Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life, we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Spirit will arise in us. He came to this world and became man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has--by what I call a "good infection." Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.
C. S. Lewis --Mere Christianity
I love C.S. Lewis and return to him again and again, because he has a way of stripping away non-essentials and paring truth down to its basic form -- a form that allows the reality of faith to emerge clearly. I cannot think of a more elementary way of saying what it means to be "Christian." It simply means to allow Christ to live within us and to bring us to the Father, to allow Him to see through our eyes every day and to see through His eyes every day.
Of course, we will make mistakes and switch back to seeing through our own eyes and our own filters, but the process is gradual, as we realize what we have done and turn back (literally, "repent") to seeing through the eyes of God.
I think this may be the meaning behind "A Second Touch," where Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind and then asked, "What do you see?" "I see men that look like trees walking around," was the man's reply. Then Jesus touched his eyes again, "and the man saw clearly." Once our eyes are opened and we begin to see, we see in a distorted fashion, according to our own brain-template. But Jesus is not finished with us yet. Once we "confess" or reveal to Him what we are seeing, there is a second....and a third....and a fourth touch, until we see more and more clearly as we remain in conversation with Him.
In our churches, in conversation with other disciples, we reveal to one another what and how we see at the moment. And all the "other Christs" around us tell us what they are seeing. Gradually, we all begin to "see again" in communion with one another, as we allow God to 'have his way' with us.
As I listen weekly to the women in our Bible Study, I hear again and again what they have seen of the Gospel, the "Good News" that God is with us. And my faith jumps to yet another level, hearing their stories. I know that my experience has been "certified as true," that it has not been simply "my opinion," or "my point of view," but that God has indeed revealed Himself as kind, faithful, "with us," and true. This kind of conversation requires a group who truly seek God in their own lives and then who are willing to reveal to one another both their inner struggles and peaceful understandings as they seek God. There are no "agendas" or "soapboxes" to defend in such a group. We all know ourselves to be somewhat helpless without the grace of God, and we are truly grateful to have that kind of knowledge about ourselves. The "Good News" is that we are not alone---that God is with us. And this is the news we share among ourselves when we meet together: not what we are doing, but what God is doing in us.
The fact that we meet immediately after Mass and the Eucharist means that each one of us has first had Face-to-face time alone with God before we begin speaking to one another. We have each had a moment in which God has 'had His way" with us. Only then are we prepared to open our hearts to one another and to reveal what has taken place there between us and the Most High. So then, there is no division, or "difference of opinion," or dividing wall, but only sweet unity -- because Christ has already done the work of demolishing those walls in us and establishing His peace in us.
What a wonderful gift is the true church of Christ --- those who are being transformed day by day by His Spirit!
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