The
treasure of religious life
June 14, 2010
Sr.
Silvia Maria Tarafa, SCTJM
For private use only -©
The
soul consecrated to Christ is called to a nuptial union with the
Divine Spouse. This call to profound intimacy is the crowning
treasure of religious life.
What does this union look like? Reflecting on the profound communion
between the Father and the Son gives us a glimpse of the kind of
union possible. By imitating Christ’s total surrender to our
heavenly Father, we can learn to give our total surrender to our
Lord and be inspired by this eloquent model to reach a profound
intimacy with our Divine Spouse.
Throughout His life on earth we see Jesus’ deep communion of heart
with His Father as He completely surrenders His will and His life to
the will of the Father. Though there are two persons - the Father
and the Son - there is only One God, in total union. Jesus
proclaims: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (Jn. 14:10)
and “He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9).
The dispositions of Christ’s heart were so completely surrendered to
the heart of the Father that our Savior tells us that He came not to
do His will but the will of the Father. Even every word spoken by
Jesus was a whole-hearted submission to the Father: “I do not speak
of my own authority” (Jn. 14 10) and “the word which you hear is not
mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn. 14:24).
Furthermore, Jesus in no way seeks himself, nor his own personal
interests; He seeks only the Father’s. The Son says to the Father:
“I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me
to do….” (Jn. 17:4.) The Son claims nothing as His own; He even
dispossesses himself of His glory, “the glory [He] had with the
[Father] before the world was made” (Jn. 17: 5).
He is not attached to creatures but clings only to the Father: “The
Hour is coming… when you will leave me alone, yet I am not alone,
for the Father is with me” (Jn. 16: 32). Father and Son are so
united that Jesus shares all the power and beauty of the Father.
This communion of gifts is clear when Christ says, “all that the
Father has is mine.” (Jn. 16:15).
Jesus’ heart is a supple instrument, completely ruled by the will of
the Father. And this total surrender and communion is abundantly
fruitful, for in His Incarnation, passion and death - in complete
obedience to the will of the Father -our Lord became the Savior of
the world.
This model of Christ’s complete self abasement, detachment and self
donation to the Father is an eloquent model for religious to reach
the fullness of union and fecundity desired by our Lord. May we too
- in imitation of Christ’s self surrender - allow ourselves to be
dispossessed of all, belonging in our totality to our Spouse, in
absolute surrender, in perfect communion and submission to the will
of our Spouse, as Christ was to the Father - so that our union with
our Lord would generate a bountiful fecundity for the Church.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
