Already we are getting ready for the final Sunday of the Church's liturgical year, ending our spiritual journey of 2008. Sitting with a warm cup of licorice tea very early Sunday morning, I was letting the thoughts of Trappist Fr. Basil Pennington stir my heart. He wrote that reading a book written by a friend brought about a change in his life. No doubt for Christians seeking to live as God calls them would stir up interest if they heard Fr. Basil's remark. His declaration of a metanoia, a true change of life, serves as a blinking signal light. How can one book change a person's life? How can I achieve the same for myself?
Fr. Basil presents a key that opens the door that opened for him a new experience in dealing with his God. For those who try daily prayer to the best of their ability, there is the voice inside that speaks to the heart with some genuine hope of success. That inner whisper, like the voice that guided Elijah, is the voice of the Holy Spirit that speaks to the heart.
The message is so often the same: as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am very different from so many others in the way that I understand who I am. The true Christian knows full well that from the moment of baptism my life is different. Why? How? Because as a follower of Jesus, "I have been crucified with Christ" (St. Paul, Galatians 2:19-21). So while my heart beats on its own, I am truly born again because "Christ lives in me."
Just for a moment let you imagination try to capture the fullness of that reality: because I was baptized into Christ Jesus, Jesus lives within me. That's what makes me different. It is not because I am the architect who makes the plans. It is the gift of Holy Spirit that comes with the Christ center of who I am: a true Trinity likeness. In the Trinity, three are one. For me Christ and you, Christ and me, we have become one yet we remain as two.
This might be a wonderful explosion of your imagination. The God who created out of nothing a universe that has served me and you in so many magnificent ways, that same Creator God lives within me. How unique, how wonderful, how good I am. This is the gift that truly opens my heart to know, from within my very being, that there is a voice that leads me, that guides me. You and, each of us, can stand tall because, just maybe, I am finally coming to comprehend what I am: a Christ-person. Yes, I am!
