He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. -Eph 4:10 (RSV-CE)
Not “save your soul.” Not “judge the wicked.” Certainly not “prosper the righteous.”
The Christ ascends to fill all things.
All things.
Every element. Every being. Every nature.
The very Logos of God descends into time and space, takes form subject to decay and entropy and death. Through his temporal life, he imprints God's very image onto reality. Through his suffering, bleeding, and death he permeates the very soil and bedrock of Creation, right down to the abode of the Dead.
And from there he rises, and with him all things, suffused by God's Christ.
We participate in his work as we enter his sacramental life. Elements remade to convey his grace, transmuting our every vice into corresponding virtue:
- pride (superbia) into humility (humilitas)
- greed (avaritia) into charity (caritas)
- wrath (ira) into patience (patientia)
- envy (invidia) into kindness (humanitas)
- lust (luxuria) into chastity (castitas)
- gluttony (gula) into temperance (temperantia)
- sloth (acedia) into diligence (diligentia)
Broken nature into restored nature.
Entropy into regeneration.
Death into life.
Self into communion.
Humanity into divinity.
Thanks be to God.
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Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.