Calendar

Leader's School
Thur June 6, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri June 7, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri June 21, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Leader's School
Thur July 11, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri July 5, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri July 19, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Men's Weekend #31
Sept 26-29, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

Women's Weekend #31
Oct 10-13, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 21

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

CHARITY

                Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. (New Catholic Catechism Article No. 1822) By loving God and our neighbor, Christians demonstrate the love of Christ that they have received and make it real in the world.  It is this virtue that has the greatest transforming power in the establishing of the Kingdom of God upon earth.

                Saint Benedict Joseph of Labre, Christ's voluntary beggar, very seldom spoke, but when he did, he gave wonderful spiritual lessons.

                He was asked one day how our love should be achieve sanctity and his reply was: "To properly love one must have three hearts. The first must be a heart of fire toward God so as to think and speak only of God, accepting hardships with resignation, and to submit in everything to His holy will. The second must be a heart of flesh toward our neighbor, that will move us to help him in all his needs by instruction, advice and prayer; to have compassion for the poor sinners and for the souls in purgatory so that the Lord will grant them eternal rest.

The third must be a heart of bronze toward oneself, that will make us hate all kinds of sensuality and self love that leads us away from God and to subdue wicked tendencies of perverted nature.  With these three hearts love makes us deserving of the reward of the life to come."

This reflection will focus on the heart of fire toward God. 

Our Lord Jesus said " I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! (Lk 12:49).  Paul said that "Our God is a consuming fire.(Heb. 12:29). The fire that Jesus refers to is the fire of love for God that blazes up within us, enkindled by faith and hope, to the full realization of our mission to be God's glory.  It blazes up within our heart of fire and enflames with its presence. Many have experienced this flame of love, as it touched their hearts. This fire of love is often referred to as being "baptized in the Holy Spirit."  It is a transforming fire that remaining enkindled, gradually transforms the heart into the fire itself.

                To describe this relationship of the fire of Gods love in the heart of love, St. John of the Cross used a metaphor of a log placed into a fire. (Dark Night of the Soul,  12:5) At first as the log responds to the heat,  it fizzes, and steams, pops and cracks as the impurities are burned out of it.  Those who have been enflamed for the first time by the fire of God's love may recall the fizz and bubbles, like new wine, that erupted in their lives. They are so excited about the experience that, like a newly wed, they have to tell everyone about their experience. 

As the transformation of the fire continues, however, as in St. John's metaphor, the logs gradually catch fire and become united with the fire in a way that the fire and the logs become one.  Both can be distinguished, but the fire seems to emanate from the log, rather than the fire consuming the log.  So it is as love matures, the bubbles and fizz is gradually transformed into a quiet union of fire and wood, like a matured marriage, or a properly aged wine, there is a steady glow.

As the fire continues to grow in union with the log, finally, the distinction between fire and wood disappear. They are one. They are all fire.  The wood has been transformed into pure heat of the fire at full combustion.  So it is with us in the transformation brought about by the fire of God's love burning within us.  We no longer recognize ourselves as separate from God, but are so totally united with him, that we are no longer recognizable, except as His fire of Love.  We then become the glory of God, and Blessing to the world.  It is then that we are fully capable of transforming the world by our love.

In our next reflection, we will focus on "The heart of flesh" of St. John of Labre.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM

ARTICLE NO. 335

                In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance (in the Roman Canon's Supplices te rogamus...["Almighty God, we pray that your angel..."]; in the funeral liturgy's In Paradisum deducant te angeli... [May the angels lead you into Paradise..."]. Moreover in the Cherubic Hymn" of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly (\St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the guardian angels).

ARTICLE NO. 336

                From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession (Mt. 18:10; Lk 16:22; Ps. 34:7; 91:10-13; Job 33:23-24; Zech 1:12; Tob 12:12)  "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." (St. Basil, Adv. Eunomium III, 1:PG29.656B.)  Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

GUARDIAN ANGEL

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 22

Deacon Jim Breazile Ocds

CHARITY

                A wealthy man complained to a monk about a move to increase old age pensions. He said

that the country could not stand it and that old people would have too much to spend on leisure, and

that they would become irresponsible.

                "Come to the window," said the monk, " and tell me what you see through the glass."  

I see people on the street."

"Fine, now come and look through this other glass." It was a large mirror over a French fireplace, "Tell me, what do you see now?"

"I just see myself."

"Just yourself. That's the difference when the glass is covered with silver. The possession of riches affects our point of view and gives a selfish coloring to our way of thinking." 

Is it possible for us to see our neighbor clearly when we let our wealth reflect our own image, rather than to transmit the image of our neighbor?

Saint Benedict Joseph of Labre, said that to achieve sanctity and one must have three hearts; a heart of fire, a heart of flesh and a heart of bronze.  In the last reflection we considered the heart of fire, enflamed by the love of God through which we are transformed by the fire of love into the likeness of God.  When this is perfected we will be indistinguishable from the God who loves us.

