On Following Our Lord Jesus Christ (Part 2)

Our Shepherd not only summons us with His voice, but also guides us by His manner of life: He “goes before” His sheep “and they follow Him” (Jn 10:4). He commanded us to renounce the world, to deny ourselves, to take up and bear our cross—and He himself accomplished all of this before our eyes. “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Pet 2:21). He graciously consented to take on humanity—though of royal lineage, yet one that had descended in its standing to the rank of common people. His birth took place during the journeying of His most holy Mother, for whom no room was found among human dwellings. The birth came to pass in a cave where domestic animals were sheltered; a manger served as the cradle for the Newborn. Scarcely had the news of His birth spread than a conspiracy against His life was already formed. The Infant was already being hunted! The Infant was sought out for slaughter! The Infant fled through the desert into Egypt from a raging murderer! His boyhood the God-man spent in submission to His parents—His adoptive father and His natural Mother—showing by example humility to human beings who had perished through pride and the disobedience it produces. His adult years the Lord devoted to the preaching of the Gospel, journeying from city to city, from village to village, having no shelter of His own. His clothing was a tunic and a robe. While He was proclaiming salvation to human beings and pouring out Divine blessings upon them, human beings hated Him, plotted against His life, and more than once attempted to kill Him. At last they executed Him as a common criminal. He permitted them to commit the most terrible of crimes, for which their hearts thirsted, because He willed to deliver by the execution of the All-holy the fallen human race from the curse and from eternal punishment. Filled with suffering was the earthly life of the God-man; it ended with a death full of suffering. After the Lord, all the saints passed into blessed eternity, walking by a narrow and sorrowful path, renouncing the glory and pleasures of the world, restraining carnal desires through ascetic struggles, crucifying the spirit on the cross of Christ—which for the fallen human spirit is constituted by the commandments of the Gospel—enduring various deprivations, pursued by evil spirits, pursued by their brothers and sisters, other human beings. Let us follow Christ and the company of saints who walked after Him! The God-man, “having by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3). There He calls His followers: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you” (Mt 25:34). Amen.