"We Are Christ For One Another"

In Sunday's Homily, our priest spoke about a major goal of ours as Catholics: for everyone to go to Heaven. 

Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice of love when He laid down His life for us on the cross, in order that we might achieve salvation. However, there are many who willfully reject this loving gift, or otherwise take it for granted. Further, even the most devout Catholic is not without sin; none of us are perfect. We unfortunately all make mistakes and do things we shouldn't from time to time. As such, we must continually work to make sure that Jesus's beautiful gift has not been in vain. We must, as yesterday's Recessional hymn says, be "Christ for one another". Let us examine some of the songs lyrics.

We are called, we are chosen

We are Christ for one another

We are promised to tomorrow

While we are for Him today

We are sign, we are wonder

We are sower, we are seed

We are harvest, we are hunger

We are question, we are creed

Then where can we stand justified?

In what can we believe?

In no one else but Christ who suffered

Nothing more than Christ who rose

Who was justice for the poor

Who was rage against the night

Who was hope for peaceful people

Who was light

This song emphasizes that Jesus lived a life of loving and helping others, as particularly exemplified by His death and Resurrection. We are in turn called, the song explains, to live now in a Christlike way. We are called to light the way for others, bring about justice, and fight against the darkness of evil. We are called to help others, even if it means sacrifice or even suffering on our part.

As we have discussed in a previous post, sometimes showing love for someone involves some degree of sacrifice. We may have to give up our free time, money, or other resources to help someone in need. Perhaps there was something else we had planned on doing with our time, or something we had hoped to buy with that extra spending money; however, we are called to put the needs of others ahead of our own, so sometimes we have to do without. However, when we truly love someone and genuinely want to help, it doesn't really feel like doing without, does it?

It is not too difficult to find ways to help those around us. But how can we "be Christ" for those whom we have never met? How can we help people in other parts of the world, and even those who have gone before us?

I am currently reading a wonderful book about Mary's apparitions in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. It is entitled "Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope", by Fr. Andrew Apostoli. One of the predominant themes in the book, as derived from Mary's words during those apparitions, is that we are called to make self-sacrifices, in order to make reparations for sins that have offended the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and at the same time, to work towards the conversion and salvation of souls. 

The book explains that when we make any loving sacrifice, be it big or small, we can offer it up to God in prayer. When we make acts of love, especially if they are difficult in some way for us, we can ask God to accept them as a sign of love for Him and for humanity.

The same can be done in times when we must endure physical or emotional suffering. We can lovingly offer up our pain to God, and ask Him to help us get through it with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

With fervent prayer and reverent reflection, we can begin to see our times of difficulty as opportunities to help others and show love for God, which in turn can potentially make them seem less unpleasant. This is not an easy task, to be sure, and not a change of perspective that can happen immediately. However, God is there to help! We can pray to God for greater strength, clarity, insight, patience, and perseverance, and have faith that that which we ask for genuinely, lovingly, and unselfishly, He will grant us.

Let us consider, then, the many ways in which we can be "Christ for one another" in the coming days, months, and years. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject - feel free to leave a comment! It would be great to get a discussion going.

May God bless you today and always!

Karen