Christianity is the only religion in history to believe in the Incarnation, that is, in God becoming a man. Thus, only Christians believe we can have a personal relationship with God as a person. The uniqueness and essence of Christianity is personal relationship, communion, intimacy, and love.
Some would argue that Jesus' Ascension ends the opportunity for a personal relationship with God because we can no longer see, hear, and feel Jesus' physical body. Yet, Jesus promised: "It is much better for you that I go. If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never come to you" (Jn 16:7). By the power of the Spirit, we can have a personal relationship with the body of Jesus in two new ways. "It was in one Spirit that all of us, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, were baptized into one body" (1 Cor 12:13). In the Spirit, we become members of Christ's Body, the Church. Although the Church is not Christ's physical Body, it is truly His Body (see Acts 9:4; Mt 25:40; Mt 18:20) through which we can have a personal relationship with God. The Spirit also opens us to Jesus' Body in the Eucharist (see Acts 2:42) by which we can relate to Jesus so personally that we live in Him and He in us (see Jn 6:56).
It's better for us that Jesus ascended. By the Spirit, we now can have a much more intimate, personal relationship with God by becoming part of His Body, the Church, and by receiving God into our bodies in Holy Communion. The third Person of the Trinity makes possible a continuing, deeper, personal relationship with God.
| PRAYER: | Father, when I receive Communion and hear the words "Body of Christ," may I say "Amen" with a greater love than ever. |
| PROMISE: | "They differed with him over issues in their own religion, and about a certain Jesus Who had died but Who Paul claimed is alive." –Acts 25:19 |
| PRAISE: | A martyr, St. Christopher Magallanes preached peace. He was martyred on his way to Mass. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College