HUMAN DEIFICATION IS AT THE HEART OF THE GOOD NEWS

HUMAN DEIFICATION IS AT THE HEART OF THE GOOD NEWS
The key to the New Evangelization

“The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity” (cf. Jn 17:21-23) CCC #260. “But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: ‘If a man loves me’, says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.’ (Jn 14:23)”. (quoted in CCC 260). These passages enlighten the truth that “the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of our Christian faith and life (CCC 261). Let the Catechism explain further:

[ “the Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’” (2Pt 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) “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” (St. Athanasius). “The only begotten Son of God, wanting to make us SHARERS in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make man gods.” (St. Thomas Aquinas).] (cf. CCC 460).

Jesus, THE Christ (Anointed), pours out His Holy Spirit, His very anointing, upon us (through the Sacraments). At Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit Who unites us to him, and "communicates to us, INTIMATELY and PERSONALLY, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son" (CCC 683). For "the mission of the Spirit of Adoption is to unite us to Christ and make us live in him" (CCC 690). The Soul of the soul of Christ becomes the Soul of our soul, uniting us to Jesus. We become sons in the Son, adopted children of the Father through the Holy Spirit infused into our souls at Baptism. “God is Love” (1Jn 4:8, 16) and love is his first gift, containing all others. “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” Rom 5:5. He then gives us the ‘pledge’ or ‘first fruits’ (first installment) of our inheritance: the very life of the Holy Trinity, which is to love as God has loved us (1Jn 4:11-12, cf Rom 8:23, 2Cor 1:21).

A reflection on the aforementioned catechetical truths leads us to the all important Catholic Doctrine of SANCTIFYING GRACE.
Sanctifying Grace is a supernatural quality that inheres in the soul, through the Holy Spirit infused into our souls at Baptism, which “directly and stably conforms the very substance of the soul to the divine goodness” (from CREDO by Bp Schneider), making us partakers of the divine nature. In a word, Sanctifying Grace is God's life in our soul. We become gods in God. However, to clarify, “the Christian understanding of deification is one of participating, of becoming a PARTAKER, never the POSSESOR, of divinity.” (from “the Catholic Theology of Human Deification” by David Meconi SJ).

“The way that God imparts this special quality to our soul is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our souls. In a wonderful manner God 'takes up residence' in our soul. And much as the sun in the sky imparts light and warmth to the surrounding atmosphere, so also does God in our soul imparts this supernatural quality which is nothing less than a sharing, to a degree, in God's own life. Sunlight is not the sun, but it flows from the sun, and is the result of the sun's presence. So also this supernatural quality of soul that we speak of is distinct from God, yet flows from Him and is the result of His presence in the soul. God dwells in our soul, sharing His own divine life with us 'somewhat as the mother shares her own life with the child in her womb'. We are joined to God by the flow of God's own love (Holy Spirit) into our souls 'somewhat as the patient is joined to the blood donor by the flow of the donor's own blood into his veins through blood transfusion'." (The Faith Explained, by Leo Trese).

How awesome is this reality, so that a Saint once said: “have you ever gazed at the sky in a starry night and contemplated it's beauty? Ah, that's nothing compared to the beauty of a soul in the ‘state of grace’”.

[“On one occasion the saint and Doctor of the Church, Saint Catherine of Siena, was given by God the grace to contemplate one soul in the state of sanctifying grace. Enthralled and captivated by the magnificent beauty of this one soul, the holy woman mystic fell to her knees ready to adore this soul—believing the soul to be God Himself. Quickly God informed Saint Catherine that this person was not God, but very simply, this was nothing more than a soul living in the state of sanctifying grace. The utter, ineffable and indescribable beauty of this one anonymous soul in the state of sanctifying grace moved Saint Catherine to the very depths of her soul and caused her to fall to her knees, almost casting her into ecstasy!”] From the article “Ten Ways You Can Daily Grow in
Grace” by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV.

Now this divine life in us is increased by an intense life of prayer, good works, and frequent reception of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, where Jesus Christ himself, God's own Son, REALLY and PERSONALLY present under the appearances of bread and wine, skyrockets the level of Sanctifying Grace within us. “By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear ‘the fruit of the Spirit:...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’ (Gal 5:22-23)”. (CCC 736).

This is the very plan of God for us, to make us His sons/daughters in the Son, through His Holy Spirit within us. We are to enter into the very life of the Blessed Trinity through union with Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. We are meant to be “IN CHRIST”.

Now we realize how important it is to be habitually in the ‘state of grace’. For “when we are in the state of SANCTIFYING GRACE (we do not possess the divine nature), but we do participate in God's own nature, we do share in God's own life (deification). As a consequence, whatever we do--sin excepted--God is doing in and through us. God-in-us gives an eternal value to all that we do. Even our homeliest actions, such as wiping the baby's nose or scouring the sink, merit an increase in sanctifying grace and a higher degree of glory in heaven, if our life is centered on God. This is what it means to live in the state of grace. This is what it means to be a SUPERNATURAL MAN.” (from “The Faith Explained”, by Leo Trese). Moreover, only in the state of grace can we “merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods” (CCC 2027).

Now we realize the importance of this precious gift of God to us, which assures us of heaven if we die with it. “The sacraments were instituted to give, strengthen, preserve, or repair (restore) it; the commandments were given to defend and nourish it; the mission of the Church is to extend it to all mankind; the aim of the demons is to deprive souls of it at any cost.” (from CREDO, by Bishop Athanasius Schneider).

May we all strive to remain in the state of grace, recover it in the Sacrament of Confession when we lose it through mortal sin, and strive to grow in it with sky as the limit. And with St. Paul, may we exclaim: “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21).