Because we’re so used to hearing about it, the communion of saints often becomes a cliche.
It’s reduced to a large group of people hanging out in a really cool place helping us find our keys and such while waiting for us to finally arrive.
But the Church thinks this heavenly family is so important, that right out of the gate at the beginning of the year, on the great Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - we get a reminder that it’s far, far more…
What’s really awaiting us?
It was right there in the second reading on New Year's Day, from Paul's letter to the Galatians: “God sent his Son [...] so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.” (4:4-7).
Think about that for a moment.
Because that's the true essence, the ridiculous reality of sainthood.
Paul is telling us that (provided we follow the Lord) we are really destined to become divine.
“Son and heir” is no euphemism.
Through the sacraments we have “put on Christ” and become one with Him (Gal 3:27). We are really joined to his Divine Family.
It sounds a bit shocking doesn’t it?
But what begins at baptism continues throughout the rest of our sacramental life, particularly in the Eucharist, in which St. Thomas Aquinas declares “we partake of a food capable of making man divine.”
And it makes perfect sense when you think about it…If Jesus is divine and we are united to him – “one body” as St. Paul writes – then our destiny is divine, as well. (1 Cor 12:13)
As St. Peter puts it, we have become “partakers of the divine nature” of God (2 Pt 1:4). We obviously don’t become equal to God. He is God and we remain creatures.
But through his gift of grace, we become what he is by nature…divine!
Of course, we’re not yet there. That's what the spiritual life is all about.
Little by little, as we go deeper into prayer and grow in virtue we are becoming more like Christ, "sons in the Son".
As Clement of Alexandria declared, “being baptized, we are illuminated; illuminated, we become sons; being made sons, we are made perfect; being made perfect we are made immortal. ‘I’ says He, ‘have said that you are gods, and all sons of the Highest.”
So turn your eyes upward, my brothers and sisters in Christ! Behold your divine destiny! We are created for a future beyond our wildest dreams!
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; AND SO WE ARE”!
God bless you, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Matthew
P.S. You can't grow into God's family without a real life of prayer. Get my FREE guide to meditative prayer, 8 Ways To Jump-Start Your Prayer Life! CLICK HERE to download now!
