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Day 9: Be Yourself!

Since the time we were shamed into leaving Eden for taking from the tree of the knowledge to be “like” God, we have always wanted to reach for the tree of life.

Thankfully, Michael, the Prince of the heavenly hosts, in concert with Jesus, the Lord of hosts, has saved those of us who want to be “like” God or gods from reaching for the eternal tree in the garden.

Thankfully God became one with us so we could put on Christ, the new Adam, and live with Christ as God. Now we can reach for the cross of Christ, the tree of our eternal salvation.

To live in Him as He lives in us is eternal life. It is heaven!

Heaven is relational, communal, and familial. We belong to God’s royal family. To think otherwise is to deny our identity, our purpose, and our destiny.

True Christians long to be; 

to be at the Father’s right hand;

to be One in the Spirit and One in the Lord; 

to be Christ!

We should be grateful to God for Saint Michael who was sent not only to spare us from the evil one, but save us from our false selves. We are Christian and our heavenly home is living in God as God lives in us.

As we long for our heavenly home, we are not out of the woods. St. John Paul II, in an address to pilgrims at a shrine of St. Michael, stated frankly:

“This battle against the devil which characterizes the Archangel Michael is still going on, because the devil is still alive and at work in the world. In fact, the evil that is in it, the disorder we see in society, the infidelity of man, the interior fragmentation of which he is a victim, are not merely the consequences of original sin, but also the effect of the dark and infesting activity of Satan, of this saboteur of man’s moral equilibrium.” (May 24, 1987)

Satan is still at work, trying desperately to set us off course and so lose our identity, our equilibrium. Thankfully, Michael the Archangel is also at work, reminding us to stay on course as he whispers into our ears his very name ... “Who is like God?” The answer is, “no one.” But, then again, no one is like you. 

God is God, 

Michael is Michael, and 

you are you!

Be yourself!

Day 8: Abandonment

The world in which we live invites us to stay busy. Rather than an invitation to be calm, peaceful, or serene, we place a value on our being with what we do. If I am doing something, then I am somebody.

To be “like” God or like someone we are not is a never ending task. It is 666 never reaching seven. It is doing rather than being.

Striving to be anything other than who we are leads us to despair. Yet, “doing” rather than “being” is what the world offers. We are always taught to be on the go, to have a work ethic, to achieve our dreams, and to play hard.

Reaching for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was our first act of “doing” and our first step away from being. The act of doing is a response to the greatest lie offered by Satan: “If you want to be like God you need to work at it.”

As we consider Saint Michael, perhaps we should avoid the image of the Prince of the Heavenly Host in an act of physical war. Rather, we should witness him defeat Satan by whispering into the ears of all souls, “Be yourself!”

Being created and graced is not “our doing.”. If there is any “doing” at all it is found in the act of abandonment. Abandoning myself to Christ who asks me to abide in him is all that is necessary for me to be happy in this life and the next.

The act of abandonment or desire to simply be does not mean that we stop moving. We are Christian, but we are still human, complete with movable arms and legs. However, we acknowledge that all that we do can never match the grace bestowed on us by Christ who makes us who we are. By our nature we are human and by grace we are Christian.

The act of abandonment to Christ is the holiest action for any Christian on this earth. A great prayer of abandonment goes:

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my

understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own.

You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”12

Abandoning ourselves to God simply means removing all of the costumes, masks, and façades that we have put on intentionally or unintentionally over the course of our lives. Being our true selves means ridding ourselves of the things that we are not. This includes not being merely human. We are human, but not “only” human.

A Christian who says, “I am only human” (commonly used when we have failed at something), may just as well say, “I am only God.” Both would be untrue.

If a body was capable of acting on its own apart from the soul, it would not be a human body. Likewise, a soul operating apart from the body would not be human. (We have already acknowledged that only angels are souls without bodies.)

In the same way a Christian who says, “I am only human,” denies his Christian self and thus continues to strive to be “like” God.

So, is a Christian God? Only in the sense that he has a share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity. As a soul and body make up the human

person, the human and divine make up the Christian. 

A Christian cannot have a share in the divine nature of God except through grace. Christ by his nature is divine and human. He is fully God and fully human. We are fully human by nature and by grace we are God.

Born again, we die to the old and mortal human selves and rise as Christians - human and divine.

Christians, who die here on earth will, through the grace of our divinity, rise with our body and soul. We do not cease being human when we are graced with divinity. We are fully integrated and newly created beings that rise with Christ carrying within us body, soul, and divinity.

