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January 9, 2021The goal of every disciple of Jesus is to disciple another person. By baptism we are all Evangelizers. How do you disciple a man or woman? Jesus' typical call to the seekers of his day was, "Follow me!" In other words, listen to my teaching 20 or 30 times as I repeat it in village after village. Get to know me intimately. Live alongside me. Watch how I engage the poor and the needy. Observe how I pray for them, how I touch them, how I heal them. See my love in action so it becomes your highest value also. Then, assist me. Be an active apprentice; a co-worker in my ministry.
Effective discipling requires a great deal of time between the “discipler” and the disciple. Some of this discipling is done in action, some, in quiet prayerful reflection. The Dominican tradition refers to this as "Contemplata aliis tradere" ---“to contemplate and to share with others the fruits of contemplation.” In all of this the disciple decreases so the Christ may increase.
To us who always have to be “doing something,” we cannot miss the point. Quiet time with Jesus is vital to learning to be a disciple! It should be the fuel for our Spirit-infused action to make the world a better place. In these busy post-Christmas days, let us make both prayerful reflection and reflected-upon action part of our New Year’s resolutions and in that may we be better disciples who disciple others for Christ.
