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Newsletter
No.28
December
2005
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
By ALBERTO HURTADO
All sanctification consists in knowing Christ and in imitating him. The entire Gospel and all the saints are filled with this ideal which is the Christian ideal par excellence. To live in Christ; to be transformed into Christ, St. Paul tells us: "I had no thought of bringing you any other knowledge than that of Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1Cor 2,2)… "I live now not I but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2,20). The task of all the saints is to achieve the Pauline ideal to live the life of Christ, in the measure of their capabilities and in accord with the graces given to each. To imitate Christ, meditate on his life and follow his example… The most popular book in the Church after the Gospels is the Imitation of Christ, but in how many different ways this imitation has been understood!
A. Erroneous ways of imitating Christ
1. For some, the imitation of Christ is reduced to a study of the historical Jesus. They search for the historical Christ and stay with this. They study him. They read the Gospel, investigate the chronology, study the customs of the Jewish people… And their study, more scientific than spiritual, is cold and inert. The imitation of Christ for them is reduced to a literal copy of his life. But it is not this. No: "The spirit is life giving; the letter kills" (2Cor 3,6).
2. For others, the imitation of Christ is rather a speculative affair. They see in Jesus a great Legislator; one who solves all the human problems, the sociologist par excellence; the artist who delights in nature, who is pleased to be with the little ones… For some he is an artist, a philosopher, a reformer, a sociologist and they contemplate him, admire him but do not change their lives because of him. Christ remains only in their intelligence and in their sensitivity, but has not pervaded their lives.
3. Another group believing that they imitate him, concern themselves only with the observance of his commandments, being faithfully observant of divine and ecclesiastical law. They are scrupulous in the practice of fasting and abstinence. They contemplate the life of Christ as a prolonged duty and our lives as a duty that prolongs that of Christ. To the laws given by Christ, they add others to fill the voids, in such a way that all life becomes a continuous set of obligations and duties, a rule of perfection in total ignorance of liberty of spirit.
The focus of their attention is not Christ but sin. The essential sacrament of the Church is not the Eucharist, nor baptism but confession. Their only concern is to flee sin. For them the imitation of Christ means to escape bad thoughts, to escape all danger, limit the liberty of the world and be suspicious of evil intentions in all the events of life. No, this is not the imitation of Christ that we propose. This could well be the attitude of the Pharisees but not that of Christ.
4. For yet others the imitation of Christ is apostolic activism, a multiplication of efforts to give direction to the apostolate, a continuous movement to create ever more works, to multiply meetings and associations. Some situate the triumph of Catholicism purely in political attitudes. For others the accent is on torchlight processions, monster meetings, the founding of a periodical… I say that these things are not necessarily the answer. All things are necessary but these are not what is essential to Catholicism.
B. The True Solution
In the first place, our religion does not consist in a reconstruction of the historical Christ; nor a purely metaphysical, sociological or political Christ; nor is it only a cold and sterile struggle against sin; nor is it primarily an attitude of conquest. Neither does it consist in doing what Christ did. Our civilization and conditions of life are so different!
Our imitation of Christ consists in living the life of Christ, in having this inner and outer attitude that in all things we are conformed to Christ, doing what Christ would do if he were in my place.
The first thing essential if we are to imitate Christ is to be assimilated into him by grace, which is participation in the divine life. Consequently, one should esteem above all else baptism which initiates us into divine life, the Eucharist which sustains it and gives us Christ and penance for its recovery when lost.
Possessing this life, we must endeavor to put it into action in all the circumstances of life through the practice of all the virtues which Christ practiced, in particular charity, the virtue most loved by Christ.
The historical incarnation necessarily restricted Christ and his divine-human life to a limited space and time. The mystical incarnation which is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, does away with all restrictions and amplifies itself to include all times and places where there are baptized. The divine life appears throughout the world. The historical Christ was a Jew and lived in Palestine in the time of the Roman Empire. The mystical Christ is Chilean, French, German, African,… and lives in the twentieth century… He is a teacher, a merchant, an engineer, lawyer, worker, prisoner or a king, (a politician, media person etc.)… He is all Christians who live in the grace of God, aspire to integrate their lives in the norms of the life of Christ, in their most secret aspirations. And to aspire always to do whatever one does as Christ would do it were he in one's place. To teach engineering, the law… as Christ would do it… to perform surgery with the delicacy of Christ… to treat one's students with the gentle, loving and respectful firmness of Christ, to interest oneself in them as Christ would were he in one's place. To travel as Christ would travel, to pray as Christ used to pray, to behave in politics, economy, in your domestic life as Christ would.
This presupposes a prior knowledge of the Gospels and of Church tradition and a struggle against sin. It includes metaphysics, aesthetics, sociology, and an ardent spirit of conquest… but not a primal dependence on them. If one fails, humanly speaking, if success does not crown the apostolate, one must not grow impatient. The only defeat consists in failing to be Christ because of apostasy or sin.
This is the Catholicism of a Francis of Assisi, of Ignatius and Xavier and of so many young and not so young who live their daily lives as married couples, teachers, single men and women, students, religious, athletes, politicians, with the criterion of being Christ. These are the beacons that convert souls and save nations.
