Cedric Pisegna - Christ In You

Welcome to «Live with Passion»! I’m Father Cedric Pisegna. So glad that you tuned into the program. This comes from Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, Paul wrote, «I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live, I live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me». Had the privilege of studying in the Holy Land number of years ago when I was in the seminary. Went to the Jordan River, there was a big group of us, and this church bus pulled up, and all these Christians came out, and they were all dressed in white. They went down to the Jordan River, and the minister took these people and plunged them into the river, one after another. They were being baptized. It was a wonderful scene.

I’ll never forget this one woman, she went in, and she was kind of overweight. She had this big white garment on her. The minister took her, plunged her in, she came out, she started shaking, and she was sopping wet, and she cried out, «I’ve got religion». And we all laughed, and we all clapped. It was a beautiful scene. That’s what people think. They think that, as Christians, we have religion. And, yes, Christianity is a religion, but it’s so much more than a religion. People think, «Yeah, I go to church, and I pray and, and I try to be good, and that’s what Christianity is».

Well, that’s the beginning of Christianity, really; it’s not Christianity as its whole because, really, Christianity is something more than going to church. And it’s something more than being good, and it’s something more than just praying a little bit. It’s about transformation, about being in Christ. At the time of Paul, there were these Judaizers; they were these people that wanted Christians to be circumcised. They wanted the law of Moses to take effect in them. They wanted religion.

And Paul the apostle said, «All that matters, not that you’re circumcised or uncircumcised, but rather all that matters is that you become a new creation». Those are beautiful words to me. That stirs my heart, becoming a new creation. He’s talking about being in Christ. That’s what I love about baptism. In the Catholic Church we used to sprinkle. We would sprinkle infants, sprinkle adults with water on the head. But now we’ve moved to the greater symbol of dunking the person when they’re baptized, if they’re an adult. And, even an infant, dunking them… not totally under, they wouldn’t be able to breathe. But the whole symbol of being plunged into Christ; we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.

We’re being made new. Something beautiful is happening. One person sent me a seed, a sequoia seed. If you’ve ever seen a sequoia tree, they are huge. They grow to be hundreds of feet tall. But it all starts with a little seed. And I have that seed right by my chair, and I look at it; it reminds me, as Jesus taught, unless the grain of wheat die, it just remains a grain of wheat. But, if it dies, it changes and it becomes what it was meant to be. That’s a symbol of transformation, a seed dying, being transformed. A Christian has to go through death and resurrection. That’s called the Paschal Mystery. I want you to try to grasp this concept of being in Christ, being baptized into Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us.

How about a baby in its mother’s womb? That baby is in its mother. That’s one concept I want you to think about or an image. I was thinking about a kangaroo; kangaroo has a little pouch on the front, and the little baby’s in the pouch. That’s what it means to be in Christ. We’re in, and he’s in us. I’m a golfer and love to play golf. And, when you finally get close enough to the hole and you can putt the ball in, the ball goes in the hole, and sometimes it even makes a little noise, gives you a reinforcement because the ball is now in. We are in Christ. Christ is in us. He surrounds us.

You see, this series is about, 'God is with us.' I’ve been talking to you about the Holy Spirit, about prayer, and about circumstances, all in these different episodes in the way that God comes to us in many different ways. But, even more than God being with us, he’s in us. And I want you to get that concept of 'in' because 'in' is closer than 'with.' 'With' is pretty good, but 'in' is amazing. I am being transformed, and so are you: in Christ and Christ in you. I love what Paul said in the reading. He said, «It’s no longer I who live. It’s Christ who lives in me. I’ve been crucified with Christ». Wow, that is a startling statement about the meaning of Christianity. Most people don’t get it. Like I said, they go to church, a good person, pray once in a while. You gotta look at what’s going on here because it’s amazing.

'In' has such a beautiful meaning. I grew up in Massachusetts, and we would have some of the coldest winters, and I would come up to my parents' house after going to school, and the place where we lived, and I go inside; they had one of these wood-burning stoves. I mean, this thing was so hot. They put logs in there, and you go from 20 below to, like, 90, 100 degrees inside. It was like a sauna in there. And, when you go 'in' the house, you’re being protected and sheltered and comforted from the cold. I think that’s a good image about what happens in Christ. God is our shelter, our protector, and sends the comforter to help us. Very important to understand. I love Psalm 121, «I will guard your going and your coming from this time forth and forever».

You see, God is our shelter. That’s Psalm 46, «God is our place of safety». And I travel a lot; no matter where I go, I love that thought that God is sheltering me and guarding me because he’s in me, and I’m in Christ. Being 'in' also has the concept of, we’ll use the word, 'intimacy.' We use the word 'in…' intimacy has to do with a close relationship. And that’s Christianity, too. We’re protected, we’re sheltered, we’re comforted, but we have something real, a relationship, something deep, something profound, and every person has it in their own way. And that’s Christianity — intimacy.

