Words from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 537

As we celebrate the mystery of our redemption, let us recall our participation in the life of Christ.

Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into the mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life.” CCC, 537

Words from Father Joseph Kentenich, March 1963, In the School of St. Paul, 123-24.

… love is a power which creates a likeness. If we love our Lord, it goes without saying that we want to resemble him. If he suffered, I too want to suffer; if he rose from the dead, I too may participate in the life of the risen and glorified Christ…  [St. Paul] lived very intensely out of the awareness of our membership in Christ. We could say instead: in Jesus Christ, in Christo Jesu. He lives in Christ, not only in the moral sense. We have to remember this. Of course, obviously in the moral sense too, but there is a different foundation. Paul lived out of this thought, he was gripped by this thought. Caritas urget, caritas Christi urget me (2 Cor 5:14). In order to express this mystery, Paul became creative, he created his own terminology. Of course, as is always the case when we want to speak about a mystery, we become helpless. He kept searching for new words. Therefore: living with Christ, dying with Christ, being glorified with Christ, being scorned with Christ. …I must emphasize, this idea of an ontological [union] was strongly alive in Paul. Naturally, to be technically correct, I have to add – so to speak, an ontological union with Christ… His whole life’s task consisted in unfolding and developing the seed of this, as it were, ontological union with Christ to its completion. If, with him, we want to see the meaning of our religious life, of our ascetical life, in this light, we have to say: The meaning of our whole life consists in completing the embryonic participation in the life of the suffering, dying and glorified Christ until we attain “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

May the graces of Easter bring us closer to the person, mission, and mystery of Christ, that we may

lead from the shrine, with trust in Divine Providence, and charity to all!

Blessed Easter!