Sunday, February 25, 2018

transformation in Christ

"A tendency on massive display in our culture is the reduction of religion to ethics. Very much in the spirit of Immanuel Kant, many people today feel that everything else in religion - art, liturgy, prayer, mysticism, the sacraments, etc. - finally centers around and leads back to morality. How often we hear some version of the following: 'Well, as long as you're a good person, what does it really matter what you believe or how you worship God?'

...if you had asked one of the Church Fathers or medieval masters what Christianity is finally about, they would definitely not have said ethics. They probably would have said...becoming conformed to the divine nature. "

                                                    - Bishop Robert Barron






Lent is a time of transformation. As we gaze in the dark faith of prayer upon the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, we are transformed into his likeness. As we leave the work of prayer for the work of charity in our world, we live in his likeness.

-  from Magnificat, February 2018

2 comments:

  1. I love both these quotes, Lisa. Our priest today said that to spend Lent just contemplating Christ's journey to Calvary and the Resurrection was to miss out on 50% of what we should be doing with our time. We should, as your quote from 'Magnificat' says, be leaving 'the work of prayer for the work of charity in this world'.

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    1. Yes - we have to do the first, and also the second. I guess everybody's on the same page this Sunday, Clare - there's something heartening about that! xoxo

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