The Imitation Of Jesus Christ

[sanctus]

[FONT=Arial, Verdana]"Become like unto me", says the Lord. Be Holy as I am Holy. (Leviticus 11:44)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]According to the Venerable Maria of Agreda (c1600), in revelations from Our Lady in "the Mystical City of God", these were the first words that the Incarnate Word of God spoke to his mother Mary when He first looked at her with his human eyes: "Become like unto me". [/FONT]In the same way that the moon reflects the sun, our Lady lived a life in obedience to those words, She became a true reflection of Jesus in virtue and holiness.
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]How can we become like Jesus? Jesus is the reflection of the Father, the splendor or Holiness, Glory and Majesty. If we look at Jesus we also look at God the Father (John 14:8). If we look at an image of Jesus we can feel something very extraordinary about Him, and we may ponder what it would be like, to be with the God man and to become like Him. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]If we study the Gospels, then we can have a clearer image of the virtues and personality of Jesus and we can sense the Divine attributes in Him. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]To become like something we must be impregnated with that substance, for example, if we dip our hands in water we get wet, if we place our hands in fire we get burned. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]We have a saying "you are what you eat" and this holds true when we receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We eat Jesus' flesh and we become like Him who is eternal life. Jesus said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life within you (John 6:52). He truly desires to impregnate us with his flesh and blood, to purify us so that we become like Him. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]Now, if we also come in the Presence of the Lord and contemplate his attributes, we begin to absorb or rather to experience the reflection of Holiness that God desires to share with all those who come to Him. "Be Holy as I am Holy". Moses shone with dazzling light after he was exposed to the Presence of God in the burning bush (Exodus 34:29). St. Stephen's face shone with the reflection of the Heavenly Light he saw when he was being martyred for Christ (Acts 7:54-55). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]We have lost the image of God in our souls through the sin of our first parents and then through our own sinfulness. Christ has come to restore us to holiness in his image. So if we come before the divine attributes of the Incarnate Word of God, the virtues of Christ the man and the qualities of his perfect personality, we have a better picture of Jesus and we can acknowledge him as the perfect image that we desire for our souls. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]This type of reflection involves meditation and a very profound sincere interest in becoming like Jesus. God alone is good and He is the source of all goodness. If we possess a good quality, say for example patience, it is because this has come to perfection through our own hard work and perseverance, aided by the grace of God Who desires us to be patient as He is patient. The same applies to every good quality that we wish to posses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]If we want to become like Jesus we must desire to possess all his human qualities, plus all his divine attributes which are unique to God. They must be reflected upon our souls in order that we may become what God wants us to be: "his own reflection". While this sounds very desirable but difficult, we need to do our work by amending our lives and by practicing living in the Presence of God. We can start by saying like Jesus, the flesh is weak but the Spirit God has given us is strong. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]In order to make ourselves available to this great work of God for us, we must come humbly before Him with a repentant heart and with a desire to become like Jesus. Then He can save our souls, make us his instruments and prepare us to do his work. [/FONT]

 

[tamarin]

Christ was an amazing individual. So very different than the God of the Old Testament. But is He an improvement? Is compassion more important than power? One gets a feeling of focus, stability, strength and resolution when viewing the Old. The New offers the promise of love and acceptance but little of the raw determination needed to confirm them. I can see why the Jews have stuck with the Old. There's simply refuge in power.

 

[sanctus]

Christ was an amazing individual. So very different than the God of the Old Testament. But is He an improvement? Is compassion more important than power? One gets a feeling of focus, stability, strength and resolution when viewing the Old. The New offers the promise of love and acceptance but little of the raw determination needed to confirm them. I can see why the Jews have stuck with the Old. There's simply refuge in power.

Yet, in His purest elements, Jesus constantly and always referred to the OT to define His teachings. In other words, the central core of what Jesus taught us can be found in the OT.

 

[AndyF]

But is He an improvement?

