We cannot live by profaning and defiling the divine image that we bear in our soul. Our duty is to work at every moment of our life, and with all the helps we receive from God, so that this divine image may become each day more like the model set before our eyes. Our perfect model is Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus Christ? He is the mystery of poverty… He comes into the world in a stable. He rests upon hard straw in a miserable manger… He calls the poor to Himself: with them He gathers and wants them to form the court of the new kingdom He came to establish in this world.
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of work… He encloses Himself in a workshop and works to eat the bread kneaded with the sweat of His brow… He goes from city to city, spreading the doctrine of truth and the seed of perfection. He Himself declares that He has not even a stone on which to rest His head…
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of truth… He speaks everywhere. He speaks of the highest doctrines. He addresses religious problems, the greatest ever treated in the world. His enemies listen to Him, seeking to catch Him in some error… They do not succeed. He is the only man on whose lips the fatal shadow of error and deceit has never appeared.
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of love… He loved unto the most absolute self-denial, He loved unto sacrifice, He loved His executioners, His enemies; He loved to the point of making Himself our food; He loved unto death on the cross…
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of humiliation… He washed the feet of His disciples. He ascended the cross, and there on that wood, the scaffold of slaves, humanity contemplated Him stripped and abandoned by all.
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of obedience… He obeyed from the cradle to the tomb. He did not deviate by even the smallest degree from the path traced for Him by the heavenly Father.
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of power… All the political parties of His nation rose up against Him. Those who represented law and religion also allied themselves against Him. Even His closest friends abandoned Him in the hour of suffering. He was alone… Yet in the end He triumphed over them all. Today, those who hated Him yesterday are dust and ashes carried away by the wind: He reigns over peoples and over hearts…
Who is Jesus Christ? The mystery of glory… He triumphed over death. He ascended into heaven. There He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. And His glory shall have no end.
Such, in summary, is who Jesus Christ is. All the Saints sought to be most perfect images of this God who, as Saint Augustine says, became man precisely so that we might have the most admirable model of God. Let us work and imitate the divine virtues that shine forth in Him
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