Christ Lives in Me
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
Galatians 2:19–20
“For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.”
Grace Prayed For
Lord, grant me the grace to die to myself each day, so that it is no longer my pride, my fear, or my will that moves me — but Christ alone who lives and acts through me.
Reflection
There is a kind of life the world offers that is really just a well-managed self. We curate our image, protect our comfort, and guard our independence. We call it thriving. But Paul, writing from the hard school of his own conversion, names it differently. He calls it bondage — and he points to something far greater waiting on the other side.
“I have been crucified with Christ.” This is not merely poetry. Paul is describing what happened to him on the Damascus road and in every moment of surrender that followed. The self that once strove and boasted and persecuted — that self died. Not because Paul gave up on living, but because he discovered that real life only begins when the ego loosens its grip.
“Yet I live.” Here is the stunning paradox at the heart of Christian existence. Death is not the end of the story. Something remains — someone remains — and that someone is Christ himself, alive and moving within the very flesh that once served only itself.
This is the mystery of grace: that God does not simply forgive us from a distance. He takes up residence within us. The love that drove Jesus to Calvary — total, unconditional, relentless — is the same love that now animates our daily choices, our small acts of kindness, our moments of patience and courage.
Paul’s words are not a call to heroic striving. They are an invitation to trust. To wake each morning and say, Not my will, Lord — yours. To recognize that every breath is already a gift from the One who loved us and gave himself for us.
When we live by faith in the Son of God, we are not diminished. We are, at last, fully alive.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post