“Imitating Christ does not mean living a life like Christ, but rather living your own life as authentically as Christ lived his.” ~Henri J.M. Nouwen
We’ve all seen it or heard it before. It could have been in a scripture passage, a spiritual book, a church hymn, or even in a preached homily at Mass. The message was this: each and every one of us should strive to imitate Jesus.
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
In that one, single sentence, Jesus sums up what it really means to be a Christian. There is so much depth in that sentence that we need to unpack it phrase-by-phrase to fully understand its meaning in our lives. Let’s look at the first point, one “must deny himself.” Read More
As we begin this season of Lent, today’s Gospel (Luke 9:22-25) is a difficult message to hear and an even tougher one to carry out. We are told that we each need to carry our own cross and follow Jesus, and be prepared to do so every day. We are also told that we must renounce “self” in order for us to live. Now this goes against our every desire to want to advance ourselves in the eyes of others as well as to focus our attention on our own needs and wants. Read More
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