“It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ
who lives in me. And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me.” Gal
2:20
It has been fifty days since we have celebrated Easter. And within that those days we have celebrated ‘Little Christmas’ on the 25th of April and May, and will do so again on the 25th of June. We commemorate those days by renewing our vows in homage of the Incarnation of Jesus. Actually, we celebrate Christ's entire life, not just his conception and birth, not just his life of ministry and death, but also his resurrection and ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. We recognize we are called to ‘live in the flesh’ by our very lives the life of Jesus here and now in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
We are contemplatives whether we are inside the
monastery or living among the Dominicans of Sparkill, or outdoors in nature or
running errands around town or going to the doctor. Each of us can speak from experience how God’s
grace has touched and somehow transformed us into incarnating Christ in our
very beings, or as a community, though we have no idea how it happens, and most
often, with no awareness that our presence is affecting anything or anyone at
that time.
This is a
mystery
and the beauty of hidden grace. Jesus
appeared to be an ordinary man called by the Father to follow God’s plan of
love no matter where it took him. We are
ordinary women called by the Father to fulfill God plan of love: to strive to live fully the Gospel of Christ
in every aspect of our human and religious life. C&S 1
We have been called by the mysterious and utterly
gratuitous love [God has] for us, [as] God wishes to call us to live in
communion with Him, to give us His Spirit of love so that He might constantly
live with us and in us. C&S 3