As we focus on Christmas, the mystery of the incarnation, the above reflection by St Albert Hurtado can help us to make our own personal or group reflection:
- Who is Christ for me? What do I "see" as I contemplate baby Jesus in the manger?
- Am I aware of Christ's values and the virtues he preached that should animate my life?
- Do I feel Christ's presence in the environment where I live, work, play and pray?
- How can I witness for Christ in today's world?
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Book Review:
Earth
Crammed with Heaven, A Spirituality of Daily Life
Elisabeth A. Dreyer (Paulist Press, 1994)
The title of this
book intrigued me since the integration of action and
contemplation in the humdrum of everyday life is a
continuous process and any light shed on this aspect is
always more than welcome! What motivated me to read it was
also the fact that Dreyer is a married woman so her
perspective of everyday life would somehow resonate with
mine. I thought. I was not disappointed. The author wished
to articulate reflections and a way of living our Christian
life from a lay perspective. Many spiritual books are
usually written by religious people and teachings on
spirituality are usually given from the rich fountain of
monastic traditions. Without diminishing the relevance of
this, I still appreciated the attempt made by Dreyer to
incorporate all aspects of our lives into the main frame of
spirituality – hence the subtitle, a spirituality of
everyday life.
The book is in fact
divided into two parts: in the first part, lay spirituality
is given a context with a brief history of how spirituality
among lay people had developed since the birth of the
Church. She also reflects on how spiritual tradition had its
pitfalls like dualism and elitism yet she highlights what
she calls as ‘pearls of wisdom’ that can be retrieved
and appropriated from tradition. If our experience is
reflected upon, there is authentic theology and so she
pinpoints three theological themes which have seen renewal
since Vat II: the Holy Spirit, creation and incarnation.
Part Two of the book
then deals with the more practical aspect of spirituality in
everyday life and this involves family, the workplace,
relationships and intimacy, and also ministry. However, the
aptitude of the author is to take spiritual themes like
asceticism, contemplation and liturgy and find their
significance in today’s world.
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Although written in
a lay-to-lay style, I think it gives a wide perspective even
for the religious. In her own words, ‘if grace is
everywhere, we can become everyday saints.’
Elizabeth
Dreyer PhD, is a Professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield
University, Connecticut. Her latest book is "Passionate
Spirituality: Hildegard of Bingen and Hadewijch of
Brabant," (Paulist, 2005).
ISBN No:
0-8091-3450-0
Publishing House:
Paulist Press
Ms. Louise Laferla
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The coming of the Kingdom
(An Ignatian Contemplation)
First. Remember what happened:
how our Lady,
already nine months pregnant,
came from Nazareth, seated on a donkey,
accompanied by Joseph
and,
we may perhaps imagine,
a servant girl,
the latter two leading an ox.
They came to Bethlehem
to pay the tribute
Caeser had imposed
on those regions.
Then, set the scene:
the journey…
And then to imagine the cave of the nativity:
how roomy or how cramped;
how lofty or how low;
how is it laid out.
Then contemplate the people there:
our Lady …
Joseph …
the servant girl …
and, once he is born, the infant.
As if I am really present,
I place myself in the scene
as a very poor person
not deserving to be there.
I watch them.
I serve them in all their needs,
with all possible devotion.
I listen to whatever they may be saying,
and wonder at that as well.
Then I look at what they are doing,
I take in what is really happening:
how they journey and toil
so that the Lord may be born
in the utmost poverty;
how, after labours, hunger and thirst.
after insults and injuries,
he dies at last on the cross;
and all this for my sake.
Then I try to take that to heart.
The Spiritual Exercises, 111-116
From the CIS
Programme
Dicembru 2005
Irtiri ta’ Weekend għall-Miżżewġin
Dan il-Weekend huwa okkażjoni għall-dawk il-koppji miżżewġa li jixtiequ jġeddu u jiċċelebraw il-wegħediet taż-żwieġ tagħhom. Din hija esperjenza spiritwali b’differenza. Il-Weekend huwa mfassal li jkun kreattiv u jgħin lill-partners jirriflettu u jitolbu flimkien. Ikun hemm ħin ta’ sharing fi grupp magħmul minn 8 koppji. Dan il-Weekend joffri lill-koppji parteċipanti opportunita’ sabiex jiskopru dejjem aktar l-imħabba li Alla għandu għall-miżżewġin u l-familji tagħhom
Post: Mount St. Joseph Retreat House – Mosta
Dati: Mill-Ġimgħa 9 ta’ Diċembru, fis-6.00 pm sal-Ħadd 11, fil-5.00 pm
Jiggwidaw: Il-Koppja Carmen u Karm Conti u Fr. Vince Magri
S.J.
We
would like to remind you that the Centre for Ignatian
Spirituality offers personal spiritual direction to all
those who would like to have any kind of spiritual
experience like Ignatian retreats in every day life.
Retreats can be tailored according to the needs and
circumstances of the retreatant. CIS can call on experienced
Jesuits, other religious and trained lay people to accompany
retreatants through these experiences.
Anyone
interested can contact the Director on 21344349 or 99864561
or email vince@maltajesuitretreats.com.
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