65 — LIVING CHRIST

Presence of God. — O Jesus, deign to imprint in my poor soul the traits of Your likeness, so that my life may be a reflection of Yours.

Meditation

1 — Imitation of Jesus must not be limited to some particular aspect of His life, but must lead us to live Christ, to assimilate ourselves totally to Him. The vital principle of our likeness to Christ is grace: the more grace we receive, the more we become like Jesus. The principal tendency of Christ’s Soul is an immense charity that impels Him to give Himself totally for the Father’s glory and for the redemption of men. This same tendency develops in our souls in the measure in which grace grows in us and we live under Jesus’ influence, from whom grace comes to us. And this all the more insofar as our souls are directed by the same divine Impulse, namely by the Holy Spirit who directed Jesus’ Soul. Every soul will therefore be an alter Christus in the measure in which it receives Christ’s influence, His grace, His virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and, above all, the motion of the Holy Spirit that impels it to give itself totally for God’s glory and the good of neighbor. But for this to be fully realized, we must continually die to ourselves, always bearing “in our body the death of Jesus... so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (II Cor. 4, 10-11). Jesus lived mortification to save us; we must live mortification so that Christ may live in us and we may live in Christ. “For me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1, 21) is the cry of the Apostle who lived so much by Him as to be able to say: “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2, 20).

2 — “My God, I want to attend to nothing else than to become a perfect copy of You, and since Your life was nothing but a hidden life of humiliation, love, and sacrifice, from now on mine must be so too” (T.M. Sp. p. 324). The aspiration and purpose of St. Teresa Margaret must be the aspiration and purpose of every soul that truly desires to “live Christ.” But the Saint does not mean to be a copy of Jesus detached from Him, divine Model; rather she wants to live with Him, for Him, and in Him His very life. It is a matter of imitating Jesus until conforming to Him, identifying with Him by grace and love, until being, as Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity says, “an added humanity in which He renews His mystery” (E.T. El.).

As the name Christian is a prolongation of Christ’s name, so the Christian’s life must be a prolongation of His life. Already St. Paul said: “I complete in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings” (Col. 1, 24). Jesus’ Passion is most perfect in itself, and so is His life, and nothing can be added to His infinite merits; yet He wills to continue living and suffering in us, members of His Mystical Body, to perpetuate His saving mission until the end of the ages, that is, to apply to each new soul that comes into the world the fruits of His Redemption. But few are the souls of whom Jesus can freely dispose for these lofty ends. Let us therefore give ourselves totally to Him so that in our humanity He may continue to immolate Himself for the Father’s glory and for the salvation of souls, may continue to adore the Father, to love men, to make all feel the solicitude of His Heart full of mercy. Let us give ourselves to Him, “so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

Colloquy

“O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, I would like to be a bride for Your heart, I would like to fill You with glory, I would like to love You so much... as to die from it. But I feel my powerlessness and ask You to clothe me with Yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of Yours, to submerge me, to invade me, to substitute Yourself for me, so that my life may be no more than an emanation of Yours. Come into me as Adorer, as Repairer, and as Savior.

“Consuming fire, Spirit of love, descend into me, so that in my soul there may be made as another incarnation of the Word: that I may be for Him an added humanity in which He renews His mystery” (E.T. El.).

O Jesus, this is also my great desire: to be a prolongation of Your Humanity, so that You may deign to use me with that freedom with which You used the Humanity personally assumed by You. Today You, glorious in heaven, can continue to adore the Father, to intercede for us, to dispense grace to our souls, You can continue to love, to offer for us the merits of Your Passion, but You can no longer suffer. Suffering is the only thing impossible for You, glorious and omnipotent, the only thing You do not have and that I can give You; well then, O Jesus, I offer You this poor humanity of mine so that You may continue in me Your Passion for the Father’s glory and the salvation of men. O Jesus, yes, renew in me Your mystery of love and suffering; continue to live in me with Your grace, with Your charity, with Your Spirit. How I would like my humble life to be a reflection of Yours, to emanate the fragrance of Your virtues and above all the sweetness of Your charity.

You know it: the world, to be converted, more than words needs saints in whom to recognize and experience Your love, Your infinite goodness, in whom to find You again, O Jesus. O Lord, though so miserable, I too desire to be among these faithful followers of Yours, so that You, through me, may continue to win souls for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. O Jesus, give us many of these saints, and above all grant that such may be Your priests.