We are never alone.

In the last post we saw that in Christ we are made adopted children of God, and thus heirs of the promise. Yet, to claim this inheritance we must suffer for Him, something St. Paul in the Philippians stated not only definitively, but also emphasizing that it is a gift for us and not merely a necessary requirement.  Today, we look deeper still into this theme of suffering for Christ. The Church has given us the sacraments, through which the Holy Spirit is poured out onto the Church, making present to us the Saving Power of Christ --- His Suffering, Death, and Resurrection. The first sacrament, Baptism, is that by which we are drawn into the mystery of salvation.  One effect of Baptism, one which is taught and highlighted by St. Paul, is that it makes us into One Body…the Body of Christ. 

It is hard to explain the intimacy of what occurs at Baptism, what is caused by the Saving Act of Christ on the Cross. St. Paul thus uses, in each of his epistles, this analogy of the “Body of Christ”.  We are the Body of Christ; thus we share so intimately in His Life that baptism actually carries out in us the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

 

The Pauline metaphors of the Body are particularly rich in meaning, as they show not only our profound connection with one another through the same Spirit, but also how it is that we “become Christ”.  If we strive to understand these two concepts: OUR ADOPTION as children and the BODY OF CHRIST of which we are a part, the subsequent Pauline teachings on embracing suffering, being raised in Power through weakness, and our Boast in the Cross of Christ become more understandable. These are the bedrock, the foundation. Redemptive suffering becomes more understandable, though always a mystery, through these ontological realities. Were these dimensions – the true relation of nature to grace – denied or misconstrued the dogma of redemptive suffering falls flat on its face. It is as misleading to separate our participation in the suffering of Christ from our participation in the resurrection as it is to deny the resurrection all together, a heresy that renders our faith “empty”. (1 Corinthians 15)  

 

 

As Children of the Light, no longer slaves of the darkness, we inherit the Victory one for us by Christ on the Cross – a victory manifest by His Resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15:56 Therefore, our Hope is in Him, in our Eternal Life and Reward won for us by Jesus Christ.  It is an unseen hope to be sure, but Clothed in immortality, though our mortal flesh is weak and fading, our inner self is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)  Made one in Christ we do not suffer alone, but rather for Christ in the one Body of the Church – our brothers and sisters, and for Christ by sharing in His Saving Act. We are indeed a new creation, the very plague of the fall – our suffering and death – transformed in Christ into a saving act.