The Imitation of Christ: A Daily Challenge

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of April 10, 2003)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on April 6 at St. Philip Catholic Church in Falls Church for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

The "Imitation of Christ" is more than the name of a much-revered book on Christian spirituality; it is, in fact, the summary and goal of every disciple’s life. After all, from Baptism onwards, each person, baptized into Christ Jesus, is expected to think, speak and act like Christ, to be Christ-like. In the Opening Prayer of today’s Mass, this is precisely what we asked: "Father, help us to be like Christ your Son, who loved the world and died for our salvation. Inspire us by his love, guide us by his example…."

Imitating Christ, tracing in our lives the outlines of His: what does this mean? To imitate Christ necessarily implies to relive His Dying and Rising, to relive the basic elements of the Christian paradox: dying to self leads to living for God and others. "Christian spirituality consists in the living out in experience, throughout the whole course of our lives, of the death-resurrection of Christ, that we have been caught up into by baptism" (The Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood, p. 3).

This basic reality of our spiritual lives, this essential way of living our discipleship each day, is re-examined and renewed during the season of Lent, the Church’s annual retreat. As St. Leo the Great reminds us: "…what the Christian should be doing at all times should be done now with greater care and devotion…." (Sermon 6 on Lent). Yes, if imitating Christ is our goal each day, during Lent, we must seek to do so even more intensely by prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Moreover, as we draw nearer to reliving the mystery of Christ’s Dying and Rising in Holy Week, which begins next Sunday, we are committing ourselves to reproduce in our lives the Lord’s Death and Resurrection. Today’s liturgy, especially the scripture readings, focus our attention more clearly on this daily imitation of Christ.

Let us summarize the scriptures just proclaimed in our hearing. The eternal Son of God took up our human nature and became man in order to fulfill His Father’s Will. And God the Father willed that through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the human race would be saved from sin and eternal death. God willed that the New Covenant, promised through Jeremiah the prophet in today’s first reading, would be instituted by Christ’s Dying and Rising. In order to be faithful to God’s will, Jesus freely accepted suffering and death on the cross for our salvation. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "The desire to embrace his Father’s plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus’ whole life, for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation" (no. 607).

It was not easy for Jesus in His human nature to fulfill God’s Will and to accept suffering and death. Hear again what Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel passage: "I am troubled now. Yet, what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour’…." Jesus realized that the only way to accomplish the Father’s Will was through suffering and death. He used an example from the cycle of nature to illustrate what we now call the Christian paradox. "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit….And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." The author of the Letter to the Hebrews echoes this essential truth in today’s second reading. "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him."

During Lent, we are being strengthened to follow Christ more closely, and by imitating Him, to do God’s Will more faithfully. To do this demands denying our inner self every day and so the struggle becomes real in many different ways. For example, our struggle may involve overcoming some deep-rooted sinful inclination; or facing misunderstanding, slander and opposition; or accepting a situation which is difficult or nearly impossible to resolve, like a terminal illness; or coping with fear and anxiety cause by the war in Iraq or by the ever-present threat of terrorism. We imitate Christ in the real circumstances and events of our daily lives in good times and in bad, in joys and sorrows, in accomplishments and defeats, in times of great stress and in long periods of monotony and routine, in suffering and, ultimately, in death. In seeking to relive His life in ours, we are likewise seeking to fulfill God’s Will in our individual situations each day. To identify with Christ in this daily struggle and to commit ourselves to God’s Will despite difficulty and distress is without doubt to live out the imitation of Christ – the basic goal of our spiritual life.

Well do we conclude our reflection on imitating Christ with a prayer attributed to Saint Richard of Chichester: "…Merciful friend, Brother and Redeemer, may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly, day by day."

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