For Grave-Leavers: “Now What?” — Easter Week Four, April 29 to May 5, 2012

What do you suppose Lazarus did when Jesus brought him back to life? Just pick up where he left off?

And Lazarus was not “risen” as we are when we die and rise with Christ in Baptism. He just rose to continue his human life. We rise to begin living the divine life of God. We have “become Christ,” who was God the Son, the “Word” made flesh as a human, with a human body, mind and will.

Jesus was God acting in and through a human body. That is what we are called to be. But we do it through partnership with Jesus. We do it by letting Jesus act with us, in us and through us in everything we do. We are divine because Jesus shares his divine life with us. We act as God through surrender to God acting in us.

Can we just “do this”? Can we live as God just by “doing what comes naturally?” Or do we have to learn it? Learn how. Be trained, formed to it. Do we need a “formation program” for living the divine life we received in Baptism?

Let’s be clear. “Formation” doesn’t just happen. Sure, we get some idea of how to live as Christ, and we grow into some likeness to him, just by doing the normal “Catholic” things: saying our prayers; participating consciously in Mass; receiving the sacraments with awareness of what we are doing; responding with a “Christian conscience” to the challenges of family and social life, business and politics. We all get some “religious instruction,” and some even read the Bible. This is all formative, but it isn’t formation. Formation has to be intentional. We have to intend to reach a goal. We have to know we are working toward something; know what we are doing and why.

For “formation” we need a plan. We have to know what the goal is, what the “first step” is, and what steps to take after that. We need a “map” to keep us on course. We need the encouragement that comes from knowing we are getting somewhere, making progress. We need to count milestones.

And we need a plan that is easy to begin with. We can’t just “leap off” into heroism. If we are told we have to be perfect from the beginning, we will never start.

We need a plan that shows us clear, concrete, simple steps to take. One that doesn’t focus on the whole goal to begin with, but on intermediate goals, “objectives” to aim at that we can achieve one at a time. Baseball is less about homeruns than about getting on base — one base at a time. Most plays in football are designed to make yardage, not touchdowns. Spiritual formation is the same: sometimes all we are hoping for is a first down.

We need a plan that will keep us moving down the field.

Stop. Do you know what the biggest problem is here? Do you know why no parish or diocese has a plan, a serious, systematic plan that aims at the spiritual formation of every person in the pews?

It is because no one is teaching the principle of forward motion. We don’t have a plan, because we don’t have a goal. We don’t ask for a map, because we don’t think we are going anywhere. Catholics don’t know that the only authentic Christian life is a life of growth. At least, not growth to “the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of love.” Spiritual progress means getting up to par, overcoming sin, “keeping in bounds.” Imagine a football team whose plays were all designed just to keep the runner in bounds. That is the way most Catholics play the game.

Take a minute. Make up one “play” that you think is giving, or will give you, “forward motion” toward total knowledge and love of God. Run it all week. Share the results with us through the COMMENTS link on the blog. Then see what the next blog suggests.