'Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind...'
I have written previously how conversion entails a rejection and an embrace, a denial and a welcome. As our Holy Father has spoken many times about, the Christian life is not simply the result of a lofty idea or an ethical commitment, but fundamentally an encounter with God Who comes to us in the Person of Christ, the Logos.
To believe in Christ does not cease at an intellectual concept, but a truth that affects your entire being so that you may be prostrate at the feet of Jesus and exclaim with Thomas, 'Dominus meus et Deus meus'. To 'put on the new man', requires an abandonment of the legacy and corruption of the first Adam, and a union with the heavenly Man, the Second Adam. Saint Mary Magdalene mistook our Divine Lord for the gardener, and He is certainly the one Who tills the ground of our souls, so that they make produce fruit to a harvest of eternal life.
The fundamental orientation of our lives is transformed, exalted and brought to their intended purpose. Such is the identification with Christ, the believer, the member of His Mystical Body must be able to say, 'I live, yet it is not I, but Christ that lives in me'. We must have the same mind as Christ Who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, assuming the condition of a slave and dwelling among us. Before, we pursued riches, acknowledgement, pleasure and luxury, yet now, our food must be, as was Christ's, to do the Father's will. If one is acknowledged by God as a just son, who could condemn him? We must 'put on the new man', characterised by humility, gentleness, patience, sacrificial love and hope. The days are evil, yet through faith, we can understand their purpose, an opportunity to sanctify ourselves in the midst of trial. However, such a pilgrimage is not without joy. We have a hope stored up for us in heaven, where no moth can eat away at, where no thief can break in and steal. Our hope is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. Let us make merry with spiritual canticles, imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit Who transforms us into His likeness, so that we may participate more fully in the divine nature by grace.
He who eats the flesh of the Lord lives in Him as He lives by the Father. He who receives of the Spirit is transformed into love.
There is much to be done. Man not only wars against his enemies and persecutors. But against his own flesh, yet if the Lord had not been on our side, such trials would have drowned and overwhelmed us. Mortification must occur where we beat not the air but hammer the body into obeying the soul, yet this must take place with a joyful and childlike trust in the goodness and mercy of God. Recourse to prayer must be unceasing, a cry from the heart to the Father, so that the divine likeness may be regained by appealing to the archtype.
Let the life of Christ, penetrate the depths of your being, let no intch be unconsecrated to Our Divine Redeemer. He thirsts for all of man and every man.
I have written previously how conversion entails a rejection and an embrace, a denial and a welcome. As our Holy Father has spoken many times about, the Christian life is not simply the result of a lofty idea or an ethical commitment, but fundamentally an encounter with God Who comes to us in the Person of Christ, the Logos.
To believe in Christ does not cease at an intellectual concept, but a truth that affects your entire being so that you may be prostrate at the feet of Jesus and exclaim with Thomas, 'Dominus meus et Deus meus'. To 'put on the new man', requires an abandonment of the legacy and corruption of the first Adam, and a union with the heavenly Man, the Second Adam. Saint Mary Magdalene mistook our Divine Lord for the gardener, and He is certainly the one Who tills the ground of our souls, so that they make produce fruit to a harvest of eternal life.
The fundamental orientation of our lives is transformed, exalted and brought to their intended purpose. Such is the identification with Christ, the believer, the member of His Mystical Body must be able to say, 'I live, yet it is not I, but Christ that lives in me'. We must have the same mind as Christ Who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, assuming the condition of a slave and dwelling among us. Before, we pursued riches, acknowledgement, pleasure and luxury, yet now, our food must be, as was Christ's, to do the Father's will. If one is acknowledged by God as a just son, who could condemn him? We must 'put on the new man', characterised by humility, gentleness, patience, sacrificial love and hope. The days are evil, yet through faith, we can understand their purpose, an opportunity to sanctify ourselves in the midst of trial. However, such a pilgrimage is not without joy. We have a hope stored up for us in heaven, where no moth can eat away at, where no thief can break in and steal. Our hope is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. Let us make merry with spiritual canticles, imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit Who transforms us into His likeness, so that we may participate more fully in the divine nature by grace.
He who eats the flesh of the Lord lives in Him as He lives by the Father. He who receives of the Spirit is transformed into love.
There is much to be done. Man not only wars against his enemies and persecutors. But against his own flesh, yet if the Lord had not been on our side, such trials would have drowned and overwhelmed us. Mortification must occur where we beat not the air but hammer the body into obeying the soul, yet this must take place with a joyful and childlike trust in the goodness and mercy of God. Recourse to prayer must be unceasing, a cry from the heart to the Father, so that the divine likeness may be regained by appealing to the archtype.
Let the life of Christ, penetrate the depths of your being, let no intch be unconsecrated to Our Divine Redeemer. He thirsts for all of man and every man.
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