For this reason, a Christian lives in a lie when he says, “I am only human.” Only humans, like Adam, desire to be “like” God. Christians are the new Adam, the body of Christ, Who is God.

Satan’s desire to be “like” God was really a desire to step over God or push God out of the way. A Christian, on the other hand, accepts God for who God is and accepts the unearned grace of sharing in God’s divinity.

A true Christian does not push God out of the way. Rather, such a Christian gladly accepts God, through Christ, as “the” Way, and the Truth, and the Life.

A Christian believes that Jesus Christ did not find the way to be “like” God. Jesus is the Way, because he is God.

There are thousands of philosophers, theologians, and self- helpers trying to find a way to get to heaven. On a very human level, this has been going on since the beginning of the great Fall.

In fact, there are many who would rather push God aside to make sure that they get to heaven. They demand their place in heaven, even though they have lived a life contrary to what they were created to be. It is as if some would say, “It is my right as a United States citizen (or some other citizen) to get to heaven.”

Only through the Passover of Christ are the heavens rent – like the waters of the Red Sea – and we are able to enter eternal life. We cannot do this on our own. Christ, by his nature is God. By our nature, we are not. We must abandon ourselves and accept this reality.

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NOTES:

12. St Ignatius, Suspice

Day 7: Heaven is Real

John Lennon’s, Imagine, challenges us to consider a world that surpasses the world that we know. Imagining a world where there is no war, poverty, or hunger is “really easy if we try.”

Thankfully, we don’t have to “imagine” such a world. It does exist. However, one would have to admit that to ponder the things of heaven would take a lifetime and then some.

Considering some things of heaven that we do know should bring us to our knees in prayers of gratitude. The aforementioned qualities of heaven – no war, hunger, and poverty – are reasons enough to thank God forever. But heaven offers so much more.

Consider, for example, a world where there are no gradations of power. In the Kingdom of God, the valleys are filled and the hills made low. There is a level playing field where everyone has a place at the table of God. In God’s kingdom, there are no vassals. Everyone belongs to the Royal household of God.

Called and chosen by Christ to be adopted sons and daughters of the same Father, we are all seated at the right hand of God. From an earthly perspective, this is hard to “imagine.” How can we as individuals collectively be seated at the Father’s right hand? And yet, we are.

Imagine a child resting her head peacefully on her father’s chest and listening to his heart. In Christ, we all are blessed to be so intimately close to our Heavenly Father. We are that close! This is more than mere “imagination.” It is real!

Though we trust that this is real and more than mere “imagination,” we still live in this world confined by the things of this world.

Getting beyond mere imagination and accepting the very real truth that we are at God’s right hand and in communion with our God is very difficult. Limited by our body’s senses and our soul’s intellect and will, this truth is often “theoretical.”

There is a temptation not to press us into accepting this reality. We become comfortable being merely human and merely imagining what is real, rather than accepting the reality for what it is.

We really are in communion with God. We really are brothers and sisters in Christ. We really are Christ for one another. We really are God’s sons and daughters. We really are members of his royal household.

This grace of Christ living within us calls us beyond the lie that we are “like” God.

Who is like God? “No one” is the true answer. Rather, born again in Christ Jesus, we “are” Christ who “is” God.

John puts it this way: “See what love the Father has for us, that He has called us sons of God, and so we are!...We are truly children of God” (1 John 3:1-2).

Calling on the name of St. Michael to defend us in battle against the father of lies helps us to reclaim our true essence.

It should be remembered that the name of St. Michael reminds us who we are, but the name of Jesus makes us who we are.

Jesus means, “God saves.”

Being saved is more than getting to heaven. Salvation is making us who we are predestined to be. Only through faith and hope in Jesus are we able to step beyond mere “imagination,” and into reality.

Thankfully, we have the Word and Sacraments to guide us and help us to accept who we really are.

During our life on earth the Word and Sacraments are received in an imperfect manner by faith; in the life of heaven we will assume it perfectly in the glorious vision St. Paul speaks of: “When perfection comes, the imperfect will disappear.... Now we see as in a mirror, darkly; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in an imperfect way; then I will know as I am known” (1 Cor 13:10,12).

The more we reflect on the Word and celebrate the Sacraments in our church, the more we claim who we really are. The sacraments themselves are more then mere symbols of Christ’s presence. They are both signs and reality of the real presence of Christ among us.

This is best realized in the Eucharist where what we receive is not “like” the body of Christ. We receive the true body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. And we become what we receive.

As we consider heaven, it is best to understand it as something more than a place for living. Rather, heaven is a state of being.

In this state of being, we are one with God. Our Creator-Being invites us to be with Him. In and through Christ, we abide in God and God in us.

In heaven there is no separation from God or “likeness” to God. In heaven, “we are one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.” (1 Cor 6:17)

This is true for us on earth; though, while we abide here in the world that is seen and visible, our oneness with God is not fully recognized.

As we abide here on earth, we must strive always to be one with God. We must likewise avoid being “like” God.

Desiring to be one with God means putting on love. God is Love and if we abide in love we abide in God and God in us. Heaven, therefore, is not a place but a state of being ... Being In Love!

Saint Michael, unlike Satan, abides in heaven because he desires not to be “like” God or anything other than what he was created to be. He rests eternally in the state of being in love.

Day 6: Peaceable Kingdom

To be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect is possible and very real when we live in Christ and He in us. For it is in him that we live, and move, and have our being.

Yet, we know that we still retain within our nature free will. Thus, at any time we can remove ourselves from the Body of Christ. At any time, we could seek to be someone that we are not. Jesus reminds us that if we put our hands to the plowshare and then turn back, we are not fit for the kingdom of God.

Though our sins are washed away through the blood of Christ and we desire to be in communion with God who is love, we have the ability to lose our way when we do not claim our true selves.

This happens all of the time. In the most egregious ways, we see Christians who have become dictators, murderers, abusers, and participants of every kind of evil. In subtler and less egregious ways, we have all stepped away from reality and have desired to be something or someone that we are not.

How often do we find Christian husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, priests and nuns, teachers and doctors, business owners and employees, forget their true nature?

As Christians, we are not merely human with body and soul. By Grace, we are Christian with a share in the divinity of Christ. Our true essence is Christian. When we forget who we are, then we lose our way.

We understand that, like Satan, our first parents desired to be something that they were not. This Original Sin is washed away in baptism with the gift of sanctifying grace.

Still, there is a great temptation for us as Christians to fall back into sin. Even if we do not choose to sin, the inclination to sin is always there because of Original Sin.

This inclination toward sin and evil is called "concupiscence."10 While baptism erases original sin and turns us back towards God, the inclination toward sin and evil persists and we continue to struggle against concupiscence.11

Our free will and intellect is not enough to overcome concupiscence. Only by returning to Christ through the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist are we made whole again. Our Father, through his Son and with the Holy Spirit, "re-members" us.

When our God, through the grace of these sacraments, "re-members" us, we in turn remember that we are not just fathers, mothers, teachers, etc. We are Christian fathers, Christian mothers, Christian teachers, etc.

Concupiscence is the effect of Original Sin and we must live with it until Christ returns in glory at the end of time. Therefore, we understand that, while we live in Christ and he in us, we still long for a perfect and eternal communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

St. Paul reminds us that we live in this world, but we are not of this world. There will be a day when we will not live in this world and, if we remain in Christ, we will live in the peaceable world that has no end.

The peaceable world includes a world without sin or even concupiscence. Presently, the peaceable world is not the world in which we live, but the world to which we belong. While in this world, we are ambassadors of an eternal world - a world of peace and perfect communal love with our Triune God.

Living in this imperfect world due to sin, we are constantly confronted with temptations to fix our imperfections. We try to bring a perfect world of peace according to our will, our might, our strength, and our intellect. We try to be "like" God.

How many political philosophies, treaties, legal systems, or financial strategies have we had in human history to try to bring about a just and peaceable world?

Certainly, this is our desire. This is also God’s desire. The prophet Isaiah foretells the coming of a peaceable Kingdom where the valleys will be raised and the hills will be made low. There will be a perfect and level playing field for all humanity.

But, our God can only win this peaceable Kingdom. It has been won! Christ our Lord won it for us already by laying down his life as a sacrificial offering to our Father on our behalf. Only Christ our King, our Lord and God and Prince of Peace achieved what we have long desired.

This peaceable Kingdom was won without guns, swords, or weapons of any kind. Christ did this alone by laying down his life for us.In his conversation with Pilate, Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my subjects would be fighting to keep me from being handed over. As it is, my kingdom is not here." (John 18:36-37)

In Christ’s kingdom, there are no weapons of war. In his kingdom, there is an everlasting peace. Recall his words to Peter who attempts to save Jesus from being arrested, "Put your sword back into its sheath." (John 18:11)

A peaceable world cannot be won with weapons. God who is forgiving, merciful, and loving can only win it. In Christ’s Peaceable Kingdom, "swords shall be turned into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks." (Isaiah 2:4)

Even as we consider paintings of St. Michael the Archangel standing above Satan with his sword drawn, we rarely see him thrust the sword into the beast. Most images simply show Michael with an upper hand as the devil is trapped or chained.

