Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Monday 6 July 2009

The Blood of the Covenant

From the Holy Father's Angelus address yesterday -
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our continuing catechesis on Saint Paul, we now consider his teaching on faith and works in the process of our justification.
Paul insists that we are justified by faith in Christ, and not by any merit of our own.
Yet he also emphasizes the relationship between faith and those works which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence and action within us.
The first gift of the Spirit is love, the love of the Father and the Son poured into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5).
Our sharing in the love of Christ leads us to live no longer for ourselves, but for him (cf. 2 Cor 5:14-15); it makes us a new creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) and members of his Body, the Church. Faith thus works through love (cf. Gal 5:6).
Consequently, there is no contradiction between what Saint Paul teaches and what Saint James teaches regarding the relationship between justifying faith and the fruit which it bears in good works.

Rather, there is a different emphasis.

Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we are called to glorify him in our bodies (cf. 1 Cor 6:20), offering ourselves as a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God. Justified by the gift of faith in Christ, we are called, as individuals and as a community, to treasure that gift and to let it bear rich fruit in the Spirit.
Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we are called to glorify him in our bodies...... isn't that beautiful?
Yes, our souls should magnify the Lord, but our bodies must as well, our entire beings.
(Yes, I know, that is a "duh" comment, just think of me as Jack Handy. I'm just trying to get it.)

http://www.founderscenter.org/images/logo-cin-prov.gif

No comments: