Pierre-Marie Emonet points to God as the ultimate reference for oneness which is crucial to our faith-informed anthropology.
God is one in the Trinity. Emonet implies God does not subsist in parts and makes possibly an inference of Divine Simplicity. “What, then, is to be said when we arrive at the being whose essence is to exist? Here oneness attains simplicity” (The Dearest Freshness Deep Down Things, p.106).
To receive Christ fully includes receiving oneness with simplicity in tandem. It is key to a fully integrated person under the oneness of the Godhead. Ireneus of Lyon summarized this well as “The Glory of God is man- made fully alive”(Gloria Deus homens vivens) (Adversus Herasaus).
Oneness has a macro-Christian application for ecclesiology. The Catholic Church is “one” before other traits (holy, Catholic, apostolic) of the Nicene Creed (325 CE). The exact applications of oneness in the Catholic Church exists in a uniting yet paradoxical end in communion yet there are 23 distinct rites. While as a former Protestant I was in many spiritual houses, the Catholic Church is itself one house with many rooms.
It is also fitting to me that oneness is reflected in the traits of the Nicene Creed due to a drive toward oneness in the individual human experience. We have covered in class that the psuche, the soul, has an internal drive of forwardness and only humans have it. I would add that this could include a oneness for the Church as a whole that is ordered in Christ’s life.
Some of this occurs to me as an Aspirant to the diaconate as a servant at the Wedding Supper of The Lamb in the mass. I want to be mindful on the liturgical service and in my preaching in a manner that exhorts the hearers to be in one with the Body while lacking error of uniformity.
The oneness themes in lecture and text also gave me food for thought as a clinical social worker. Due to the influence of critical theory descendants from the Frankfurt school and liberation theology, I want to build on some of the foundations in responding to their influence. Often what is enacted by such oneness outside of the deposit of faith is in a means of imposition rather than proposition. Such imposition has an approach toward unity in the power of force and will rather than that of reason and respect for individual dignity which stays intact with the gospel.
Proponents of critical theory paradigms miss the dignity of the human being due to the impact of nominalism. Per class discussion, nominalism sees just a “flux of accident” and is agnostic about an underlying order. Missing the individual for a utilitarian definition of oneness is bound to happen.
But Christianity affirms an underlying oneness that sees humanity and true oneness as much more. We affirm Christ as the Logos who is the center of meaning for the universe and brings dignity to individuals while binding together the many.
There are many dysfunctional aspects of secular oneness that are an affront to the oneness drive God put in man as made in his image. In present day we have cancel culture in many industries. There are also globalist movements with agendas to supplant expression against their power such as Sharia of Islam, draconian health measures on medical freedom and secular humanist abuse of the word “misinformation” to be suppressed “for your safety.” Full dialogue is supplanted to the logoi – – words by a false Logos against “divisiveness.”
The key of responding to their utilitarian concept of oneness is articulating the redemptive value of oneness expressed in the cross of Christ that infuses a oneness of simplicity. I would draw from the “Unknown God” logic of Paul at Mars Hill of Acts 17 except starting with an “unknown oneness” or similar nomenclature.
Just as the sheep owners tried in vain many false God’s to stop the plague of their sheep and yielded then to “The Unknown God,” I could do the equivalent on oneness. The Kerygma includes Jesus’ victory over sin which includes that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This flies in the face of toxic oppressor-oppressed narratives in opposing philosophies.
As a potential deacon I could support a transformation in the thinking about oneness. It is the proposal in apostolic thought to go beyond one’s thinking implied in metanoia (repentance) to a participate in God’s oneness (John 17:21) partake in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
A lot can happen when we choose a little bit of silence. Many people, myself included, have a lot to say but if we are not careful saying things with a lack of depth.
This occurred to me last summer after writing a blog since early 2013. I have been writing about family, therapy, macro level social dynamics and especially theology.
But last summer I got some good advice from a spiritual authority in my life to see what God might do in silence in light of Zechariah.
He is a brief figure in the New Testament as father of John the Baptist. He received a message from Gabriel that in his old age he would be the father of the prophet who would prepare the way for the Messiah. He had what would seem to be a rational objection on why that could not work for him and his same age wife.
But perhaps there was kind of cynicism because he was struck mute until the birth.
So there I was in this conversation mentioning Zechariah in passing when the advice was to see what God would do in my life if I went silent for awhile. He added that maybe I may have much more to say if I allowed the presence of God where the void would be. I sensed that I it should be about 3 months.
What Was Caught
I would like to think that I have been more engaged in my spiritual and emotional life. When I do deep dives into subject matters of interest I can zero in with a numbing out of those parts if I am not careful. Even in my prayer times I might think “Oh, here is a thing I can write about!” Eternal life is so much bigger than my moments of cerebral inspiration.
That also includes the hot, controversial topics of the day. I have a lot of opinion on national and international politics. But have I at times contributed more heat than light? Yes.
