As Catholics we know that the purpose of life is to get to heaven and that the way of getting to heaven is to follow Jesus Christ. We also know that the way to follow Christ is to become as much like Christ as possible. To become Christ-like is, therefore, the way to heaven. We also know that this is not possible without His help. If we wish to become like Christ we have to live with Him by allowing Him to live in us. We do this by allowing Him to be in us. We have to allow Him to be who He is in us.
Who is He?
It’s not a difficult question because He tells us who He is.
He is the way, the truth and the life.
We have to become who He is by allowing the way, the truth, and the life to live within us. We do this by living the way, the truth, and the life.
How is this done?
The way is self-sacrificial love. It is laying down ourselves for others, even our enemies.
The truth is living in accordance with authentic reason. It is knowing the rational foundations of the Faith. It is knowing the teachings of the Church and conforming to them as the only way of living a truly rational life.
The life is being alive to God’s living presence in His Creation. It is seeing His creatures as creative works of art, full of the goodness of the Creator. The life of Christ is the beauty of life itself. Beauty is alive because it sings forth the presence of the Living Beauty who breathed the breath of life into it. It is much more than merely biological life, which can decay and die. It is the divine life which is present in all of Creation – sunsets, mountains, trees, flowers and, of course, in ourselves and our neighbours. This life can only be seen if we are alive to its presence. We have to have life in us to see the life in other things. That life, born of the presence of humility and the gratitude, which is the fruit of grace, is nothing less than the life of Christ Himself living within us.
Loving Christ is to love the way, the truth, and the life. Living with Christ is to live the way the truth, and the life.
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This is part of the series called “The Human Being Fully Alive” found here.
