As I gaze at the world, I often see the real struggle of each person as they journey through life. People walk through, often battered and worn by the storms of life, and it leads them to seek meaning in the midst of it all. What is the purpose? Where am I headed? What’s the point? People are looking for a sign or a way to understand the mystery of human existence. People’s lives often look like a ship at sea seeking port: to rest, to eat, and to drink. I believe in a way they are looking for Christ and the economy of salvation, to rest their minds and hearts upon something sound, solid, and eternal. As grace flows through the world, their eyes are opened a little, and they notice they have no lasting city here…
This is the beauty of conversion to Christ… In this encounter, through his mystical body the Church, the human person finds answers to the greatest questions weighing heavy upon their minds and hearts. They begin to see the multiple voices of the world brought to silence, as God’s word is read and listened to attentively in the walls of the Church, the Bride of Christ. As if Christ’s voice, through his Word, was the most important message to be attentive to and all other speech fell by the wayside… The media cries loudly and politicians push for our central focus. But St. Peter reminds us, “You will do well to pay attention to “THIS” as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Pt. 1:19).” For salvation in Christ is life’s goal and purpose. This is the reason Christ tells his Apostle, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Mt. 28:19-20).”
To change the world was not particularly Christ’s goal (but is a secondary effect), but rather salvation in the ‘world of persons’ in it. ”Christianity… is not a religion of progress. It is the religion of salvation” ( Charles Peguy). For Jesus Christ foreknew, in the midst of all his efforts, the seed of salvation he desired to sow in persons, at times will only bounce off hard hearts and unchanging minds, even though the truth He spoke was unshakably clear… So unclouded, at times it causes the Church to tremble, for so often His words rebuke or cut at the movements of the heart. As the Authentic Cardinal remarks, “Unless we enter into fear and adoration (at the reality of God present on the Altar), we never arrive at love and union” (Cardinal Sarah). The salvation of persons depends on a real interior life. For the more Christ encompasses the heart, the more our exterior acts will naturally be authentically good, through and through. For all true virtues acts are always done for the right reason, and the noblest of all reasons is to glorify God… Not to impress my neighbor or friend, but simply because Christ died for them and I desire to glorify God with a love similar in depth.
In entering the Church through baptism or putting on the “wedding garment” which allows us to attend the feast of salvation, we are elevated to communion with God, and our mission becomes a desire for others to come to the harbor of salvation through Christ. For at our baptism, God’s life “opens up a new and permanent field of activity in a higher sphere” (Matthias Scheeben) to experience these heavenly, sacred, and sanctifying realities which we received from so noble a King. For ‘the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come” ‘ (Rev. 22:17).
Father Paul Abbruscato
Latest posts by Father Paul Abbruscato (see all)
- Parish Life - December 21, 2021
- Salvation in and through the Church: The New and Eternal Covenant - October 13, 2020
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