Immaculate Conception and something like it in all baptized Christians

Today's Gospel reading comes from that scene with Gabriel announcing the Incarnation to Mary. Why is that the reading for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Because the Incarnation of Christ is the reason for the Immaculate Conception. In order to prepare the way for Christ, Mary must be made particularly ready to receive in her womb the Son of God. We who are baptized Christians are prepared similarly, but not in exactly the same way. My reflection on this goes thus:
  The Incarnation was a singular atomic event at the conception of Jesus in Mary's womb, and likewise, that preparation to receive the incarnated Jesus was a singular atomic event of the Immaculate Conception of Mary who was preserved from original sin at the moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Anne. On the other hand, the conception of Jesus in us is a gradual, unfolding event. We are first born again at baptism as a new creation, but Jesus is not incarnated in us completely. Rather, as we cooperate with God's grace, our flesh is transformed gradually into Christ's body. The more we think, speak and act as the Holy Spirit moves us, the more completely Christ is incarnated in us, culminating in the resurrection of the dead.
  I sure hope this makes sense. Anyone?

For good works

I'm okay, you're okay, we're okay? No, no, and no. Okay is not enough. Something mentioned in a forum I attended last night was the problem that many Catholics had, which would apply in or outside of Australia: we think that we're only called to be nice. No, nice is not enough. We need to be good -- holy -- so that we are more fit for every good work. Something I'd learned from the Called and Gifted Workshop run by Sherry Weddell in Melbourne (some years ago) was that our charisms, gifts from the Holy Spirit, are given to us for the sake of other people. We are graced so that we may be instrumental in God's graciousness to all. This adds meaning to the significance of our sanctification (and cooperating in it). How? By living holy, prayerful lives, we are made better instruments of God's grace to others. Therefore, it is urgent that we grow in holiness, knowledge, wisdom, faith, hope, love, and all the charisms bestowed upon us. We are not set apart just to be nice, nor in order to enjoy a peaceful, prosperous life. We were purchased at a great price! We are called and gifted in order to serve. And because God has lavished us so abundantly, we ought to serve well.

The Urgency of Sanctification

One of the things I've come to realize as my parenting years went by is just how daunting my accountability really is, as a parent. While I can look to the Holy Spirit to be the ultimate illumination and sanctification of my children, I do have a great deal to do with how their characters shape up. Just as they inherit genetic aspects of mine, so they also inherit behavioral traits. I'm not proud of my less than stellar control over my temper (and my mouth, when the former slips). I see the fruits of my trespasses in my children, who can be emotional and/or grouchy as a result. In a truly horrifying way, "my sin is always before me". Which brings me to my point: I need sanctification. Thank God for his free gift of the Holy Spirit who is the Sanctifier, but I'm not making the job easy. And my other point is that this need to be made holy, set apart for God and consecrated for good works, is an urgent need. I have a long way to go in ridding myself of my attachment to Sin, and that's a big problem, for nothing unclean may enter the Kingdom. But it isn't just that I might die tomorrow and I'm not ready. I think it is a bigger problem that I might still be alive tomorrow and I would have left my children with unresolved bad examples to follow. I'm not exaggerating my role in their upbringing, for I know that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate source of their growth in the faith, hope and love. But I do know how my actions have badly affected their behavior in some ways.

I don't want to define the boundaries of my sons' ideals based on my failures. That is simply not fair to them. Like me, the inheritance marked out for them is of the best: Heavenly glory. My bad example pulls them down and away from that! I've often thought of it in terms of health and hygiene. If I needlessly risk my health, I might fall ill and either fail to care for them due to some debilitation or.. bring home a virus that will in turn infect them.

Which is why sanctification is urgent for parents. We must cooperate with grace and do our darnedest best to become holier men and women. It's a matter of life and death, joy and misery, and it isn't just mine that's on the line.

Sower and Seed, and the Soil

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio has an insightful essay about the parable of the sower and the seed.

Fr. Jerome Magat has his own insightful angle about being fertile soil.

Christian free will, and the efficacious Word

More readings from today's Liturgy of the Hours that speak of our own participation in Christian living. To be precise, our participation in our sanctification, and, in the last reading, the promise of the here and now.

Mid-morning reading (Terce) 2 Corinthians 13:11 Brethren, be joyful. Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Noon reading (Sext) Romans 6:22 Now you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. Afternoon reading (None) Colossians 1:21 - 22 Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless.

Sanctification and Purgatory

This is not well-researched, but a thought came to mind yesterday as I listened to Dr. Francis Beckwith's interview at "Stand to Reason" (see yesterday's post) and to Dr. Scott Hahn's interview at Spirit FM from years ago. Here is another link to Scott's audio interviews via EWTN, I think. The catechism does not really provide too many specific details about Purgatory (here's an article in Catholic Answers). It could be a place or a state, for example, but no one knows how time is kept therein. But what is taught appears to me to be a mere extension of sanctification, which Evangelicals understand, except that they can only conceive of it as a process during one's life.

If any Protestant and Evangelical passes through these blogs, I would like to ask this question: from the perspective of Scripture and logic, is there any reason to definitely shun the extension of sanctification past our deaths? Note that, being an extension of sanctification, Purgatory only pertains to the justified, who are in Christ and share in his divine life.

Comments, if you please?

[I observe that much of the resistance to Purgatory has been the mistaken notion that Purgatory is a second chance for sinners to repent, to be justified, and to be sanctified. This is not so. It is only an extension to sanctification for those already justified.]

Steve Ray (from whom I borrowed that graphic above), blogged on Purgatory some time ago, too, with some Scriptural references.

