Our Way to Holiness

During the early years of the Church, the followers of Christ did not have a name. They went around talking about Jesus and teaching his doctrine. They were known for the love they had for one another and for their celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass. In Antioch, were Hellenists pagans were converted, they finally found a name for themselves: "Christians." That name simply signified that they were followers of Christ. The name today still has the same meaning. The true Christian follows Christ so intimately that he begins to see and live with God as the first apostles did. The true Christian identifies himself with God. He mediates on and teaches the doctrine of Christ. And he is generous enough to help Christ bear his cross. A true Christian must be able to say the same words uttered by St. Paul: "I live, but is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me."

Jesus Christ became man not just to give us his doctrine. He could have easily sent a prophet or inspired the writing of a book if that were his only purpose in become man. Christ also offers himself as an example to us, as a model that we can imitate. Christ only asks us to carry our crosses for he, too, carried His own cross. He asks us to pray for he, too, spent sleepless nights in prayer. He asks us to foster fraternal love for he himself cried over the death of his friend Lazarus.

In order to follow Christ, we must first be drawn to him and be in love with him. The power of love can be likened to the attraction of iron to a magnet. Since we cannot love somebody we don't know, we must first make it a point to try to know Christ. We can get to know Christ by studying and meditating on the Gospels, by reading other books about Christ's life and by closely following the liturgy in which the principal mysteries of the life of Christ are relived. As our knowledge of Christ grows, so will our love for him strengthen.

Christ wants us to treat him like a friend. Christ wants to be our best friend. To be a friend to Christ is to talk with and confide in him regularly. This is what prayer is all about. And just as we talk to friends about many things, we should also talk to God about everything that occupies our minds. "You wrote to me. "To pray is to talk to God. But about what?" About what? About him, and yourself; joys, sorrows, success and failures, great ambitions, daily worries - even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions - and love and reparation"

Jesus Christ is not simply an historical figure. He is very much present and alive. He talks to us through the Gospels; he is really present in the Eucharist; he gives us strength through the Sacramnets, and he makes himself present in the souls of men, especially in the children and in the poor.