The Christian Path is Incarnational “Lend Me your body too, when you travel, when you toil, when you eat, and when you sleep. I did all these things when I lived among men. Make Me live again among them, and they must be aware of Me. Bossis, Gabrielle. He and I (p. 206). Pauline Books and Media. Kindle Edition. ++++++++++ The intimacy that God has with us is something I believe to be beyond our reach to understand. Since God has been revealed through Jesus Christ as love, who seeks out humanity so that we may have an intimate relationship with the Father, it is sad that many seem to shrug it off and are even indifferent to this reality. I guess you could say that indifference is the opposite of love since it excludes any relationship. Anyone we are indifferent to, as far as we are concerned does not have any real existence for us. Love and hatred are passionate; indifference is the worst kind of lukewarmness. If God is not real for us, then indifference is the normal fruit of such a philosophy of life. In fact, the most important part of who we are will be ignored altogether, and over time the ability to pray or to have faith will atrophy. What we believe is important, and how we live, and act is also pivotal in what we will become. The Christian path is Incarnational. We are called to incarnate Jesus Christ into the world, wherein we become his hands and feet, as well as his heart in leading those we know to Him. We are called to put on the Mind of Christ. It is good to know scripture and to read the Word of God daily in a prayerful manner. However, if we do not allow each day for the life of Jesus Christ to become real, we will have little influence over others in coming to understand the reality of Jesus Christ. If our faith is only a ‘notion’ without growth in trust and love of God, then our faith will die, or become stillborn. If we do not take deep root in Jesus Christ, then the faith we profess will slowly fade until it is only a vague memory not worth thinking about. Once we make the turn in the road where we understand the reality of our faith, it is then that our relationship with Jesus Christ will deepen, and the life of the Holy Trinity will become real to us. We will come to understand that it is always grace, God’s love who makes the first move, grace who picks us up, and grace who will not leave us alone if we start slipping into indifference. Once we truly open our hearts to Jesus, He will never let us go. For us to reject God’s love after we truly experience it is not an easy thing to do. In prayer, we unite ourselves to Jesus, we allow the Holy Spirit to pray within us, and we seek the Father’s face. We learn that we are part of the dance at the heart of the Holy Trinity, a dance that will never end. In doubt, in times of faith, when the rain falls, and when we are in the desert, we learn to trust always, and in failure to rise immediately in faith. Our desire to judge others lessens, and we find that we are loving more, and finding it easier to understand and forgive…though there will always be struggle. For in struggle, we reaffirm our faith, hope, and trust in the Father’s compassion for all. -BrMD
I find it interesting that amid the debates about the role of good works in salvation, the call to see Christ as incarnated in people in need of help shows us that charity can be one of the paths of salvation to honor Christ as we did before the altar. MATTHEW 25:35-45 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Due to my CP I'm not the greatest of dancers (though my wife may lie profusely). But I do look forward to standing before the Throne with my Dad who lost his left leg in his 40s. There we'll celebrate with a flawless Irish jig!
I think that one of the biggest mistakes of the Protestant Reformation was the creation of a false dichotomy between faith and good works in terms of the path to salvation. The path to salvation is incarnational, as the mystery of the incarnation, fully realized in the new covenant, can lead us to contemplate countless suffering realities in which Christ shows himself daily in the suffering of our brothers. Saint Paul also tells us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that whoever unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her. There's all the theology about sexual morality (taking care of one's inner temple) and charity (honoring Christ in our brothers). I wonder if the best way to convince a Protestant of the importance of good works is to say that the way of salvation is "Jesus," whom we try to honor internally and externally, in our own bodies and in the lives of our brothers.
