"Becoming divine we become fully human"

REFLECTION by Sr Redempta Twomey SSC

There is a tiny moment at Mass when the priest, just before he offers the wine at the altar, adds a few drops of water to the chalice and prays in these startling words: "By the mystery of this water and wine may we become partakers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." Familiarity may have dulled our sense of wonder, but what we are asking for is nothing less than the very divinity of God D to become divine like Christ himself.

This is hard to believe -  that we, so mired in sin, so stuck in the narrow confines of our humanity, so seemingly far from the sheer goodness and glory of God, should be called not just to reform our lives and overcome our weaknesses, but to be like God himself, to be divine.

Unbelievable as it may seem, and utterly amazing, we, in all our weakness and brokenness, are diamonds of divinity. This is not because of any ascetic practice or powerful prayer on our part, but because of the radical goodness of God and his unfathomable love of us. The holy Spirit works in our hearts not simply to help us to grow in virtue, but far more than this D to form us in the image of the Son to make us participants in the divine nature of God himself. What Christ is fully, we are by participation, GodOs child, reborn in a new sphere of existence. "You have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, OAbba Father!O" (Rom 8:15). As a recent writer says, "What this central mystery of the Incarnation means for us is that human nature of itself is of such dignity that it is possible for God to live and act through it." (M. Casey).

Because of this great gift we can truly live as Jesus taught us, responding to his call of love and service with humility and simplicity of heart. Our joy increases as we reflect on the enormity of the gift that is ours, however wretched or pain-filled our lives may be. Like Jesus, we too must carry our cross, face rejection and suffer. Our divinisation does not insulate us from the pain of life; rather we become more sensitive to the cries of our brothers and sisters, the cry of creation. In fact the paradox is that by becoming divine we begin to be fully human. As we reflect on and claim this innermost truth of ourselves, the deepest longings of our heart are revealed. We touch on the astounding love of God for us and know, at a level beyond thought, that nothing less than God himself can satisfy our soul.

How crucial then, for us to get to know Jesus who, as we pray, "humbled himself to share our humanity". Drawing near to him we learn to accept our own humanity and what it means that we, as St Peter wrote, "come to share in the divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4). Jesus, who said, "I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly" (Jn 10:10), shows us what this life means and that it is ours for the living. We are not on our own, God lives in us and that makes all the difference.

"May your have strength to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph 3:18).

S.R.T