I heard one time about a fish that was swimming in the ocean, well, two fish were swimming, and one looked at the other and said, «Hey, where’s the ocean»? The other fish looked at him, then he said, «The ocean? It’s what you’re swimming in». People say, «Where’s God»? «It’s what you’re swimming in». Paul the Apostle came to Athens and to the Areopagus, and he was proclaiming Christ to philosophers and to the Greeks. And he quoted one of their philosophers and said, «In God, we live and move and have our being». So God is in us; we are in God, and God is around us. In God, we live and move and have our being. Where’s the ocean? It’s what we’re swimming in. Trust me, if it wasn’t God, none of us would be here. We wouldn’t have any perception of anything because we wouldn’t even be.

In God, we live and move and have our being. The word intimacy connotes 'in; ' the etymology, the Latin of intimacy is to make familiar, to come close to, to get to know them. That’s the new covenant, by the way. Go to Hebrews chapter 8 or back to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the covenant that God would make with his people, so important. «I will write my laws on your minds and heart». No longer do we have to learn about them in some place… It’s written deep within, it’s impressed on our conscience. «I will write my laws on your hearts. I will be your God. You will be my people. I will forgive your sins». This is the new covenant. And then, what I really like, «All of you, from the least to the greatest, will know me, says the Lord».

Knowing implies intimacy. There’s that word, in-timacy: communion, oneness, union, getting to know, being familiar. This is the new covenant; this is Christianity. When we talk about being in Christ, what have I talked about? The benefits: shelter, comfort, protection, intimacy. I’ll talk about transformation in a moment. There’s such a blessing…see, it’s not just going to church. Going to church is important, very important, participating, being part of the community, supporting other people, reaching out. That’s who you are. When you’re in Christ, you’re transformed so that you do go to church. Being in Christ isn’t, «I have my own religion, and I worship God in the forest».

That’s not being in Christ. Being in Christ is a biblical call to intimacy with God and to people. And knowing God means that you come to know his love. I’ve talked about that in other episodes, that we are loved personally and individually and unconditionally, just as we are, affectionately. God created us to experience his love, and he called us into relationship. He wants us to know him, and he wants this beautiful reality that is being 'in' Christ and the transformation that happens. By believing in Jesus and being baptized into him, a new reality has come. We are one; we’re not alone anymore. We’re not individuals, just individuals apart from the continent. We are part of the continent. We’re part of the body, if you will. That’s what Paul talked about.

At Mass, we have something called the doxology. The priest holds up the elements, the body and the blood of Christ, and he says, «Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever, amen». That whole thing about being 'through Christ' and 'with Christ' and 'in Christ, ' that is the life of a Christian. A transformation has occurred. We’re not alone anymore. We always pray at mass, through Christ the Lord, through Jesus, in Jesus. That’s what a Christian is. The phrase 'in Christ, ' by the way, out of the Bible, get this, 165 times, 'in Christ.' This is no ancillary truth or subsidiary truth. This is a major concept that we need to grasp.

For example, when we pray, we don’t pray in and of ourselves, we pray in Christ. In Christ expresses the union of Christ and the Christian. As I said, he’s the vine, we are the branches, we’re connected with him. To be in Christ means that there’s this symbiosis. If you don’t know what that word means, it’s a divine exchange. I saw a movie, and it showed a shark in the ocean. And, on top of the shark, there was a little fish. And what happens is, that little fish swims above the shark, and the shark brings protection for the fish, scraps of food, but that little fish removes parasites from the shark. They both benefit from that little relationship. That’s symbiosis.

I have a pen pal ministry for people who are incarcerated, 200 lay people who have volunteered actually write people who are incarcerated. They write letters to encourage them, to inspire them. But the people who are writing the letters also get encouraged and inspired by those who are incarcerated. It’s a pen pal program. If you wanna be a part of it, please go to my website. You’ll find a page about the pen pal program. My whole point is that that’s symbiosis. That’s exactly what’s happening in Christianity, that we are in Jesus, Jesus is in us. We love the Lord. We receive salvation and redemption from him. One of the famous verses that are quoted by athletes, Philippians 4:13, «I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me». That’s exactly one of the benefits that we have by being in Christ.

There’s this strength, this power, being in Christ. Athletes use that verse because they go into competition, and they believe that, with God’s help, with God’s strength they’re gonna be victorious. And, well, they should because it’s true. We’re not victims anymore, we’re victors in Christ. But, when Paul wrote that, he said, «In Christ, I can do all things,» he was talking about contentment. He was going through ministry, sometimes facing hard situations. Other times, he was facing pretty good situations where people would take care of him. And he said, «I know the secret of facing hunger and abundance, want and plenty, ups and downs. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me». He was talking about contentment, and that’s what we have in life, too. Even though we may not have a lot of money, even though we may go through difficulties, we can still have peace, contentment, and calm.

The phrase 'in Christ, ' as I said, 165 times in Paul’s letters, wow. And one of them is that reading that I read to you at the beginning where Paul says, and this is a startling reading, «I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me». Wow, that is mystical union in the passion of Christ. I am a Passionist, point to my passion, point to my habit. I point to my sign here where we talk about the passion of Christ. This means the passion of Jesus Christ.

