A LIVING ATTACHMENT
TO JESUS CHRIST
It’s not easy to try to respond sincerely to Jesus’ question: «Who do you say I am?». In reality, who is Jesus for us? His person comes to us through 20 centuries of images, formulas, devotions, experiences, cultural interpretations… that both reveal and hide this unfathomable richness at the same time.
But anyway, each one of us paints Jesus with our own brush. And we project on him our own desires, aspirations, interests, and limitations. And almost without realizing it, we make him smaller and we disfigure him, even when we try to exalt him.
But Jesus continues living. We Christians haven’t been able to dissect him with our mediocrity. He won’t allow us to disguise him. He won’t allow himself to be labeled or reduced to some rituals, formulas or customs.
Jesus always disturbs anyone who comes close to him with an open and sincere posture. He’s always more than we expect of him. He always opens up new cracks in our life, breaks open our plans and draws us to a new life. The more we know him, the more we know we are just beginning to discover him.
Jesus is dangerous. We perceive in him a self-giving to us humans that unmasks our selfishness. A passion for justice that shakes our securities, privileges and selfishness. A kindness that brings to light our smallness. A liberty that tears open our thousand slaveries and compulsions.
And above all, we sense in him a mystery of openness, nearness and closeness to God that attracts us and invites us to open up our existence to the Father. We will go on knowing Jesus as far as we give ourselves to him. There’s only one path to sink into his mystery: follow him.
Follow his steps humbly, open ourselves with him to the Father, reproduce his gestures of love and tenderness, see life with his eyes, share his painful destiny, await his resurrection. And without doubt, pray often from the depth of our heart: «I believe, Lord, help my unbelief».
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
