How should we express the truth through our lives that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Although the Word of God was the Son of God even before the beginning of the world, as Jesus Christ he was declared Son of God through his resurrection from the dead (Romans, 1: 3-4). In the history of salvation God fixed certain points in time to insert His plan of salvation into history like the Incarnation, death and glorification etc. of Jesus Christ. What we need to do is to insert ourselves into this stream of action initiated and sustained by God through His Son that is achieved by our faith in Jesus Christ and reception of the Holy Spirit. We are initiated into divine life and sustained by the Sacraments within the community of faith called the Church whereby we become the people of God. However, other people are not excluded from God's love and reception of His Spirit provided they fear God and do what is right in His sight as there is no partiality in God (Acts, 10:34-35). If this is the necessary and sufficient condition for everyone to be accepted by God, how can the baptized be found wanting in them and still hope to be saved? A member of the Church is, therefore, called to manifest the Son of God in one's own life by following Jesus Christ that cannot be done without self-denial and carrying one's daily cross (Mark, 8:34). By inserting these essential conditions into our daily lives, we at the same time proclaim the Gospel of Christ that is essentially identified with Jesus Christ himself. This is how our faith would not be a dead one, but a living one throbbing with divine life expressed in our attitudes as children of God We are thus sons and daughters of God by adoption in virtue of the merits of the natural Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Some might misunderstand us as having denied all relevance of devotions, devotionals, prayers to saints, prayers of mediation through Mary, Mother of God, and Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament etc. This is not actually the case. What we object to is the commercialization of devotions for monetary gains, keeping the people in ignorance misleading the gullible into superstitious practices by those very people appointed by God to lead them into living waters. They do it by extolling Mary independently of Jesus Christ without whom she could not even be saved, changing the nature of the Holy Eucharist by devotions without proper explanations and guidance of perspectives to the believers etc. What is urgently needed is not the abolition of such practices, but instilling proper perspectives about them so that people are not swayed by the inessentials forgetting or being ignorant of the essentials of their faith. Let us just take an example from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles where we see instances of true devotions without deviating from the true objects of faith. The woman with the hemorrhage of blood sincerely believed that if only she could at least touch the hem of Jesus' cloak, she would be cured of her malady. Similarly, during Peter's mission of preaching the Gospel people believed that their illness could be healed if only even the shadow of Peter were to fall on them These are instances of genuine devotions because their main attention was on the persons in whom they believed relegating the cloak and the shadow to the background as mere instruments. When the persons of our object of faith are supplanted by the instruments themselves as objects filled with power, we are led into superstitions. Add monetary value in the process for having access to this power objectified in certain articles, we might say that we are practicing a kind of simony akin to the attempt of Simon Magus who wanted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit from Simon Peter. The same may be said about selling blessings by priests on the occasions of birthdays, anniversaries, etc., of people with the tacit understanding that a contribution to the Church is expected. People are taxed for spiritual blessings to which they have a birth-right and therefore are not a favor rendered by the priests. It is the spirit of the Church from the beginning that we share our resources with the poor and the charities undertaken by the Church, but it should be voluntary for which the faithful should be trained. This kind of training can never take place where there is no atmosphere for the same , if people are compelled, expressly or tacitly, to contribute. The poor in the Church should not feel constrained to contribute beyond their capacity and it should be clear to all that their inability to do so should in no way be considered a reason for their inferiority.
Another instance of a wrong sense of devotion is seen in the popular devotion to Mary in whose name even many Churches are dedicated where in some cases people are unconsciously swindled of their material possessions in return for spiritual gain. Thus the devotees are led to believe that they have doe their part in obtaining favors through the intercession of Mary instead of offering themselves to God through her intercession. People should be thoroughly instructed to honor Mary through honoring every woman as mother, sister, etc., so that her Son too is glorified through her devotees. The Church honors Mary as Mother of God since she bore Jesus and brought him into the world, suitably named 'Theotokos' meaning that she is the bearer of God, officially so declared in the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in A. D. 431. Recent ecumenical discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East have come to an agreement asserting the equivalence of the expressions ' Mother of God' and 'Mother of Christ' of the Catholic tradition and 'Mother of Christ our God and Savior' of the Assyrian Church. It has also been decided that the latter Church was never affected by the heresy of Nestorians (Cf. Syriac Dialogue, I, Vienna, 1994, p. 230). As we noted above the official teaching of the Church on all these matters is faultless and yet the practical application of the same by the believers very often borders on superstition and ignorance. The concern of the Church in extolling Mary to such an exhalted position of the Mother of God is to uphold the Divinity of Jesus Christ without whom she is nothing special. When we honor Mary, we should be seen to be honoring her Son who is the Son of God and God Himself in virtue of which she is the Mother of God.
