Posted on 01/04/2019 8:20:14 AM PST by Salvation
Rest on Flight to Egypt, by Caravaggio (1597)
At Christmas we celebrate the Word becoming Flesh, but what does this mean for us today? Fundamentally, it means that our faith is about things that are tangible. As human beings, we have bodies. We have a soul that is spiritual, but it is joined with a body that is physical and material. Hence, it is never enough for our faith to be only about thoughts, philosophies, concepts, or ideas. Their truth must touch the physical part of who we are. Our faith must become flesh; it has to influence our behavior. If that is not the case, then the Holy Spirit, speaking through John, has something to call us: liars!
Therefore, away with sophistry, rationalizations, and intentions. Our faith must become flesh in the way we act and move. God’s love for us in not just a theory or idea. It is a flesh and blood reality that can be seen, heard, and touched. The Word of God and our faith cannot simply remain on the pages of a book or in the recesses of our intellect. They must leap off the pages of the Bible and the Catechism and become flesh in the way we live our life, in the decisions we make, and in the way we use our body, mind, intellect, and will.
Consider the following passage from the liturgy of the Christmas Octave:
The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked (1 John 2:3ff).
Note some teachings that follow from it:
Faith is incarnational. What a practical man John is! Faith is not an abstraction; it is not merely about theories and words on a page. It is about a transformed life; it is about truly loving God and making His commandments manifest in the way we live. It is about loving our neighbor. True faith is incarnational. That is to say, it takes on flesh in our very “body.”
Too many people spout the phrase, “I’ll be with you in spirit.” Perhaps an occasional absence is understandable but after a while the phrase rings hollow. Showing up physically and doing what we say is an essential demonstration of our sincerity. We are body persons and our faith must include a physical, flesh-and-blood dimension.
Keeping the commandments is a sure sign. John said that The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Now be careful of the logic here. The keeping of the commandments is not the cause of faith; it is the fruit of it. It is not the cause of love; it is its fruit.
In Scripture, “knowing” refers to than an intellectual understanding. It refers to deep, intimate, personal experience of the thing or person. It is one thing to know about God; it is quite to “know the Lord.”
In this passage, John is saying that in order to be sure we have deep, intimate, personal experience of God, we must change the way we live. An authentic faith, an authentic knowing of the Lord, will change our behavior in such a way that we keep the commandments as a fruit of that authentic faith and relationship with Him. It means that our faith becomes flesh in us. Theory becomes practice and experience. It changes the way we live and move and have our being.
For a human being, faith cannot be a mere abstraction. In order to be authentic, it must become flesh and blood. In a later passage, John uses the image of walking: This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked (1 John 2:6). Although walking is a physical activity, it is also symbolic. The very place we take our body is physical, but it is also indicative of what we value, what we think.
Liars – John went on to say, Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar. This is strong language! Either we believe and thus keep the commandments, or we are lying about really knowing the Lord and we fail to keep the commandments.
Don’t all of us struggle to keep the commandments fully? John seems so “all or nothing” in his words, but his point is clear. To know the Lord fully is never to sin (cf 1 John 3:9). If we know him imperfectly, we still experience sin. Hence, the more we know him (remember the definition of “know”) the less we sin. If we still sin, it is a sign that we do not know Him enough.
It is not really John who speaks too absolutely; it is we who do so. We say things like “I have faith,” “I am a believer,” “I love the Lord,” and “I know the Lord.” Perhaps we would be more accurate if we said, “I am growing in faith,” “I am striving to be a better believer,” or “I’m learning to love and know the Lord better and better.” If we do not, then we risk lying. Faith is something we grow in.
Many in the Protestant tradition reduce faith to an event such as answering an altar call or accepting Christ as “personal Lord and savior.” We Catholics do it too. Many Catholics think that all they need to do is be baptized; they don’t bother to attend Mass faithfully as time goes on. Others claim to be “loyal” even “devout” Catholics yet dissent from important Church teachings. Faith is about more than membership. It is about the way we walk, the decisions we make.
Without this harmony between faith and action, we live a lie. We lie to ourselves and to others. The bottom line is that if we really come to know the Lord more and more perfectly, we will grow in holiness, keep the commandments, and be of the mind of Christ. We will walk just as Jesus walked and our claim to have faith will be the truth, not a lie.
Faith and works cannot be separated. This passage does not claim that salvation is by works alone. The keeping of the commandments is not the cause of saving or of real faith. Properly understood, the keeping of the commandments is the result of saving faith actively present and working within us. It indicates that the Lord is saving us from sin and its effects.
The Protestant tradition erred in dividing faith and works. In the 16th century, Protestants claimed that we are saved by “faith alone.” Faith is never alone. It always brings effects with it.
Our brains can get in the way here and tempt us to think that just because we can distinguish or divide something in our mind we can do so in reality, but that is not always the case.
Consider, for a moment, a flame. It has the qualities of heat and light. We can separate the two in our mind but not in reality. I could never take a knife and divide the heat of the flame from its light. They are so interrelated as to be one reality. Yes, heat and light in a flame are distinguishable theoretically, but they are always together in reality.
This is how it is with faith and works. Faith and works are distinguishable theoretically, but the works of true faith and faith itself are always together in reality. We are not saved by works alone or by faith alone; they are together. John teaches here that knowing the Lord by living faith is always accompanied by keeping the commandments and walking as Jesus did.
