“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.” (John 17:21-24)
We’ve established in previous posts that the only thing that can rupture this ‘oneness’ is sin, by our willingly choosing to go against Divine Will.
Dom Prosper Guéranger writes… “But is this rupture beyond the hope of reconciliation? Yes, as far as sinful man’s power is concerned; for he can never, of himself, recover his position with the Blessed Trinity, which God’s gratuitous bounty had prepared, and His incomprehensible goodness achieved. But, as the Church teaches us in her liturgy, God never shows His power more than when He has pity on a sinner and pardons him; it is this powerful mercy of God which can work the prodigy of a reconciliation; and He really does work it, as often as a sinner is converted.”
Our part in the body of Christ then becomes one of helping to bring those on the outside into full reconciliation. How do we do this?
In ‘Set Aside Every Fear (Catherine of Siena) we read.
“You seek to suffer for your own sins and the sins of the world. But know this: no suffering, no pain by itself, can atone for even the smallest fault”… at first glance this isn’t too encouraging… but there’s more.
Inasmuch as your life is filled with desire and you accept your suffering with desire and contrition, your pain is worthwhile.
This is what Paul was talking of when he said:
If I had the tongues of an angel, and if I knew the things of the future and gave my body to be burned, and had not love, it would be worth nothing to me.
When, and only when, our finite works are offered up and seasoned with love, do they become infinitely worthy.”
These “finite works” of ours, seasoned with love then become reparation worthy.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
In ‘The Secret of the Holy Face’, Fr. Lawrence Carney states “God has told us how to defeat any enemy who wants to enslave us; follow His commandments, and He will deliver the enemy into our hands. When we make reparation, it is like sweet smelling incense rising up to heaven.
… Leviticus 26 provides a battle plan to defeat evil in our day.
First, God warns us not to make idols to worship. Second, He commands us to reverence His sanctuary. Then, He says,”Keep my commandments.” This means do not blaspheme. So, in summary, we have the first three commandments: do not commit idolatry, irreverence, and blasphemy. God promises blessings to those who follow His commandments:”
In todays readings we also hear “Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you for ever.” – Deuteronomy 4:40
In these days of darkness when so many are being deceived into living outside of the church which is the Body of Christ, then it becomes dependent on the others to be even more fully committed even to the point of suffering. That is reparation.
We don’t have to overly complicate things though…
Our Blessed Mother, as one who is already fully united to the Trinity tells us in the Blue Book #17 O “ For the present, my beloved sons, pray, love one another, be as little children: let yourselves be formed and guided by me alone.”
“Adoration, then, and love, be to Thee, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, O perfect Trinity, that hast vouchsafed to reveal Thyself to mankind; O eternal and infinite Unity, that hast delivered our forefathers from the yoke of their false gods! Glory be to Thee, as it was in the beginning, before any creature existed; as it is now, at this very time, whilst we are living in the hope of that true life, which consists in seeing Thee face-to-face; and as it shall forever be, in those everlasting ages, when a blissful eternity shall have united us in the bosom of Thine infinite Majesty. Amen.”
Fr. Dom Prosper Gueranger