Be Christ, Love Like
Christ
The Responsorial Psalm roots the Christian life in the mystery of Christian identity: “Behave like God as his very dear children” (Ephesians 5:1 and Psalm 1).
In
Ephesians 4:32 to 5:8 Paul puts the
Christian life in a nutshell: “Follow the way of love.”
What
does this mean, in the concrete? It means to love others “even as Christ loved
us.” And he did this by “giving himself
as an offering to God.” Compare this with Paul’s baptismal text:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,
by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship.”1
This means that, wherever our live bodies are,
we will be “sacrificed” to doing the will and work of God. That is what we live
for. How do we do this in practice? Three ways:
1.
Make everything physical in your lifestyle embody
Christ’s values. This is to bear witness
as a prophet.
2. Use your body to give
visible, expression to the invisible
life of grace in your heart (faith, hope, and especially love), and so mediate life to others as priest.
3.
Use your body, your physical activity, to make
changes in the environment (family and social life, professional and
political milieu) as a steward of
Christ’s kingship committed to establish
the reign of God over every area and activity of human life on earth.
The
guiding principle of Christian life is, ““Behave
like God as his very dear children.” And why? St. Paul says it is because
“your holiness forbids” anything less than this. We live and love like Christ
because by Baptism we have “become Christ.” We are his body on earth. Because
we are Christ the Son we are filii in Filio, sons and daughters of
the Father and temples of his Holy Spirit.
In
Luke 13: 10-17 we see Jesus taking
the initiative to change something very wrong in Jewish society that is also
very prevalent in ours. The priests and Pharisees were so focused on
law-observance that they failed to take note of peoples’ pain. Jesus said of
them:
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay
them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a
finger to move them.2
So,
unasked, he heals a woman on the Sabbath, knowing the reaction it will provoke.
Then he used the reaction to teach Christian priorities. This was an act of
leadership. It called the authorities to change.
When
anyone — and this includes priests, teachers and parish staff — is unfeeling,
anyone who sees it should always react — kindly, respectfully, but firmly.
1Romans 12:1
2Matthew 23:4
Initiative: Be Christ’s
steward. Insist
on the “way of love” with everyone.
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