Something about active receptivity appeals to me even more now. This was a topic that has come up in recent months with my spiritual director. The prime example we come back to regarding created beings, unlike the Trinity, is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was receptive to the move of God over her but was active at the same time. And when she said what she prudently needed to it was for Christ to shine and for her working towards that. “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).
Beginning Again
Life is full of beginnings. Something ends, even temporarily, so that something new comes. For me, it is fitting that I in having energy from my silences that I have been contemplating beginnings both in theology and general daily living.
One beginning is our oldest child my wife and I have together has started high school. He has butterflies in his stomach about every day and has some learning differences. It sucks to face such hard beginnings alone. So I must choose to renew my vigor to assure that he does not have to. And his silence on asking for help is not the good kind.
I am now past the beginning of a school year for me even though I am an established professional. This is the second year of Aspirancy in the Permanent Diaconate program in my Archdiocese. I am definitely a work in progress and silence has a role for me. This includes the prudence of not thinking out loud as much as I would like to in class when the subject is my sweet spot.
But am I hearing God’s voice more clearly? I think so. And those impressions are not necessarily thrilling nor profound. In the silence comes clarity and trust in that which is unclear.
But silence takes effort. It is an act of will as much as an act of faith. So in my quiet moments I am having some moment of being quiet. The Liturgy of The Hours is part of my prayer life but is like one of two eyes by which I can have spiritual depth perception. I do not do this in hours or even units of ten. It is a minute or two at a time. Not long but a start.
For any regular readers of my blog, I have a disclaimer. I often do a deep dive as an amateur theologian but I am taking a break from that for a while. This will be a description of my first year in formation to be a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church. If that is okay, then read on.
The components include intellectual but this year has not emphasized that like the coming years but has instead been on the spiritual and human formation. Those components have culminated to the point that I am writing in the middle of the three month break from majoring on theological things as the major subject.
God is working on me to be less in my head which is a safe place for me as well as being preoccupied about my weaknesses. What I write below will reflect those common threads in language of grace and later laughter.
A limp and A Bruised Reed
When I got out of my car last fall for the retreat it was with my cane. I had surgery on my femur to scrape out a long, deep tumor a few months ago. I lost way more blood than they thought I would made progress for weeks only to sharply regress in the mid- summer Minnesota humidity.
I was self- conscious about how it looked wondering even then how far my recovery would go so I could kneel in the liturgical context long term. It was partly due to that that I tried going without my cane all day and “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Overall I was free of it for the fall season and have been since.
A strange thing occurred to me in the retreat that was beyond the program: an old friend apostatized. He left a voicemail asking to talk to me. When I called him back he stated he could not be my kids’ godfather anymore since he changed his belief including most importantly that Jesus is the Messiah.
A divine grace filled me up. I know what it means to be on the wrath and legal side. I had some uncharitable thoughts cross my mind for a microsecond. But what the Lord did for me was to remind me of the brokenness of my friend that were highly influential towards that route.
I also recalled a prophecy of Isaiah about Jesus that I was going to coopt for myself through the year. “A bruised reed he will not break” (Isaiah 42:3). Through the year I reflected at times, though briefly, that I am a bruised reed and Jesus does not want to break me. He can heal me.
The Comparison Game
I tell my mental health therapy clients, “the brain wants to be safe” which makes sense when I sized up my peers on that fall retreat and the classes after for quite a while. It seemed like 10% of the time I “had one up on them” but 90% the opposite.
It all seemed clear to me. I was the only convert to the Catholic Church and thus there were the little things that were still over my head. In fact, I was not even raised Christian. They were all on their first marriage while I was on my second with a very complex history on that. Many of them got their bachelor’s degree “on time” at 22 where I got mine at 41. They all seemed to have great job stability while I had not for many reasons. My occasional defense mechanism was to do the equivalent of “name dropping” on my skills and try to show off in class on human formation since I am a therapist. There I go again?
“Not An Imposter”
Then came winter retreat in Marathon, Wisconsin. In the Catholic Church we have the Liturgy of the Hours. It is a beautiful and corporate form of connecting to God second only to the mass or Divine Liturgy. I was assigned to be Reader which is sort of like being the wing man. It was Night Prayer with eucharistic adoration.
I was shaky more than a bit in the minutes leading up to my part when for the first time in a while the Lord spoke to my heart, “You are not an imposter. You belong here.” I went up, did my part and no one was the wiser of my struggles unless I said it.
In a mid-year check in with the incoming director of my program he gave me valuable feedback. One of them was that being a therapist can be an obstacle to the thinking at times of being a deacon. The seed planted in my head was that I was needing to stretch my thinking beyond the paradigms I was used to. There is something good in me God wants to bring out that my defensiveness was an obstacle to.
Life Springing from Formality
Through the year we were to pray Liturgy of the Hours for mornings and evenings. My wife prayed it to but just when she attended class with me.
There is an irony in that both of us are former Protestants. In fact, I remember when there was some of the stronger tugs of the Holy Spirit in 2012 to the Catholic Church I felt a resistance. The “Protestant muscle memory” kicked in with terms like “spiritual and not religious” and avoiding “dead ritual.”
