Following Christ

It was also on the agenda in the schools of the ancient Roman Empire teaching morality. It was made a particular way. The young people were presented with patterns that are to be followed: wise personalities, heroes who died for their homeland, great military leaders, and rulers. When, after the Peace of Constantine, the empire became official Christian, this program no longer met the time requirements. So they tried to replace these pagans examples of Christian patterns, both saints as of Old, both New Testament, martyrs and perfect Christians who have appeared in the Church’s history. They were also commemorated in the liturgy. It was created as well a calendar that presents the example of a particular saint one day or another.
At the same time, believers were convinced that the saints were like “Some reflection of the sun on the surface of the water.” to observe the light without being dazzled by its radiance. However, it remains true that the first role model it is necessary to contemplate and follow is Jesus himself, Christ. Jehovah’s first disciples had nothing else to do with the book, from which they would learn, rather than having before their eyes what they saw in their own Master. Therefore, the imitation of Christ occupies an important place in the history of spirituality. “A Christian is a man who imitates Christ as much as possible for man, words, deeds, and thoughts, “says St. John Klimek. And yet, here and there, some doubt arises or any objection to this ideal. He said it, for example, Martin Luther. He thought that the one who imitates the other eventually sees him in front of him, separated from each other. In this way, Christ seems like such a noble idea that one can not think that he would be able to imitate him. Therefore, it is, for example, that Christ should not be “before us” but “within us.” In other words, it is said that we should not live “according to Christ” but “in Christ” to identify with him. That’s how he put it already, St. Paul: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
The answer to this objection is easy. Sure, Christ cannot be imitated as a human being hero. We don’t have the strength to do that. However, Christians are aware that Christ lives among them through his Spirit, which they received at baptism, and in the power of that Spirit, we can imitate it to the best of our ability by that we will allow him to work in us. Preachers like to explain this feature by example. It is said that one young painter was a great admirer of the famous master Domenichino. He decided that it is imitated in one church, one of its own paintings. He worked successfully until he had imitated a person’s face. No matter how hard he tried, the result was bad, his face still coming out. All desperate, he hurled the brush at the ground. At that moment, the older man approached the gentleman, who had been watching him for a long time, took a brush, and completed the painting in a few strokes. And this time, it was the real imitation of a master. A young man with astonishment at him, his eyes widened, “Lord, come out the angel!” The older man smiled. “No, I’m not an angel; I’m Domenichino.” The saints have a similar experience. After so many failures and so many weaknesses, he feels that Christ lives in them and that he himself he paints his image in their hearts. Human painters teach their disciples the method by which they are to proceed, divine. The master also shares his “talent”. Then the path of following Christ becomes easy. Another example can illustrate this. Legend has it that St. Wenceslas wore the poor during the harsh winter’s wood and food while walking barefoot in the snow. Jehovah hated the cold and wailed the servant who walked with him. And so the saint advised him to lay his feet exactly in his footsteps, in the footsteps of the snow. And when it does so, he did, he felt a warm warmth.