Creative Following

May 16 Friday of the 4th week of Easter: 

A thought for those who want to reveal the risen Jesus in their lifestyle.

Acts 13:26-33; Psalm 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11; John 14:1-6

“You know the way… I am the way.” John 14:4

Christianity was first called “the Way.” It was not defined by rules but guided by principles. A principle is “that from which something begins” (Aristotle).

A moral principle is a statement from which moral reflection begins. Too often, rules end thought by telling us what to do. A principle requires us to think, to decide for ourselves what these words call us to do in concrete circumstances. An authentic Christian is a “prophet” who takes the general, abstract principles of the Gospel and applies them creatively to the concrete circumstances of a given time and place. And those principles are drawn from the words and example of Jesus.

Jesus is the Way. The New Law is God’s truth embodied in his life. In the Church, before the principles of the Gospel can be simplified in laws, they have to be seen embodied in lives of prophetic witness. Prophets lead the Church into the future by embodying the future in their lives. The prophets lead; the Church follows.

To be prophets we have to die to fear, beginning with the fear of standing alone. The “beaten path” obscures the footsteps of Jesus. To follow Jesus as the Way, we have to give up the security of the beaten path. We have to think before we act; think for ourselves.

PRAY: “Lord, let me think with your thoughts.”

PRACTICE: Always look for the footsteps of Jesus.