But I found life in the Church over the years in many ways including this.
First was in what I call “free style.” When praying a verse that is thankful to the Lord’s works I put my hand out in a receptive and worshipful mode. When I pray a verse urging God to act in grace or man to respond to God I lightly beat my chest like the mea maxima culpa of the mass.
Before the Our Father I integrate my own prayer content of sorts. I pray personal intercessions at the micro and macro level. I ask for the prayers of the saints like St. Gerard for my daughter’s pregnancy. I ask for the prayers of St. Barnabas (my patron saint for Confirmation in 2013) and St. Andre Bissette for wisdom in my discernment for Holy Orders. I pray for my clients. Then I pray a Hail Mary right before the Our Father.
One may wonder how a former Protestant could not only convert to the “formal” Catholic Church but super-size formality to be Catholic clergy. The reason is in the beginning of all things but resonates to me typing on the Mac at my kitchen counter on a Saturday afternoon.
In the beginning God createdthe heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spiritof God was moving over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2).
God is in the formation business. We were formless and void in the true sense until “while we were yet sinner Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). But he is still in the formation business for the Christian in the ongoing sanctification in the individual and corporate context. It is his engrafted word that thus “can save your soul” (James 1:21). But does that not make sense the Liturgy of the Hours can be a part of that for a unified body of believers?
But having a guide is good too. In the last months of the year I began seeing an approved spiritual director. He is a good Jesuit priest with helpful insight.
“See what happens when you surrender?”
The summer came. And with it was the immersion retreat in South Dakota. There was a spreadsheet for liturgical assignments. I have a habit of using Control F and saw what I was supposed to do for liturgy. Being a Reader was fine!
Another task that was not liturgical was to share my story which I found intimidating. The comforting part through the week, with me being number 14 out of 15 to share, was hearing that I was not the only one with flaws. What was hard was that anything with the slightest overlap made me have tears effortlessly flow down my face. I had the slow version of unpleasant “life flash before my eyes.” Could I possibly share my imperfections honestly and adequately?
On the third and final full day I spilled my guts. I only got to 80% of the main highlights but it felt good. Afterwards several of my brothers came and hugged me and all of a sudden the areas they “were one up on me” did not matter anymore. 14 other sinners. 14 other beloved children of God. Sigh. “I’ve got this!”
At lunch I shared a funny story with the new director. It was an abbot giving an eloquent homily at mass. When he concluded the mass he said, “The ass is mended!” The director laughed hard and I shocked myself that I was letting my guard down.
Then came our final morning and I got an unexpected phone call. It was one of the guys telling me I was serving liturgically and I needed to get there. My Control F method must have had a flaw. Within less than 10 minutes I changed,, raced down and got the quickest crash course of liturgical serving ever. The “excitement” of being a convert.
I made mistakes. On the little things I was unsure of I improvised.
But then the moment of truth. There was kneeling involved which taxed my still work-in- progress recovery of where the tumor was. There was pain and strain. A brother told me later that the look he saw in my face was “Let’s do this!” I guess that is about right.
After our morning prayer and adoration was over, I was doing the take down of the candles by the tabernacle where the Eucharist is, and sensed the Lord saying “See what happens when you surrender?” There was power and simplicity to it.
I also pondered that “tabernacle-ing” with the tabernacle. In the months prior I had been pondering this verse: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The word for dwelt really comes to “tabernacled” and many verses in the rest of John’s gospel seem to accentuate that context.
It was in part due to that verse that months later in front of the tabernacle the Lord inspired something from my head into my heart. I pivoted in my heart talking to Jesus in the tabernacle that I offered up my imperfections above my fall back strengths. I was gaining much spiritual ground there.
Still, I walked to lunch thinking about how I made some mistakes.
Surprised by laughter
Then a funny thing happened: our outgoing director of formation thought it was funny! “For a guy who did not grow up in this tradition, you did pretty good for your first time!” he said as he laughed.
The next funny thing is that I laughed too. It was a permeating grace to my heart to take myself less seriously and joy came in.
Then in my small group I received a lot of encouragement from my four brothers and our dean who is a deacon. Even some sincere compliment for my quirks in liturgy that came out in the spur of the moment. I was able to take the compliments graciously and as we left I informed them that I can still fall back on my lifelong dream of being an underwear model. They busted up laughing.
Dog With A Bone
As I was driving home from the retreat, I played a new song in my car I had discovered the last night called “Dog For The Lord” by the Hillbilly Thomists.
I’m a dog with a torch in my mouth for the Lord
Making noise while I ‘ve got time
Spreading fire while I’ve got earth
How You wish it was already lit
Give me your fire, I’ll do your work
I’m just a dog for the Lord.
God is not finished with me as in some ways I am still formless and void. But if I let the light into my soul I will be healed.
For that process, due to some spiritual counsel since, I am going to let that light in by not writing detailed theology stuff for a while. In fact, I am taking a break until October and the Body of Christ will be just fine! I am going to do more simple stuff. Like using “stuff” in my actual vocabulary. Simplicity in God’s grace can be a good thing. That is a way he loves us.
