DRAWING LIFE FROM GOD


SAINT ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR   

Acts 13:44-52; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 14:7-14 

To have Seen Me is to have Seen My Father

Among the three Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son is regarded as the visible Worker, because he is the One we behold or is visible to us. But the Son represents the Father, for everything he does is according to the will of the Father. The Son obediently carries out the will of the Father. The Son is therefore, the fullness of the Father’s expression. Again, this is a mystery we can never fathom in this mortal existence and in the next, because the beholding of this mystery of the Trinity would be our eternal joy and gladness. The contemplation of the mystery starts here on earth as we come to know Jesus Christ. As we have often stated, our spiritual journey as Christians is a journey into the mystery of Jesus Christ. The same journey is into the mystery of the Father guided by the Holy Spirit, for the Son reveals the Father. The Son of Man states this clearly to Philip. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.’ Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him, ‘and you still do not know me?” Because they knew Jesus only in the flesh before his death, they knew little or nothing of the Father through him.

Only faith penetrates his humanity to the Son of God, and then to God the Father. Hence, the vision of the Father would be clear to them only after his death and resurrection. Just as the Eternal Word is directly united to the Son of Man in his human nature, the Father is one in the divine nature with the Son. The Father expresses himself through the mind and heart of the Son of Man because these two faculties are direct means of expressing the truth and love of the Son of God, who is the pure and eternal emanation from the Father. So, the words and works of the Son of Man are those of the Father simply. “To have seen me is to have seen the Father, so how can you say, “Let us see the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.” The same intimacy between the Son of Man, as the humanity of the Son of God, and the Father, exists between every Christian in the state of grace and the Risen Lord. He lives in each us through the Holy Spirit and our spirits which is Jesus Christ in us. Thus, united with the Risen Lord in grace, our thoughts, words, and actions flow directly from him when we live interiorly. “I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.” Because the Son of Man entered the glory of the Father, he is able to unite and enter deeply into us as his house as we grow in him.

This deep union between us and the Risen Lord is possible only when we turn our gaze and interest perpetually to the interior, where the real presence dwells within us. But if we turn away from God to creatures outside, we lose our connection with him and become united to creatures in sin. Then self blossoms in us instead; and we deny him in everything. This was the case of the Jews, who were moved with jealousy to reject the Good News of the Risen Lord. “When they saw the crowds, the Jews, prompted by jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. ‘We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, we must turn to the pagans.” The foundation of our salvation and glorification is the divinity of the Son of Man. If this is denied, every other thing falls. So, Saint Athanasius defended the divinity of Christ with his whole being. He was born in Alexandria. He assisted Bishop Alexander at the Council of Nicaea and later succeeded him as bishop. He fought hard against Arian heresy, that denied the divinity of the Son of Man. He went through many sufferings, spending a total of 17 years in exile. He wrote outstanding works to explain and defend orthodoxy. The simple meaning of this doctrine is that the Gospel is an invitation us to share the life of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let us, therefore, with the psalmist sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. 

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity, mercifully grant, that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection, we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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