Keep the commandments

The following readings are from the Liturgy of the Hours today (from Universalis.com). It speaks once again about free will and resolve. There is no contradiction with the gospel when one considers that this speaks to those who already received the circumcision which consecrates us to the Lord: baptism. Having been baptized, we are already partakers of the Lord's Spirit which enables us to do these things. But like any other father, our Heavenly Father watches us eagerly, urging us on, beaming at our resolve and efforts, confident because we are growing by his training.

	Mid-morning reading (Terce) Deuteronomy 8:5 - 6
	The Lord your God was training you as a man trains his child. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and so follow his ways and reverence him.
	Noon reading (Sext) 1 Kings 2:2 - 3
	Be strong and show yourself a man. Observe the injunctions of the Lord your God, following his ways and keeping his laws, his commandments, his customs and his decrees, so that you may be successful in all you do and undertake.
	Afternoon reading (None) Jeremiah 6:16
	Put yourselves on the ways of long ago and enquire about the ancient paths: which was the good way? Take it then, and you shall find rest.

The news is even better

At least for one Evangelical and one Baptist I have corresponded with, the notion of ascribing any value to our own effort is unthinkable. Even born-again humans are so depraved that any good we do is purely a fruit of the Holy Spirit and does not involve human effort. That puzzles me, and my understanding is more in line with this noon reading from today's Liturgy of the Hours:

[Deuteronomy 30:11 - 14] This Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance.

This comes from a long discourse from Moses, encouraging Israel in the covenant they find themselves in. The following words are particularly heartening:

[6] The LORD, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, that you may love the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live. .. [8] You, however, must again heed the LORD'S voice and carry out all his commandments which I now enjoin on you. .. [11] "For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. .. [14] No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out. .. [16] If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

There is a certain dread (perhaps Occamite in influence) in the notion of man's total depravity, which, I think, compromises the fullness of God's love for his children. The bleak view of man's fallen nature actually compromises the Christian hope in God's salvation, not only in the promise of Heaven, but also here and now in the promise of sanctification. I've always wondered why Evangelicals settle for Luther's snow-covered dunghill, when the promises of God are nothing less than to purify us, whiter than snow, and to pour upon us his own Holy Spirit. A baptist once scoffed at my allusion to free will, which he maintains is not supported by Scripture. Well it is, and the good news is better than what the notion of total depravity allows: the Lord's precepts are "not too mysterious and remote." A life of holiness is within reach, because it is he who circumcised our hearts, and it is his life, his holiness, which we partake in. Even better, in his graciousness, our Father entrusts the doing to us: "it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out." And we grow with the doing: "If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy."

The afternoon reading goes:

[Isaiah 55:10 - 11] As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.

His Word does not return empty, and the Word made flesh gives life, and in him, we are born again, sons and daughters of the most high, circumcised in our hearts by the waters of baptism. And as he declares, so it is true, for his Word is never uttered in vain. He declares us justified, and so we are. He calls us temples of the Holy Spirit, and so we are. He refers to us as holy ones, saints, and so we are, "loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."

Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours

There is this common concept among Protestants, from Luther's famous snow-covered dunghill analogy, of the sinner before the throne of mercy, receiving mercy because Christ stands in front of us, shielding us from our just punishment by his righteousness and the ransom he already paid for us. The truth is even better than that (let me borrow from Prof. Scott Hahn here).

I think readings like these from the Liturgy of the Hours tell us just how much better:

Mid-morning reading (Terce) 2 Corinthians 13:11

Brethren, be joyful. Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Noon reading (Sext) Romans 6:22

Now you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life.

Afternoon reading (None) Colossians 1:21 - 22

Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless.

The journey

I am still astounded that some Christians might not believe in the free will of man. I was told by a Calvinist once that there is no Scriptural proof for free will. Readings like those below, however, cannot be ignored. The first reading, is particularly apt here. St. Paul enjoins Christians to make the effort, presupposing that Christians are free to do so or.. not.

	Mid-morning reading (Terce) 2 Corinthians 13:11 ©
	Brethren, be joyful. Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
	Noon reading (Sext) Romans 6:22 ©
	Now you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life.
	Afternoon reading (None) Colossians 1:21 - 22 ©
	Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless.

[Liturgy of the Hours Readings from Universalis.]

The wedding feast of Heaven

Today's readings also include the parable of the wedding feast from Matthew 22:1-14. As our university chaplain explained today with a chuckle, there's nothing wrong in itself with tending your farm or business. But such harmless activities must not become more important than the kingdom of Heaven -- in which case they do become idols. Something else that caught my attention was a man not wearing the festal garment. Two questions come up for me: why was this man punished for this, and why did the Lord see fit to include this man in his parable? My Bible commentary goes thus:

You, Christians, who are already inside the Church, do you wear the new garment — a life of justice, honesty and trustworthiness? Let us not believe that the surprised guest who was not properly dressed for the occasion was some kind of poor person. No, for it was customary during those times to supply all guests with the robe they should wear at the banquet. This one could ahve put on the robe but did not, so he had nothing to answer.

I think St. Paul's words in Romans 12:1-2, I think from today's morning prayer (from the common of women saints religious: St. Rose of Lima) are appropriate here:

I beg you, by the mercy of God, to offer yourselves as a living and holy sacrifice, pleasing to God; this is the worship of a rational being. Don't let yourselves be shaped by the world where you live, but rather be transformed through the renewal of your mind. You must discern the will of God: what is good, what pleases, what is perfect.

It is not lost on me that St. Paul's imperative (if that is the term for it) words are confronting: our choice is before us — and he begs that we choose wisely. We have been brought into the banquet, the festal garment is ours to wear, but we must put it on — keep it on.

We have come into the banquet. Though we will never ourselves be worthy, we have been gathered and brought into the hall — purely by grace. The robe of the feast is ours to wear. Let us not be so foolish as to take it off.