WHAT DO WE SAY?
Even today Jesus directs the same question to Christians that he made one day to his disciples: «And you, who do you say I am?». He doesn’t ask us this question just so that we make some statement about his mysterious identity, but also so that we reevaluate our relationship with him. What answer can we give from our Christian communities?
Do we make an effort to know Jesus better each day, or do we keep him «closed in by our old and worn-out categories» like always? Are we living communities, interested in putting Jesus in the center of our lives and our activities, or are we stuck in routine and mediocrity?
Do we love Jesus passionately, or has he been converted for us into a used-up personality that we keep invoking, while indifference and forgetfulness keep growing in our hearts? Can those who come to our communities feel the power and attraction that he has for us?
Do we feel like Jesus’ disciples? Are we learning to live his way of life in the midst of today’s society, or are we letting ourselves be swayed by whatever is the slogan that most appeals to our whims? Is it just the same to us to live however we want, or have we made our community into a school where we learn to live as Jesus did?
Are we learning to look at life as Jesus sees it? Do we look out from our communities upon the needy and marginalized with compassion and responsibility, or do we close ourselves into our celebrations, indifferent to the suffering of the most disabled and forgotten: those who were always the ones especially loved by Jesus?
Do we follow Jesus by working together with him in the Father’s humanizing project, or do we keep thinking that the most important part of being Christian is to worry only about our salvation? Are we convinced that the way to follow Jesus is to live each day making life more human and more joy-filled for all?
Do we spend our Christian Sunday celebrating Jesus’ resurrection? Do we believe in the Risen Jesus who walks with us, full of life? Do we go about in our communities welcoming the peace that he left his followers as an inheritance? Do we believe that Jesus loves us with a love that never ends? Do we believe in his renewing power? Do we know how to be witnesses of the mystery of hope that we carry within us?
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
