A Way of Life 

   “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9: 23) 

   Christianity is a way of life, or it is nothing at all.  I must deny myself and pick up my cross and follow Him.  By following Him I mean I must submit my will to the Father’s as He did.  I must love even those who hate me as He did.  I must accept the trials, the tribulations, the crosses, of this life.

   I must strive to live less for self and more for God.  St. Paul wrote, “…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 20 – 21).  This is what it means to be Christian, to let Christ live in me, forsaking the desires of this fallen world in which I live.

   Being a Christian also means that I must look forward with great joy and anticipation to the next life, a life of pure love unstained by the sins of this world, a life of pure joy and happiness.  St. John Henry Newman felt that a Christian should look forward to death with the joy schoolboys feel as they prepare for Christmas vacation.  Bishop Saint John Fisher, condemned to death by Henry VIII, got up on the morning of his execution, put on his best clothes and said, “This is my marriage day.”  As a Christian I must look upon death not as the end but as a beginning; the beginning of eternal life.

   My faith must permeate my entire life.  I must see this life as a voyage, not a home but a journey to my true home in God’s kingdom.  Christianity must be my way of life, encompassing all things.