By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for
there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a
great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. Isaiah 8:23-9:1
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he
withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth
and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and
Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be
fulfilled. Matthew 4:12-14
Piety
Piety brings the union of
minds and souls for the purpose of loving Christ as a brother. Christ is much more than an acquaintance of
our lives. He is much more than a
friend. Our love for him brings us to
live what Paul talks about in Gal. 2, 19 when he says he no longer lives, but
Christ lives in him. We are going
towards a relationship of identity.
Christ calls us to find our real selves in him. We are created in the image and the likeness
of Christ. When we find ourselves in
him, we find the real self. People today
talk about looking for the real meaning of their lives. We know that the real meaning of our lives is
found in Christ. He wants to be so much
more than a friend. Christ would be our
soul mate. Our spiritual journey
challenges us to do more than put on the mind and the heart of Christ. We are called to be real Christs by our
vocation as Christians.
Study
We know that it is Christ
that is calling and tugging at our hearts by the love he has for us. The union of Christians will happen because we
recognize the call of Christ in each other. Christ dispels the darkness of our world by
the light of his life. We see his
presence in the good people of our lives. We are able to stretch our limits because he
shows us the way in the generous souls that accompany our journey. We find by the principle of attraction where
we are meant to be. It is Christ that is
the cohesion of our love for our community. He breaks down the walls that exist in small
minds. He dispels our gloom by his
light. We who have walked in darkness
have seen the great light of Christ in the good people of our lives. Christ dispels our darkness by the intensity
of our search for him in each other.
Action
We need to let go of
differences by the decision to look for the best possible meaning in each
other. Christ lives in the needs of us
all. We work for Christ and honor Christ
when we appreciate the good of each other. There is no person who does not rejoice when
another sees the good he or she is trying to do. The ‘P.M.A.’ of this walk with Christ is the
positive mental appreciation of what others do. We need to keep a high ‘pma’ in our lives is
we want to dispel the darkness that loses people on the edges of our community.
We need to strive to have together the
mind and heart that was in Christ. The
wisdom of the cross is seen in the offering of our lives for one another. Christ is our way, our truth and our life. We need to walk together toward Christ to
unite our world in God’s love for us in the “Word Made Flesh.” We work at being Christ’s love for our world.
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