CONSECRATION AND SANCTIFICATION


THURSDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Heb 10:19-25; Ps 24:1-6; Mk 4:21-25

Our Consecration and Sanctification

We dig deeper into the mystery of our salvation following the letter to the Hebrews. As we have understood, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is his consecration to the will of the Father, consummated on the cross of Calvary. It is a perfect sacrifice that takes away the sins of men because it is a whole oblation of our human nature to the Father by the Eternal Word, through the Holy Spirit. The type of this sacrifice is the unblemished lamb offered at the Passover feast, whose blood redeemed the people of God from the angel of death by drawing from the pure sacrifice of the Lamb of God. As we have emphasised, this consecration or sacrifice of human nature to the Father’s will brings about forgiveness of sins and the perfection of all who profess faith in his name. It is the same consecration that destroys the stranglehold of evil on us. The same act which makes God forget our sins destroys the power of the devil. Thus, we have explained that God created the promised enmity between the Woman and the devil by consecrating human nature to the Eternal Word, thereby destroying the gain he made on man through the fall.

God has made us perfect by this consecration, for he has ordered our human nature to its fitting end—the Eternal Word. Perfection means that every man now has access to the Father through the humanity of Jesus Christ. The passage has this: “Through the blood of Jesus we have the right to enter the sanctuary, by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his body. And we have the supreme high priest over all the house of God.” By ‘the blood of Jesus’, he means the consecration/sacrifice we are considering, which has taken care of our sins. By profession of faith in his blood, we unite with him to consecrate our common humanity to the Father. He is the high priest in this regard. The entrance and the sanctuary referred to here are within each of us. Our faith in his blood admits us into the sanctuary within us, where we unite with Jesus Christ to offer our sacrifice to the Father through the Holy Spirit. The author describes our inner sanctification, which is ongoing, becoming better with the sincerity of our consecration or sacrifice of our will. Hence, the author admonishes us: “So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith, our minds sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” We must never waver in our hope of receiving the eternal life that will follow the end of our sanctification.

To prevent our losing hope in God’s promise of eternal life, the Lord added the external and mystical process of sanctification within the Church to the private and interior sanctification works. Within his mystical Body, he instituted the Sacraments for the sanctification of his members. So, while each of us, believers, shares in his sacred priesthood by our faith and ministers with him within our inner sanctuary, he called some and ordained them to his priesthood to minister in his mystical Body, the Church. The ministerial priesthood serves the general priesthood of the faithful and supports its well-functioning. It is a ministry based on the love and care of the members of Jesus Christ. As the author admonishes: “Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. Do not stay away from the meetings of the community, as some do, but encourage each other to go; the more so as you see the Day drawing near.” The words of our Lord in the Gospel support these two priestly ministries and their relationship: “Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand?” If the Lord has lit the fire of love in us through our interior and personal ministry, we are bound to put it on the lamp-stand, the Church that is the community of the faithful, to enlighten others by the light we have received.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to understand how to enter the sanctuary you open for us within, and join you in the daily offering of ourselves and all that belong to us, that enlightened by you and on fire with your Holy Spirit, we may minister your love and care to our brothers and sisters. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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