Imitating Christ

Therefore, although it is true that perfection consists in imitating Christ and reproducing him in our own lives, it is not enough merely to imitate the Christ we have in our imaginations.

We read the Gospels not merely to get a picture or an idea of Christ but to enter in an pass through the words of revelation to establish, by faith, a vital contact with the Christ who dwells in our souls as God.
Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation, Chapter 21