Therefore, faith is incarnational. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, really and physically. Similarly, our own faith must become flesh in us, in our actual behavior.
Enjoy this incarnational Christmas carol:
Verbum caro factum est The Word was made flesh
Porque todos hos salveis. for the salvation of you all.
Y la Virgen le dezia: And the Virgin said unto him:
‘Vida de la vida mia, ‘Life of my life,
Hijo mio, ¿que os haria, what would I [not] do for you, my Son?
Que no tengo en que os echeis?’ Yet I have nothing on which to lay you down.’
O riquezas terrenales, O worldly riches,
¿No dareis unos pañales will you not give some swaddling clothes
A Jesu que entre animals to Jesus who is born among the animals
Es nasçido segun veis? as you can see?
Snide inferences? I'm merely stating the plain, unvarnished, 100% truth! (Do you have a problem hearing the truth, Elsie?) Let me double check my facts right now. Are you not a male, who, for whatever reason, chooses to use a female screen name, "Elsie"? (If that is not the case, I will be more than happy to retract that statement, and apologize for the honest mistake.)
In my post 206, I also included a Bible text (Deuteronomy 22:5 - more plain truth from the Holy Word of God), which shows that men who dress up in women's clothing are an abomination to the Lord God. I'm not sure how God views men who dress up in girly names, but I know that Bruce Jenner first changed his masculine name to the fruity/girly name Caitlyn Jenner, before he started dressing up in women's clothing, then went ahead and had the sex change operation. I figured a friendly biblical warning might prove helpful to anyone who might be contemplating such an action. (Do you have a problem reading that Holy Bible text I quoted for you there, Elsie?)
What a weird, bizarre, and delusional reply! Like many of your posts, Elsie, there is not one thing true contained in your post 215. I am not "trashing" around in any water, and I'm not hollering anything. A rational reading would show you that my post 204 is simply showing you step by step what is wrong with your woefully erroneous interpretation and application of the quote, "Call no man father", which you post so often.
I've aleady spent more time in this thread then I wanted to, so I'm outta here. I wish you all the best.
😁 Then I suspect there is no need to tan your hide when you’re dead, Fred.
Keep suffering - I love it!
We wanted to go to the beach today, but this is the monsoon season, so we sometimes have to rough it. 😁 I oftentimes wonder, how that much water can fall out of the sky. Definitely enough to fill up the billabong. 😁
"Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" - Rolf Harris
(I apologize for the intrusion into your personal interchange there, and bid you all a good and peaceful night!) :-)
It’s ok bro. 😁 Yes, it was Rolf Harris. I just hesitated to mention that, because of the unpleasantries associated with his name, but I liked his music, with the didgeridoo and the wobble board. Good night to you too, but here, it’s actually late afternoon, and it is the monsoon season. 👎
Haha. I loved Rolf as a kid. He was an extremely good painter too. Not right to treat young ladies like that. I suppose we all have sins we wouldnt want the whole world to know even if they are not illegal as far as the world goes. Its a lot finer a line than most people would want to believe about themselves. Same with Cosby etc He didnt need to do all that stuff. He was athletic and popular. Being powerful and rich can certainly magnify any issues one might have. Im glad Jesus is standing in for me!
RVG Placemarker
I have known about him since the 60s. He liked the didgeridoo and wobble board. He was in Sydney, when I was there, but I never saw him. I remember Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, Pinch Gut, The Pylon Lookout, the Australia Square building, the Australia Hotel, Kings Cross, and Bondi Beach. Oh, the memories. 😁😂🇦🇺
It must have been buried in your volume of words.
Why is it again that you IGNORE Jesus plain words?
Call no man father.
Finally you admit having made at least one.
(Do you have a problem reading that Holy Bible text I quoted for you there?)
This one?
By the way bros. I could flat out move some sheet metal around the sky. I worked one of the busiest airports in the world. I hacked the program, though I sometimes wonder how. I inquired about becoming an air traffic controller at Sydney, NSW. They were more than willing, to let me control aircraft there, but said I would need to give up my American citizenship, in order to do that. I said thanks, but no thanks, but at least I asked about it.
But MUCH less often than you IGNORE the clearly spoken words of JESUS.
| Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces. Signal Graces are those special and unique Graces to help sanctify us in our state in life. See the remaining promises for an explanation for which these will consist. St. Louis de Montfort states emphatically that the best and fastest way to union with Our Lord is via Our Lady [True Devotion to Mary, chapter four]. |
I dont know how people in such privileged positions think that they can betray peoples trust and get away with it. I ran a youth group for a few years - I always made sure there was another adult with me when doing so - not that I did not trust myself but I did not ever wanted to be accused of something later. Something I learnt from reading Billy Graham’s book in which he said he would never allow himself to be in the position of where he was alone with woman. Seemed like wisdom to me! Sydney is just larger - all those things you remember would still be there. The Harbor is still lovely but I wouldnt give much for the rest of the city. Oversized and very expensive. I dont know how normal people live there!
Likewise...
A friend of mine used to worship in the Catholic manner and then he switched to the way that Prots do it and now a lot of people say he's much happier.
How much this is due to his church change and how much is due to other factors in his life, this I do not know.
All I know is everybody says he's happier.
BG’s method seems to work for Mike Pence; too.
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