LIVING AND WORKING UNDER GRACE OF GOD

ST. ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Act 15:7-21; Ps 96:1-3,10; Jn 15:9-11

Theme: Living and Working under Grace of God

In the gospel of yesterday, we pointed out that the difficulty the people of Nazareth had in recognising the source of the miraculous power with which Jesus worked, was due to their ignorance of the restoration of grace to the human race at the appearance of the Woman and her Son. Mary and Jesus Christ constituted the nucleus of renewed humanity. Everyone who shares their company through faith in Jesus Christ receives the Spirit of renewal from God. The Holy Spirit unites us to the Son through faith and to the Woman through grace. There are many benefits in making and keeping these bonds strong and well-secured. On the first of the two bonds, the union with the Son of Man and the Son of God, the early Church struggled to understand what was essential for this union. The confusion was caused by those of the Jewish party who remained ignorant of the grace in the renewed humanity of the Son of Man and how he would be the source of the same renewal to others seeking God. Their confusion and perplexity were not unconnected to their misunderstanding of the purpose of the Law, which was given through Moses and understood as the backbone of Judaism. 

Their focus on the Law removed their gaze on Jesus Christ. To shift one’s gaze from the humanity of Jesus Christ is to play down the importance of faith in him for the renewal of grace promised by God, for which the Law was given as a guardian. Thus, the Council held in Jerusalem was to decide the role the Law of Moses was to play in the new dispensation. Is the Law necessary to receive the Spirit of adoption into the Body of Jesus Christ? It was not very easy for them to decide. But following the direction of the lead offered by God in giving the Holy Spirit to those who were not of Jewish stock but based on their faith in Jesus Christ and not by the merit of their work, they arrived at a sound decision. “In fact God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith.” God purified the hearts of all who believe in Jesus Christ by faith. 

The purification was through the blood of the Lamb, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts demonstrates the effectiveness of the precious Blood of Jesus Christ for the justification of sinners. Faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ is the work that God requires us to do, as we noted yesterday. St. Athanasius lived and died defending the divinity of Jesus Christ from Arian heresy that denied it. This work of faith initiates the second union effected through the Woman, which is that of grace; it follows the purification achieved by the first union. The Virgin Mother is the principle of this process of union of grace. She is first in her faith in the word of God, such that she conceived the Eternal Word and gave him his human nature. Since the humanity of our Lord is the source of all graces, Mary is the aqueduct or channel of these graces in a way hidden from our understanding. Thus, the more we are united to Her who is full of grace, the more proficient we become in the grace of redemption. To remain with Mary is to remain in the love of Jesus. John the beloved apostle kept her in his home. “If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” 

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, through the prayers of St. Athanasius, to believe firmly in the divinity of your Son who became man for our salvation, so that we may come to the full knowledge of your love for us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BECOMING A DEPENDABLE FRIEND

Image
FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eccl 6:5-17; Ps 119:12,16,18,27,34-35; Mk 10:1-12 Making and being a Good Friend The usefulness of a faithful friend is the subject discussed in the passage of Sirach we are considering. From the qualities that make a good friend, we understand that faithfulness depends on the perfection we attain in the formative school of wisdom. The first lesson we learn in nature is faithfulness. The quality of faithfulness is so closely aligned with nature that we consider nature and faithfulness synonyms. The faithfulness of nature, and subsequently of wisdom, is hinted at when we read that wisdom stands at her post/gate daily to beckon the passers-by to turn in and partake of her table. Everything that God made participates in this faithfulness of wisdom in the sense that each remains faithful to his will without failing or leading our minds astray. First, Sirach admonishes us on friendliness to people in general: “A kindly turn of speech multiplies a ...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING OUR AFFLICTIONS

Image
ST. JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR Job 1:6-22; Ps 17:1-3,6-7; Lk 9:46-50 Salvation of the Just from the affliction of evil We have the beginning of Job in the first reading today. The reading has many hidden lessons we can learn to foster our relationship with God. The first that seems very obvious is the fact of Satan attending to God with the sons of God. By this, we must understand that every rational creature of God is among his sons. They all attend to God, from whom they receive life and sustenance. God sustains all his creatures in being, both material and immaterial creatures. They also ask God for permission to carry out a course of action. Nothing moves in the heavens and on earth without God knowing and permitting it. The attending of rational creatures is what we call prayer. The good and bad angels pray to God for permission to carry out actions or bring about ends that agree with his divine will. God usually hears or permits these prayers based on his divine justice in acco...
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had ...
Read more