In this reflection, we will consider the heart of flesh toward our neighbor.  This heart extends the flame of love from the heart of fire into the world, where it has the power to transform our neighbor.  We, like the scholar of the law, may ask "and who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29)  As Christians, we know that through out Baptism we become members of the mystical body of Christ and are united with all other baptized Christians.  We remember that the Son of God took a human body in order to reveal to us all the mysteries of the Father. He then took his human body to the Cross in order to redeem the sins of the world. In the Baptismal ritual of the Church, we say these words, "This is our faith, we are proud to profess it."

Inherent in this profession of faith is the fact that when Christ took a human body, He took the body of all human persons, Baptized and nonBaptized.  Through this solidarity, in which He is at one with all human persons, when He redeemed sins through suffering and death of that body, He redeemed all human sins.  This redemption is universal and excludes no person except those who wish to exclude themselves. In our Baptism, we became one with Christ. Through our unity with Christ share in His solidarity with all human flesh throughout the ages past, present today and into the future.

It is this relationship to which St. Benedict Joseph of Labre was speaking. Through our human hearts, the love of God for us becomes a living fire of that spreads through our flesh and extends through our actions to all other human flesh. This is a difficult concept and is well expressed by the apostle John. John reminds us that "whoever keeps Gods word, the love of God is truly perfected in him." (1 Jn 2:5)  He reminds us that "failure to love ones brother causes us to remain in darkness" (1 Jn 2:7-11) Finally John adds; "God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." (1Jn 4:16)

As Christians we do not love others because they have something to give us. On the contrary, we love them solely because God loves them. It is not necessary that they love us in return. The love of a Christian is of such a purity that we are willing to reserve nothing for ourselves, including our earthly lives, to bring them to love God above all else, and unite their souls with him in everlasting life. This love, which goes far beyond human love, is supernatural and initiates in those of purity a true compassion for all sinners. Through this love, we are motivated to do penance and undergo mortification for the eternal restoration of all sinners to union with our Lord in this world and in the next.

New Catholic Catechism:

Article No. 356

"God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." (Gen 1:27) Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him in His friendship.

SHARED GOODNESS

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 23

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

CHARITY

                There is a curious incident in the life of Blessed Agnes of Benigamin.

                She was seriously ill and prayed to God for her health so she could continue devoting herself to charity. The Lord granted her request, but first said to her. "You must repay me in some way for this favor. Which do you prefer, remaining a paralytic for three years or being unable to speak for the rest of your life?"  "Lord," replied Agnes, " I prefer to be a mute because then I will not offend anybody with my tongue and will be able to go everywhere to take care of my sisters and brothers." The Lord granted her wish, but only left her mute for three years.

Would it not be a blessing that sometimes we could be mute, so as not to offend the Lord. For many such a mortification would be a road to sainthood, for others it may cause them to curse God.

The third heart that St. Benedict Joseph of Labre said was required for us to love properly was a heart of bronze toward ourselves.  He said that "this heart will make us hate all kinds of sensuality, resist self-love without rest, mortify the body and subdue the wicked tendencies of perverted natures. "

Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin was considered a metal fit for use in the tent of the covenant in the desert and in the temple of Solomon (1 Kgs. 7:41-46). Not only was it valuable and scarce, it was very malleable. Moses was able to have a bronze serpent made in the desert in order to overcome the venom of the seraphic serpents. (Numbers 21:4--9)  Exceeded in value only by gold and silver, bronze was looked upon as a metal of purification. Its was used to cover the surface of the altar of the holocaust upon which ritual sacrifice took place. Instruments used to maintain the altar and its grating were also made of bronze. (Exodus 27:1-3) The laver of oblution, a large basin in which the priests purified their hands and feet before worshipping, was also made of bronze. (Exodus 30:17)

A bronze heart is a heart of holiness endowed with constant introspection. It does not look out to external things and is therefore not diverted by the world in which we live. By being constantly vigilant to the inner person, the heart of bronze can be alert to changes within itself that would endanger a continuous unity with God and with other persons. It detects any tendency to diminish love for God and for neighbor and immediately responds with an increase in vigor of faith.  Being malleable, a bronze heart is able to respond to both internal and external influences on the soul. It can respond by providing resistance to both external and internal temptations. The bronze heart influences the mind so that it does not lust after the things of this world. It influences the eyes so that it does not see the things of this world with eyes of lust. It directs the human spirit away from any tendency toward a pretentious life. In this way the bronze heart protects against the three lusts that prevents the love of the Father to be in us. (1 John 2:15-16)

 The bronze heart would be alert to tendencies that indicate excessive self  interest or habits that are the result of our fallen nature. The bronze heart is one that exists only to please God in all things and is willing to sacrifice the loss of all worldly possessions.  It is even willing to lose its earthly life in deference to God's will. The bronze heart is the heart of bloodied martyrs, who are given the opportunity to choose life in this world or life with God. It is also the heart of those who are willing to die a spiritual death to self, and allow themselves to be transformed by sanctifying grace into the glory of God within this life.

