Following in His footsteps leads to becoming one with Him
“In all of His life Jesus presents Himself as our model … who invites us to become His disciples and follow Him.…We are called only to become one with Him, for He enables us as the members of His Body to share in what He lived for us in His flesh as our model.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 520-1)
In previous articles, we’ve explored the moment and the message of evangelization. Christ’s moment was permeated by the message that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand.” While our evangelization efforts respond to the needs of our current moment, the Gospel message, or kerygma, is always central. Since it is the gateway to a relationship with Christ, our testimonies help others see the Gospel through our personal faith story. This directly leads to part 3: the model.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us to become a member of this kingdom is to become a disciple.
“He invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but He also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything.…One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ” (CCC 546).
We hear the word “disciple” often but may have never paused to think about what it means. According to its etymology, disciple essentially means “student.” This implies the existence of a teacher (Rabbi). In the ancient sense, the precedent wasn’t so much for the student to leave his home for a portion of the day to learn lessons from the teacher, but to leave home for good and follow the Rabbi wherever he went. So, we might think of a disciple as “one who follows.”
In the Gospels, we see that the first effect of Jesus’ preaching is calling His first disciples to follow Him, leaving behind their fishing nets, customs posts and parents’ houses to begin the greatest journey the human heart can know.
Jesus’ disciples were called from their former way of life in order to completely take on the life of their teacher. They stayed with Him and were present at His lying down and rising. They were there at the public sermons but also the long roads traveling between towns. They were there when miracles were worked in front of great crowds and in the lonely evenings of prayer in solitude. In all of these circumstances, they didn’t just learn content, but how to live.
Following leads to becoming one with Him. Eventually, these disciples began to resemble Christ, pray like Christ and were then sent on mission like Christ. If we are truly striving to become disciples, then our faith and relationship with Christ isn’t one aspect among others in our lives — it is our life.
This process happens through an interior journey of conversion, turning everything in our lives toward Christ. In Scripture, we clearly see that conversion doesn’t happen overnight but over a process of stages: encountering Christ, growing with Him and being sent as His witnesses, all while forming connections with other believers.
Connect > Encounter > Grow > Witness
These are four obvious movements that happen as followers become disciples.
Recently, two authors have written about more subtle stages that happen in a person’s heart as they move through the process of conversion to become disciples. We call these the eight “Thresholds of Conversion.”
These are extremely helpful to keep in mind not only for our own journey but especially for others’. As people come to know about the Church, have experiences with Catholics, attend events, explore Christian teaching and consider their own faith, they often have to wrestle through very normal things: whether they can trust the Church or her members; growth in being curious or open to what Christianity is offering; seeking answers to their questions or desires.
As witnesses, this helps us to be aware of where another actually is on their journey of discipleship. We might mistakenly assume people are in a certain place when they aren’t. We might assume someone is an active follower of Christ and at a “growth” phase, when in reality, they are still figuring out if they trust or are open to the Church.
This might even help us figure out where we are in our journey. Each threshold brings its own questions, challenges and opportunities for growth, so each should be respected. After all, Christ our model patiently but purposefully walked with His disciples for three years as they worked their way through conversion.
Stephen Estes is the director of faith formation and discipleship for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
This is the third in a four-part series examining the moment, message, model and methods of evangelization. The four topics are in conjunction with the Missionaries of Joy curriculum, a partnership of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Augustine Institute to form lay parishioners as missionary disciples.
