Fr Prodencio Bognay reads from the Gospel of Matthew (8: 18-22) in which Jesus says to his disciples ‘Follow me’.
During the time of Jesus, Fr Prodencio says, the command to follow him is plain and simple. It simply means going wherever he goes in order to listen to his teachings. In our case nowadays, to follow Jesus could sometimes be a tricky journey. Not only that we don’t have Jesus whom we should follow wherever he goes but, also, we encounter different Christian religions preaching about Jesus to each of their own. Following Jesus nowadays appears, therefore, to be a challenge in itself. In the absence of the physical Jesus, we can say that following Jesus is no other than emulating or imitating him in our own humble ways. With all our ideas and beliefs about Jesus, particularly about how he lived his spiritual life, we can say that following him is no other than living our spirituality in the way he lived his spirituality. Fr Prodencio says, it is about living the joy of having a God like a loving Father. It is about choosing a way of life in relation to the kingdom of God. It is about personal commitment of dedicating oneself to our heavenly Father. Following Jesus in this way is listening to and unleashing the Christ within our own selves. It is about experiencing our own Christ identity. Fr Prodencio invites us to continue to reflect on how we become more and more open to our own Christ identity as we continue to heed the call of Jesus to follow him.
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