We do ask Saint Michael to defend us in battle. But, he does this by his very name: "Who is like God?" His name (in question form) mocks Satan who will forever be "like" God. He reminds us that we ourselves cannot be "like" God. As ambassadors of the peaceable Kingdom, we can only be ourselves. We can never be someone that we are not. We are human by nature and Christian by grace.

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NOTES:

10. (CCC 405)

11. (CCC 2520) 

Day 5: Amazing Grace

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux said, “Everything is a grace,
everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love.”

This idea of grace would have been the farthest thing from
the minds of Adam and Eve as they were being banished
from the garden. But, as mentioned earlier, the banishment
was more of God’s loving protection from what could have
been their eternal hell.

Posting St. Michael at Eden’s gate was the first act of grace
bestowed upon humanity after our Original Sin.  This
unearned grace comes from God who is Love. Our first
parents who desired to be “like” God, failed to understand
the immensity of God’s merciful love. And so, they walked
away in shame.

It should be noted that our first parents never asked God for
forgiveness and, for that matter, nowhere in the fifty chapters
of Genesis do we find anyone ask God to forgive them.
Grace is truly unearned and everything is grace.

Throughout the Bible, we see grace unfold. From the Garden
of Eden to Noah’s family, to Abraham’s clan, to the Holy
Nation of Israel, and through the line of King David, we
witness grace upon grace.

Finally, we witness in Scripture the fullness of grace in
Christ, our Lord.  The history of grace (or salvation history)
is brought to completion in Christ Jesus.

Though we are made from dust and dust we shall return, the
Amazing Grace of our God saved us from an eternal hell and
raised us with his Son.

When God created angels, they were complete. Saint
Michael, St. Gabriel, our guardian angels, all are wholly
integrated souls complete with intellect and free will.
However, as we discover through salvation history of
humanity, we are not made complete until the death and
resurrection of our Lord.

Remembering that our nature includes body and soul, we
stand at the pinnacle of God’s creation. This, at first, would
suggest that we are sufficiently whole.

Indeed, the book of Genesis has God say, “It is good,” after
each day of creation. And when He creates humanity, God
says, “It is very good!”  But, not until Jesus dies on the cross
do we hear the words, “It is finished!”

These words are uttered by our God who became man,
humbling himself, being born in our likeness, and suffering
for our sake.  This Amazing Grace takes on our human
nature with body and soul, so that through his death and
resurrection we could be sharers in his divine nature.

We are wholly integrated beings only through Christ’s death,
resurrection, and ascension into heaven.  Together with
the breath of the Holy Spirit through faith and baptism in
Christ, we are more than human. We are properly called
Christian.

From an ancient homily delivered on holy Saturday
morning, we read about Jesus who descends into hell to call
out Adam whom God spared from perpetual misery:

“But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the
land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but
on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was
a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I
posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I
make the cherubim worship you as they would God.”8

Through faith and baptism, we are born again and enjoy
what is referred to as divine filiation. Thus, the Catechism of
the Catholic Church states: “By his death, Christ liberates us
from sin; by His Resurrection, He opens for us the way to a
new life. [Justification] brings about filial adoption so that
men become Christ’s brethren.”9

Over the course of human history, God’s masterpiece moved
from good to very good, but was finally finished when God’s
Son signed it with his own blood. Through, with, and in
Christ we are God’s opus.

All of this is made possible because of grace. Not by our
nature are we called Christian. Our nature is body and soul
with intellect and will. By Grace we become Christ!
It is important to note that we are not “like” Christ. Rather,
we are Christ. Jesus is the head while we are, as St. Paul
reminds us, his body. But, as our church fathers would ask,
“What is the head without the body?”

The whole Christ, head and members, sits at God’s right
hand.  This, of course, is hard to fathom and is a deep
mystery. A mystery worth pondering in prayer throughout
our lifetime.

With this mysterious gift of being one in Christ comes
great responsibility.  Not only are we called by nature to be
stewards of all that is seen and unseen, but also we are now
called by grace to love as God loves, to be merciful as God is
merciful, to be forgiving as God is forgiving.

Jesus’ commands to carry our cross each day and follow
him, to abide in his love, to love our enemy, are not for mere
humans. This rule of life first belongs to God’s nature and,
being born again in Christ, we now take ownership of these
commands. This rule of life is for those who are not “like”
Christ, not “like” Love, not “like” God, but are now one in
God.

