The Gift of Self

"...you should not imitate Me only as a disciple imitates his master, or as a Christian on earth imitates his celestial patron. I am more than a model placed before you. I am for you an interior principle of life." My Ideal: Jesus, Son of Mary, Fr. Emil Neubert, S.M.

The goal of the Christian life is to become intimately united to God. God is a community of Divine Persons- the Blessed Trinity- constantly exchanging within Himself the gift of Himself to Himself. The Son is eternally offering Himself to the Father, the Father is eternally begetting the Son, the Spirit is forever pouring forth His Divine fragrance into the hearts of the Father and the Son, and they are unceasingly breathing forth their Life into Him. The exchange within the Blessed Trinity is an exchange of substance and life, an exchange of person and blessing, a comprehensive self-giving that also requires a total reception of the gift. We, the adopted children of the Father and the brothers of Christ, are destined to be incorporated into this union. Christ pours forth His Life and Spirit into our hearts, giving us the whole gift of Himself. He dwells within us in reality, so then "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." To receive this gift, we must also offer a corresponding gift-- the total gift of ourselves. It is in offering the gift of ourselves to God that we become able to receive the True Presence and Person of God into the very center of our beings, and so become one with Christ, as He is one with the Father.

"Ours is the spirit of the Eucharist: the total gift of self." St. Katherine Drexel