“The Christian life is not about me bringing Jesus into my life.”
In Archbishop Chaput’s Things Worth Dying For, he brings up this idea, which he references Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis. And when I first read about this idea, I started scribbling “wrong” in the margins.
Only the day before had I written myself a resolution in my journal to literally invite Jesus into all aspects of my life. How could that be wrong?
As I read on, the full picture became a bit more clear: the Christian life is not about me bringing Jesus into my life or my endeavors. It’s about Jesus inviting me to renounce my endeavors to join His life.
I love that image, but something still wasn’t sitting right.
In the Catholic Church, when a question looks like either/or, the answer can usually be found by switching that to both/and. That’s the lens that I’ve been using to reflect on this: How are both of these things true?
What I’ve settled on is that the Christian life is not only about bringing Jesus into my life, or, in other words, it doesn’t stop there.
The analogy that comes to mind is an analogy that Christ Himself uses: on this earth, in this life, we are thirsty. We are looking for water and Christ can bring us that water, that nourishment, that refreshment. That is us bringing Christ into our lives.
But He doesn’t just stop there because the invitation is: if you leave this place, if you walk away from what you think you know, what you think you desire and need, your plans, and your will, He can take you to a place where you will never thirst, where you will have living water. You will be a part of His life in ways that you could never imagine, that could never have fit the box that is your life.
It’s not either/or. It’s both/and. Or better yet, it’s first/then. First, Christ comes to us, and then we go to Him.
So for each of us, pray for Jesus to come into our lives but let us also pray for the grace to respond to His invitation to join His life.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we make that prayer now. Come into our lives, every aspect of it. Breathe into us your grace so that we have the strength to join You. In Your name. Amen.
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