Here ends our discussion on the Divinity of Jesus Christ and in the next Posts we shall consider his humanity under the title 'The Son of Man'
Some might misunderstand us as having denied all relevance of devotions, devotionals, prayers to saints, prayers of mediation through Mary, Mother of God, and Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament etc. This is not actually the case. What we object to is the commercialization of devotions for monetary gains, keeping the people in ignorance misleading the gullible into superstitious practices by those very people appointed by God to lead them into living waters. They do it by extolling Mary independently of Jesus Christ without whom she could not even be saved, changing the nature of the Holy Eucharist by devotions without proper explanations and guidance of perspectives to the believers etc. What is urgently needed is not the abolition of such practices, but instilling proper perspectives about them so that people are not swayed by the inessentials forgetting or being ignorant of the essentials of their faith. Let us just take an example from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles where we see instances of true devotions without deviating from the true objects of faith. The woman with the hemorrhage of blood sincerely believed that if only she could at least touch the hem of Jesus' cloak, she would be cured of her malady. Similarly, during Peter's mission of preaching the Gospel people believed that their illness could be healed if only even the shadow of Peter were to fall on them These are instances of genuine devotions because their main attention was on the persons in whom they believed relegating the cloak and the shadow to the background as mere instruments. When the persons of our object of faith are supplanted by the instruments themselves as objects filled with power, we are led into superstitions. Add monetary value in the process for having access to this power objectified in certain articles, we might say that we are practicing a kind of simony akin to the attempt of Simon Magus who wanted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit from Simon Peter. The same may be said about selling blessings by priests on the occasions of birthdays, anniversaries, etc., of people with the tacit understanding that a contribution to the Church is expected. People are taxed for spiritual blessings to which they have a birth-right and therefore are not a favor rendered by the priests. It is the spirit of the Church from the beginning that we share our resources with the poor and the charities undertaken by the Church, but it should be voluntary for which the faithful should be trained. This kind of training can never take place where there is no atmosphere for the same , if people are compelled, expressly or tacitly, to contribute. The poor in the Church should not feel constrained to contribute beyond their capacity and it should be clear to all that their inability to do so should in no way be considered a reason for their inferiority.
Another instance of a wrong sense of devotion is seen in the popular devotion to Mary in whose name even many Churches are dedicated where in some cases people are unconsciously swindled of their material possessions in return for spiritual gain. Thus the devotees are led to believe that they have doe their part in obtaining favors through the intercession of Mary instead of offering themselves to God through her intercession. People should be thoroughly instructed to honor Mary through honoring every woman as mother, sister, etc., so that her Son too is glorified through her devotees. The Church honors Mary as Mother of God since she bore Jesus and brought him into the world, suitably named 'Theotokos' meaning that she is the bearer of God, officially so declared in the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in A. D. 431. Recent ecumenical discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East have come to an agreement asserting the equivalence of the expressions ' Mother of God' and 'Mother of Christ' of the Catholic tradition and 'Mother of Christ our God and Savior' of the Assyrian Church. It has also been decided that the latter Church was never affected by the heresy of Nestorians (Cf. Syriac Dialogue, I, Vienna, 1994, p. 230). As we noted above the official teaching of the Church on all these matters is faultless and yet the practical application of the same by the believers very often borders on superstition and ignorance. The concern of the Church in extolling Mary to such an exhalted position of the Mother of God is to uphold the Divinity of Jesus Christ without whom she is nothing special. When we honor Mary, we should be seen to be honoring her Son who is the Son of God and God Himself in virtue of which she is the Mother of God.
Here ends our discussion on the Divinity of Jesus Christ and in the next Posts we shall consider his humanity under the title 'The Son of Man'
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