Whether it is The Exorcist of the recent Nefarious, there is a fascination with fighting the demonic in the movies as well as dark humor in pop culture.
Christianity resists the demonic. Christians are to resist the greatest enemy, Satan, and stay in alignment with the kingdom of light.
Thus Jesus set up a spiritual warfare context in teaching the Our Father ending with “deliver us from the Evil One.”
God the Father protects. We can know him as “Our Father” through Christ. The “Our Father” includes reverence, surrender, dependence, forgiveness and avoiding temptation. These all help resist demonic oppression. And Satan’s intent is damnation.
On The Offense
But Christ’s intent is salvation bearing light, at times with miracles, to push back against evil from Incarnation on (1 John 3:8b).
Jesus’ church had a commission to be on the spiritual offense towards natural and spiritual darkness as an extension of his ministry (Acts 10:38). In Ceaserea Philippi, a Roman military post in Palestine, Jesus told Peter his design.
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of deathshall not prevail against it (Matthew 16: 17-18).
Jesus spoke with prophetic and cultural implications about Jonah. His mission was to preach repentance to a great enemy of the Jews at his time. Jonah went right into the belly of that empire and effected change. Peter personally, in the Church Jesus founded, would likewise collide with Rome as the heart of the Roman Empire. Therefore, it was fitting to call him son of Jonah for his calling and example to all Christians to make an impact with the gospel.
Yet Rome was not the epitome of the “gates of Hades” since Christians ought to shine against the demonic. Paul wrote later to the Ephesians, “we struggle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in high places” (Ephesians 6:10).
The Evil Among Us
Sometimes the struggle against the evils of sin and the role of Satan was even within the fellowship of Christians. For example, Satan entered Judas (Luke 22:3; John 13:27) before he completed his betrayal.
A tragic case happened on this point by the 50’s in Corinth.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).
Paul clearly took no joy in this exercise of authority which bears consideration for spiritual defense and offense. God does want to “deliver us from the evil one” but for the protection of the church the yeast of this man’s sin was a danger to that. Yet Paul kept sight of the well-being of this man’s soul because as an apostle he shared a passion for the importance of salvation. His episcopal authority is what he refers to here as he loved the sinner with the congregation but hated the sin.
Grace Among Us
Whatever happened from there may have been dire consequences with Satan being an incidental channel of grace so that the man repented. After hearing that the man mourned and forsook his sin Paul opened the door for church fellowship and exercising episcopal authority. But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe. This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:5-11).
Paul forgave the man’s sin beyond a fraternal context but in a spiritually paternal one that completed a restoration that included spiritual protection from the enemy. When he wrote “in the presence of Christ” the Greek word for presence was propone meaning person. So he forgave him in the person of Christ consistent with “If you forgive men their sins they will be forgiven” (John 20:21).
While sin opens the door to Satan, integrating holy living in the Church makes the difference.
Pseudo- Exorcists
Paul spent two years founding the church in Ephesus. Good grew along with evil. Those who fell in between included posers to those fighting on the side of Jesus and his general Church. Clarity between light and darkness was bound to happen.
And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily (Acts 19:11-20).
Clearly God used Paul. Paul depended on God as his instrument as he ministered in a full authority that effected the social, physical and spiritual environment. He fought this good fight by a high level of the holiness. In salvation history the Holy Spirit has worked through his anointing in Christians and extending it through relics that touched them. Case in point here.
The itinerant Jewish exorcistsengaged darkness from presumption of authority using names os Jesus and Paul like magic words. The word for “pronounce” here is onomazō which means to bear the name of a person or thing. The name of Jesus for one’s salvation is meant for confessing an authority that supersedes all others.
Peter confessed Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) by the Holy Spirit. Without confessing Jesus as Lord there one lacks the protection of being part of his Body.
Satan knows the difference.Demonic forces do not like it but they recognize true spiritual authority. As an apostle Paul’s sacramental role was that of a bishop to this area. Apologist Jesse Romero has assisted exorcist priests in exorcisms. When Catholics or Orthodox do minor work against oppression, that is one thing, but for major full possession the priest is called. The priest may call the bishop for his release in authority. When the priest hangs up the phone in the other room after the release the demon manifests in fear and often this is a game changer.
It was fitting that the demon possessed man “mastered them.” They were not aligned with God’s family (defense) nor able to fight demonic works in Christ’s authority.
What is further fitting is that even the general population grew to know the difference, and still does, about who is the best at opposing a literal devil. When someone hears about a haunted house or a demon- possessed person the first option is usually a priest. In the comedic words of Jennifer Fulwiller, “Quick, let’s call the local non- denominational worship leader!”
Effectiveness against the devil is not by numbers or being physically imposing. Descriptions of Paul a few generations later were short, bald, and bowlegged. Yet demons did not overpower him like they did to the seven young men. The contrast was astonishing.
