The Experiences of the Sanctuary of Our Soul
The “Body of Christ” described by St. Paul can also be compared to a mosaic comprised of many small, broken shards of multicolored glass. Each Shard refracts & reflects the “Light of Christ”, differently. Each shard reflects a tiny sliver of the “Spectrum of the Light of Christ”.
Individually, they are insignificant. Collectively, they display the magnificent majesty of Jesus Christ. Each shard of different shape & function is valued the same by God. That’s the Cosmic Beauty & Mystery of the “Body of Christ”.
St. Paul realized that he did not deserve to be chosen as the “Disciple to the Gentiles”. In fact, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians to be killed, when he had his conversion experience. That experience convinced Paul that humanity does not, nor cannot, do anything to earn God’s Love. Only The Redemptive Cross is sufficient for humanity’s reconciliation with God.
We don’t earn God’s Love by Keeping commandments, Doing good deeds, or Knowing Scripture. God already loves us “As Is”. Our relationship with God is Not Based on some Pavlovian “Quid-Pro-Quo” – “Ladder-Based” Theology where we climb our way up to God. We don’t earn God’s Love. God loves us “As Is”.
In the process of loving God and others, we will keep commandments, do good deeds, and adhere to the Word of God.
As St. Paul wrote, “And the greatest of these is Love”. As Christ said, “By this, shall all men know that you are my disciple, if you love one another, as I have loved you.
Loving is a tougher standard than “Keeping”, “Doing”, and “Knowing”.
St. Paul also realized that Christ made No distinction between Himself and believers in Him. (“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME.”) Saul never met Christ. Saul never persecuted Christ. Saul persecuted believers in Christ. The “Body of Christ” is comprised of many different members who all believe that Christ is their “Savior” and that Christ is the “Head” of the Body.
The life-blood of the “Body of Christ” is he gift of grace that flows from Christ to and through each member to every other member and back to God, by the mutual circulation of Love. That’s the Pascal Mystery of God’s reconciled relationship with humanity.
That reconciled relationship is experienced at a level beyond “Keeping”, “Doing” and “Knowing”. It is experienced by “Being” … in Love … with God. It’s the awesome awareness of the presence of God within us.
The above YouTube music video expresses God’s unconditional Love for us. Christ asks that we love one another, likewise.
NB (Note Bene): The concept of “experiencing the presence of God within us” is traced to the ancient Greek Philosophers and reinforced by the brilliant minds of Western Philosophers and Theologians throughout the ages. Everything we need to know has been “hard-wired” into our soul, by our Creator. We spend our life recognizing (Latin: Re-Cognito – “To Know Again”) what’s already intrinsically known, that we were made by God, for God.
Christ demonstrated God’s Love for us by entering our humanity, and by His Sacrifice on Good Friday, reconciled the broken relationship with God. (Like broken branches re-grafted to the Living Vine.) We need to believe that by “Loving God, and others, as Christ has loved us”.
That Belief in Love requires:
- The Humility of the creature to the Creator.
- The Gratitude of the sinner to the Savior.
- The Repentance “To create in me a new clean heart”.
- The Trust that God is sovereign overall things.
Then, the New Covenant of God’s reconciled relationship with humanity is born again in the believing members of the “Body of Christ”, as children of God and heirs to Heaven.
The above YouTube Music Video Expresses the Power of Faith in The Majestic Creator, Loving Redeemer, and Holy Spirit.
The spiritual experience of the love relationship with God exists on a Mystical Level. It defies the finite limitations of language, logic, or analysis. It’s an indescribable glimpse of the power & wisdom of the Majestic Creator, the mercy & forgiveness of the Loving Redeemer, and the peace & joy of the Holy Spirit.
As such, there is an intrinsic, systemic, life-changing focus in the member of the “Body of Christ”. The member WANTS to love God and each other, above all else. Then, the dross of Pride, Lust, Greed, Anger, etc., which fester in the soft underbelly of our humanity, melts away. The temptations of the Powers & Principalities have the allure of cheap perfume. Satan’s attempts to use compromise & rationalization to dilute our relationship with God are recognized as illusions, and not the solutions they promise to be.
This internal, systemic life-changing Mystical Experience of a loving relationship with God serves the same purpose as the Scriptural external weapons of a helmet, breastplate, shield & sword. Perhaps, the communal power of the loving communion with God, by the members of the “Body of Christ”, is more than sufficient strength NOT to turn our face from God. Rather, “Like the deer pants for the flowing stream”, our soul thirsts for the Loving God” is an overwhelming experience quenched only by loving God and others.
The Above YouTube Music Video Captures the Essence of “Being” God’s Friend.
It’s the Transformational State of “Being” … in Love.
God Loves Us “As Is”. We don’t Earn God’s Love by: Keeping Commandments. Doing Good Deeds. Knowing Scripture. Christ’s Death & Resurrection was sufficient to “Re-Graft the Broken Branches into the Living Vine”. We Experience God’s Love on the “Mystic Level”: By Opening our Minds. Softening our Hears. And Accepting God’s Love to Enter the Sanctuary of our Soul. It’s a Passive Mystic Experience. Not an Active Effort of Our Earning,.