When we think about Jesus as that exceptional, unusual person who lived long ago and whose life and words continue to inspire us, we might avoid the realisation that Jesus wants us to be like him. Jesus himself keeps saying in many ways that he, the Beloved Child of God, came to reveal to us that we too are God's beloved children, loved with the same unconditional divine love.
John writes to his people: "You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children - which is what we are." (1 John 3:1). This is the great challenge of the spiritual life: to claim the identity of Jesus for ourselves and to say: "We are the living Christ today!"
Henri Nouwen, from Bread for the Journey
Teresa of Avila wrote:
Lord Christ,
You have no body on earth but ours,
No hands but ours,
No feet but ours.
Ours are the eyes through which your compassion
Must look out on the world.
Ours are the feet by which you may still
Go about doing good.
Ours are the hands with which
You bless people now.
Bless our minds and bodies,
That we may be a blessing to others.Amen
This is a shocking thought, yet it is, as I wrote yesterday, nothing less than the plain truth. We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) and it is in us that his work on earth is done. It also follows that the world's reaction to Jesus will be its reaction to us. This may prove uncomfortable from time to time...
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"We are mothers when we carry him [Jesus] in our heart and body through divine love and a pure and sincere conscience; we give birth to him through a holy life which must give life to others by example."-St. Francis of Assisi-
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