The more important factor is that spiritual warfare victories point to the Lordship of Christ. The more clarity in the differences between light and darkness, the clearer the path of conversion.
Spiritual victories include repentance for those who are already believers but open themselves up the demonic. This also goes to ongoing conversion always in taking responsibility for one’s sin.
Working an honest program is essential for deliverance and ongoing sanctification. It means putting away of the deeds of darkness. Accepting the engrafted word of God saves the soul of the Christian in an ongoing way (James 1:21). Realizing this leads to repentance.
A further point is that God’s protection for us from evil may include purging as well. Thus, the believers burnt gateways. Often in salvation history, we see the putting away of evil possessions that endanger souls. Radical solutions call for radical acts of repentance.
What is thriving here is a Christianity that thrives in integration with the Holy Spirit. It works in matter, form and authority with the fruit of true freedom. In a most basic nature this is where the life of Christ breaks out in the Church. Let every Christian be a Jonah.
When Jesus ended the Our Father prayer with “deliver us from evil,” there was already a context to it. The gospel Jesus and the apostles preached always had root in this.
Jesus taught “deliver us from evil” in context of the name of God, who is love, in three persons.
Where “deliver us from evil” makes sense is by aligning with God’s nature and covenantal love. He swears by himself with no one higher. He is the “I AM” in the burning bush of Moses (Exodus 3:14) with inexhaustible grace if we open to him for salvation and security. There was a deliverance from evil to then: Pharaoh. But in every age there is a Pharoah of a sort for all of us.
But some despair of evil, even among Christian, because their heart did not get the memo.
“I think I’m going to hell,” cried one friend of mine to another at 2:00 AM over the phone.
She was not rebelling against God. She was sweet and unselfish yet terrified of evil. She lacked knowledge of God’s love for her and willingness to defend her from the devil.
The first objective of The Evil One is to see many in hell. Other tragedies pale in comparison. External evils cannot take your soul from you. Instead, Christ is the Way who we can say yes to. Therefore the Evil One blurs truth of the gospel that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
Christ laid out a clear landscape about himself and called out evil. This is important because many that try living Christianity in freedom but go for a pseudo- Jesus.
I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:9-11).
He said this during the Feast of Tabernacles complimenting a context of simplicity and shelter.
Response to the true shepherd of our souls (1 Peter 2:25) is surrendering our will believing in the Father and the Son (John 17:3) by the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit we see how “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) in Christ.
Blurry views of Jesus lead to fear of condemnation leading to cynicism and forsaking God. God is good. And it is in God that we know who we are and where we are spiritually. Paul wrote about the rescue from the natural evil of condemnation, ultimately hell, when he wrote “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Jesus clarified the love and name of God as protective months later before his arrest. Jesus, being Jewish, had foundations in God’s name “I AM” that included divine protection. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed and taught this. Here are relevant points to what many call “The High Priestly Prayer.”
Jesus laid a foundation of fellowship with God the Father. “I have manifested your name to the men who you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6).
Jesus manifested the name of God in his teaching, miracles and discipleship. Though not all are apostles, we can know Christ beyond a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16). Christians begin in partaking of divine nature by being obedient disciples. We do not have the same access as the apostles did in Christ’s ministry: ours is better after Christ manifested the divine name in the resurrection. Reading on, there are even more dimensions for divine protection.
Jesus spoke in faith like the resurrection had already happened and was about to ascend.
“And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one (John 17:11).
Jesus further built an understanding of the protective hedge as the future unique mediator who had been a ransom for redemption (1 Timothy 2:5). To call God “Holy Father” was a bringing together of “Our Father” and his sufficiency to “deliver us from evil.” And the fruit of holiness is unity. God watches over us but by inference we can watch over each other.
“While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you gave me; I guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).
His disciples stayed in the protection of God’s name as long as they aligned with him. When he referred to Judas, it was not someone who lost out of this but intentionally sold out.
Jesus distinguishes between protection and hyper-isolation. “I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We Christians stay in a bond of peace with holiness and unity we can be in the midst of the world but not be of it in the heart’s inclinations.
Jesus presses further with an emphasis on sanctification. This is where the continuing work of salvation permeates the heart of the believer.
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth” (John 17:17-19).
Jesus prayed boldly that this truth was for not only sanctification but fidelity to the deposit of faith so that the Church would even be on the offense. The consecration is in the cross on which Christ was crucified and us with him (Galatians 2:19-20).
Jesus reaffirmed the divine name towards the end of this prayer with the greatest meaning in the gospel narratives: love. “I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).
For protecting the faithful modern sensibilities would not expect to see “love” but power or victory. Jesus lived his life loving people and those who would receive it continue in the love of “God so loved the world…” (John 3:16).
As to how the “name” and “love” meaning an assurance of protection of evil, it is in the difference between salvation and punishment bias. God is Father. He is love. And he is “the Good.”
