Wisdom

 

 I was struck by this today, by Romano Guardini:

He simply commands us to follow his instructions. Only from the depths of a great faith is it possible to obey. One must be utterly convinced that such obedience evokes a divine reaction in our relationship with God, that when we act according to his will we participate in the divine creation, in the forming of a new world, for it is creative conduct that is commanded here.

When man so acts, he not only becomes good in himself and before God, but the divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power. This is what the Lord means when he speaks of "salt" that has not lost its flavor, "light" which lights the whole house.

 

The divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power; the seed of grace, God's life, unfolds with tremendous, unfathomable, brilliance in the souls of the faithful. Those with eyes to see will have have seen this light.

God bless,

LSP

Ascension Reflection

On Thursday we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension and, here in the Missions, carried the theme on to Sunday. Christ rises to heaven, Victim and Victor, taking his resurrected body up to glory, the glory that is the life of God himself. 

But how can anything corporal be assimilated by God who is pure Spirit (John 4:24)? Surely there's an unfathomable divide between the two. Perhaps this is helpful, by Romano Guardini:

...by comparison with the Holy Spirit, body and soul, matter and spirit, person and thing are all “carnal.” Between all these and the Living God lies not only the distance between Creator and creature; not only the distance which divides life in grace from life in nature; but also the infinite gulf between saint and sinner which only God’s love can bridge. Before this bottomless ravine, the difference between earthly body and soul shrinks into insignificance.

That God pardons the sinner and accepts the creature into his holy presence – this is the new and overwhelming message of Christ. Once we have assimilated this truth, the additional incomprehensibility of God’s accepting not only created spirit, but also created flesh, no longer seems great. His salutary love is directed not exclusively towards the “soul” but towards man in his entirety. The new, saved man is founded on the divine humanity of Jesus, and this humanity, begun in the Annunciation, was fulfilled in the Ascension. Not until Christ has entered into the intimacy of the Father, is he the perfect God-man.

What a scandal to our blinded and earthly sense, but what a cause for awestruck joy that humanity in Christ should be elevated above the angels to the life of God himself.

Here endeth the lesson,

LSP