Mar 31 Sun
Christian life is a process of identification with Christ, and culminates in the Cross and Resurrection.
Today's solemnity reminds us that Christian life must be a constant process of imitation of Christ. This process starts with the first grace received in Baptism and transforms the soul gradually until it reaches total identification with our Lord in this life or the next. This is an obligation for all Christians; thus, you and me must follow Christ “so closely that we live with him as did the first twelve, so closely that we identify ourselves with him, we live his very life."
Following Christ culminates on this earth in the same way as Jesus' own life did: in the Cross and Resurrection, mysteries which are inseparable in the life of Christ. Our meeting with the Cross and Resurrection usually takes place little by little, as on a steady upward slope, almost without our realizing it. Nevertheless, since we are thus united to the crucified and risen Christ, we are sanctified and become co-redeemers. “The Holy Cross will make us enduring, always maintaining the spirit of the Gospel, which leads to apostolic activity as the wonderful fruit of prayer and sacrifice. Thus, through the Church and each of her members, the great divine secret which St Paul taught to the Philippians is lived once more - a sure path to immortality and glory: through humiliation, to the Cross; and from the Cross, with Christ, to the immortal glory of the Father."
Thus, “If you have been raised with Christ, exclaims St Paul, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
Living with Christ in God is an ideal which we are happy to spend our lives pursuing. This is the reason why “Easter is a time of joy. For Christ is alive. He is not someone who has gone, someone who existed for a time and then passed on, leaving us a wonderful example and a great memory."
No, Christ is alive. Jesus is the Emmanuel: God with us. His Resurrection shows us that God does not abandon his own. He promised he would not forget us. And he has kept his promise. His delight is still to be with the sons of men.
“Christ is alive in his Church. ‘I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’ That was what God planned: Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave us the Spirit of truth and life. Christ stays in his Church, her sacraments, her liturgy, her preaching - in all that she does."
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