Everyone is bad. Everyone is good. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone is a saint.
Each person bears the image of God, the only One Who is Good, in their being.
Each person bears the falleness of Man, that loss of likeness to God, and has all demons within.
Restoration of likeness to God is achieved only in union with Jesus Christ, the God-Man, brought about by grace, available to all. In this moment of union and only in this moment (may it be eternal), one is good and only good.
There is a moment in the Divine Liturgy that well expresses these truths. Just after the bread and wine have been changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, the priest elevates the Eucharist and proclaims, "Holy Things to Holy People." To which the people respond, "One is Holy, One is Lord, Jesus Christ." Thereby the people acknowledge their own holiness in the Lord's, outside of which there is no holiness.
The people are holy to the extent that they are one with the one Body of Christ. About to receive communion with Him in the Eucharist, they are truly holy, as the priest proclaims. Without the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, there is no holiness, no goodness, no life within, as they acknowledge. Our Lord said, "He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him" (Jn 6:56).
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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