Consummatum est!

Saturday, 11 April 2009 00:24 Chuck Crisanto

Interestingly, during this wild phase, I have agreed to reflect on one of the Seven Last Words, or more accurately one of His last phrases, until I found out it, too had a deadline.

Consummatum est! With relief, Jesus must have uttered the sixth of his seven last words-- "It is finished!" How I wish I could say the same, with all satisfaction and with clarity of having fulfilled my tasks. But it is not so, because my work is yet undone; in fact, when I do finish it, I know I will start another project, and another, and another - which seem like an endless stream of activities.

The question I now ask is if this flurry of movement brings me closer to fulfilling my life's work, or my life's mission, or the reason why I was thrust into this world and given breath. It is a thought which momentarily freezes my action - what is it that I must accomplish before time runs out? Is it simply to earn more money, gain more influence, experience more pleasure, fulfill my obligations as a parent, outlive my peers? Suddenly, everything that seemed of urgency falls by the wayside -- what is my whole life's work? More frighteningly, am I already working on it or am I just moving around in circles touching its boundaries without fully being involved?

Now I understand the passion of those who in their whole life's work look forward to saying, as Jesus has also said-- Consummatum est!

Chuck Crisanto is the team manager of Takbong Pangarap. A long distance event record holder for the Ateneo, he has served in various professional capacities under four Philippine presidents.

Photo "Embrace of the Cross" by Lawrence OP on flickr; licensed under Creative Commons License BY-NC-2.0.

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