Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Tagged. The Love of Christ Meme

Da rules:
Those tagged will share 5 things they love about Jesus.
Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers.
Those tagged will provide a link in the combox here with their name so that others can read them.

I was tagged by A Thorn in the Pew. This has turned out to be good for me today. My fellow blogger took the first things that came to my mind. I've noticed from reading her blog that we do tend to think alike on many things. I then decided to reflect a bit and found that it was quite easy to come up with other things I love about Christ, without excepting the ones 'A thorn in the pew' listed. Without further adieu:

Click!

Five things I love about Christ:
1. Christ's humility. The humility Christ modeled throughout his life moves me to tears upon reflection. From humbling Himself to be born into human form, and have a fully human existence to, most especially, His Passion. I'm drawn to love Him and feel acutely what I have yet to accomplish in my own life.

2. Corpus Christi. The fact that Christ became man, lived among us, and died a painful death inflicted by humanity. Looking at and meditating on the crucifix is a painful reminder of my sinful nature; yet it brings forth so much love and gratitude to our Savior who endured this pain to open the gates of Heaven to us.

3. The Pieta. The beauty and simplicity of the Pieta always brings tears to my eyes. Why I chose this as something I love about Jesus is because it brings me to His mother and her sorrows. The Pieta brings me right back to the fact that Christ is both God and man. A man who had a mother who loved Him because He is her son and because He is God. I love Christ depicted in the Pieta for His gifts of Himself in the Eucharist, Himself in sacrifice and death, and Himself by way of His mother, Regina Caeli.

4. The Institution of the Sacraments. Without Baptism, we'd all be condemned. Without Confession we could not find forgiveness. Without the Eucharist we could not find the Grace to live the life of Christ; and we could not have the life of Christ within us. Without Confirmation we'd never find the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. We'd be ill prepared to fight for Christ and His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.Without Holy Orders there would be no priests. Without Matrimony we'd lack the Grace to lead our spouse and children to God and sainthood. It would be so hard to be married without that Grace. Finally, without Anointing of the Sick we'd lack the fortitude to face illness and death with grace and dignity. We'd only be selfish in illness instead of having the ability to align ourselves with Christ in His suffering, and make reparation to God.

5. Christ's Forgiveness. This is, I think, the hardest thing Christ requires of us. Forgiveness. Christ tells us to seek forgiveness and gives us the means to do so. In Matthew we are told that Christ makes our own forgiveness contingent upon our ability to forgive (Mt:6:14-15). In the Lord's prayer we recite "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Christ's forgiveness is a beautiful example of how to do that. He loved all men, even when they were nailing Him to the cross. If He can forgive that, I can surely forgive those who've injured me in some way. I love Christ for this gift of forgiveness.

I am tagging: Sag Harbor Gifts, The Chronicles of Mommia, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Against all Heresies, and The Walled Garden.

1 comment:

M. Alexander said...

Dear Lily,
What a beautiful list you've written. I can't imagine adding anything to it but I will think about it. Thank you for your thoughts.
Mary
P.S. and this is the first time I've ever been tagged- I'm so honored!