The Imitation of Christ is a long-standing spiritual classic that has shaped the interior lives of innumerable laypersons and religious over the centuries. The thesis of the text, of course, is that when we commit to being like Jesus, the sweet rhythms of blessed communion take over and our lives increasingly become his life. While such conformity to Christ may seem like an overwhelming proposition, the real challenge is actually imitating Christ and not some sanitized version of Christ whose human texture has been ground down by a million pious platitudes and obscured by thick layers of religious sentimentality. The savior of the world was truly in the flesh (Jn 1:14); wept (Jn 11:35); got angry (Jn 2:15); was sometimes lonely (Lk 5:16); became frustrated with others (Mt 26:40); felt misunderstood (Mk 3:21); lashed out at his enemies (Mk 12:34); made mistakes (Jn 5:46); bled (Mk 15:15); got yelled at by people who didn’t like him (Mt 26:67); and experienced death (Jn 19:30). If we are following a Jesus who is polished, pious and one-dimensional, we are not following Jesus at all and are, in fact, in big trouble! The next time, therefore, we are tempted to be like one of those pretty saints on the prayer cards of our youth, with eyes cast heavenward, pleading to be rescued from this world, let’s have the courage to lean into the mess with Jesus and in so doing imitate the authenticity that saves. Ave Crux, Spes Unica.