In this way the heart of bronze forms the inner core of a human person and stands guard, as a sentinel against anything that would divert us from union with God and neighbor.  The bronze heart protects the human conscience, which is that "secret sanctuary within our heart in which we are alone with God whose voice echoes within our depths." (Vatican II council, Guadium et spes Article 16)

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

Article No. 363

In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person (Cf. Mt. 16:25-26; Jn 15:13; Acts 2:41) but "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of a man, that which is of greatest value in him, (Cf. Mt. 10:28; 26:38; Jn 12:27; Macc 6:30) that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.

Article No. 364

                The human body shares in the dignity of the "image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: (Cf. 1 Cor 6:19-20; 15:44-45)

Man though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice of praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since god has created it and will raise it up on the last day. (Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes, Article 14)

I AM MAN

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 24

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GRACE

In the middle of the 19^th century, where there now stands a small town of Dutoitspan, in the diamond mine area of South Africa there was only a poor farmhouse. The owner, Van Wyke, had built a small hut of pebbles, mud and sand.  Returning one day from working in mid-afternoon, he was caught in a violent rainstorm.  Finding shelter, he waited until the storm was over, and the sun began to shine. When he came over a small hill at a distance from his mud hut, he could not believe what he saw. It was a stunningly beautiful sight.   Not only was there a rainbow over the hut in the distance, but the old mud hut gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight.  The rain had cleared much of the dirt from the house and the precious diamonds that had been embedded within the walls and roof of the house was exposed to the sunlight. The Van Wyke farm was the site of the first large diamond mine in South Africa.

Grace is like jewels are embedded within our humanity. These jewels, like hidden diamonds in Van Wyke's house, have the potential to shine forth from us as the treasure of our lives. Grace, like the diamond, is from God. God creates the diamond. But grace is uncreated. Grace is something of God himself. He shares it with us, so that we can know him, love him and serve him.  Unlike diamonds, which might be considered a gift of nature, grace is a supernatural gift, worth all the diamonds in the world. Understanding what we can of grace, we can make decisions in our lives that will let it shine forth for all the world to see. Instead of material riches, as seen in the diamond, when the world sees grace, it will seek its riches above all others.

                God created us out of pure love. No matter where we are, on the battlefield of a foreign land, or in our homes peacefully engaged in our daily routine, God's love accompanies us everywhere. Our very existence, our health, our good Christian parents, the powers of our body, mind and soul are all grace, or free gifts from God. He was not obliged to give them to us, any more than He is obliged to give beautiful flowers to rose bushes.  But God is love, He creates out of love, and because He loves He rejoices in giving.

                All these gifts, however are natural graces. Natural graces are what makes us human and distinguishes us from all other created things. We use and enjoy these gifts daily in our lives. We rarely give a thought to the fact that we have done nothing to deserve these gifts of love.  When they are diminished or taken away, such as in ill health, or the death of a family member or friend, we act as though they were due to us and grieve their loss.  If we are born with a particular gift that is weaker than that of the average person we feel that we have been cheated. On a rare occasion we will thank God for a particularly spectacular natural grace, particularly our children, spouse or friends. Most of our lives, however, we simply enjoy these treasures and claim them as our own. If our natural grace is particularly evident to those around us, we even parade it before the world, and ask for acclamation of our personal value.

                Natural grace allows us to experience the good things of God on a natural level. They do not, however, allow us to rise above our natural state where we can live the virtues and where we can know God, love him and serve him.  This requires supernatural grace. As indicated in an earlier reflection, supernatural grace is added to our human nature in order to raise it above nature. In the following weeks we will reflect on the types and characteristics of supernatural grace.

                Today, we are urged to take some time to examine the jewels of natural grace that God has given to us. Each day give thanks to God for a particular grace.  Praise him for that grace and determine to use it for his glory, rather than our own.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 369

            Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or "being woman" is a reality, which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity, which comes to them immediately from God their Creator. (Genesis 2:7, 22) Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity "in the image of God." In their "being-man" and "being-woman," they reflect the Creators wisdom and goodness.

ARTICLE NO. 370

            In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for difference between the sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband (cf. Isa. 48:14-15; 66:13; s. 131:2-3; Hos. 11:1-4; Jer 3:4-19)

ARTICLE NO. 373

            In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the earth (Gen. 1:28) as stewards of God.  This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of the Creator "who loves everything that exists," (Wis. 11:24) to share in His providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world god has entrusted to them.

HOLY REFLECTION

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 25

Deacon Jim  Breazile ocds

GRACE

                Two children were angry with each other at school. One said, "your top does not spin!" The other responded, as children do with "and your pencil does not write!" The first then, not to be outdone said, "and your hoop does not roll!" This brought the response, "your shoes do not walk!" The wise and good teacher overheard and understood. She asked the children if they knew what they were doing. "Yes" one replied, "I am insulting him." The other replied, "and I am insulting him."  Calmly, the teacher asked, why are you insulting each other?"  They both agreed that they did not like each other. 

