100523 faithposting

 

VOTD reflection seriously making me wonder about what it REALLY means to "know who we are in Christ," because the language they're using seems to have nothing to do with it???
Like how exactly IS "identity" defined in Him? Do I even understand the term?


Also from the divine office =
"Lord, Remember those who have consecrated themselves to serve you in the religious life: enrich them in their poverty, love them in their chastity, lighten their hearts in obedience to you."
So everything they "give up" to God, they actually receive FROM Him in a more perfect way.
...I NEVER CONSIDERED THAT WAS EVEN POSSIBLE. I guess I assumed that if God "wanted something given up," it was "bad" somehow? Like He just wanted to take it and burn it. Something like that. Basically I just... never even imagined that God would give recompense for loss. It astounds me.
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Lapide continues at verse 36.

"He withdrew Himself not from those who began to believe in Him and to love Him... But from those who saw Him [only] with an evil eye; because in truth they saw Him not, but in their blindness stumbled at that stone of offence... Symbolically, He hid Himself from them not in place but in grace; because He left them in their unbelief, He blinded and hardened them.”
I again want to emphasize the "passive cause" of God in matters of human free will to refuse Him. Both our active choices AND our refusals to choose have consequences.
ALSO consider how, even though Christ was physically with the unbelieving, He was hidden from them in truth. They looked right at Him, but their sight was clouded by hate & envy, and so they effectively didn't see Him at all. I'm really just repeating Cornelius's point here but it hits hard. Jesus didn't curse them or take away their vision, BUT His very Being is what they reacted to in ways that accomplished those same ends. This is the "judgment" He talks about, although HE does not judge. It's all further paradoxes of truth.
Really it's just frighteningly fascinating how ANYTHING that distances us from God immediately & inevitably harms us. Christ doesn't have to "do" anything, and truthfully He wouldn't WANT to do such things to us-- He came to SAVE us; He loves us so much He DIED for us! But for that very same reason, if we cut ourselves off from His mercy and grace, we will die, "because of Him." Whether for good or ill, Jesus is ALWAYS the root Cause, and a GOOD Cause-- but the distinction of effect relies solely on how WE respond to Him. It doesn't make Him any less Good or True or Real.


