For a New Year - Christ Actually![1]
by Marcia Allen, CSJ -- LCWR President
The idea of Christ - actually. Looking back on the historical Jesus –the man in history and how he has been remembered over the centuries: what happens as one studies this – through the scriptures found in the New Testament and through the scriptures written in peoples’ lives down through the centuries?
Followers of Jesus, the Christ: who are these people? If we say that we are they, then who are we really? Bonhoeffer, in the midst of his upheaved life asked: “What keeps gnawing at me is the question,…who is Christ actually for us today?” (2)[2] Today, in our upheaved planet, we too can ask what the meaning of Christ is - actually.
The year, 2016, comes to us new. Francis has declared a new time. The Paris Climate Summit has declared a new time. We’ve wished everyone we know a “Happy New Year.” In that simple greeting – well-worn and now basically pro forma – we’ve declared a new time.
Slowly, but too quickly, time will move on through the days, weeks and months and finally 2016 will come to an end. In these 12 months what has been the meaning of Christ - actually?