                The teacher then said to them; you know that if a top does not spin, or a pencil does not write, or that a hoop does not roll or shoes do not walk, they are not doing what they are made to do.  Both students agreed, that if a top does not spin it is not really a top, if a pencil does not write, it is not really a pencil, if a hoop does not roll, or shoes do not walk, they are not real.  Then the wise and good teacher said, "You know that you were made by God in order that you could love others as he loves you. If you do not love, then you are not real."  Then one of the boys said, "but I feel real, how can I not be real?"

`               The teacher understood the boy's dilemma. She took his hand in hers and said you think that you are real, because right now you feel my hand touching yours. But we can only be sure that we are real when we touch others with our love and when our hearts touched by the love of others.

                Grace allows us to love and to accept the love of others. Grace allows us to be real.

                Supernatural grace empowers us to live a life beyond the level of natural grace. There are two types of supernatural grace. These are called actual grace and sanctifying grace. In this reflection, we will consider actual grace. Actual graces are important throughout our lives as they are interior assistance that God infuses into us at a time of a particular need. Actual grace is particularly important when we are struggling with a life problem in which God intervenes and enlightens us to His way and strengthens us to accomplish good. We can imagine a father and his son walking down the street. The son is pulling his wagon behind him. When he comes to a curbing, the son is not strong enough to lift the wagon onto the sidewalk. The father reaches down, takes hold of the wagon tongue and helps the boy lift it over the curb. The fathers help is like the actual grace that God gives to us when we have a desire for good, but find that we are not able.

                Actual grace helps us in many ways. It may enlighten our mind by observation of a good life of another person, as we are reading of a good book or during our prayer. It is as though, as St. Fulgentius said, "God opens the ear of our interior self," St. Paul refers to this enlightenment when he said, "I have planted, Apollo has watered, but God gave the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6) But to be enlightened as to what is good for salvation is not in itself sufficient. A steeplejack may enlighten you concerning how to climb a steeple, but he does not give you the strength of will to do it. God also, through actual grace strengthens our will as he did St. Paul who exclaimed, "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me!".

                Almost everything that we do for God represents actual grace.  The very desire to pray, and the persistence in prayer are actual graces. By ourselves, without God, we would not have the desire or the persistence.  We may say that this is too much to expect from God. Certainly God does not so continuously intervene in my daily life!  We might recall our first reflection (NO. 1).  God wants us to reach the perfection for which he created us. He has made it easy for us by giving us the tools.  In his great love, however, he is like a doting parent. He always provides us with help, even when we think that we can do it by ourselves. He knows that the fallen nature of man is weak. Because of original sin, our intellects have been darkened and our wills weakened. We can neither know our duties nor fulfill them without Gods help. God is very much aware of our helplessness. St. Paul said to the Corinthians, "God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Cor. 9:8) and to the Philippians, "It is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish." (Phil. 2:13). Because of this, God never leaves us alone. He is constantly our helpmate in all that we do. 

Let us give God the praise that is due.  We may begin by praising Him in our morning rising, and in our night prayers, but because He never forgets or leaves us, we should practice praising Him constantly throughout the day.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 374

                The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ.

ARTICLE NO. 375

                The church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in a original "state of holiness and justice." (Council of Trent 1546:DS 1511) This grace of original holiness was "to share in...divine life." (Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium article 2)

 Article No. 376

                By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man's life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die. (Gen 2:17; 3:16, 19) The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman, (Gen 2:25) and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called "original justice."

HOLINESS AND ORIGINAL JUSTICE

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 26

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GRACE

            St. Francis de Sales used to recall the black martins when talking about man in his relation to grace.

                You have seen those black birds that in the early summer cross the sky with their very swift wings and fly tirelessly around church steeples. Those birds, called apodals by Aristotle, have such short legs and such long wings that if by some adverse circumstance they should fall down, they cannot start flying again.  They are pursued by small children and toss on the ground and get stuck in the mud. But if they succeed in placing themselves on a stone, they can wait for the wind to get them aloft once more.

                The same thing happens to man. When left on his own he cannot raise himself to the heights of supernatural life. He needs the help of the Holy Spirit. Man cannot fly by himself, he squirms uselessly in the mud and is the scorn of all enemies who pursue him. A breath of grace is what raises him to the height of God and eternal life.

                In the last reflection, we meditated on the sources and effects of actual grace, which represent God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification (New Catholic Catechism Article 2000). In this meditation we will consider some aspects of sanctifying grace.  Sanctifying grace is sometimes called habitual grace, because it is a permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call (Article 2000 above).

                When the Archangel Gabriel, serving as God's ambassador to the Blessed Virgin Mary, spoke to her, he addressed her as follows; "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women." (Lk 1:28) The words "full of grace," indicate more than an actual grace. It meant that she was totally imbued with a spiritual beauty that was most pleasing to God. All souls, free from sin are clothed in sanctifying grace and are pleasing to God. 

