Wednesday, September 28, 2011

In Principio Erat Verbum

"In the beginning was the Word. . . ." This is the opening line of Saint John's Gospel where he sums up the essential divine Christology; Christ (the Word) was present in the very beginning with the Father. Because Christ is God, He is present throughout all ages and transcends time itself. Christ, though, through His Incarnation (becoming man), entered man's history, or timeline, and lived among us so He could redeem us. This is a fundamental, anthropological, and theological way to understand the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Because Christ became a man to save man, He elevated all of creation for the possibility of becoming like God. As Saint Athanasius says, "God became man so man could become like God." What does this mean for man in the twenty-first century?


The whole point of my master's thesis is explaining what this very idea means to man in the present time. What does it mean that Christ is present throughout all time and yet became part of man's history to redeem him for the purpose of saving him? Pardon the cliche, but "long story short," Christ is with us now to be an example to us so we can be like Him. This may seem like a theological idea that is too difficult to grasp, or it may seem to non-believers to be a big, steaming pile of (garbage). But this idea, Christ is with us, even more, God is with us, is something which can help us renew the earth in the twenty-first century.


Many of my friends, especially those of whom I went to school with, have fallen away from the Church because of modern society's blatant rationalism and abandonment of all things which cannot be scientifically verified. Sorry to break it to you, folks, but some things are a mystery for a reason. Though this may seem like a highly rationalistic approach to understand the presence of Christ in His Mystical Body, the Church, this belief cannot be boiled down to essential elements; it must be seen through the eyes of faith. As the Blessed Pope John Paul II said the day he died, "It is Jesus Christ alone we must present to the world. Outside of this we have no reason to exist." We find answers in Christ Himself, but faith must never to placed to the side.


How is it possible for man to encounter Christ in today's society? THE EUCHARIST! Clinging yourself to Christ is the essential element in seeing Christ as One Who is present. Through sacramental signs and symbols, things that God uses to make Himself present to man, we as humans are able to comprehend the inescapable Mystery; Christ is present with us in the form of bread and wine. This bread and wine, whose external manifestations (accidents) appear to be mere bread and wine, become Transubstantiated into His Body and Blood on a "sub-level" (substance). We are able to see Christ is symbols, things which make present a reality, so we can more easily understand He Who Is. 


This blog, which will undoubtably be plagued with people refuting my claims, will serve as a source on the internet to see Christ as revealed through His Mystical Body on earth, His Church, in the Eucharistic species of bread and wine. I hope (and, dare I say, pray) that more people will come to the fulness of knowledge of Christ Himself through my unworthy teaching of His Church on His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.