The Christian Challenge: To Live Is To Change

Usually, I am reluctant to embrace changes in my life. I like things to stay the same. However, I  realize that if I never change, I am refusing to embrace a dynamic life in Christ.  Maturity, especially Christian maturity, is a process that happens over a lifetime and does not stop until we get to heaven, I guess.

To Change

The challenge in life is to embrace growth and change. As Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman said, “To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often”. We cannot standstill. Even the word of God is not static but dynamic as God continually reveals more of His truth to mankind.

The word of God cannot be moth-balled like some old blanket in an attempt to keep insects at bay! No. The word of God is a dynamic and living reality that develops and grows because it is aimed at a fulfilment that none can halt. This law of progress, in the happy formulation of Saint Vincent of Lérins, “consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age” (Commonitorium, 23.9: PL 50), is a distinguishing mark of revealed truth as it is handed down by the Church, and in no way represents a change in doctrine (Pope Francis).

Challenges

I have a family member who suffers from mental illness. It is a challenge and a cross to bear for that person and for those involved. Of course, we see it and it is also a challenge for us and for everyone he meets but he forces us to grow.

Obstacles are always in our path;  we cannot avoid them or control them. However, as Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati said, “Faith enables us to bear the thorns with which our life is woven.” My starting point in order to bear the thorns in my life must be Christ because there is no other way- any other way of trying to cope ends up being in vain.

Possibilities

We might not fully comprehend what God has planned but we must stay faithful to His design. Our plans are not His plans. When I feed the less fortunate in my city, I see the same thing happening. Without criticism of others, we can even reduce charity work to something that I must do just to feel good about myself or relieve my guilt. That is not the way we need to look at what is in front of us.

When Father Luigi Giussani died in 2005, he was the founder of the Catholic Movement Communion and Liberation. Then Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said the funeral mass at the behest of St. Pope John Paul II. In the homily, Benedict spoke about Giussani’s refusal to reduce Christianity to “…. an intellectual system or set of propositions, but an encounter with a person, which is in danger to be lost in the Christianity of our time,” and emphasizing Giussani’s refusal to “reduce Christianity to a program of social action.”

This is easier said than done. I can easily question my actions all the time wondering if what I am doing is the right thing. It is from this that I make a judgment. I look to the people who accompany me on the road and try to verify what I am doing. I try to do spiritual reading and I look to those ahead of me on the road who can show me something better.

I recall an email I received from a friend in Brazil who in their group of friends has included someone with Down’s Syndrome. They were appalled that in Brazil the trend is to segregate special needs people in separate schools and colleges. I do not know enough about it, but I did feel the pain in the email. I could have simply reduced what I read and thought, “Oh, that is too bad” but that would be a reduction. Christ calls us to more than that.

I was inspired to write this article as I thought about that email from Brazil. I began to look around at the people I know and then tried to understand what it all meant to me. In the end, I prayed about it and look for clarity. “This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections” (St. Augustine). I needed to look at myself in front of reality. I desired much more to understand what or who is in front of me. I certainly did not want to reduce everything as I can easily do. I wanted to stay true to reality and not escape it. I need to change so I can live.

Where Do I Begin?

When I get distracted, I know who I can ask. Prayer, a faithful commitment to mass are my beginning. Those around help guide my steps. Our actions and the way we look at these actions need to begin at a starting point that is our rock. St. John Vianney told us, “ is a rule for everyday life: Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God.” Let us offer to God everything we do, every moment, conversation, and activity. This is my task and it is a challenge for me.