The Our Father in general and this petition in particular are trying to tell us that it is only when you have lost God that you have lost yourself; then you are nothing more than a random product of evolution. Then the “dragon” really has won. So long as the dragon cannot wrest God from you, your deepest being remains unharmed, even in the midst of all the evils that threaten you. Our translation is thus correct to say: “Deliver us from evil,” with evil in the singular. Evils (plural) can be necessary for our purification, but evil (singular) destroys. This, then, is why we pray from the depths of our soul not to be robbed of our faith, which enables us to see God, which binds us with Christ. This is why we pray that, in our concern for goods, we may not lose the Good itself; that even faced with the loss of goods, we may not also lose the Good, which is God; that we ourselves may not be lost: Deliver us from evil (Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism To The Jordan to The Transfiguration, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007)!
My friend sobbing at 2:00 AM struggled to keep “the Good.” This story happens too often.
If your experience or perception of Christianity is of God being out to punish and not love, then you experienced pseudo- Christianity. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).
This is part of the send off from Jesus for the spread of true Christianity.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).
To those afflicted by Christian- ish evil or any evil, come home to Jesus.
There is a T-shirt years that says, “Lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself.” It whimsically dismissed what is objectively evil.
Jesus instead upheld objective good teaching the “Our Father” with “lead us not unto temptation.”
God does not want us to sin and each must take personal responsibility on their failings. This flies in the face of modern inferences we are hopeless by design to sin and thus not seek redemption. James wrote about this.
No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God:” for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death (James 1:13-15).
James breaks it down first that sin is our fault and how if we let it grow we get death. While his audience was mortal, he really spoke of spiritual death that keeps us from God eternally.
Paul wrote about how we take responsibility for our temptation before sinning to begin with.
No testing has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What is that way out? Returning to James, we must ask for wisdom with full confidence in God’s willingness and power. Though he wrote first about any form of trial, we can see a few verses later the subcategory of temptation also applies.
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:2-8).
God “gives to all generously and ungrudgingly” and we are to no longer be “unstable in every way.” James proposes the testing of our faith to a long-term benefit. If you struggle with temptation then consider letting “endurance have its full effect.” Lacking virtue is a challenge for ourselves and not God. Trusting God in temptation is a gain in stability and confidence.
This trust in God contradicts the double-mindedness that comes with worldly excuses. Lending an ear to excuses that you are “just that way” is a sabotage of one’s faith.
To resist temptation in Christ must have an anchor in the Holy Spirit. We edify ourselves praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20). Spiritual sobirety comes with consistency and intentionality for a lifestyle of a marathon of resisting temptation. In God’s grace, we can win the race.
We see models for victory over sin in the temptations of Christ in the wilderness.
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him (Matthew 4:3-11).
First, a temptation to go after nourishment as an end. Jesus responds on his dependence on the Father. One can build resilience on this with fasting. Prayer and fasting are a pair many times in the Bible for a reason. It is making a reference point to God the Father as the true source.
Second, is the temptation to assume God is subject to us instead of us subject to God. Jesus sets this straight. Walking a Christian walk on a presumption of entitlement, is a faith that falls flat.
Third, is a play on what rightfully belonged to Jesus as the highest good to a point of marginalizing God the Father. Jesus responded from right worship and security in who he was in the Father. That lens discerned the just distribution of all things.
The more we depend, respond and worship the Father, the stronger our “yes” to resist temptation.
This is the gift of prayer per the gospel. By its power (Romans 1:16), our no to sin is because of a thriving relationship with Christ giving his yes in his life, death and resurrection.
Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony [ Cf. Mt 4:1-11; 26:36-44]. In this petition to our heavenly Father [the Our Father prayer], Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is “custody of the heart,” and Jesus prayed for us to the Father: “Keep them in your name” [ Jn 17:11; cf. Mk 13:9,23,33-37; 14:38; Lk 12:35-40] The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch [1 Cor 16:13; Col 4:2; 1 Thess 5:6; 1 Pet 5:8]. Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. “Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake” [Rev 16:15.]. (Catechism of The Catholic Church, 1994, paragraph 2849).
Forgiveness is one virtue to practice that is really where the rubber hits the road whether one is religious, non-religious or just thoughtful about philosophy. To urge this is can not easily be seen as just a pat phrase.
Lifestyles vary among people after leaving church Sundays from practically lived Christianity to routine. Some churches thus challenge people to live holy beyond Sundays. I remember a Plymouth Brethren church with a sign over the exit saying “You are now entering the mission field.” In Catholic churches the priest or deacon may say, “Go and glorify the Lord with your life” or “Go forth and proclaim the gospel.”
Jesus taught something that played hardball with hearts with the challenge of forgiveness. Thus Christians pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We may vainly pray it forgetting it could unleash God’s grace in our lives.
Then a defensiveness could emerge. One can be God understands things can be too hard to forgive and we have weaknesses. However, Jesus sees the limits we see as “hard” and still offers his grace to be fulfilled in him so we participate in that grace anyway.
The participation has a payoff. Forgiveness liberates us to walk in Christian love so we give of self and receive Christ in the eyes of the offending person. We thus mirror God’s love.
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sisterwhom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sistersalso (1 John 4:20-21).
