Consideration — On the Imitation of Christ
The main truth that St. Ignatius inculcates, both in the meditation on the Kingdom of Christ and in all the subsequent portions of his Exercises, is that man must be perfected by imitating Christ, by making himself like to the Son of God made man, according to the words of St. Paul: “Whom God foreknew he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren” (Rom. viii, 29).
The intense love of God, which the Saint conceived during his retreat at Manresa, prompted him to make himself as like to Christ as, with God’s grace, was possible; and the zeal for the salvation of souls, which he learned from the example of Christ, urged him to form a band of men like to himself, or rather like to the God-man, a select band to be, as it were, a bodyguard of the Divine King in the holy warfare, undertaken to establish the Kingdom of God. This is the spirit of the Society of Jesus, and of all religious Orders, and to some extent of all who wish to attain perfection. For this purpose the principal means to be used is the study of the life of Christ, which is to be the chief occupation of the exercitant during this and the following days. It is not a work of human skill, but one of the direct influence of the Holy Spirit; He alone can produce in the heart of man the supernatural likeness to the Son of God. As He sanctified St. Ignatius, so He sanctifies all those who faithfully and generously perform these exercises.
We may, in some respects, compare the process of sanctification to the work of a painter who produces an exquisite likeness of a distinguished personage on his canvas. The first outlines of the supernatural likeness of a child of men to the Son of God are traced by the Divine Artist in the Sacrament of Baptism. The infant’s soul receives the precious impress as the unconscious canvas receives the colors, without its own co-operation. Yet already then the difference is immense between a mere child of earth and an adopted child of God. But very much remains to be accomplished by the Holy Ghost before the likeness is perfected. And this increase of sanctification is the most important work that is being done on earth from generation to generation: “For the perfecting of the Saints—for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. iv, 12).
Most of this further sanctification is to be produced by the Holy Ghost in our hearts with our co-operation: He teaches us how to make ourselves like to Christ, while He aids us to do it. For His teaching does not consist in simply suggesting to us what we must do, as we teach a child its Catechism; but He acts as does a music teacher with his pupils, who makes them constantly practise what they are learning. It is by their own efforts that they are to acquire the art. So the Spirit of God makes us like unto Christ by helping us to act as Christ did, to practise the virtues of which He has given us the example. In this consists the sanctification of the soul, in the imitation of Christ.
How Christ acted during His whole career, from His incarnation to His ascension, this is the study of the second, third and fourth weeks of the Exercises. We will here call attention to some of the characteristic traits of His life on earth.
1. His conduct was diametrically opposed to that by which Adam and Eve had forfeited their original happiness. They had aspired to rise above their own condition and become like unto God. For the Devil had said: “God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. iii, 5). Christ, on the contrary, while being God, stooped down and made Himself man; and He continued lowering Himself more and more, becoming the poorest child on earth, born in a stable, laid upon straw, “a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people” (Ps. 21), condemned to a shameful death, and, as a criminal, crucified with thieves. If then we wish to be like Christ, we must practise humility.
2. Another characteristic trait of Christ’s conduct is seen in the means He used to establish the Kingdom of His Father. He could have made the colossal power of Rome His tool to effect that purpose, or have employed the wisdom of the philosophers or the elegance of the writers of that classic age. But instead He used ignorant and timid men, and first gathered into His fold the poor and despised of the earth, as St. Paul expressed it: “For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but the foolish things of the world hath God chosen that he may confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that he may confound the strong, and the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He might bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His sight” (I Cor. i, 26-29).
Must we then, to imitate Christ, cast all human learning to the winds? By no means; but we must understand that merely natural means cannot produce supernatural effects, that all the learning and all the power of the world cannot save or sanctify a soul. And therefore we must trust in supernatural means. As to the natural means, Christ did not need them to accomplish His purpose; but we must use all the means, natural and supernatural, that God puts at our disposal; yet remembering all along that we must put our main confidence in the supernatural, in the help of grace, which is secured by the imitation of our King.
We must then ever keep our eyes upon Him, study His example, and reproduce His virtues in ourselves. It will often happen that to act thus we must do things which seem foolish in the eyes of a worldly wisdom, as when St. Francis Borgia resigned his office of viceroy, in which he was doing so much good, to hide himself in the religious state; or when the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites of Mary gave up all their riches to become poor like Christ.
A beautiful illustration of the way in which we are to imitate the Saviour is given us in the Book of Judges, where Gedeon and his three hundred followers rescued their people from oppression by means apparently most unwise, yet fully successful because they obeyed God with heroic fidelity. Gedeon was designed by Divine Providence to be a type of Christ. Jesus is our Gedeon, and we can learn how we must follow Him by studying the story of Gedeon in Holy Writ.
The Israelites in his day had been conquered by the Madianites and Amalekites, who were overrunning their land with a countless army, and destroying all they could not carry off. The Chosen People were reduced to a state of slavery and starvation. So they repented of their idolatry, and called upon the Lord for pardon and mercy. God sent them a savior in the person of the faithful Gedeon. This hero, encouraged by miracles, which he had seen, destroyed the altar and the grove of Baal, and then gathered together 32,000 men, trusting in God that with this small force he could defeat the vast number of the foes. But God told him his followers were too many; if they conquered, they would attribute the victory to their own prowess. He bade him choose only 300 of them, and promised Gedeon that with these alone he would gain a complete victory.
Now notice how this was accomplished; it was by means apparently most rash and foolish. The Scripture narrates it thus: “Gedeon divided the 300 men into three parts, and gave them trumpets in their hands, and empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said to them: I will go into one part of the camp, and do you as I shall do. When the trumpet shall sound, in my hand, blow you also the trumpets on every side of the camp.—They began to sound their trumpets, and clap the pitchers one against another—And they cried out, The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon—And the Lord sent the sword into all the camp and they killed one another” (Judges vii, 16-22).
The immense army of the foe was destroyed, and the country delivered by the 300 unarmed men. These had simply done what they saw their leader do, and God had done the rest. Christ is our Gedeon; we must simply do what He did, and God will do the rest: He will establish His Kingdom in our hearts, and by us, no matter how weak the instruments, effect the salvation of souls.