What we do know is that it concerns Him little that this perpetual marathon in futility, attaining perfection, nets zero successes so far. Based on this observation, any olympic official would step back and do a restudy on the feasibility of anyone winning in this particular game. As such the gold medals will collect dust until someone actually makes it. Two out of 2 trillion(rough guess, total number of men that existed) is not reasonable odds no matter how you cut it, especially since those two who made it to the podium got there out of a Devine wish that it happen. ;-)

AndyF

 

[MHz]

[FONT=Arial, Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Verdana]In order to make ourselves available to this great work of God for us, we must come humbly before Him with a repentant heart and with a desire to become like Jesus. Then He can save our souls, make us his instruments and prepare us to do his work. [/FONT]

From your post I'm not sure what 'this work' means. Is it the 'work' we do to become 'acceptable in the eyes of the Lord' or is it something that comes after we are 'acceptable in the eyes of the Lord'? Nor am I sure what you mean when you say to 'become like Him'. No matter how much we read and pray we won't ever be able to actually do even one thing Jesus did after His baptism, that would include the very first thing, going 40 days without food.
The 'work' Christ left us to do was to follow His two Laws, and that includes all people, not just people that have the same faith as us.
M't:22:37:
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind.
M't:22:38:
This is the first and great commandment.
M't:22:39:
And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The above cannot be taught (by us) to anybody except through example. Without you saying so, I am under the assumption that 'work' would include 'spreading the Gospel' and 'converting non-believers'. Spreading the Gospel could be as simple as printing copies of the Gospel and dispersing that into the hands of the masses, publishing the words has nothing to do with explaining to somebody what those words actually mean. Converting the masses hasn't gone all that well since those documents were actually written, history would seem to more than verify there were a lot more deaths than 'conversions' in the peoples the Bible was brought to. Nor is our 'leadership in any Church' without fault even today. Back in the day when there were 'authorized teachers' they had a certain method of 'teaching', I doubt it is followed very closely today, you decided if this method described below is followed.

Lu:9:1:
Then he called his twelve disciples together,
and gave them power and authority over all devils,
and to cure diseases.
Lu:9:2:
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God,
and to heal the sick.
Lu:9:3:
And he said unto them,
Take nothing for your journey,
neither staves,
nor scrip,
neither bread,
neither money;
neither have two coats apiece.
Lu:9:4:
And whatsoever house ye enter into,
there abide,
and thence depart.
Lu:9:5:
And whosoever will not receive you,
when ye go out of that city,
shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
Lu:9:6:
And they departed,
and went through the towns,
preaching the gospel,
and healing every where.

The 'God is good' phrase caught my eye, the Scripture that is a reference to is when somebody call Jesus "good master", Jesus rebuked the man by saying there is only one "good master", God. Jesus wasn't saying there are no good people, nor was He saying His title of Master wasn't appropriate, He was often called 'Master' but since He was doing the will of his Father then He also has a Master, the one and only 'Good Master'.

Christ was an amazing individual. So very different than the God of the Old Testament. But is He an improvement? Is compassion more important than power? One gets a feeling of focus, stability, strength and resolution when viewing the Old. The New offers the promise of love and acceptance but little of the raw determination needed to confirm them. I can see why the Jews have stuck with the Old. There's simply refuge in power.

Rather than get into a long reply (just yet) the OT has some parts where God is showing Christ 'some things', some of them are not very pretty. Of all the things God did in the OT what things will Christ not do when He returns? For simplicity's sake lets say the day of the Lord is actually one day, is this not a day of vengeance and wrath? Of the ones God had killed (by saying it should be so and in some cases having an Angel do the killing) what is their fate?

Joh:5:19:
Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily,
verily,
I say unto you,
The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do:
for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.

Joh:5:30:
I can of mine own self do nothing:
as I hear,
I judge:
and my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

 

[sanctus]

From your post I'm not sure what 'this work' means. Is it the 'work' we do to become 'acceptable in the eyes of the Lord' or is it something that comes after we are 'acceptable in the eyes of the Lord'? Nor am I sure what you mean when you say to 'become like Him'. No matter how much we read and pray we won't ever be able to actually do even one thing Jesus did.

I would tend to disagree with a great deal of your exegesis and summations. However, would prefer not to get into a battle about it. Suffice it to say that I speak always from a Roman Catholic perspective and Catholic theology and doctrines would form the basis for any rebuttal I could make to you.

 

[MHz]

I would tend to disagree with a great deal of your exegesis and summations. However, would prefer not to get into a battle about it. Suffice it to say that I speak always from a Roman Catholic perspective and Catholic theology and doctrines would form the basis for any rebuttal I could make to you.

That is your right certainly. Battles seldom solve anything so I'm not interested in seeing who can dismantle (or support) any certain doctrine.

I would still like a clarification on what you define as 'work' though.

 

[sanctus]

I would still like a clarification on what you define as 'work' though.

I'm surprised this confuses you. Can I assume you belong to one of the protestant cults?

The work of God is quite simply the redemptive power of God working through us to reform and conform us on the path to salvation and His presence.