The imitation of Christ
Monday, June 1, 2009
*Sr Silvia Maria,SCTJM
We have talked about saying yes to God, abandoning ourselves to Him. But what are we saying �yes� to? What is a consecrated person doing when we renounce the world? And why would anyone do this?
The Servant of God John Paul II wrote a powerful apostolic exhortation, Vita Consecrata, which brings sunlight to the true identity of the consecrated life. We cannot be holy consecrated men and women if we do not understand God�s original intention for this vocation. So let us spend some time unveiling this document that paints for us God�s masterpiece on the consecrated life.
John Paul II begins to clarify the mystery of the consecrated life by looking at the Transfiguration. This Scripture passage reveals a series of juxtapositions that shed light on this special vocation. At the transfiguration we see the contemplative dimension of the three disciples, who �come up� the mountain to pray in the presence of a glorified Christ and in union with the saints. They also �come down� the mountain to their daily active life in the service of the Gospel.
In the Transfiguration we see Jesus reveal His transfigured glory, with a gaze towards eternity, pointing towards the eschatological meaning of our lives. This scene shows them simultaneously living out the present, as the Lord is preparing them for His passion and death, and the crosses they too will soon carry.
Lastly, in the mountain-top experience, these three, specially-chosen disciples, experience an intimacy with our Lord, unlike the others. The profoundness and splendour of this experience makes them, and us, shout out like Peter, �It is good for us to be here.� From this intimate experience with the Lord, the three receive courage to come down the mountain and follow the Lord. But even more, it further demands from them - and us - to make of our lives a total gift of ourselves by vowing to live our lives as the poor, chaste and obedient Christ.
How �total� is the consecrated heart�s call to surrender?
Vita Consecrata explains: �In the consecrated life it is not a matter of following Christ with one�s whole heart, of loving him �more a than father or mother, more than son or daughter,� for this is required of every disciple, but of living and expressing this by conforming one�s whole existence to Christ in an all-encompassing commitment�. Consecrated persons not only make Christ the whole meaning of their lives, but strive to reproduce in themselves as far as possible that form of life which He, as the Son of God accepted in entering the world.�
After the transfiguration experiences we each have with our majestic and tender Lord, the consecrated person sets out to replicate in his or her life what �we have seen, heard and looked upon� in our communion with Christ.
Sister Silvia Mar�a,SCTJM
Religious Sister of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary
If you want to learn more about our community, you can find us at: www.piercedhearts.org
Comments from readers
Ave Maria
Luis Docampo
Br. Francis Mary of the Holy Family
Thanks Kay for your encouraging words... However, the images are not mine but John PAull II's in his writing on the Consecrated life.I too love them and that is why I share them.
Dear Brian
Let it be done in us!!!
Dear Michelle
Thanks Michelle for sharing yoru desire for holiness.
Dearest Angel,
I could not agree with you more. I believe in fact that is a greatreason why He even stays, so that what took place with his disciples of old, can take place in his modern day disciples- a total transformation in Christ
All my love
Sr. Siliva
Maybe Peter, James and John felt renewal after the Transfiguration as well.
I love Matthew's account of the transfiguration. I can picture Peter, John, and James awakening and seeing this dramatic scene play out in front of them while once again filled with fear and confusion. In Matthew's account though he shares with us Jesus once again comforting the disciples with the words, "arise and fear not!"
This 17th chapter of Matthew takes us from the Transfiguration, to Jesus healing the possesed boy, (that the disciples couldn't) to making a bold statement regarding our faith, to telling his disciples the son of man shall be betrayed, killed, and would rise on the third day, and then finally to telling Peter he could find the stater in the mouth of a fish!
It is easy to see the confusion and fear that enveloped the disciples, yet it seems that it was this very fear and confusion coupled with their faith, and the love and mercy that they saw while with Jesus that provides a significant part of the foundation of our faith today.
Your concluding statement is well received and timely as you state, "...the consecrated person sets out to replicate in his or her life what �we have seen, heard and looked upon� in our communion with Christ." It seems to me that we, if we choose, can relive this transfiguration everytime we receive Christ in the Eucharist.
