And Jesus came and said to them, ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28: 18-20 (From the Gospel read at the “Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Saturday morning) Christ is Risen! At every Baptism,
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. –Romans 8:16-17 If you’re like me, it’s pretty hard to trust this is true within my small self. I don’t know how to believe that I am a child or heir of God
It is out of respect for our freedom that God allows evil to exist; it has already been conquered, but secretly, because the Holy Spirit wishes to regenerate us from within, by a free and faithful response, without compulsion. What matters in the history of the Church is her holiness, her awareness, in a world that is utterly free, that Christ has conquered death once and for all, and that his victory is always present
Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) was a Byzantine Christian monk and mystic revered to this day by Eastern Christians. Symeon believed humans had the capacity to experience God’s presence directly. He visualized this union happening within the “force field” of the Body of Christ. This cosmic embodiment is created both by God’s grace and our response. Symeon’s Hymn 15 in his Hymns of Divine Love beautifully names the divine union that God is forever inviting
“Suddenly, while he was traveling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all around him. He fell to the ground and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.’” –Acts 9:3-5, Jerusalem Bible I believe that almost all of the great themes of Paul’s
Today, many historical forms of Christianity are dead or dying. Trying to preserve them through blind conservatism can lead only to the creation of malicious and distrustful ghettos which idolize formalism, or to “fascist” adventures that lead nowhere. On the contrary, we must trust in the “newness of the Spirit,” who will transform this death into resurrection. New approaches are already developing, approaches which rediscover and develop the deepest intuitions of thinkers such as Gregory
Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) pointed to the new force field that we call the Body of Christ in his Hymns of Divine Love. Hymn 15 beautifully names the divine union that God is forever inviting and edging us toward: We awaken in Christ’s body, As Christ awakens our bodies There I look down and my poor hand is Christ, He enters my foot and is infinitely me. I move my hand and wonderfully
Becoming Food for the World When Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, he summarized in these gestures his own life. Jesus is chosen from all eternity, blessed at his baptism in the Jordan River, broken on the cross, and given as bread to the world. Being chosen, blessed, broken, and given is the sacred journey of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. When we take bread, bless
ALTHOUGH IT IS very simple, and is used so constantly, The Lord’s Prayer is a great problem and a difficult prayer; it is the only one which the Lord gave, yet, reading the Acts, one never finds it used by anyone at all, which is not what one would expect from the words that introduce the prayer in Luke II: I, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’ But not being
Lack of authenticity and experience produces Christians who, rather than being saved in the Church, feel that the Church needs to be rescued and saved by them. Rather than consider those around us as Christ’s brethren, we view them as enemies to be destroyed or allies obligated to support our opinions. Rather than entrust our soul to the power of God’s grace, we (with an inexcusable naivete) subject it to the dubious scalpels of psychotherapy,
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