Five truths of the Christian Faith that, if we take them seriously and live them daily, will completely transform our lives:
1. Christ really lives within us
2. We have many false selves, and we are incapable of healing our own state of disintegration. Only the Divine Physician can heal us. Only Jesus can fill us and lead us to our fullest potential.
3. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can fully know Jesus, and in union with Him, find our true identity.
4. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, our hidden selves can grow strong, and Christ can live in our heart through faith.
5. We will grow into our true "selves" by dying to our unreal selves. This is called "an incorporation into Christ". This is real union. The life of Christ risen is shared with us in an intimate way.
George Maloney SJ - "Alone With The Alone"
When St. Paul left Ephesus after three years of ministry there. a Christian community had been formed. Upon his leaving, he spoke to the Ephesians in a very moving way. His words were more a caution to remain faithful. Faithful to whom? Faithful to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul knew that this small community which he had dedicated his life too transform would be subject to many temptations. Paul referred to these temptations as fierce wolves that would try to persuade them to abandon their faith in Christ, and to induce them into falling back into their old ways.
If we look at those old ways in today's terms, what would they be? They would be anything that would lead us to a false way of living, a false way of being. It could mean getting caught up in consumerism, greed, profiteering at the expense of others, unhealthy pre-occupations with pleasures or self-gratification. Really, anything that would take us away from the life built on Christ, to move us back to a more self-centered existence.
St. Paul assured the Ephesians that he did not act in this manner himself while he was with them. He renounced that as a way of life because he knew it would lead to death.
In the Gospels, Jesus prays for His disciples for the same thing. "Father, keep those you have given me true to your name so that they may be like us." In other words, protect them from everything that leads to death in order that they may be given the joy of New Life through the Holy Spirit. It is an appeal that they remain incorporated into Christ, to live their lives fully as Christ had taught them.
This is not just a message that is only relevant to the people of Ephesus, or to the disciples of Christ. It is a message that is particularly relevant to us today. We cannot be incorporated into Christ, into this real intimate union that Fr. George Maloney speaks about, unless we are incorporated in the community of which Christ is a part. We cannot heal our own state of disintegration. This can only be done by the Divine Physician, Christ. We need that exposure to the community of faith where Christ is present in order that our true selves grow strong.
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Experiencing God - Lessons on Virtues 30
"Have mercy on us, O God of all, and put all the nations in fear of you. Let them acknowledge you, just as we have acknowledged that there is no God but you Lord."
Sirach
Sirach is one of the Deuterocanical books of Wisdom from the Old Testament. It was written approximately two hundred years before Christ by a man who devoted himself to a study of the Hebrew Scriptures. He decided to share the considerable knowledge that he attained from this study with the greater population. It is a book about "ethics" in public life and stresses that our true measure of character can only be found in virtue, not in money, wealth or position. The following excerpt is called "The Prayer of the People":
"Have mercy on us, O God of all, and put all the nations in fear of you. Let them acknowledge you, just as we have acknowledged that there is no God but you Lord."
In the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels, we find much wisdom for living a live of virtue. The thing with Christ is that we experience His wisdom from two different directions; from what He said, and from how He lived. In fact, unlike us, at least some of the time, Jesus perfectly reflected in the way He lived, the wisdom that He taught. Jesus used every opportunity to convey to His disciples God's message to humanity, not only by what He said, but by how He lived. An example of this can be found in the synoptic Gospels.
We read in each of these Gospels how Jesus would draw His disciples aside and tell them of His upcoming death at the hands of the Chief Priests and Scribes. Often time, the disciples would have a somewhat dazed response to what they were told, probably not wanting to believe that such a thing could happen to their leader. In one instance, James and John came to Jesus and asked for certain favors: "Allow us to sit, one at at your right hand, and one at your left in your glory". And when the other disciples heard of this request of James and John, the felt an indignation towards them, a little put out that those two would be looking for special favors.
Jesus always uses these times as opportunities to teach the wisdom of virtues that were necessary to live the life of a disciple. Those virtues were not only taught by Jesus, but lived by Him, and He challenges His disciples to not only learn from Him but to incorporate these teachings in their lives.
Jesus's response to the Apostles: "Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must to slave to all".
Matthew
Like the wisdom found in the book of Sirach, Jesus is saying that the true measure of character can only be found in virtue, not in money, wealth, position or honor. And then He goes on to wash the feet of His disciples and die a humiliating death on the cross to set them and us free from ourselves.
Virtue for Jesus was to love, but He knew that we could not love effectively until we have been set free by the Holy Spirit, a Spirit that could only be released by His own death.
If we could only begin to understand the depth of Christ's love for us, then our lives and the lives of the world would change in a flash. God's very Kingdom is present and active among us. We see this in Christ, in His words, and in the life that He lived.
Sirach
Sirach is one of the Deuterocanical books of Wisdom from the Old Testament. It was written approximately two hundred years before Christ by a man who devoted himself to a study of the Hebrew Scriptures. He decided to share the considerable knowledge that he attained from this study with the greater population. It is a book about "ethics" in public life and stresses that our true measure of character can only be found in virtue, not in money, wealth or position. The following excerpt is called "The Prayer of the People":
"Have mercy on us, O God of all, and put all the nations in fear of you. Let them acknowledge you, just as we have acknowledged that there is no God but you Lord."
In the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels, we find much wisdom for living a live of virtue. The thing with Christ is that we experience His wisdom from two different directions; from what He said, and from how He lived. In fact, unlike us, at least some of the time, Jesus perfectly reflected in the way He lived, the wisdom that He taught. Jesus used every opportunity to convey to His disciples God's message to humanity, not only by what He said, but by how He lived. An example of this can be found in the synoptic Gospels.
We read in each of these Gospels how Jesus would draw His disciples aside and tell them of His upcoming death at the hands of the Chief Priests and Scribes. Often time, the disciples would have a somewhat dazed response to what they were told, probably not wanting to believe that such a thing could happen to their leader. In one instance, James and John came to Jesus and asked for certain favors: "Allow us to sit, one at at your right hand, and one at your left in your glory". And when the other disciples heard of this request of James and John, the felt an indignation towards them, a little put out that those two would be looking for special favors.
Jesus always uses these times as opportunities to teach the wisdom of virtues that were necessary to live the life of a disciple. Those virtues were not only taught by Jesus, but lived by Him, and He challenges His disciples to not only learn from Him but to incorporate these teachings in their lives.
Jesus's response to the Apostles: "Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must to slave to all".
Matthew
Like the wisdom found in the book of Sirach, Jesus is saying that the true measure of character can only be found in virtue, not in money, wealth, position or honor. And then He goes on to wash the feet of His disciples and die a humiliating death on the cross to set them and us free from ourselves.
Virtue for Jesus was to love, but He knew that we could not love effectively until we have been set free by the Holy Spirit, a Spirit that could only be released by His own death.
If we could only begin to understand the depth of Christ's love for us, then our lives and the lives of the world would change in a flash. God's very Kingdom is present and active among us. We see this in Christ, in His words, and in the life that He lived.
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