John sees claiming to love God is a lie without love for others. Further, he implies that loving those in front of you should be easier than loving God who is invisible. In this seen and unseen dichotomy, we have a context of faith. To activate love in our lives is by faith as a demonstrable allegiance to God’s love for all.
Ideally the norm of forgiving is so fostered in our communities that we forgive after only a brief struggle. Paul wrote to this norm. “…and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).
A tradition among Easter Catholic and Orthodox urges confession and forgiveness among all.
One by one, you bow to the person before you and then, coming face to face, you say: “Forgive me!” The other person responds: “God forgives. I forgive.” You then extend your hand and the kiss of peace (or two or three, depending on the parish). And so it goes until each person has asked every other person for forgiveness, and the entire church is encircling the sanctuary (How Eastern Orthodox’s ‘Forgiveness Sunday’ could save us from our Facebook feeds, Julie Schumacher Cohen, America Magazine, March 15, 2018, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/03/15/how-eastern-orthodoxs-forgiveness-sunday-could-save-us-our-facebook-feeds)
When we forgive, we become soft of heart to be a faith community of forgiveness and openness. This tradition also forms Christians to holistically live the gospel to our enemies. We can love our enemies this way open to no one being able to wrong us without God’s permission. He may use it towards redemption.
Christian forgiveness should be an example of Christ’s “kingdom come.” “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Christians forgive, are forgiven and yet are a common priesthood. In Christ, this paradox works.
There is a lot that comes to mind when one hears the word “daily bread.”
Christianity has a dual context of a daily bread that fills the person in contexts that unfold in Sacred Scripture with Christ in his flesh as “Bread of Life.” The contexts fulfill themes of altar, tabernacle and temple which were not empty but pointing to Christ as the gift of the Father.
St. John wrote “And the Word [Jesus] was God” (1:1c) setting the stage for Christ unleashing unlimited grace in mystery. He writes the next foundation for the Eucharist. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). The word for “dwelt” is skonoo meaning tabernacled which works with Christ as altar, tabernacle, and temple in his body.
Non- sacramental traditions look at the verses above and interpret them as Christ symbolically a tabernacle and lamb.
But the best interpretive key to see Jesus as eternal, divine, incarnate and, through the cross, sacramental in the Eucharist. There is reinforcement for this in John.
But first an important principle in Christianity is typology. Biblical typology interprets foreshadowing in the Old Testament finding fulfillment in the New. The antitype always exceeds the type as the fulfillment in meaning and impact.
This is important as we look at how God ordered Passover and even communed with his people in the Old Covenant before the bread of life Jesus would offer in the New more fully. The blood of the lamb was shelter for Israel from the angel of death and the Passover was not complete until all at the table consumed.
We see a beautiful foreshadowing of communion in the life of Moses. This gives us a typological foundation before exploring John and how the Eucharistic theme fleshes out.
Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).
There was no contact between divinity and humanity because the Incarnation was yet to happen.
The fulfillment is in what Christ referred to in “our daily bread” as we see in the Greek. There is more to “daily bread” with the word “daily.” Brant Pitre addresses the Greek with more nuance and order to heaven and earth inferring Christ is present in the Eucharist.
I would argue that the most accurate (and ancient) translation is the one most often overlooked. If we break up the word into its two main parts and just translate it literally, this is what we find: (1) epi means “on, upon, or above,” and (2) ousia means “being, substance, or nature.” Put these two together and the meaning seems to be: “Give us this day our supernatural bread.” Indeed, among some ancient Christian writers, it was very common to translate the Greek word epiousios as literally as possible. In perhaps the most famous translation of the Lord’s Prayer ever made, in the fourth-century Latin Vulgate, Saint Jerome writes these words: Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. (Matthew 6:11) What is the meaning of Jerome’s translation? He himself tells us elsewhere: the bread of the Lord’s Prayer is supersubstantial because “it is above all substances and surpasses all creatures.” In other words, it is supernatural. And Jerome is not alone in this understanding. Significantly, Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century A.D., also says of the Lord’s Prayer: “Common bread is not supersubstantial, but this Holy Bread is supersubstantial” (Mystagogic Lectures, 23.15). Likewise, Saint Cyprian of Carthage, writing in the third century A.D., says in his treatise on the Lord’s Prayer that the bread Jesus speaks of is “heavenly bread,” the “food of salvation.” (Jesus and The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, 2011).
Moses and company would envy what Christ offers in his body and blood.
St. John set a sacramental stage by which we can appreciate the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is an extension of Christ’s essence for us and in us. This has great familiarity, not only formality.
After the tabernacle reference (1:14), John proceeds with themes that make “tabernacle” and “eat my flesh” more than symbolic. “The Law was given through Moses and the prophets. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (1:17).
Then St. John then quotes St. John the Baptist in the same vein. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (1:29). Remember, the Passover is not complete until the family consumed it completely. So Jesus tabernacles and yet is the ultimate sacrifice.
Jesus then made a reference to the Jacob’s ladder vision (Genesis 28:11-13) that centered on an altar. “And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man’” (John 1:51). Christ the great mediator.
