PURCHASING BLESSINGS WITH OUR CROSSES

SATURDAY, TWENTY SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

1 Cor 5:6-15; Ps 145:17-21; Lk 6:1-5

The Convolution of Spiritual Blessings

The reason for us to be connected to Jesus Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, through our participation in one Holy Spirit, who is communion, is to make the convolution of blessings possible. By convolution of blessings, we mean an operation in which one gains what another loses. Convolution in our spiritual sense means offering the merit of our spiritual work for the good of another soul(s). The spiritual space making convolution possible on the largest scale is the incarnation of the Eternal Word, which makes it possible for God to pour out the Holy Spirit on our human nature. Hence, the redemptive effects of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ work by convolution on us who profess faith in him. By our profession of faith in him, we received baptism into his death, became members of his body, and children of God, sharing the same Holy Spirit. Hence, by convolution, Jesus Christ died our death so that we may receive his divine life through the Holy Spirit. So, our current life is not ours but Christ’s. If instead of living his life, we are living our life, then we are foolish, for we will surely die our proper death that has no reward attached to it.   

The life of faith in Jesus Christ is a sharing in the communion of the Holy Spirit that makes convolution operation possible.  We share the spiritual life of Jesus Christ because he died for us in his physical body, since death is at work in his physical body, and by our sharing in his Spirit, our bodies extend his body, and our bodies share in his death for humanity. So, while his life is at work in our spirits, his death is also at work in our bodies. The implication of this is that our bodies are also convolution-enabled. By our crosses each day, Jesus Christ continues his suffering for the salvation of souls. The convolution process is evident in St. Paul's explanation of how the apostles are dispossessed so that the converts may possess the kingdom. “Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no home; we work for our living with our own hands.” By accepting these crosses in the name and love of Jesus Christ, many souls receive the life of Christ. This convolution process made the apostle a father to these converts in Jesus Christ. “You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.” The preaching of the Good News does not mean words proclaimed by mouth alone but playing the role of Jesus Christ in the salvation of these souls.

Jesus Christ played a definitive role in the heavenly Jerusalem, open to us, where the convolution operation is possible. Because of this completeness, all who walk in his presence are free from sin and death. The Lord made this point in yesterday’s Gospel with his analogy of the bridegroom and his attendants, exempted from fasting and prayer because of his presence. He teaches the same lesson today in the context of his disciples picking, rubbing, and eating the ears of corn while walking through the cornfields. The Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, who accused them of doing something forbidden on a Sabbath, is on point. “So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat? And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’” David acted according to the inspiration of the Spirit. He was a disciple of the Eternal Word in that regard. Hence, the company of the Eternal Word provides freedom from sin and death. By assuming our human nature, the Son of Man has created a salvific or redemptive space for all believers. In this space, love is the supreme law for all.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to understand the riches of grace which your Son’s life, death, and resurrection have provided for us that we may offer our whole life in order to receive his divine life which he freely offered for our salvation.