“Made partakers of the divine nature”

THAT’S from the Second Letter of St. Peter. (1,4) The complete verse says: “All things of his divine power which appertain to life and godliness, are given us, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own proper glory and virtue. By whom he has given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world.” 

 While this foundational truth might stun us, our calling is to move from passive acceptance to active, lived application. This monumental truth certainly leaves us breathless, challenging us to not just contemplate it, but to truly walk it out. 

 That is why, St. Peter recommended the following steps to follow: “And you, employing all care, minister in your faith, virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, abstinence; and in abstinence, patience; and in patience, godliness; and in godliness, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity.” (2 Peter 1,5-7) 

 To be partakers of the divine nature means to participate or share in the divine nature. We do not become God by our own nature; rather, God gives us a share in what he is living and giving. 

 The purpose of this participation is for moral renewal, enabling us to escape the corruption in the world. This participation in the divine nature is about being healed and transformed by escaping sin and living a new life. 

 This is the reason why God became man in Christ and made constantly present in the world through the Holy Spirit. In this way, we can truly become God’s children. 

 But for this truth of faith to take place in us, we need to humble ourselves so that the light of faith can guide us rather than we just keeping to ourselves in our own estimations and ways. Let’s remember that God is ever willing and eager to share his life and nature with us. Our sharing in God’s life starts with our faith in God, but for that faith to take root in us, we need to be humble. 

 We should spend time meditating on this truth of our faith, and we should try to overcome whatever awkwardness and disbelief we have about it. Truth is, given the way the world is developing today, with so much drifting away if not rebellion against God, we need some divine powers to put ourselves afloat in our true dignity as children of God. 

 To be sure, if we have the right intention to share God’s life, we would always remain humble and ever eager to help others. Otherwise, we would be playing the game of the devil! 

 With humility, we would be able to give our all to God. We can be generous and magnanimous just as God is overwhelmingly generous and magnanimous to all of us. There has to be that mutual dynamic of love and self-giving that has been initiated by God himself. God loves us first, and we have to learn to love him in return, a love that is also expressed in loving everybody just as God loves everybody irrespective of how they are! 

 Let’s not be afraid of the effort and the sacrifices involved in this process. It will all be worthwhile. If we truly try to identify ourselves with Christ, we would be confident that Christ himself would give us the same peace and joy that he had as he went through his own passion and death on the cross to recover our true dignity as children of God.

Pursuing the Trinitarian life

WITH the celebration of the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, we are reminded of the most important mystery of our faith, the fount of all the other truths and mysteries of our faith, since it shows us the inmost and intimate life of God in himself, even before being the Creator of the universe. 

 The relevance of this mystery in our life stems from the basic truth that we, as man, are created in God’s image and likeness, adopted children of his, and therefore made to reflect and, in fact, participate in this very Trinitarian life of God. The implications and consequences of this truth are endless, but let’s tackle at least a few of them for now. 

 Through this mystery, which was revealed to us in full by Christ, we are told that God, though one, are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because the absolutely one and simple God is never an idle God, nor a lonely God. 

 He is rather a God who is full of dynamism, an eternal dynamism of knowing and loving. His knowing and loving are no mere acts that begin and end, that come from potency to act, but are so perfect that they create the three eternal persons in that one God. 

 Since the life of God is Trinitarian, we need to know how to deal even while here on earth, even while pursuing our exciting earthly affairs, with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This will guarantee that whatever we do here would redound to our authentic good, that they are done with God and for God, and not just for ourselves. 

 In fact, our life should somehow reflect the Trinitarian character of divine life. God, though absolutely simple and one, is triune. That’s because even though he is one, he is not alone nor idle. 

 With his eternal dynamic life of knowing and loving, he generates within himself an eternal kind of spiral of relationship of Father, he who knows, the Son, the self-knowledge of God, and the Holy Spirit, the love between the Father and the Son. 

 These are persons who are consubstantial with each other, that is, each one of them is the fullness of God, and not just a part of God. They cannot be separated from one another. In the very one God, there’s one person who knows, another one who is known, and a third one who is the love. All these acting in eternity, and all at once. 

 For our life to reflect this Trinitarian life, we need to follow the teaching and example of Christ, the Son of God who became man who revealed to us this mystery of the Blessed Trinity. 

 Like him, we have to do no other than the will of the Father, and to do it in the Holy Spirit for it to acquire its ultimate eternal value proper to us. This is how our life and all our activities and concerns should be developed. 

 Perhaps as a guiding formula, we can use the expression: “By the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.” Such motto would also give us ideas of how to deal with each person of the Blessed Trinity, and really live in a Trinitarian way daily, as we ought. 

 We have to learn to deal with God in his Trinitarian life—that is with the Father who knows and loves, and with the Son who is the known and the loved, and the Holy Spirit who is the very love of God. Our knowing and loving should reflect the eternal knowing and loving of the Trinitarian God.

Be fruitful in season or out of season

THIS is what we can draw from that gospel episode where Christ saw a fig tree with a lot of leaves but without the fruit. (cfr. Mk 11,12-13) Disappointed, he said: “May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more for ever.” 

 His statement may sound unfair, since it was said that it was not the season for figs. But upon considering who said it and what the tree was to him, it could not be said that it was unfair. Christ wanted to give the lesson that everyone should always be consistent of who we truly are and why we have to be fruitful all the time. 

 Christ is the source of all good things. No one can bear fruit, the real fruit, if he is not vitally connected to Christ, like a branch can only be alive and fruitful when united to the vine. We are expected to be fruitful always because we are expected to always be united to Christ. 

 Everyday, we should be keenly aware that we need to be fruitful and productive. That’s simply because even from the beginning of our creation in Adam and Eve, this has always been God’s will for us. 

 “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,” (Gen 1,28) God told our first parents, clearly outlining his mandate to them. It’s a mandate that continues to be repeated up to now. Christ himself said as much. 

 In his parable of the three servants (cfr Mr 25,14-30), a master clearly told each one to trade with the amount given to them. He was happy with the first two who gained as much as was given. But he was mad at the third one who did nothing with the amount given. 

 We have to realize that God has already given us everything that we need not only to survive but also to improve our lot that ultimately translates into realizing the fullness of our dignity as image and likeness of God, as children of his. 

 In this regard, we truly should be most enterprising, coming up with daily plans and strategies such that at the end of the day, when we make our examination of conscience, we can show God that we have gained something, and that the daily balance sheet of our spiritual life is in the black, not in the red. 

 We have to realize that the capitalization of this enterprise cannot be any better. God has given us everything–life, talents, intelligence, freedom, all kinds of capacities, his graces, etc. 

 And even if we commit mistakes or we fall into sin, no matter how grave, his mercy is always available. It’s really just up to us to make use of what is all there for the taking. 

 We have to assume the attitude of a shrewd businessman who is keen in discovering new possibilities of making money and expanding his business. Thus, in our spiritual life, in our relationship with God and with others, we should never say enough in loving them. 

 We have to increasingly go deeper, higher and beyond what is already attained. We should avoid complacency and self-satisfaction. Our attitude should reflect the lyrics of a Spiral Staircase song: “I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow.” 

 Of course, we should do all this with rectitude of intention, otherwise whatever good we can derive in being enterprising in our spiritual and moral life can only spoil us. In this, sad to say, we have many examples. We have to realize that the more we gain, the more we have to give. “Freely you have received, freely give,” Christ said. (Mt 10,8)