“I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you”
In the Spiritual Reading from St. Cyril of Alexandria (found in the Quick Connect) we are reminded, “now that the righteousness of Christ has found a place in our hearts we have freed ourselves from our former condition of corruptibility.” This follows directly from what we here in the Gospel today when Jesus tells us “I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” God is in us! We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism and Confirmation. We have been freed from our former condition and we are no longer subject to the weaknesses of the flesh.
What does “our former condition” mean? After the fall from the Garden of Eden, all humans are born into Original Sin and are subject to its effects. Our human nature is now fallen below what God intended it to be and there is nothing we can do of our own to change that reality. “Our former condition” refers to the truth that we have concupiscence, desires of the flesh that are unruly and impossible to control without the assistance of Grace. Due to these temptations and the failures that inevitably follow, our condition means that we all merit death and hell. The good news is that everything changed because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ! “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; he suffered death in the flesh in order to give all men life.” [1] What Christ accomplished was a restoration of our human nature not simply to the status that it held before the fall, but to a supernatural height. Since Jesus made all things righteous by his death and he suffered for all of our sins and deserved punishments, “we have been justified by our faith in Christ and the power of the curse has been broken.” [2] God is the One who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ.
Why can’t we remain the way we are now? We can’t remain in that former condition of sinfulness and ignorance because God is in us! “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” [3]
St. Paul is probably the best example of conversion and becoming a radically new creation in Christ. He was a well-known persecutor of the Jews and became one of the greatest Apostles. Saul, as he was formerly known, was a devout Jew who believed that Jesus was a fraud and so he thought it was God’s will that he kill all the followers of Christ. En route to Damascus, Saul was struck blind and heard the voice of God call out to him asking “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” [4] Saul remained blind and fasted for three days until Ananias, a disciple of Christ, visited him and restored his sight. Saul’s life was never the same from the moment the Holy Spirit came upon him, he became a great evangelizer and was the most prolific writer of all the Apostles.
How can we become “new creations”? We become “new creatures” by becoming “ambassadors for Christ” and cooperating with the activity of the Holy Spirit. Our old condition of sinful concupiscence must die and we must let go of all our sinful desires and actions. St. Paul concisely sums it up, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” [5] We must crucify our desires and all of our own personal weaknesses with Christ; we must lay down our lives and surrender control of our lives over to God. Then we may say with St. Paul “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Obviously while we are on earth, we will still have life in the flesh of our bodies. Our earthly lives must be characterized by our faith in Jesus the Son of God who loves us and laid down His life for us. That belief has to pervade our entire being and it has to affect every choice we make and all of our actions.
In what areas have we surrendered control of our lives to God? What areas were more difficult? What areas were less difficult?
What if we do not change our lives after finding the Truth in Christ? If we choose not to change our lives and become new creations, that can mean one of two things. It might mean that we are not in Christ and do not have faith in His life and teachings. In that case, Christ would not be in us and we would not be on the path of righteousness. It also might mean that we are choosing to sin against God. St. Paul explains, “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.” [6] Once we see the error of sin, we are called to receive the forgiveness of God and repent. If instead, we choose to remain in that sin or to fall back into it, then we are forsaking our identity in Christ and we are forfeiting our inheritance as children of God.
Aren’t we still subject to the condition of corruptibility (i.e. we still suffer and die)? Yes, we are still subject to the effects of corruptibility; we still suffer and will die in the flesh. We may be called to suffer great torments and tortures in our flesh or die painful deaths. However, we may take comfort in the fact that if we remain faithful, we can never lose our life in the Spirit nor our relationship with Christ. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [7]
We may lose the pleasures of the world, yet even through pain, persecution, suffering, and death we preserve our soul. Our Lord asks us, “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” [8] If a man can lose his soul in the midst of gaining the world, it is also true that in the midst of securing his soul, man can lose the world. Many have had to lose the exterior life of the world in order to gain and preserve the interior life of the soul.
[1] Spiritual Reading, St. Cyril of Alexandria
[2] Spiritual Reading, St. Cyril of Alexandria
[3] 2 Corinthians 5: 17
[4] Acts 9:4
[5] Galatians 2:20
[6] Galatians 2:17-18
[7] Romans 8:35, 38-39
[8] Mark 8:36