Thank you for your insight.
ARISE in Faith!
Brian
So true. I recall a young man at St.Luis Catholic Church who was engaged to a young woman, now his wife. The leader of the prayer group knew how in love he was with his fiance and asked them if they would mind slow dancing in front of us. As they were dancing (very much in awe of each other) the leader said, "see this is an icon of how Jesus loves his wife. This is an image of how he is willing to lay down everything -for love of her...."
That image has never left me.... And may the Lord give us the grace to be living images of God's love for each other.
United in prayer,
Sr. S
May you be inspired by the Holy Family's self emptying for love of each other.
Blessings and kisses to your Holy Family- Mariana, Sebatian and Veronica.
What a joy to hear from you!
What a joy to hear from you! It seems to me that love is what allows the surrender to be TOTAL. The more we grow in love -or rather, the more we grow in being aware of how much we are loved by the Lord, the more we ache to respond to such amazing Love.
Today, I spoke to a young man named Adam, (from Illinois) who shared with me a prayer of his heart and he gave me permission to put it on cyberspace:"Lord help me to tear down any walls that are stopping me from seeing You as you wish me to see You." I know that through the years as the Lord has torn down walls in my own heart, He has been unveilling the mystery of His Love for me and so within me grows a gnawing desire to give Him love for Love. It comes not from me, but from Him, from the awareness of His love.
As the mother does not count the cost of caring for her handicapped son, nor the father who sacrifices to provide for his family because they are moved by love, let us continue to ask the Lord to heal us of our blindness to who we were creatted to be, who we really are as His children -made for Love.
We remain united in the oblative Love of the Eucharist- Sr. Silvia Maria
This just so happens to be the message of the Gospel today.
With God's grace and the amazing gift He has given us, let us be bright beacons shinning a light on the imminent world to come.
In His Love
Sr. Silvia Maria, sctjm- by the wonder of God's mercy
Thank you for your responce. You are right, may we put to good use all the graces we daily receive.
Thanks for your responce. Absolutely- all vocations require first and as their foundation an intimate relationship with the Lord who gives to each person the love they need to be a generous spouce. Without Him ,we can do nothing, but with Him we can do everthing.
In His love
Sr. Silvia
I truly believe that being consecrated to the Lord is the foundation to being consecrated in marriage. In order to have a healthy and fruitful relationship with your spouse, you must have an equally heathly and fruitful relationship with God.
Of course both relationships require from their onset that you roll up your sleeves to get to work, for it is the only way to be in a full and loving communion with both.
We love you,
Michelle
This post is so beautiifull, and I believe it apply to us all,
We never should take for granted the grace we received.
Thank you for the blog.
We love you, you are in our prayers.
God bless you,
Maria
Quoting you:
"In the Transfiguration we see Jesus reveal His transfigured glory, with a gaze towards eternity, pointing towards the eschatological meaning of our lives."
How beautiful! This never ceases to amaze me! Though sill on earth, a consecrated soul lives an eschatological reality.
..and now quoting our beloved John Paul II said in one of his Wednesday audiences:
�Earthly continence for the kingdom of heaven is undoubtedly a sign that indicates this truth and this reality. It is a sign that the body, whose end is not the grave, is directed to glorification. Already by this very fact, continence for the kingdom of heaven is a witness among men that anticipates the future resurrection. However, this charismatic sign of the other world expresses the force and the most authentic dynamics of the mystery of the redemption of the body. Christ has inscribed this mystery in man's earthly history and it has been deeply rooted by him in this history. So, then, continence for the kingdom of heaven bears, above all, the imprint of the likeness to Christ. In the work of redemption, he himself made this choice for the kingdom of heaven. � Teology of the Body, March 24, 1982
May we all grow in the awareness of this reality, so that we may not take for granted the infinite graces received, but become the fullness of what we are.
Thank you again for this blog sister. You are in my heart and prayers!
United in the love of the Pierced Hearts,
Sr. Paola Faustina, sctjm