Discipleship

The early Indian education system was called 'gurukula', meaning house of teacher. Leaving home, disciples stayed with guru doing household works and learning from the mouth of guru. The ultimate goal of the cariculam was self realization. This was also a period known as 'Brahmacharya' which  means one who walks with God! He was asked to have faith, dedication, and concentration and later fruitfulness in his life. 

When I was reflecting over discipleship of Jesus, this ancient tradition came to my mind. This was exactly happening with the discipleship of Jesus, they left home and stayed with Jesus to learn self realization and God realization. They learned from the mouth of

Jesus and encountered him. This transformed into fruit in their lives which is the Church; the mystical body of Christ. 

In the Franciscan tradition the discipleship is known as 'mirroring Jesus', the best instance is Francis himself. He became a mirror of Jesus, his life was  'Jesus' in many ways and he was called second Christ. 

The discipleship of Jesus is challenging and at the same time enjoyable. It is a call to encounter Jesus in faith, produce fruits of the Spirit and live differently. This is to have life, life in abundance. This is very different from what your head says, this is more of what your heart says. This is also a call to mirror Christ to others.