                Although actual grace is a free, generous, unmerited gift from God, we almost expect God to give it to us.  The gift of sanctifying grace, however is so great and wonderful that no one would have ever hoped for it if God Himself had not revealed it to us.  A beggar sitting at a rich man's gate might reasonably expect an alms. He would hardly be surprised when the rich man gives it to him.  If, however, the rich man were to invite him into his house, clothe him in royal splendor, adopt him as his son and make him heir to all his possessions, that would be a generosity which the beggar would have never imagined, even in his wildest dreams. John the Evangelist expresses his astonishment at the gift of sanctifying grace when he said, "What manner of charity the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God!"

                The effects of sanctifying grace on the soul that makes it pleasing to God and ushers us into the inner life of the Holy Trinity include what is removed from the soul and what is added to the soul.  Sanctifying grace removes sin from the soul.  The sin in our soul separates us from God and is the cause of the evils in our lives and in the world.  Without God, the body is but a spiritual corpse with no spiritual life, working in the world much as a robot,. St. Paul cried out, "Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24). He then gives the answer, "The grace of God by our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 7:25) Only grace can span the impassable chasm that separates the soul from God through sin and remove the ailments of the body and soul due to sin.

                Sanctifying grace not only unites us with God and brings joy into our soul, it recreates us into the person the Lord wants us to be. As Adam and Eve, before the sin in the garden were created in the image and likeness of God, sanctifying grace restores us to that image and likeness.  When God sees us filled with sanctifying grace, we are a mirror of his glory.   Sanctifying grace not only removes sin and recreates us in the image and likeness of God but also strengthens against future temptations to sin, and renders us more capable of remaining in union with him.

                Sanctifying grace transforms us into the glory of God, which is our mission, and into beatitude, which is our vocation.  Through this divine light the publican Matthew became an Apostle; the raging persecutor Saul, became the most zealous messenger of the Gospel, Paul.  With the help of divine grace, weak become strong, timid become bold, cowardly become brave in the service of the love of God.  The person filled with grace perseveres in purity and innocence in a world that dispels purity as a dream and innocence as  a challenge to destroy.  Grace transforms souls into a paradise, where the lily of innocence, the rose of divine love and the fruits of eternal love blossom and bloom.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 387

                Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God's plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him a loving one another.

ARTICLE NO. 388

                With the progress of revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extend the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp the story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:12-21)  We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin. The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin," (Jn 16:8) by revealing him who is its redeemer.

ARTICLE NO. 389

                The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the "reverse side" of the Good News the Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation, and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. The Church, which has the mind of Christ, (Cf. 1 Cor 2:16) knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ.

SIN AND SALVATION

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 27

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GRACE

            In The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena we are provided with an example of the inexhaustibility of grace. If you had a burning lamp and all the world came to you for light, the light of your lamp would not be diminished by the sharing, yet each person who shared it would have the whole light.

We could also notice that each one's light would be more or less intense depending on what sort of material each brought to receive the fire. Imagine that many people brought candles, and one person's candle weighed one ounce, another's two or six, someone else's a pound and they all came to your lamp to light their candles. Each candle, the smallest as well as the largest, would have the whole light with all it's heat and color and brightness. Still you would think that the person who carried the one-ounce candle would have less brightness, color and heat than the one whose candle weighed a pound.

Our individual candle represents a holy desire for grace. Our candle by itself is unlit because it does not have the capacity to light itself. It can be lit only by grace. The heat and color and brightness of the light emanating from your candle is proportionate to your desire for grace. There are some however, that bring a candle that lacks a wick and cannot be lighted. The wick of the candle is faith. We may have a desire for grace but without faith in the living God, our soul cannot be lit by the flame of grace.

In order to receive grace and to respond to it as the Light of the Lord, two things are required. We must first desire it and secondly we must have faith that the Lord can and will grant our desire. Immediately, however, a problem comes to our mind. We recognize that the desire and the faith necessary to receive grace and to respond to its light are themselves grace. They are in fact actual graces that aid us in preparation for sanctifying or habitual grace. It is clear that we must have grace in order to receive it! How do we overcome this seeming difficulty?

What seems an impossible situation for man, is not a problem for God. Before Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, he established his Church. The Church is to be his presence and the source of all grace until the end of time.(The New Catholic Catechism Article 1084) Through his Church He established seven avenues of grace. It is only through these seven channels that the divinity of the Holy Trinity is available to human souls. These seven avenues are the Sacraments of the Church. The Sacraments are such an important role in the Church that we could even say that the Church is the seven Sacraments. They are the principle reason for its being, they are its purpose and end. Although grace may be realized through prayer and good works, its primary source remains the seven Sacraments. Although God may give grace as he wishes, in his establishment of the church, we are made aware that without the Sacraments, grace is unavailable to us. Christ made this clear in his conversation Nicodemus regarding Baptism when he said, "No one cannot enter the kingdom of God without begin born of water and the Spirit." (John  3:5)  It is extremely necessary, therefore, if we are to grow in our spirituality, ever increasing in grace, that we have a clear understanding of the meaning of Sacraments in general, and each of the seven Sacraments individually.

