Charged with Christ

I may as well admit it: I will be cheating a bit this time around. During some leisure reading I was doing in the closing weeks of August, I came across a passage which I found quite striking, and thus I will be expending a decent portion of my word count this time around in quoting said passage in full.

First, however, I would like to offer a few words to provide a bit of context. The author is addressing the role of the priest in engaging young people during the celebration of the Mass, and thus some of the language is specific to that setting and that purpose. Still, as I hope to explain, the principles that underlie the following words pertain not just to priests celebrating the liturgy but to all the faithful living out the call to holiness.

Ready? Here it is: “[N]othing puts Christ more vividly before the eyes of the young and others than the presiding priest radiant with and enthusiastic at what he celebrates: the crucified and risen Christ who can powerfully change our lives forever. He has encountered Jesus and lives by his good news. He shares Jesus with the young and with all the members of his congregation. His attitude charges the atmosphere with Christ” (Gerald O’Collins, Living Vatican II: The 21st Council for the 21st Century [New York: Paulist Press, 2006], 91).

I simply had to pause when I read that passage. Most immediately, it hit me as something of a liturgical examination of conscience, as I found myself wondering if those words could aptly be said of me as I lead the celebration of the Eucharist. I will not hazard to proffer a response to that musing, but I will say I find those words to embody a marvelous aspirational ideal for any priest. Upon further reflection, though, it dawned on me that this text could be suitably adjusted to apply to all disciples of Christ. We are all called to be “radiant with and enthusiastic at” the opportunities to meet the life-changing presence of Jesus in the liturgy, whether we do so as clergy or laity. We are all invited to “encounter Jesus and live by his good news.” We are all summoned to “share Jesus” with our neighbors and our loved ones, according to our state in life and the particular circumstances of our lives. And we are all charged with the task of carrying the presence of Christ into the moments of our day, thereby “charging the atmosphere with Christ.”

Perhaps what I find most compelling about this text is its Christocentric character: it reminds us that it is Jesus himself whom we are called to meet and to proclaim to the world. Programs and projects, activities and endeavors—these have their place in the Church, and an indispensable place, to be sure. At the same time, they are means and not ends; we are not called to execute and carry out initiatives simply for their own sake but only insofar as they allow us to meet Christ more richly and carry him more fervently to others. I will readily admit that I can—and, more to the point, do!—get bogged down all too often in a mentality of “task fulfillment.” I am grateful to O’Collins for enabling me through his words to remember what the Christian life is truly about, and it is my hope that perhaps he may be able to do the same for you.