The Christ in All of Us

Something to consider on your spiritual journey: We never lost Jesus. The Christ has been with us since we took our first breath at birth. We are created in God’s divine image, but we are also mortal beings in temporal bodies. Some, for whatever reason, haven’t connected with God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, but God has been there all along. As our awareness of God in us awakens, we begin to awaken spiritually as we grasp what it means to be made in the image of God. Jesus shows us what is possible when we fully recognize God who dwells in all creation, and the Christ is the example of who we are meant to be.

My awareness of God came to me when I was very young. For others, it comes later in life. In either situation, however, God was always there and manifested in the Christ. As you continue your spiritual journey as a Christian, look at yourself in the mirror every day. You are looking at the Christ in that reflection. Nurture that reality every day and learn to grow in it. St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Christian mystic, said that we are the only Christ the world knows. St. Chrysostom, a 4th-century bishop, said that if we can’t recognize the Christ in the beggar at the church doors, we will not find the Christ in the Eucharistic (communion) chalice on the altar. Both of these great spiritual leaders emphasize that the Christ is within us, regardless of our station in life.

When we begin to see Christ in ourselves and our neighbor around us, not just fellow Christians but all people, then we come to truly understand what modern-day Christian mystic and Franciscan monk Richard Rohr calls the “Universal Christ.”

May God continue to guide you in your journey as you come to know the Christ in all of us.