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The Role of Christ in Our Spiritual Life
I. The Goal of the Christian Life
A. Ultimate – glory
B. Proximate – salvation, sanctification
C. Means in the present plan of Divine Providence
a. Perfect glory rendered to God and sanctification and salvation only through Christ
D. Christology determines our Spiritual Theology
a. Mt. 16:16 – “Who do men say that I AM?”
b. Incorporation in Christ is basis and substance of the spiritual life. Teachings concerning the spiritual life will necessarily flow from this dogma
E. Process of sanctification is a process of Christification
a. St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20)
b. Mother Teresa: “Remember me in the drop” (to Archbishop Flynn)
c. Cardinal Newman: “Radiating Christ”
II. The Mystery of Christ – “the mystery hidden in God” (Eph. 3:9); “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6)
A. Christ the Way – “We DO know the Way!”
a. There is no other
b. Sanctity is a participation in Divine Life that comes to us wholly from Christ (Eph. 1:4-6)
c. Our preoccupation must be “to live life of Christ, to be incorporated in him, and to let the sap of the true Vine circulate through His veins. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches and the life of the branch depends on its union with the vine which imparts the vivifying sap” (Royo 197).
d. Sequere me! It means to get on the road with Jesus and to participate in what He goes through
1. Meaning of dei in Lk. 24 “It was necessary that the Son of Man suffer in order to enter into His glory – so too with us
e. Paul’s invention of words
1. conmortui (2 Tim. 2:11)
2. consepulti (Rom 6:4)
3. conresuscitati (Eph. 2:6)
4. convivificavit nos (Eph. 2:5)
5. et convivemus (2 Tim 2:11)
6. et consedere (Eph. 2:6)
f. Thus, “we can only be holy in Jesus Christ, otherwise we cannot be at all” (Marmion, Life of Soul, 39).
g. “that I may be to him another humanity wherein he renews his mystery” (Eliz. Of Trinity, Phillipon, p. 54).
h. This is what is celebrated on the feasts of the saints
i. Simply the Way of the Spiritual Life is the Way of Christ – it is “His Way” or the “Highway”!
B. Christ the Truth – the Exemplary Cause of our Sanctification
a. In His Person – In Being the Son of God
1. He is the Word of the Father – the Son
2. “God spoke only one Word, the Word that is His Son, and He fell silent” (John of the Cross)
3. What Christ is by nature we are by grace:
· “when the Holy Spirit comes He will take what is mine and give it to you.”
· “This is not my Son, but I make him my son”
4. Baptism effects this new, divine or supernatural filiation in us by means of grace.
5. “Being son” is what we must be by grace – O Christian, recognize your dignity! O Christian, become what you are!
· Our divine filiation is a resemblance of the eternal filiation (St. Thomas)
6. John Paul II’s Reflection on Paternity: “In the end there will be Father, Child and Love.”
b. In His Works
1. “Believe what you read, preach what you believe, practice what you preach” (Roman Ritual).
2. Christ is the Word, and all of His actions, bespeak the Work – agere seguitur essere.
3. St. Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
4. Primary motive of the Incarnation – the Redemption
· Other secondary motives – presenting Christ as the perfect model of virtue
· “Learn of me, I am meek and humble of heart”
· Peter: “Christ gave us an example that we should follow in His footsteps.”
· St. Paul: “Your attitude must be that of Christ.”
5. Imitation versus Conformation
· Power of watching Jesus:
· Mary – she listened and watched
· “Lord, Teach us to pray!”
· The good thief
· Roman centurion at foot of the Cross
c. In His Doctrine
1. The Mind of Christ and its treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).
2. Types of Knowledge in Christ
· divine knowledge
· beatific knowledge
· infused knowledge
· acquired knowledge
3. Jesus’ teaching ministry
· faith comes through hearing
· in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is impotens to work miracle because of their lack of faith, so He spends His time teaching them (prerequisite)
· first task of the priest to preach the Gospel
4. Role of meditation/study/gifts of the Holy Spirit
· we act out of our understanding
· we drink deeply of the source of Christ’s knowledge
· Eg. St. Therese: Only the Gospels; Jesus is my Teacher
· Eg. of Catherine of Siena and Joseph Lee
C. Christ the Life – the most profound and beautiful: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
a. Meritorious Cause of our Spiritual Life
1. Man was unable to merit his own redemption/salvation due to the infinite distance between God and man
2. If rigorous satisfaction was demanded by God, only the God/Man could redeem the human race
3. Given God’s plan, the Incarnation of the Word was absolutely necessary
4. All actions of Christ are redemptive, but only His Sacrifice on the Cross redeems us
5. By God’s will, the redemption is only actually effected by the Sacrifice on Calvary
6. This is a great mystery. We can see how it is fitting, but it is God’s will and ultimately a mystery.
7. Christ’s merits for us are infinite and inexhaustible
8. Our weakness entitles us to His mercy
9. Cf. Therese’s understanding of Mercy and Justice and her Act of Oblation
b. Efficient Cause of our Spiritual Life
1. Not only merited by Him, but the come from His Heart
2. Gratia Dei vs. Gratia Christi
3. Use of “Son of Man’ because His sacred humanity is life-giving – it is hypostatically united to the Eternal Word. Fullness dwells in Him – in His human soul.
4. Anima Christi, sanctifica me!
5. Virtus de illo exibat
c. Capital/Vital Influence – He is Head of His Mystical Body (Eph. 1:22-23)
1. Human head – order (1st part); perfection (all senses there); power (power, motion and direction of all other parts)
2. Christ as Head – Order (1st born of many brothers [Rom. 8:29]); Perfection – “full of grace and of truth” (John 1:14); Power – “Of His fullness we have all received” (John 1:16).
3. formal reason for Christ’s Headship is His plenitude of habitual grace, His grace of union’
4. Christ exercises this influence:
· through the sacraments (ex opere operato)
· through faith impetrated by charity
+ “Who touched Me?” – Someone with faith
+ “Lord, if it is You, bid me come to you!”
+ Mary Magdalene
+ Mary of Nazareth: “Fiat mihi!”