female sex, often fall into this error, and so give scandal even to sensible and really religious people. Yet it is not piety that is to blame, but rather their self-will which is followed instead of the spirit of God.

Many have no sooner taken up the practices of reli­gion than they start neglecting their homes, their children, and those dependent upon them. They spend the day going to Church, in running after popular preachers, attending every religious service and special festival, and in undertaking all manner of good works. They are to be found everywhere except at home, which they leave as early, and return to as late, as possible.

Meanwhile, all is disorder in the household; every­one does as he pleases in the absence of the mistress. Children are left to the doubtful care of those who themselves want looking after; or they are dragged about, especially if girls, from service to service, until they are wearied out and disgusted, and soon begin to be tired of religion. The husband very rightly complains, but his word is not heeded, and he is secretly accused of not being sufficiently devout.

And thus, it is, too, with many men. They are active, bustling busybodies; meddling in everything under the pretext of serving God; fancying that the Church depends on them. They concern themselves with the affairs of others, and neglect their own. Even some priests are not entirely exempted from these and similar faults. They are zealous, but, as St. Paul says, not according to knowledge. They allow their natural acti­vity full rein, and because their ministry is spread over many objects, insinuate themselves into everything and imagine that all good works must pass through their hands, otherwise they will not succeed. They are for ever coming and going, and the day is not long enough for all they have to do. They even borrow from the night, and leave themselves barely time to say their office.

 

• Another characteristic of an authentic Christian is chastity and purity of heart. Describing the value of chastity, God Himself says in Ecclesiasticus 26:20 that “no price is worthy of a continent soul”. All that man prizes and esteems, riches, pleasures, honours, bear no comparison to a continent soul.

St. Ephrem calls chastity “the life of the spirit”. St. Peter Damian styles it “the queen of virtues”, and St. Cyprian says by means of chastity we celebrate the most glorious triumphs. He who conquers the vice opposed to this virtue will easily triumph over the rest. On the contrary, he who permits himself to be ruled by incontinency (impurity) falls an easy prey to the other vices such as hatred, injustice, etc. Chastity, says St. Ephrem, renders us in a certain sense like angels. This comparison is altogether justified, for the life of angels is far from being a life of carnal gratifications. Angels are pure by nature; chaste souls are pure by reason of virtue. “On account of the merit of this virtue”, says Cassian, “human beings are placed on a level with the angels”. “Of course there is a difference”, says St. Ber­nard, “between the chaste man and the angel, but it is not a difference of virtue; it is only one of happiness. If the chastity of the angels is more blessed, the chastity of man is more courageous”.

Our body is the most powerful weapon the devil possesses to make us his slaves. On this account it is seldom that a man comes forth victorious from this conflict. “The struggle for chastity”, says St. Augustine, “is the most violent of all; the battle is renewed every day, and victory is rare”. “How many unfortunate per­sons there are”, says St. Lawrence Justinian, “who hav­ing spent long years in solitude amid prayer, fasting and mortification, yielded at last to sensuality, gave up their holy life, and with the loss of chastity suffered the loss of God”.

 

• Love of God and neighbour is yet another significant hallmark of an authentic Christian. It is impossible to love the Lord our God without at the same time loving our neighbour. The commandment that obliges us to love our God, obliges us also to love our neighbour. “And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God, loveth also his brother” (1 John 4:21). From these words of the Apostle, St. Thomas Aquinas concludes that the one virtue of love embraces the love of God and the love of our neighbour. St. Jerome tells us that when the disciples of St. John the Evangelist asked him why he spoke so often of brotherly love, he replied: “Because it is the command­ment of the Lord, and the fulfilment of this alone is sufficient for eternal salvation”.

St. Catherine of Genoa once said to Our Lord: “O my God, Thou commands me to love my neighbour, and I can love no one but Thee”. Our Saviour replied: “My daughter, whoever loves Me loves everything that is loved by Me”. Why, therefore, must we love our neighbour? Because he is loved by God. St. John was therefore right when he called him a liar who says that he loves God but hates his neighbour. Our Lord has promised that He will regard as done to Himself what we do for the least of our brethren: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40). From this St. Catherine of Genoa concludes: “If you wish to know how much a person loves his God, see how much he loves his neighbour”.

A very important duty of charity towards our neigh­bour consists in giving him alms when he is poor and needy and we ourselves are in a position to do so:

“He that hath mercy on the poor”, says the Holy Spirit, “lendeth to the Lord; and he will repay him” (Prov. 19:17). If we can do nothing else let us at least recommend him to God, for prayer is also an alms. “He that shall see his brother in need”, says St. John, “and shall shut up his heart against him, how doth the charity of God abide in him” (1 John 3:17). “With what measure you meet it shall be measured to you”, says our Blessed Redeemer (Matt. 7:2). St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi said she would feel happier by assisting her neighbour than if she were raised to heavenly contemplation: “If I am in contemplation”, said she, “God is helping me; if I assist my neighbour I am helping God”. This is very true, for Our Lord Him­self said: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren you do to me”. (Matt. 25:40).

 

• Closely allied to the preceding characteristic is being charitable towards our enemies. “Love your enemies”, says Our Lord, “do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:44). How sad it is to see Christians who go to Church and even to Holy Communion and still retain enmity in their hearts! If anyone has injured us, and we wish to revenge, we should try to act as the saints have done. St. Paulinus tells us that to love one's enemy is a heavenly revenge. St. Catherine of Siena took revenge on a woman who had attacked her honour, and this was her revenge: During a long and severe illness which the woman suffered, St. Catherine waited on her as a ser­vant. St. Acacius sold his possessions in order to assist a man who had robbed him of his good name. St. Ambrose supported a man who had made an attempt on his life.

 

• The authentic Christian practices the virtue of obedience and trustful surrender to Divine Providence. “You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you” (John 15:14) Perfection consists in the conformity of our will to the will of God.

The greatest sacrifice that a soul can make to God is obedience to Him; for as, in the opinion of St. Thomas, “nothing is dearer to us than the liberty of our will”, we can offer to God no more acceptable gift than this very liberty. “Obe­dience is better than sacrifice”, says the Holy Spirit (1 Kings 15:22); that is to say, God prefers obedience to all other sacrifices. He who gives his property to God by distributing it among the poor; his honor, by pa­tiently bearing contempt; his body, by fasts and peni­tential works, gives Him a part of himself. But he who offers God his will, by subjecting it to obedience, gives Him all he has, and can truly say: “My Lord, after I have given Thee my will, I have nothing more to give”. As St. Gregory says: “By the other virtues we give to God what belongs to us; by obedience we give Him ourselves”. The same saint teaches that all the other virtues follow in the train of obedience and by its in­fluence are preserved in the soul.