This Word of Life contains the fundamental law of all Christian life. Through baptism, the world and sin no longer have a hold on us. We are now living a new life in which Christ dwells in us and we live for him.
'To have died' means for St. Paul that the world with its mentality, its errors and its attractions no longer dictates what we do. We are called to live the life of the Risen Christ. Indeed Christ must totally occupy all our thoughts and actions.
'You have died and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God'
Despite this new life in Christ given to us at baptism, we still tend to do wrong. We must fully co-operate with God if his grace is to succeed and a lot of effort over a long time is required for us to reach this goal. This choice made at baptism needs to be renewed daily and we must continually renounce ourselves so that Christ might live in us.
'You have died and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God'
The more we try to do this the more Jesus grows in us. Our minds and hearts will more and more be taken over by his inspiration. and love. We will experience a great freedom and a totally new joy.
The more the life of Jesus grows in us the less impact the world will have in us and it will become easier and almost natural to resist its attractions.
In this way we will experience more deeply what St. Paul means when he says that we have died and now our life is hidden with Christ in God. For us only Jesus will
In this way we will experience more deeply what St. Paul means when he says that we have died and now our life is hidden with Christ in God. For us only Jesus will count. The world will lose its appeal. Its shallowness and falsehood will no longer interest us. Our joy will be Jesus, to be with him, to work for his kingdom and to share in his life. It is a life that the world cannot see and cannot understand but which one day will appear in all its beauty.
'You have died and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God' How can we achieve this goal which the Word of Life points out to us?
First of all we must not be discouraged by our many failures to carry out God's will. We should take the opportunity to admit our weakness before God and ask him to help us. We can be sure that he will do this. In fact only his grace can heal our deep-seated faults. But we must do our part well. This means that we need to ignore what the world tells us to do and avoid its temptations. Above all we must live his words especially the commandment of mutual love and always strive to serve Jesus in our neighbour more perfectly.
This is the self-denial Jesus loves most. Loving our neighbours is the most concrete way of dying to ourselves so that Christ may grow in us.
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'After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God (Colossians 3: 3.)
The Marist prepares for his task by learning at Mary's side a particular way of relating to the Word of God, to the person of Jesus, and to the Church.
This month Chiara shares with us the fruit of her prayer on a text which sums up 'the fundamental law of the entire Christian life: As Colin tells us: ' We should exist before God, as if there were none but Him, seeing Him alone, walking boldly by faith: A Founder Speaks. 9. 3 That was the life of Mary and of our founding Fathers who kept so close to her, men like Colin, Chanel, Champagnat and Eymard. Our sisters, too, have memories of their early sisters, who lived the Marist ideal in the same way. The Constitutions of the Fathers exhort us:
Let them learn from the first Marists to find in the presence of Mary at Nazareth and Pentecost, in the early Church and at the end of time, the secret of their own presence in the Church and the world of to-day: a presence attentive to God and vibrant with zeal, so that while doing great things for the Lord, they may seem to be unknown and even hidden in this world. This was Mary's way; this is Mary's work.
Chiara encourages us not to be surprised if we find there are still many tendencies in us not as yet submissive to the will of Christ. And that will be true also of many of those we meet, or even perhaps of someone we have to live with. The spirituality of the movement tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus forsaken on theCross, and to unite our sufferings with his for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the world. And our own weakness must not be allowed to rob us of the special peace Christ left to his disciples. Weak as we are:
Let us go to the divine heart of Jesus. The more aware we are of our weakness, the closer we are to God and God to us. If on the other hand, we think ourselves to be something, everything will go badly.' A. F. S., 56. 1.
Chiara speaks of the joy the Holy Spirit gives to those who try to die to themselves and how God will bless their work and make it fruitful. It is the special joy given to those with undivided hearts. The N. C. translate this for Marists:
By vowing chastity, obedience, and poverty, Marists live the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection. They die daily to this world and herald the new world inaugurated by the risen Jesus. Freed by God's love from all self-seeking, they become faithful servants of the Father's will and come to know the joy promised by Christ when He said: 'There is no one who has left home, or wife, or brothers, parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God who will not receive a plentiful return in this age and life everlasting in the age to come.' ' (Lk. 18: 29-30.)
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