Status Updates From The Universal Christ: How a...

“From the very beginning, faith, hope, and love are planted deep within our nature—indeed they are our very nature (Romans 5:5, 8:14-17). The Christian life is simply a matter of becoming who we already are (1 John 3:1-2, 2 Peter 1:3-4). But we have to awaken, allow, and advance this core identity by saying a conscious yes to it and drawing upon it as a reliable and Absolute Source. Again, image must become likeness”

“In this understanding, faith, hope, and love are far more defining of the human person than the "moral virtues," the various good behaviors we learn as we grow older. This is why I cannot abandon an Orthodox or Catholic worldview. For all of their poor formulations, they still offer humanity a foundationally positive anthropology (even though many individuals never learn about it because of poor catechesis!)…”

“So how do we first see and then practice this "Original Goodness"? Paul again gives us an answer. He says, "There are only three things that last, faith, hope, and love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). In Catholic theology we called these three essential attitudes the "theological virtues," because they were a "participation in the very life of God"s given freely by God, or "infused" into us at our very conception.”

“Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always" [italics added]. If you're tempted to write this off as idyllic "positive thinking," remember that Paul wrote this letter while literally in chains (1:12-13). How did he pull this off? You might call it "mind control." Many of us just call it "contemplation." ”

“The only way, then, to increase authentic spirituality is to deliberately practice actually enjoying a positive response and a grateful heart. … By following through on conscious choices, we can rewire our responses toward love, trust, and patience. Neuroscience calls this "neuroplasticity." This is how we increase our bandwidth of freedom, and it is surely the heartbeat of any authentic spirituality.”

“I encourage you not to simply take me at my word. Watch your own brain and emotions. You will quickly see there is a toxic attraction to the negative, whether it's a situation at work, a bit of incriminating gossip you overheard, or a sad development in the life of a friend. True freedom from this tendency is exceedingly rare, since we are ruled by automatic responses most of the time."

“The theology of mistrust and suspicion has manifested itself in all kinds of misguided notions: a world always in competition with itself, a mechanical and magical understanding of baptism; fiery notions of hell; systems of rewards and punishments, shaming and exclusion of all wounded individuals (variously defined in each century); beliefs in the superiority of skin color, ethnicity, or nation.”

“From Augustine's theological no, the hole only got deeper. Martin Luther portrayed humans as a "pile of manure, John Calvin instituted his now-infamous doctrine of "total depravity," and poor Jonathan Edwards famously condemned New Englanders as "sinners in the hands of an angry God." No wonder Christians are accused of having a negative anthropology!”

“Yet historically, the teaching of original sin started us off on the wrong foot—with a no instead of a yes, with a mistrust instead of a trust. We have spent centuries trying to solve the "problem" that we're told is at the heart of our humanity. But if you start with a problem, you tend to never get beyond that mindset.”

“Instead of embracing God's master plan for humanity and creation—what we Franciscans still call the "Primacy of Christ" —Christians shrunk our image of both Jesus and Christ, and our "Savior" became a mere Johnny-come-lately "answer" to the problem of sin, a problem that we had largely created ourselves. That's a very limited role for Jesus. His death instead of his life was defined as saving us!”

“"My dear people, we are already the children of God, and what we are to be in the future is still to be revealed…that we are like God, for we shall finally see God as he really is!" (1John 3:2). And who is this God that we will finally see? It is somehow Being Itself, for God is the one, according to Paul, "in whom we live and move and have our being… 'We are all his children" (Acts 17:28).”

“The Christ mirror fully knows and loves us from all eternity, and reflects that image back to us. I cannot logically prove this to you, but I do know that people who live inside of this resonance are both happy and healthy. Those who do not resonate and reciprocate with things around them only grow in loneliness and alienation, and invariably tend toward violence in some form, if only toward themselves.”

“The true and essential work of all religion is to help us recognize and recover the divine image in everything.”

“the "Sabbath Rest." All contemplation reflects a seventh-day choice and experience, relying on grace instead of effort. Full growth implies timing and staging, acting and waiting, working and not working.”

“Every gift of food and water, every act of simple kindness, every ray of sunshine, every mammal caring for her young, all of it emerged from this original and intrinsically good creation.”

“Do we really think that God had nothing at all to say for 13.7 billion years, and started speaking only in the latest nanosecond of geological time? Did all history prior to our sacred texts provide no basis for truth or authority? Of course not. The radiance of the Divine Presence has been glowing and expanding since the beginning of time, before there were any human eyes to see or know about it.”

“how you do anything is how you do everything. As John's First Letter says, quite directly, "Anyone who says he loves God and hates his brother [or sister] is a liar" (4:20). In the end, either you love everything or there is reason to doubt that you love anything. This one love and one loveliness was described by many medieval theologians and others as the "Great Chain of Being." ”

“The proof that you are a Christian is that you can see Christ everywhere else. This is what we saw in Caryll Houselander's experience on the train, and in Jesus when he pointed to divinity in "the least of the brothers and sisters" (Matthew 25:40) and even in the so-called bad thief who was crucified next to him (Luke 23:43).”