The gift of Jesus amongst us

I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.

This morning’s letter by St Paul struck mi quite forcefully, because it seems that I am running towards the prize. I find it very consoling that the kind of perfection that comes not of my efforts but from our efforts. It’s a truly communitarian life, with Jesus present amongst us! St Paul encourages me to live 100% in the present! Perfection is in loving and my point of arrival is Jesus on the Cross, to live like him in the physical agonies of a decaying body with all the pains, but a soul which is living in unity with its big brother, who has already gone ahead! I feel so privileged so lucky to have that gift of Jesus amongst us!