I remember one time I was in a retreat center in Sacramento, walking in the chapel. Normally you have a cross on a wall. Well, they had a group of people there… They weren’t in the chapel at the moment. They had a group of people there that put the cross right in the middle of the chapel. It wasn’t a crucifix, it was just a cross. And I walked into the chapel, and I saw the cross, and I looked at it, and all of a sudden I got this insight, it was really strange, «Go around and look at the back». So I went around, and I looked at the back of the cross, and, as I did, I heard a voice, and it said, «Cedric, the front was for me, and the back is for you». I will never forget that. «I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me».

What did he mean by that? Living in community…I live in religious community, meet all kinds of people. Some are saints, and others aren’t so saintly. I’ve had to forgive people. I’ve had to live with their idiosyncrasies. They’ve had to live with mine. And then, traveling on the road. I’ve been a missionary now for 35 years. Going east, west, north, south, going to all these different places, preaching parish missions. I love it, love meeting the people, but living on the road is hard. That’s why I know why Paul said, «I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me». He was talking about contentment. Sometimes you have hard beds, soft beds, hard pillows, soft pillows, can’t control the air conditioning, sound systems can be tough, all kinds of different things.

And then, of course, my own physical sufferings have been hard. I’ve had a knee operation, had some eye operations; it’s been tough. And then I think about production and writing and the investment of time that I put into the ministry. I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live. I’m not the same person. I was 35 years ago when I was ordained. I’m not the same person that I was when I joined religious life. Put it to you this way. John the Baptist said, «I must decrease and he must increase». I, ego, must be transformed to ego eimi, which means, «I am». The 'I' in me is becoming the 'I am' that is Jesus, divine. We’re being transformed. Jesus must become all that we are. We have been crucified with him only to become someone new. There is a mystical union with Christ crucified, and I hope you get that. It’s not just a religion, folks, it’s a transformation that brings a whole new reality. We are in Christ. We’ve been plunged into him, baptized into him.

«All that matters isn’t circumcision or even following the law of Moses. It’s not doing the religious thing that the Jews used to do. Rather,» he said, «all that matters is that you are a new creation in Christ». Let’s talk about that for a second. If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. A new creation, something, a new reality has happened. People call it being born again; I like that. Being filled with the Spirit. That’s true. But being born again is the beginning. There has to be a transformation, become something new. You’re not the same as the moment you are baptized or being born again. You’re being changed. It’s a process, it’s a journey, it’s a pilgrimage of transformation. And I want to keep underlying that word «transformation», process of change, and it takes time.

A man spoke to his friend one time, and he said, «Ever since you started reading the Bible and giving your life to God, you don’t go to bars anymore». And the man said, «I go to bars as much as I want to. I gamble as much as I want to. I party as much as I want to. But God took the 'want to' out of me. My motivations have changed». That’s part of transformation. Your motivations change, you change. The great symbol of transformation, of course, is the butterfly. If you know anything about butterflies, they start off as a caterpillar; they crawl up a tree, and they spin a chrysalis, and inside the chrysalis transformation occurs. Nobody sees it because it’s usually up in a tree somewhere, and it’s in secret. In the same way, day after day… Jesus told a parable about a seed that sprouts, and it grows day in and day out; nobody even sees it or knows how.

The same way, as believers, we’re being transformed, day after day, God does it work. In this chrysalis the caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. Finally, he comes out, and he flies. And I love that image because a butterfly can fly, and it can go anywhere it wants to go. It kind of flits around; all of a sudden it changes course. He can fly because he’s free, because he’s suffered, because he’s gone through the transformation process. And, in the same way, we have to suffer and go through the transformation process. We’re not exempt from it. I think about, really quickly, Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans. Pope Francis took the name Francis because of his love for Francis of Assisi.

Well, Francis was the life of the party when he was a young man. He was called «the dancer». And he had a great time, and spending his father’s money and loved to party and everything. Well, they were in a city-state war, Assisi and Persia, and he got captured, put into a prison. For a whole year, he was in prison, a dark, danky, awful prison. And, during that year, God was transforming him, working in his soul and he changed. Finally, he was released from the prison, got back with his friends, the war was over. They said, «Come on, let’s go party. You’re the life of the party. Let’s go dancing and live it up again». He says, «No, I’m different». Not only was he different; he became the universal saint. Many of you have a statue of Saint Francis in your backyard with a little birdbath there, St. Francis became a channel of peace for people, a person that was very Christ-like.

And what was it, it was his sufferings that transformed him. His faith transformed him. He became a new creation in Christ. And that’s exactly what Christianity is, folks, and I want you to get this. You’ve been baptized into Jesus. It’s no longer you who live, Christ who lives in you. And to be in means to be all in, and it has to do with transformation, has to do with becoming a new creature. We’ve been baptized into Christ, we’re not our own. We’ve been paid for, bought with a price. And, because of it, we now have intimacy with God, protection, consolation, strength, and transformation. This is Christianity. «It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me». Don’t just live, live with passion.