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+ Theosis +

An ongoing series of Meditations on Theosis

Latest Blog Entry - The fruit of the Vine

July 2020

The Fruit of the Vine. "...If I don't ascend to the father, the advocate cannot come..."


If we look at the these words of Christ through the lens of Theosis, then it begins to tell the story of the way and necessity of humanity’s marriage to Christ. But how does this so called marriage take place? How does it happen? It can’t happen by our power. We do not possess that power. Then what or more importantly, “who” does? Specifically, it is the third person of the holy trinity as the catechism chapter 813 describes:  "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church's unity." 261 (DECREE ON ECUMENISM -UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO, - paragraph 2). 

In this light, jesus’ return to the father becomes necessary, because it is a unity of the son with the father, but a unity that now is different than before because it is with the incarnation, the humanity of Christ, the unity between the father and son once again produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is then sent to to dwell within us as the fruit, and unite humanity with Christ in such a profoundly intimate depth, that we become another Christ in the world, the mystical body of Christ, it is now a sacramental reality rather than the actual physical presence of jesus and we now are called to “give birth” to this fruit, we must now, in imitation of Christ, bear the fruit of the spirit. Without jesus returning to the father, this mysterious reality would not take place, this is how intimately Christ desires us to participate in the eternal song of Love, to not only be ourselves, but also be another “son of god”. 

Jesus is in an infinite Marriage, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and ultimately with us! And It is the Holy Spirit, who is the principle of unity, the person who espouses us (or in other words, marries us) to the Divinity of God in Jesus! This is how much God Loves us! God becomes flesh in order to marry us and thereby make us divine! And our marital unions here on earth exist as the greatest images of God's marriage relationship with all of us, as Lover to the Beloved which results in a new creation! The fruit of Love, a true gift and We exist to be gifts to one another!

We are created to Love, to be Loved and to pro-create Love! To be a gift to one another, to give and to receive and to be fruitful.

Second Blog Entry - the Reason for the Incarnation

August  2020

We Are God. (CCC 460)

This chapter in the catechism is a somewhat obscure truth, and it is received by the faithful and non-faithful in very diverse ways. it has been my experience, when leading pilgrimages or during parish missions, retreats and generally any time I have a spiritual conversation with another brother or sister and I share this truth with them, they are mostly surprised that this statement of truth is in the catechism. once I show it to them, the first thing they want to do is start to qualify it in some manner. the reason for this is because they find it hard to accept that we have be made God, through the power of the Holy Spirit and through, in and with Jesus, we have become "Other Jesus'", and therefore, God. it is true! "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." (CCC 460) we are truly divine in christ and we are called to live this divinity! now we now the why, but what about the how? I will try and discuss this mystery in my next blog update. stay tuned and feel free to respond or leave me any comments.

Third Blog Entry - You Must Be Born Again

September 2020

Baptism! An Ontological Change. "It  is the Spirit That Gives Life". 

In the previous blog we meditated a little bit on the "reason why" Jesus became man. it is clear that this reason is so that man may become god in with and through Jesus. now it would be beneficial to meditate on the "how". how is it that man may become god? how is this possible? it is possible for the very reason that we discussed previously, Jesus assumed human nature and therefore wedded human nature to himself, the divine nature and thereby existing with two natures in one divine person. this is the great mystery that all of creation was modeled after, Jesus is the exemplary, of which man is created in the image and likeness of.  all things that came into being were seen through the mold of Jesus christ.  now that Jesus has both a human nature and a divine nature the question still remains, o.k., that is all good, but how is it that we, such sinful creatures, such imperfect creatures, can possibly be united to Jesus? how can we become gods? the answer is given to us by Jesus, Baptism! when we are baptized we are "reborn of water and the Spirit." reborn? I still seem the same after I was baptized and I really don't see very much different when I witness others being baptized, so what is this "reborn" thing? is this just some nice and poetic way of  describing baptism? well, if it was, that would have absolutely no effect on us, at least no thing that could significantly cause a union between us and god. so if baptism is the means of this unity coming into being, then it must be something real taking place, something really that causes this unity. the church refers to this change, this real "rebirth" as an "ontological change". a real change in out nature to that of christ'. through baptism we are married to the human nature of christ and are now referred to as "sons of God", or children of God. this is why the father will "recognize" us. this change in nature is something that happens but not in a materially visible way, because it is on the level of being,, nature. this is the power of baptism, it isn't just a mere cleaning ritual, or outward symbol absent of actual effect, it is something real and "trans-ontological". this is why Jesus tells us that baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation, "Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. (CCC 1257). I'm not talking about "redemption", just to make a quick distinction, only Jesus redeems, but there is a required participation regarding salvation, we must participate in the mystery of salvation in a real way, run the good race until the end as St. Paul tells us. so this is why the "rebirth" is not necessarily noticeable although something real and true is happening to all who are baptized. baptism is the beginning of our Divine life in Christ and we are called to now begin to live this Divinity. now that we have discussed a little bit about the why Jesus became man, and now tried to meditate on the why of that reason, it is natural to asl the question, if we have become divine, and am I supposed to live the divinity? this is a great question that we can discuss in the upcoming blog: How can we live the Divinity that we have become through Baptism?

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