One with God himself.
There is a deep sense of the family of God in the communion of saints, the Church.
No compartmentalization is between us: the Church on earth, the Church suffering in purgatory (the “holy souls”), and the saints (the Church triumphant in heaven). There is one Church, one Mystical Body of Christ, with Christ as its head. A river of love courses throughout the family of God; it binds us always closer together.
We comprise one family with God in the invisible home of his Spirit. We could not be more ennobled, and that nobility is our comfort and security. We are God’s children; we feel ourselves one.
It is Baptism that makes us members of the Mystical Body of Christ.
We have been baptized into the death and life of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine what happens when a little baby or an adult is baptized? It’s the most mysterious, awesome sacrament. By the grace of God, you enter into the death of Christ — our human imagination staggers at this.
Then, brought forth from the waters of baptism, you enter into the resurrection. This is the beginning of the mystery of the Mystical Body. That little person, aged three days or a week, has become a full-fledged member of the Mystical Body of Christ — in himself a mystery. As members of Christ’s Body, we are beloved by God and have God within our hearts.
Baptism makes you one with God himself. It brings you into Christ’s heart, his Church, there to feed you with Christ himself in the form of bread and wine. The simplicity of God is staggering. Christ, who was baptized himself, opens us to the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. His Spirit takes possession of us at baptism, and because he has taken possession of us, we become a temple of the Holy Spirit.
To think that I, Catherine, am part of Christ, not just a follower, not just a disciple, not just someone who stands near Christ as Peter did. No. I am one with Christ! Do we realize that? Do we realize what a tremendous power we have, that Christ has literally handed to us his Body the Church? Will it grow? Will it be crippled? Will it be well? A big part of that depends on you and me.
Baptism is one of the greatest sacraments, for without it we can’t have any other sacraments. To be immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ, which is baptism, is, even for a little baby, to be immersed in the fire of love.
In many countries people celebrate only their baptismal day; in other countries, the day of their patron saint. Birthdays are not much celebrated in many countries except in the sense that we thank God for being born, because that means that we can be with him after we die. Outside of that, our birthday is not too important.
But your baptismal day—it shakes you! This is a mystery that God wishes us to understand. It is a mystery, of course, but it is one that he kind of opens up. We were baptized in the Spirit when we were immersed in that water as a child or as an adult. Otherwise, how would we live?
The Spirit is in us, burning. It descended on the apostles as tongues of fire. In us it leaps like a bonfire, calling everyone to come and warm themselves at our heart. Our heart is warmed by Christ’s heart because the Holy Spirit is a bonfire in us.
… I am talking about fire. I am talking about love. I am talking about God. Do we believe that God is the great healer? That allowing ourselves to be burned by him—without burning, without being hurt, without scars,is to change ourselves and the world? When I am a bonfire, my heart is absolutely filled with his love, the love of the Three Persons, the Triune God. … Christianity is such a simple thing. …
Christ spoke to illiterate people, to cooks, to slaves, to servants. And in the background were those who were supposed to know something, but they were always in the background. The little ones, the unimportant ones like us were listening.
His words were simple. Those with listening hearts caught them. They didn’t ask a thousand questions; they just let themselves flow into his fire. Without arising, just sitting there listening to him, they sort of let themselves go, accepting his words, accepting the fire.
And the result was beautiful. The result was faith: faith in him, faith in his Father, faith in the Spirit, which at that time was yet to come in contact with man. But we have all three because we live in the resurrected Christ.
Christ is in our midst now and forever. Are we aware of it? Christ is in every one of us.… So whenever you feel lonely, turn around, start a journey inward into your own soul or heart, and he will be there! How can one be lonely when God is in our midst? To be baptised is to belong.
But we have to believe with a faith that transcends all our intellectual abilities. So, closing the doors of the mind and falling on our knees, we ask God to allow us to see a little deeper in the mystery of the fire.
For we must burn, or our baptism is in vain. We must burn with his love. We must burn preaching the Gospel with our lives. This is the fire, and it belongs to all of us.
Excerpted from spiritual readings May 16, 1973 and July 26, 1977 and from Mystical Body of Christ, 2013, available from Madonna House Publications.
[Sketch by ©Alexander MacAdam]