"“He that believeth in Me” believeth not in a mere poor and wretched man, but in a man who is also God, and he therefore “believes in God who sent Me,” in God the Father with Whom I am consubstantial. Be not ashamed of my poverty and humility, for though I am outwardly poor and humble, yet in my inward nature I am rich and highly exalted. For I am God of God. And therefore he that believeth in Me believeth in God. But what is more noble and glorious than to believe in God? What can he fear or be ashamed of who believes in God?""
I'm pasting this because, if I'm being scathingly honest, I have at times struggled with Jesus's humanity, with that sense of utmost poverty & humility exhibited by God. It's my biggest vice. I see Jesus in a human body-- a REAL BODY-- and THAT is what I flinch at and recoil from??? Oh Lord it's horrible to admit, but there it is, so please heal this in me.
I'm so afraid of human bodies.
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That's the killer: that Jesus Christ is FULLY MAN and FULLY GOD-- even more truthfully, He IS GOD Who took on human nature & human flesh and UNITED them TO HIMSELF, so that God would be FOREVER JOINED TO MANKIND.
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I forget the fall. I forget the Second Coming. I forget the pervasive effects of death on these poor bodies created to be immortal. I judge based on something God never intended to be actual, and which cannot endure. Everything I fear is temporary. Still, Jesus experienced it all, except for sin. That boggles my mind. He lived in a body, and felt its pains and weaknesses, BUT WITHOUT SIN. I didn't think that was POSSIBLE! You mean the body ISN'T a sin in and of itself??? You mean you CAN have a body and NOT SIN simply by experiencing it???
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"In the Wisdom of the Father, which is the Word, are all the commands of the Father. But the command is said to be given, since He to whom it is given, is not of Himself. But to give to the Son is the same as begetting the Son... the Father gave the command to the Son, by begetting Him, as His Very Word and Wisdom, as He gave Him life by begetting Him who is life.”
The only way I can feebly understand any of this is through the reality of what Infinitii was. I say that with utmost trembling humility, as much as I can muster. I claim NO knowledge of God on my own. But I do not deny what God has given me-- or more truly, us-- in the System.
Infinitii was effectively "consubstantial" with me, with the Core, as much as any mortal creatures could be. And although we were both sinners-- no gods at all, despite the subtle plague of spiritual pride, and what others wrongly framed us as-- we were still capable of being saved by faith, and so capable of love, and therefore capable of glimpsing a little of divine realities in our own meager ways. What I'm trying to say is... God graciously blessed us with a flicker of comprehension as to what this "begetting" includes, so to speak.
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"Christ speaks of Himself in a humble manner, in order to move the haughty Jews, who believed Him not to be God."
Honestly, deep in my heart I love Jesus so much, and this gentle pure humility of His evokes that response in me, as well as an awe that floors me-- hence the italics. Christ was so humble, so meek, so merciful and kind, ESPECIALLY in His rebukes & warnings, because He was God, and the sinless selfless depth of it was sufficient proof of that fact. The devil loves to dazzle with glamor and glitter and gaudy show, but he can NEVER be humble like Jesus. Only God Himself is capable of such a profound virtue. THAT is true glory, true royalty, true beauty-- Not pompous pride & parade.
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"the commandments [are] also formally eternal life, because the commandment of God is that eternal Law which lives in the eternal reason of things, in the living mind of God... the command is eternal life, causally, because it causes, merits, and brings about eternal life... this has been decreed by God as an inviolable law. In like manner Christ says, “This is life eternal” (that is, the way to life eternal): “to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.""
It is so essential to link these two truths= that the commandments of God CAUSE eternal life, AND that eternal life is obtained BY KNOWING GOD & CHRIST. You cannot know God and not know His commandments therefore; they are OF Him. You also cannot follow the commandments in any true manner if you don't know God AND HIS SON. Christ is the linchpin.
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This is why the "spirit of the Law" is essential; it transcends all earthly details even as it operates within them.
To live the commandments in truth IS to live in harmony with the mind & motive of God?
Basically = I focus on the fact that "eternal life" IS IN the very commandments. They aren't just ethical instructions; they spring from the very mind of God Who IS Life. 
It's why Saint Paul makes lists of the sorts of people who WON'T have eternal life, because such living is absolutely opposed to it even now. Such behavior is doomed to destruction. It cannot last, cannot endure, because it is contrary to God and His Just Law of Love.
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"If ye wish to have the Holy Spirit, hold fast to charity, love the truth, long for unity, and ye will attain to eternity.”
God's way is so perfectly good, so beautifully simple, and yet pride wars against it! That alone is proof of the devil's insanity.
Every human soul is caught in that war. Pray for grace. Hold fast to Jesus, and let Him live these beautiful ways in you by His Spirit-- yes, the very same Spirit that requires these virtues as a nest will build that very home in your heart the instant you earnestly offer it for the work. God meets us where we are, truly-- when we reach out to Him at last, we find His Arms are already outstretched to embrace us.
You can tell I'm tired, I'm in sermon mode, haha. But honestly, let me touch on each of those three lovely points.
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"Christ therefore summed up all His teaching to the people in this saying, “His commandment is eternal life""...
...oh my gosh it just hit me.
His COMMANDMENT is eternal life. He WANTS us to have it!! He charges us to obey SO WE CAN LIVE. It's not a cold rule, it's not an "or else" demand-- it is, almost comedically, an order to be free. "You MUST keep my commandments or else you will die-- because my commandments ARE LIFE and I WANT YOU TO LIVE AT ALL COSTS."
It's like, "God, what do you want me to do?" And He says, "I want you to have eternal life." "Okay, but how do I get it?" "By keeping my commandments." "Lord, I have tried, but I am too weak. What hope is there?" And that's where it gets beautifully complicated, haha.
EVERYTHING is reconciled and perfected and fulfilled IN JESUS.
He keeps the commandments perfectly.
He IS the very essence OF the commandments.
He IS eternal life, in His very being.
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"Christ therefore summed up all His teaching to the people in this saying, “His commandment is eternal life,” in order, when he was now going to death, to impress on the Jews and on all who should come after, the perpetual memory of eternity, and a longing for life everlasting; to stimulate them to follow His faith and examples. For nothing so stimulates the mind for good, as a serious and frequent meditation on eternity. As the Psalmist says, “I have seen an end of all perfection, but Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” This means, all sublunary things have an end, but the commandment of God has no end. It endures for ever, and leads those who keep it to a blessed eternity, but those who despise it to eternal punishments. Our sufferings are momentary, but the delights they merit are eternal. But if we seek only momentary delights, then our sufferings will be eternal."
This encapsulates why the current cultural plague of atheism and nihilism destroys moral integrity and stomps out all true motivation for good works.
We deny death, we deny life after death, and in the process, our very life becomes a death. It's tragic and abominable.
Everything hinges on Christ. I cannot emphasize that enough, and neither can this Gospel.