Be Always With Christ
As mentioned at the end of yesterday’s post, the first of Fr. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living is, Be always with Christ. As I have been contemplating this first maxim it struck me first that Christ is always with us. Whether we are prayerful, devoted Christians or whether we completely reject Christ and choose a life devoted to sin, He does not abandon us.
But in order for us to be good Christians, we must be always with Him, and many times we are not. It is a tough thing to be always with Christ. It means we must be on the cross. It means we must be with the poor. It means we must spend our time forgiving sinners. It means we must spend time in prayer. To be always with Christ means we must spend our days with Him always on our minds, on our lips and in our hearts.
The famous Cistercian priest Thomas Merton puts it this way:
Do not think that you can show your love for Christ by hating those who seem to be His enemies on earth. Suppose they really do hate Him: nevertheless He loves them, and you cannot be united with Him unless you love them too.
If you hate the enemies of the Church instead of loving them, you too will run the risk of becoming an enemy of the Church, and of Christ; for He said: “Love your enemies,” He also said: “He that is not with me is against me.” Therefore if you do not side with Christ by loving those that He loves, you are against Him.
But Christ loves all men. Christ died for all men. And Christ said there was no greater love than that a man should lay down his life for his friend.
It is a tough thing to be always with Christ, but well worth the price.
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