FOLLOWING CHRIST TODAY: THE CALL
God wants the salvation of all, and Jesus Christ died for all. We are all called by God to follow Jesus. Following Christ implies accepting his call and being faithful to it. What is the meaning of this divine call?
The Gospels speak of three main elements of this call, of our vocation:
(1) The initiative comes from Jesus: “Follow me” (Mk 1:17 and 20). Our call, our vocation is his initiative, not ours: “It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you” (Jn 15:16). The call is a grace, a gift: no one deserves this or that call, or merits this or that vocation. One day we were called like Samuel: “Samuel, Samuel!” “Here I am, Lord” (cf. I Sam 3:1-10, 19-20). Like the prophet Isaiah: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us.” “Here am I; send me” (Is 6:8).
(2) The response to Jesus’ call is today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes! The Psalmist invites us: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts! (Ps 95,7). Today, harden not your heart by not listening to God’s invitation to follow Jesus.
(3) The first disciples followed Jesus immediately and left their nets and families (Mk 1:16-20). The response to Christ’s call demands from his disciples leaving everything to follow him (cf. Lk 5:11). Leaving everything means giving our back to the “world” and its idols and ideologies, denying ourselves, renouncing our selfishness, and carrying our own cross (cf. Mt 10:37-39). It implies a radical detachment to be able to make Christ the priority of life.
For the true disciples, Jesus becomes the determining factor of their life, which entails “a total attachment to the person and message of Jesus” (S. Galilea). Then, “We do not live to ourselves; we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:7-8).
Detachment from ourselves and attachment to Jesus implies necessarily loving God and all neighbors, principally the poor and afflicted, and taking up our cross and helping other people carry their cross. Following the Lord after the apostles and the first Christian communities means “nothing less than to take up the cross and to lay down our life for our brothers and sisters” (G. Lespinay).
Christian life, then, cannot be ego-latria (narcissistic adoration, veneration of oneself), but latria (devotion -adoration, prayer to God). The devotion to God One and Triune may be helped by dulia or devotions to the saints (veneration and prayer) and by hyperdulia or special devotion to Mary (veneration and prayer), which is above the devotion to all the saints, because she is the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, and the disciple of disciples.
In the community of disciples, the Church, there are different calls, distinct vocations, diverse charisms to follow Christ. Essentially, all vocations are equal, that is, “neither better nor worse: simply different” (M. Gelabert). In Christian perspective, all others are not only equal persons in dignity and rights, but also brothers and sisters in Christ. What really matters for all Jesus’ followers is fidelity to the radical baptismal consecration, which implies saying continually no to sin and yes to love, obeying and doing God’s will, being humble, prayerful and compassionate. Perfection comes not from any call or any title but from fidelity - always ascending - to our personal call.
All Christians then - priests, religious men and women, lay women and men – are called to the following and imitation of Christ through the perfection of charity. Really, there are properly speaking no “states of perfection” but “different states to pursue perfection,” the perfection of charity as love of God and of all neighbors and of creation.
Following Christ is not easy. In reality, it never was. Remember when Jesus spoke to the disciples of eating his Body and drinking his Blood to be able to have life here and hereafter, many disciples left him: “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” (Jn 6:60). (Romano Guardini hints that, perhaps, Judas began to doubt Jesus form this time on, but this was not enough to leave him). In this context, we also remember the rich young man who wanted to follow Jesus, but regrettably did not because he was not ready to give up his many possessions (cf. Mt 19:16-22).
It is hard to be a faithful follower of Jesus. By ourselves, it is impossible. But it is possible and marvelous: we all have available, graceful divine help. Thus, it is possible to follow the Lord by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, which is the love of God the Father and of the Son of God. And it is truly worthwhile to try by cooperating freely and responsibly with God’ s grace and love. In reality, it deserves our life, because following Jesus is the best way to attain what we all long for: to be happy here - relatively but really - and hereafter – perfectly happy. Indeed, “With Jesus, life becomes richer and with him it is easier to find meaning in everything” (Pope Francis, EG 266).
Once, a certain Aeschines approached Socrates to tell him that he wanted to be his disciple, and added: I am a poor man. I have nothing, but I give you myself. The great Greek philosopher answered him: “Do you not see that you are giving me the most precious thing of all?” W. Barclay comments: That is what the apostles gave to Jesus: themselves (In Mt 4:18-22). That is what the followers of Christ ought to give him: themselves, and thus be formed, transformed and transfigured by Jesus and in Jesus.
Words to ponder: “The essence of man is not in what he is but in what he is called to be.” The two poles of human existence are being and becoming”: becoming more what we are as creatures and children of God, as brothers and sisters of one another in Christ, as prayerful, compassionate and joyful people of God. (FGB)
