Today we hear Paul say “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” Christ, the essence of God, the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, the image of God, the Son of God, the agent of God. When the resurrected Jesus told his disciples that he would be with them “always, to the end of the age” (Mt.28:20), it was his indwelling presence that he was promising. Christ lives in you and me today, as hard as that may be for us to understand or believe. We are reminded elsewhere in Paul’s epistles, that we are children of God (Rom.8:14), heirs (Gal. 4:7)—joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), the temple/dwelling place of the God the Holy Spirit (I Cor.3:16). While we often may be unaware of Christ’s abiding presence deep within our souls, we are nevertheless called to walk in the Way of Love, to be imitators of Christ in the world today. Our task requires cooperation with the transforming hand of God working deep within us, accepting and welcoming the changes we notice in our lives as our self-centered focus melts away.

So long as we harden our hearts, close our minds, rebel against God’s way of self-giving love, however, the Christ dwelling within finds it difficult to get our attention, to manifest Love’s presence in our lives, but Christ doesn’t give up—ever. Christ waits for the tiniest opening in our defenses to reveal Divine Love to us, to call us by name with that “still, small voice,” “the sound of sheer silence” that Elijah experienced (I Kgs. 19:12), to draw us into the peace and joy of the Holy One, to open our eyes to see God’s hand at work in the world around us, to reach out through us to touch someone in need of Gods’ incarnated love.

Christ is alive and well within us, but it is always our choice to cooperate with or rebel against the indwelling God of Love. It is well for us to remember the risen Christ’s caution to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, “It hurts you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14)