The Hidden Christ

Caryll Houselander wrote frequently of the Christ within. In a letter to a friend, Elizabeth Billaux, she wrote in 1935:

  ... as I understand it, the doctrine is this: that in every baptized Christian (which means anyone baptized at all, not only those baptized by a Catholic priest, and includes those who have the baptism of desire and of blood)--in the soul of every baptized Christian, Christ lives. He is, as it were, a germ of Christ in them, or a seed of Christ. This seed of Christ grows and flowers in them as they correspond to grace and the whole object of a Christian is to become "another Christ....

And a bit further on:

...it is clear that in some people the seed of Christ withers and even dies, and though He is potentially in them ... none the less, so long as they remain in sin, Christ is not alive in them, and other people cannot see Him or His spirit manifested in them.

Therefore we cannot after all look complacently about us, see Christ in all men and make an end of war. What we can do, however, is strive to make the life of Christ visible in us, to make it a reality in our own souls. 

In other places, she talks about always being conscious of Christ being present there in the other person, and loving that hidden Christ even when He is only sleeping there or even dead. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and trying to at least be aware of this fact as much as possible, although in the rush of the day, and at night when I am exhausted, it is all too easy to forget.Unfortunately, sometimes I find myself most negligent in loving Him in those who have the greatest claim on my love.

One place where I have had some fairly consistent success is in trying to remember that He is there in the people who come to my office to talk about admissions. This is only a peripheral aspect of my job and in a department of three, I am only called on when the other two are busy or away. I always feel as if this is a big interruption to my real work and I would like to rush through the interview and get back to my papers, but I've gotten to where I can pull myself together and say, "Okay, this is Jesus, so I can't be disappointed that He's come to see me." And really, I've ended up having some pretty amazing talks with people. 

I would like to say that now I'm really happy when the receptionist calls me and tells me someone is here to talk about admissions, but unfortunately, I have the same sinking feeling that I've always had when I get that call. Maybe someday that will change, and maybe it won't. In the meantime, I'll try to keep looking for Him in other places. 

AMDG