The answer to our difficulty, of how does one receive grace, who has not celebrated Sacraments, who doesn't even know they exist? How does one come to acquire the desire for grace and the faith necessary to receive it, if they are not within the Church? The answer is that through the love, the patience, the kindness and goodness of those who do receive the grace of the Sacraments that others receive the grace of desire.

We can gain some understanding of this mystery if we recall that we do not love because of what we receive by loving. We love because God loves and when we love, we make the divinity that is within us visible. The Evangelist John reminds us that "God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God in them."(1 John 5:16)  It is clear that the life of the Baptized Christian is to be sacramental through which the grace of the Sacraments of the Church is made available to the world.  Those who do not know God must see divinity walking, they must hear divinity talking, they must experience divinity touching, healing, and teaching in order to receive the desire for grace.  We Christians are sacramental. Sacramentals are instruments that lead us to the Church and its rich Sacraments.  Through a sacramental life we lead others to the Church, to the source of holiness, to the source of grace. We serve as sources of grace by living lives of grace. If we as Christians are to be beatitude (a blessing, a grace) to others, then we must live grace, and not just profess it.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 422

But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Gal 4:4-5) This is "the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God": (Mk 1:1) God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation--he has sent his own "beloved Son." (Mk 1:11; cf Lk 1:5, 68)

ARTICLE NO. 423

                We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal son of God made man. He "came from God," (Jn 13:3) "descended from heaven," (Jn 3;13; 6:33) and "came in the flesh." (1 Jn 4:2)  for "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld is glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father....And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace." (Jn 1;15,16)

ARTICLE NO. 424

                Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." (Mt 16:16) On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter; Christ built his Church. (Mt. 16:18)

GRACE UPON GRACE

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 28

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

      The story of St. Thomas More is familiar to most of us as we have read about him or saw the movie, "A Man for All Seasons." He and the king, Henry VIII, were close friends until Henry declared himself the head of the Church because the Pope refused to grant him a divorce from his lawful wife Catherine. St. Thomas, who held an important position in the Church of Rome, upheld the Pope's decision.  St. Thomas was imprisoned, to be killed because of disloyalty to the king. St. Thomas's wife implored him to yield to the king and gain his liberty and the honor of the king's friendship.  Without hesitation, St. Thomas asked: "How long do you think I should enjoy my liberty and that honor?" "For twenty years and perhaps longer," his wife replied. "Woman," answered Thomas, " I will not barter eternity for twenty years." A few days later St. Thomas was beheaded. Today, nearly 500 years later, St. Thomas is free and greatly honored.

      When we recall this scene, we each wonder how St. Thomas gained such great faith.  He had the same tools that we have received through Baptism, yet we have a feeling that if we were called to give our lives, we might back out of our responsibility to God and to His Kingdom. At the same time we are aware that in doing so, we would give up the Kingdom of Heaven.  The fact is that the each of us have the ability to give our lives for God. The only thing we doubt is the empowerment to activate this ability.  The Holy Spirit is always with us to provide this empowerment. If we cooperate with this empowerment, we can be perfected in our faith. We can be free in this world and honored by the angels and saints in heaven.

      In scripture, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, is depicted under the symbol of a dove. The dove is an appropriate figure of the Holy Spirit, because it has no gall bladder. It is said that, "there is no bitterness in it." As the Holy Spirit is pure love, there is no bitterness in the Holy Spirit. The dove also depicts the outstanding characteristics that mark the works of the Holy Spirit as one of flowing grace, swift power silently speeding down from heaven. These works energize those persons it acts upon and raises them up toward God.  The Holy Spirit is also depicted as fire, as it energizes the material that is burning and raises it up in heat and flame. The effect on those who are energized by the Holy Spirit is a soar up to great heights.

      The angel Gabriel told Mary "the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the most High shall overshadow you"; (Lk. 1: 35) at the baptism of Christ, the dove was seen to come down, hovering over His head; (Lk 3:22)  on Pentecost Sunday there was the sound of a might wind filling the house and tongues of fire sat upon each one of them. (Acts 2:2-3)  In each case there was a great power sweeping down from above. The response of Mary was a snatching up to the heights of divine maternity.  Jesus after being test by Satan, began his journey to his throne that was a cross. Twelve fearful weak men became fearless apostles who stepped into the streets of Jerusalem to begin the work of the Lord, a work that led to martyrdom. 

      The world, not being activated by the Holy Spirit, sees a much different image. The world saw only a quiet young girl from Nazareth, a criminal on a cross and twelve maniacs whose only rightful end was death. This was the beginning of the Church in which the Holy Spirit continually breaths his breath and creates martyrs. The role of the Holy Spirit in the Church is empowerment of ordinary human persons, who have received the necessary tools to reach perfection to use those tools to their fullest measure.

