MAY WE FOLLOW IN
THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST
THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST
As people of faith we are asked to see God's loving hand and His own
purposes in all the forms of suffering we must endure… for Him glory came from
suffering, joy came from sorrow, and life came from death.
Tertullian, an
early Church Father who died around the year 230, declared that the blood of
martyrs is the seed of Christians. It was his poetic way of declaring that the
Church grows through suffering, especially the suffering of persecution. The
persecution of the primitive Church, which started with the martyrdom of St.
Stephen, saw the first spread of the faith beyond Jerusalem. This was the
beginning of the Church as truly Catholic, for from this time the faith was
being preached and received in all Judea and Samaria, throughout Asia Minor and
Greece, and finally in Rome and the ends of the earth, as Jesus had commanded
just before His Ascension.
The faith was
spread by devout men and women who endured much suffering, often to the point
of martyrdom, so that Christ could be known and loved. There is a mystery in
God's plan which we cannot pretend to comprehend, but for some reason suffering
plays an important part both in preaching the Gospel and in following it. Jesus
Himself had to undergo crucifixion and death for our salvation. In fact, the
Eucharist itself is the fruit of His death on the cross. He gives us the gift
of the Eucharist so that we may have everlasting life, but the price of life is
death.
Today in the
responsorial psalm we hear, "Let all the earth cry out to God with
joy" (Ps 66:1). During these days of Easter we praise our God with joy in
our hearts for the gift of His Son's resurrection.
In the Gospel, why
did Jesus call Himself the Bread of Life?
The Jews understood that God promised them manna from heaven to sustain
them on their journey to the Promised Land. Bread is the very staple of life.
We could not live without food for very long. Bread sustains us. But what is
life? Jesus clearly meant something more than mere physical existence. The life
Jesus refers to is connected with God, the author of life. That is a great
reason to cry out with joy! Real life is a relationship with the living God, a
relationship of trust, love, and obedience. That is what Jesus makes possible
for us: a loving relationship with God who created us for love with Him. This means talking, sharing, and having Jesus
be a part of our everyday lives; the love we receive in this relationship we
can share with our family and friends. Apart from Jesus no one can enter that
kind of life and relationship.
I thought of a
question for us this morning: Are we satisfied with mere physical existence or
do we hunger for real life? Jesus makes three claims about that. First, He
offers himself as spiritual food which produces the very life of God within us;
second, He promises unbroken friendship; third, He offers us the hope of
sharing in His resurrection.
As people of faith
we are asked to see God's loving hand and His own purposes in all the forms of
suffering we must endure. During this Easter season, as we continue to
celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, remember that for Him glory came from
suffering, joy came from sorrow, and life came from death. We follow in the
footsteps of Christ who is the Bread of Life. Because in faith we embrace the
cross of suffering, we will have a resurrection to glory.