He provides further context through ceremonial jars that conformed to the worship and purity laws of Moses. So far, the context is happening in the end of the first week of Christ’s public life.
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now” (John 2:6-10).
He changed water to wine using ceremonial jars meant for purification inspired by the Mosaic law. Later he changed wine to blood while maintaining appearance of wine saying, “This is my body….this is my blood.” Christ is present in the Eucharist under only mere appearances of bread and wine.
The temple motif occurs later that same chapter. “The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign have you to show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2:18-19). They of course heard the words from a worldly point of view.
John clarifies in his narrative showing that when Jesus speaks of his body he is speaking of a physical and metaphysical reality.
But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken (John 2:21-22).
Jesus promised full life in his flesh in the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:22-58). For the sake of space, I will focus on the conclusion.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever’ (John 6:54-58).
After saying on Holy Thursday, “This is my body,” on Good Friday the temple motif returns. “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). This was just outside of the wall of Jerusalem but in sight of the temple. In the multitude of sacrifices then they expelled blood out of the altar using water. Brant Pitre expands on this including the case that also showing the sacramental points that mutually support a greater whole as the normative for the Christian life. He writes about this point regarding the blood and water flowing from the pierced side of Christ.
Many Church Fathers saw something more. The water and the blood also symbolize two foundational sacraments: baptism and the Eucharist. It is important to note that this sacramental interpretation is not a forced one. It is not about Catholics eagerly wanting to see their sacraments in every reference to water and blood in the Bible. The connection between these sacraments and the Cross is actually grounded in John’s theology. It is John’s Gospel that makes this connection, for John himself uses water in association with baptism (see John 3:5) and blood as an image for the Eucharist (see John 6:53-56). Catholics throughout the centuries have simply picked up on the sacramental connections John himself is making (Jesus and The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, 2011).
The blood and water flowing out of the temple paralleled blood and water flowing from the body of Christ. Blood and water of the new fulfills blood and water of the old.
This surpasses symbolic Christian communion. While the experience and intent is good, it is a subjective act without delegated authority. The Eucharist has the Real Presence of Christ by the merits of Christ the high priest.
Can sacramental Christians have “Jesus in their heart”? Not only their heart but in every way. This is why Jesus said in the Last Supper “This is my body broken for you…this is the blood of the New Covenant.” To the carnal eye he spoke uncommon words while giving common wine and bread. But by divine teaching we know it was much more.
With an authority through apostolic succession to the breath of Jesus (John 20:23), the Holy Spirit comes down on what was bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ. This is called the epiklesis. The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost on the Church. It comes down on Christians at the moment of conversion changing us from old creation to new. Does it taste like it? Well, to Christians who say they are born again, do you feel like a new creation? The scriptures say Christians are (2 Corinthians 5:17) after saying not to view anyone in a worldly point of view (5:16). Just as being born again is a fact not resting on feeling. So is the Eucharist.
Without personal worthiness of my own, I receive this heavenly gift at the start, middle and end by the grace of God. In that grace, I can be more rightly ordered to be real about my sins, forgive those who sin against me, buffer temptation and resist the evil that opposes my loving Father. Christ sustains me in a “super-substantial way.”
This explains how Jesus is “with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). By the Real Presence they could do the rest which include eucharistia (thanksgiving) for the mass. We can pray in view of Christ’s presence and his atonement.
Together we can pray as a Church, receiving Christ in the Eucharist, in the mass. The elements of bread and wine brought in thanksgiving, eucharistia, become much more in The Eucharist. While we can intercede as individuals for the will of God to “be done on earth as it is in heaven,” it is most fitting when we gather in prayer. In the mass, we can know as an objective truth that “the Lord is near.” Paul wrote a context of the Lord’s presence in that way.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:5-7).
Paul did not write like the Lord is near but just that the Lord is near. This peace transcended all understanding while the Church intercedes in the objective Real Presence of Christ.
We can bring our prayers, petitions and thanksgiving to the Father in the objective reality that “the Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5). We can pray “Give us this day our daily bread” most principally asking for more of Jesus.
One last word on the context of reception: The Church. We are not meant to take bread and wine into our hands and call it Eucharist under “just me and Jesus.” We partake of his divine nature this way from “Our Father” and through those in line with the commissioning of Jesus.
We see this as part of the commissioning of Peter by Jesus post-resurrection. Jesus tells him to “feed my lambs” (21:15) and by the third exchange tells him to “feed my sheep” (21:17).
Decades later St. John the Apostle picks up from his gospel into his epistle narrative. He begins his first epistle in part through the context of the Eucharist. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life” (1 John 1:1). He then expands in context of the Atonement and the Eucharist. “This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood” (1 John 5:6).
We are to partake of Jesus under the “Our Father” in the context of the “kingdom come” in the Eucharist by instruments who carry the tabernacle reality of Christ in holy orders. What else can we do but seek his kingdom (Matthew 6:33).
jembenjamin 