      We most likely will not be given the privilege of being martyrs of the blood and be called to a physical death for our Lord. We are all called and enabled, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be martyrs of our souls. The perfection to which we are commanded by God (Matt. 5:48), a detachment from everything of this life including life itself . The tools to accomplish this  are given to us in the form of virtues that come to us through Sacramental grace. We, however, like many workmen are not familiar with these tools, and must be instructed and empowered in how to use them. The Good Lord spoke to the apostles at the last supper and assured them that He would always be with them because after he was gone, He would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who would "guide them to all truth" (Jn 16:12). The Holy Spirit, which we see symbolized as the dove of truth and the fire of love, swoops down upon us, activates us and makes us experts in virtues.

      In the following reflections we will meditate on the role of the Holy Spirit in our spiritual journey to perfection. The Gifts of the Holy spirit, the Fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Beatitudes of the Holy Spirit represent the means by which the Holy Spirit is with each of us in the world.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 457

      The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "The Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world," and "he was revealed to take away sins": (1 Jn 4:10; 4:14; 3:5)

Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state? (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. Catech. 15:Pg 45, 48B)                               

ARTICLE NO. 458

      The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." (1 Jn 4:9) "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (Jn 3:16)

ARTICLE NO. 459

      The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." (Mt 11;29; Jn 14:6) On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him!" (Mk 9:7 cf. Deut. 6:4-5) Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12) This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example. (Cf. Mk 8:34)

ARTICLE NO. 460

      The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": (2 pet. 1:4) "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." (St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres. 3,19, 1: PG 7/1, 939)"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." (St. Athanasius, De inc.,54, 3: PG 25, 192B.) "The only-begotten son of God wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods." (St. Thomas Aquinus, Opusc. 57:1-4)

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 29

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

      One Sunday afternoon a father was reading his newspaper, but his little boy would not leave him alone. The paper contained a page with a map of the world. The father cut it out and then cut it up into many pieces. "Look son, let's see if you can put the world together again." The child took the pieces and left. As the father continued to read in peace, in a few minutes the child returned. He had pasted the map of the world on a piece of cardboard.

      "How did you do that so fast?" asked the father.  "How did you get all the pieces of the map in their proper order in such a short time?" The son said, "behind the map there was a figure of a man about the size of the map. When I saw that it was a man, I just rearranged the man. Then I put some paste on this cardboard and laid it on the new man. When I had the man in proper order, the world was also in proper order."

      This is how the Holy Spirit will transform the world into the Kingdom of God.  The Holy Spirit aids us in putting our humanity into proper order. When we are put together properly, we can then assist God in transforming the world into His Kingdom.

      God created us to live in this material world so that we could be His Glory within His creation. Because of concupiscence we are severely weakened in our ability to fulfill this mission.  Although the Lord has armed us with supernatural virtues and made us capable of achieving our mission, we lack means to activate these virtues. It is necessary that God, through the gifts of the Spirit, in a sense recreate us, putting us in proper order to overcome our concupiscence and enable us to reach perfection. Motivation is the force required for human activity. There are two means by which we are motivated; reason within ourselves and by God from outside ourselves. God acts from outside by infusing into us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts provide us with the motive force or enthusiasm to move toward God. We could look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the fuel we need to speed us along the path towards the supernatural life.  The gifts allow us to utilize the virtues with ease. They are like lubrication in the machinery of our lives toward holiness that reduces friction. At the same time they are the steam for our engines so that power is given.  It is through the breath of the Holy Spirit that we are recreated and the Lord renews the face of the earth (Psalm 104:30).

      The means by which the Holy Spirit perfects us occurs in three stages; first our intellect, then our will, and finally our action. He gives us a great thirst for study and understanding of the Scriptures and the Traditions of the Church. As we study, He provides us with insights that allow these teachings to be placed in the perspective of eternity rather than time. As the intellect is being perfected, He begins to perfect our will. His gifts assist us in perfecting our will to the point at which we want the will of God above all created things, in fact more than we want life itself.  As the intellect and the will are being perfected by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gifts also motivate us to begin to live the virtues in our everyday lives. In living virtues, we allow them to become so much a part of us, that as we perfect our lives, we begin to reflect the glory of God to the world. 

      Many are tempted to place their spiritual growth only in the perfecting of the intellect. They are likely to enroll in many courses, concerning Scripture, Theology, Spirituality and the Church. They spend so much time perfecting their intellect, that they don't have time to pray or to do works of mercy. It is important that we perfect the intellect to the extent possible, but not to the detriment of living a life of grace.  Intellect alone will not bring us to perfection. All saints are not Ph.D.'s and all the uneducated are not demons. Often education simply transforms a stupid enthusiast into a sly enthusiast, with no improvement in living the life of Gods Glory. 

      We may think that by accepting Gods will, we will have to give up many things. In fact, we don't give up anything. We simply make exchanges. We exchange things of lesser value for things of higher value. 

I give God my time and He gives me His eternity, 

I give Him my humanity, He gives me His divinity,

I give Him my sin, He gives me His forgiveness;

I give Him my selfishness, He gives me my self;

I give Him my slavery, He gives me His freedom;

I give Him my death, He gives me His life;

I give Him my nothingness, He gives me His all. 

