"...The secret is this: Christ in you, the hope of a glory to come" (Col. 1:27).
Our original theme of "perfect happiness is our birthright" is rooted in the firm belief that God has adequately provided for realization of this birthright. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the remedy envisaged and made possible by God to overcome all obstacles standing in the way of our wholesomeness. This remedy for our ills is not restricted to any group or society as it is meant for healing the entire human race for which Jesus died on the cross. The duty of the Church is to announce the good news of Jesus Christ to the entire world without arrogating to itself any privileged position. This is so because the entire human race is under divine judgment and God has no partiality to anyone in particular. St. Peter realized this truth early in his ministry and spoke about it in the house of Cornelius(Acts, 10:34-35). Further, the Holy Spirit came upon the Jews and the non-Jews alike even before their baptism just by hearing the Word of God (Acts, 10:44).
The presence of Christ through his Spirit is, therefore, not restricted to the members of the visible Church. The Church from its very beginning has been teaching this truth about the invisible Church as essential to the visible one. The fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead for and in place of the entire humanity means that his presence is universal encompassing all human beings. St. Paul expresses it convincingly when he wrote: " But God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ (Rom., 5:15). Here the use of "so many" stands for "all" as none is excluded from death, so no one is excluded from
grace As the poison of sin ravaged the entire humanity by the sin of Adam, the antidote of redemption provided by Jesus penetrated the whole humankind. In both the cases, however, our personal sharing enlivens the potentiality for evil or that for good in our daily practical life. We may point out here that the relevance of Jesus Christ for the entire humanity is but a continuation of God's care and concern for all as is evident from the Old Testament times.
The fact that God elected a certain people to be His own did not mean that He did not care about others. On the contrary, the purpose of God in electing Israel from all others was to prepare a people to live according to His own heart and be a model to others and this is equally applicable to the Church today. Whenever they failed in their mission, God punished them as severely as the others whom He uprooted and destroyed for the sake of Israel. Besides, even the Word of God was not restricted to the prophets of Israel as others too were instructed by God in favor and against Israel on occasions. All these are recorded in the Old Testament and just by way of example we may consider the last two chapters of 2 Chronicles 35 and 36 concerning Josiah and Cyrus.
Josiah was king of Judah and he kept the statutes and ordinances of God like no other king and God was well pleased with him. Yet, when he wanted to attack the king of Egypt, Necho, the Egyptian king warned him to desist from the attempt as it was the word of God. As Josiah did not listen to Necho and persisted in his resolve to attack, he was fatally wounded and succumbed to the wound suffered by him. Josiah pleased God in everything he did and yet was abandoned to his whims and fancies in refusing to believe that the word of God could come from Necho, the king of Egypt, a non-Israelite. Similarly, Cyrus, the king of Persia was inspired by God to free the Jews from captivity and allow them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.
In light of the above and numerous other instances, it is clear that the final and decisive remedy for the ills of humankind instituted by God , i.e., Jesus Christ could not be far from any human being. The body of Christ is being built through the infusion of his Spirit whereby we become his dwelling place. Pope Benedict XVI wrote: "If Christ himself is inside me and I inside him, the two of us are not separate individuals. This is where the doctrine of the Body of Christ begins, because we are all incorporated ... in Christ himself". However, this incorporation has degrees of perfection in various individuals. Since Jesus died and rose from the dead sending his Spirit into the world, every human being is incorporated inchoatively. This is to be perfected by consciously developing our divine potentialities hidden as images and likenesses of God. Jesus Christ being the perfect image and likeness of God , to be united with him means to be in communion with God. Union with Christ should be both visible and invisible so that we may say truly that Christ is in us.
Our original theme of "perfect happiness is our birthright" is rooted in the firm belief that God has adequately provided for realization of this birthright. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the remedy envisaged and made possible by God to overcome all obstacles standing in the way of our wholesomeness. This remedy for our ills is not restricted to any group or society as it is meant for healing the entire human race for which Jesus died on the cross. The duty of the Church is to announce the good news of Jesus Christ to the entire world without arrogating to itself any privileged position. This is so because the entire human race is under divine judgment and God has no partiality to anyone in particular. St. Peter realized this truth early in his ministry and spoke about it in the house of Cornelius(Acts, 10:34-35). Further, the Holy Spirit came upon the Jews and the non-Jews alike even before their baptism just by hearing the Word of God (Acts, 10:44).
The presence of Christ through his Spirit is, therefore, not restricted to the members of the visible Church. The Church from its very beginning has been teaching this truth about the invisible Church as essential to the visible one. The fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead for and in place of the entire humanity means that his presence is universal encompassing all human beings. St. Paul expresses it convincingly when he wrote: " But God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ (Rom., 5:15). Here the use of "so many" stands for "all" as none is excluded from death, so no one is excluded from
grace As the poison of sin ravaged the entire humanity by the sin of Adam, the antidote of redemption provided by Jesus penetrated the whole humankind. In both the cases, however, our personal sharing enlivens the potentiality for evil or that for good in our daily practical life. We may point out here that the relevance of Jesus Christ for the entire humanity is but a continuation of God's care and concern for all as is evident from the Old Testament times.
The fact that God elected a certain people to be His own did not mean that He did not care about others. On the contrary, the purpose of God in electing Israel from all others was to prepare a people to live according to His own heart and be a model to others and this is equally applicable to the Church today. Whenever they failed in their mission, God punished them as severely as the others whom He uprooted and destroyed for the sake of Israel. Besides, even the Word of God was not restricted to the prophets of Israel as others too were instructed by God in favor and against Israel on occasions. All these are recorded in the Old Testament and just by way of example we may consider the last two chapters of 2 Chronicles 35 and 36 concerning Josiah and Cyrus.
Josiah was king of Judah and he kept the statutes and ordinances of God like no other king and God was well pleased with him. Yet, when he wanted to attack the king of Egypt, Necho, the Egyptian king warned him to desist from the attempt as it was the word of God. As Josiah did not listen to Necho and persisted in his resolve to attack, he was fatally wounded and succumbed to the wound suffered by him. Josiah pleased God in everything he did and yet was abandoned to his whims and fancies in refusing to believe that the word of God could come from Necho, the king of Egypt, a non-Israelite. Similarly, Cyrus, the king of Persia was inspired by God to free the Jews from captivity and allow them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.
In light of the above and numerous other instances, it is clear that the final and decisive remedy for the ills of humankind instituted by God , i.e., Jesus Christ could not be far from any human being. The body of Christ is being built through the infusion of his Spirit whereby we become his dwelling place. Pope Benedict XVI wrote: "If Christ himself is inside me and I inside him, the two of us are not separate individuals. This is where the doctrine of the Body of Christ begins, because we are all incorporated ... in Christ himself". However, this incorporation has degrees of perfection in various individuals. Since Jesus died and rose from the dead sending his Spirit into the world, every human being is incorporated inchoatively. This is to be perfected by consciously developing our divine potentialities hidden as images and likenesses of God. Jesus Christ being the perfect image and likeness of God , to be united with him means to be in communion with God. Union with Christ should be both visible and invisible so that we may say truly that Christ is in us.
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