1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Though some people talk as though they became believers by finding a Bible laying beside the road, reading it, understanding it and grasping it all by their lonesome, the reality is they did not. Barring a miracle of grace, the real way we become disciples of Jesus Christ is by learning what it means to be a disciple in the company of other disciples. It is true that many “kindergarten disciples” fancy they have magically become graduate students after a few months and then hive off on their own to window shop for the perfect church, but wise disciples know better. The central meaning of “faith” in Catholic understanding is “You stay.” For we learn to imitate Christ by imitating those who know him. And we cannot learn to do that if we become a spiritual gourmet whose mission in life is to find fault and pose as a critic rather than humbly come as a learner. This is not to say we should believe everything anyone tells us. But it is to say, as Paul said in today’s verse, that our task is to imitate the saints far more than it is to subject them to our discriminating skepticism. Today, imitate one of the saints of God as he or she imitates Christ. Tomorrow, somebody may be imitating you!
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