      As the gifts of the Holy Spirit train my will, and I accept the exchanges,  I am gradually transformed into Gods Glory.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM:

ARTICLE NO. 484

CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT...

      The annunciation to Mary inaugurates “the fullness of time,” the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the “whole fullness of deity” would dwell “bodily.” The divine response to her question, “How can this be, since I know not man?” was given the power of the Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”

ARTICLE NO. 485

      The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit “the Lord, the giver of Life,” is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own.

THE SAVIORS MOLD

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 30

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

      During World War II in a battlefield hospital, an army physician approached the bed of a wounded man. Unknown to the doctor, the wounded man was an enemy soldier. The patient drew a gun from beneath his coverings and aiming at the doctor pulled the trigger.  The gun misfired, so he tried it again. Again the gun misfired. At this, the doctor took the pistol, laid it aside and said, "enough of this foolishness, now let us fix your wounds."  It is clear that even when his life was threatened, the doctor did not see an enemy. He saw only a wounded man whom he could help.  If we respond to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, this is how we will see all other people. Our vision of the world and of other people will be changed.  We will see the possibility of repairing any damage in their lives that the world has produced. They will become for us opportunities to reveal Gods healing care.

      The gifts of the Holy Spirit, as indicated by Isaiah 11:2, are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge and fear of the Lord.  The Church traditionally adds a seventh gift, piety, because the Septuagint (the Greek translation) and the Vulgate (the Latin translation of St. Jerome) provide this translation.  Thus there are 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit that will be considered.

      We understand from previous reflections that after the infusion of the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, all virtues potentially become supernatural habits that continuously direct our will and our intellect toward God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, like the virtues are also habits that operate within our intellect and our will.  The gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding and counsel are habits of our intellect. Through these gifts we put on the attitude or the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5).  The gifts of piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord are the habits of our will. Through these gifts our greatest desire is that through all that we do and are, God will be praised and glorified.

      Because the gifts of the Holy Spirit are habits, they are exhibited in human actions.  When we become practiced in the gifts, the mode of action in our intellect and that of our will is that of God. This action enables our reason to intuitively penetrate, judge and counsel events of the world with supernatural ease. Through this intuition our will is smoothly and instantly moved to the heart and perfection of good and the removal and avoidance of evil. When Jesus spoke to the apostles concerning their apostolic witness, he said "You shall receive power when the Holy spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses for me... to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  And He also stated that "When the Advocate has come, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will testify t me. And you also testify." (Jn 15:26)

      To cooperate with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is helpful to come to know the Holy Spirit as a person. We know God the Father as our personal Creator, we know Jesus as our personal Savior, and can know the Holy Spirit as our personal Sanctifier. These are the three realms in which each of us find God operating in our lives. The Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, is a Divine Person, one of the three persons in the Holy Trinity. As with most persons, we can learn a lot about this Divine Person, but until we experience Him intimately in our lives He remains remote to us. Because of a lack of personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, many who have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit do not manifest them in their lives.

      We find it much easier to experience Christ, the Son and the Father as persons, because even though we acknowledge that they are pure Spirit, the Son occupies a resurrected, glorified human body.  Even though the Father is pure Spirit, we view him through a human mirror and see him in relation to our view of our earthly fathers.  It is a fact, however, that unless the Holy Spirit imbuing us with His gifts, becomes a real Person to us, our view of the Father and the Son remains mostly fantasy and not the faith God wishes for us.

      How, then do we come to know the Holy Spirit as our personal Sanctifier?  We experience His person in what he does. The Holy Spirit is the personal out-pouring of divine life and love from the Father to the Son, He is as it were the glowing breath of life and love flowing from heart to heart. For this reason Holy Scripture and theology designate the third Person of the Holy Trinity as the creative and formative principle of the supernatural world of grace. It is he who pours out and infuses divine life into us. This divine life is the supreme gift freely given by an all-loving God.

      This gift of the Holy Spirit is creative.  The Holy Spirit, the Person who overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary and created the humanity of Jesus the Son. He also creates us as a new person, a child of God. "For in one spirit" says the apostle, "we are all baptized into one body." (1 Cor 12:13) We are "built together into a dwelling-place for God." (Eph 2:22) By the Holy Spirit we have "been washed, purified, sanctified." (1 Cor. 6:11)  In Him we have been "sealed for the day of redemption." (Eph 4:30). As children of God we are actually temples of the Holy Spirit who has been sent into our hearts. (Gal 4:6) He dwells within us. (Rom 8:12) He is given us as a pledge in our hearts (2 Cor. 2:22), a pledge of our eternal inheritance (Eph.1:14).  It is obvious that this is a Person we must come to know.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM

ARTICLE NO. 464

      The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man. Nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries the Church had to defend and clarify this truth against the heresies that falsified it.

ARTICLE NO. 470

      Because “human nature was assumed, not absorbed” in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of the centuries to confess the full reality of Christ’s human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ’s human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from “one of the Trinity.” The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul, as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity.

INCARNATION

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS