Christ in My Neighbor

As we have been trekking to Christ through Advent one of the themes we have been exploring is that of being prepared, of being awake and alert searching our lives for Christ wherever he may be found. That search is necessarily bi-focal: we are present and alert in anticipation of Christ's future second coming while simultaneously looking for him in our day-to-day lives.

It was in the message I preached on the theme of "Prepare" during the second Sunday of Advent that we discussed Benedict's prescription that those live by his rule welcome all guests as Christ himself. It is so easy to move through life in a haze of distraction that looks over/around/through people, never really seeing or at people as a means to fulfilling our own ends. But seeing and treating the people who populate our lives as Christ? That takes a presence and alertness and intentionality that must be cultivated.

Talking about this last week, my friend Beth shared a quote from C.S. Lewis', The Weight of Glory that challenges us to see one another more theologically and imaginatively that we might otherwise.

"It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory...it is hardly possible for him to think to often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal...Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat - the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."