In Christ, we are not 666 trying to be that perfect seven. 
Rather, we are being conformed into Christ to be perfect as
our Heavenly Father is perfect.

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NOTES:

8. This Holy Saturday homily was written in Greek around the 4th century. It is found in the Catholic Office of Readings. The author is unknown.

9. (CCC 654)

Day 4: Who is like God?

Both Satan and our first parents, according to Genesis,
had one thing in common. They both longed to be like
God.  “If you only eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,”
said Satan to Eve, “you will be like the gods.” (Genesis 3:5)

The desire itself to be like God is a reminder that we are a
creature and not the Creator.  God who is love has no desire
to be anything other than God. One who loves perfectly has
no desire to be anything but Love.

Our Original Sin, as in the fall of Satan, began with a desire
to be somebody that we are not. This desire automatically
acknowledges that we, by our nature, are not Love.

When first we do not get what we want or become who we
want to be, we are either shameless and spiteful, as in the
case of Satan, or we may quickly recognize our shamefulness
and either hide or repent.

Herein lies the difference between Satan and our first
parents.  While Satan and our first parents were shameful in
their thoughts and actions, only Satan remains shameless.

We know that Adam and Eve walked naked in the garden
and without shame. Before they desired to be what they
were not, they had no reason to live in shame. But when
they sinned, they clothed their nakedness and hid from God
in shame.

Thankfully, God intervened to help us discover our
shamefulness. He found us hiding in the garden and asked,
“Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11)

A child will walk around naked and be fully transparent. A
child’s innocence begins with a lack of self introspection.
Children, in their innocence, do not compare themselves to
others.

The book of Genesis captures this innocence in the Garden
of Eden where nakedness and transparency is not even a
question. Only when Adam and Eve reach for the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil do they become introspective. It
is at that time when they miss the mark.

Sin is a Greek word for  “missing the mark.” The original
missing the mark (Original Sin) is our introspection.  With
introspection comes a lack of appreciation for ourselves and
a desire to be someone that we are not.

The third chapter of Genesis tells us that God hands out a
punishment for the serpent that seduces Eve, a punishment
for Eve herself, and a punishment for Adam. But, the
greatest punishment for humanity is the granting of our
wish to have knowledge of good and evil. God grants us our
desire to be introspective. And from then on, we live in our
sin.

We hear our Triune God saying, “See! The man has become
like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore,
he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from
the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever.” (Genesis
3:22)

God sent Adam and Eve to live a life that they desired. A
life of self introspection and self destruction.  Seeking to be
something that they were not led them to their own demise.

Thankfully, God sent them away from the tree of life and out
of the Garden of Eden for their own sake. Whereas Satan
chose to live “like” God and would therefore eternally live in
that state of being “like” God.

In the Hebrew language and culture, the number seven
represents perfection. God is perfect and is given the name
Lord, Sabbaoth (meaning, The Lord of the Sabbath, or
seventh, day). If seven is perfection, then 666 (a number
given to Satan) is imperfection. 666 nearly reach the number
seven, but always comes up short. Satan will never be God.
He will always be “like” God.

Though our first parents also sought to be “like” God, God
spared them from being in that perpetual and eternal life of
“likeness.”  They were restrained from eating of the tree of
life eternal.

What appears at first to be a punishment, the banishment of
Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the tree of life
is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption for humanity. 
We do not have to live in the perpetual state of being “like”
God.

This plan of redemption and salvation is brought to
completion in Christ Jesus. Jesus, the new Adam, will take
our “likeness” of God and bring it to perfection.  Only then,
will we be able to taste from the tree of eternal life.

Saint Michael, according to legend, is counted among the
angels (cherubim) who guard Eden from our first parents.7
Renaissance paintings show Michael with a fiery sword
defending the gate of Eden and banishing Adam and Eve
from the garden.

As mentioned, God banishes our first parents from the
garden and from the tree of life to protect ourselves from an
eternal desire to be “like” God. Michael stands at the gate,
not to defend Eden, but to protect us from ourselves.

This is the beginning of grace. God creates us and God
defends us. Saint Michael is placed as our guardian to defend
us not only from Satan but also from our wanting eternity
while living in our state of sin.

Mortal sin begins with our desire to be something that we
are not. When we die in this state, we live in this eternal
desire and become like Satan who will always be 666 and
never seven.  To live in a perpetual state of wanting to be
“like” God and always coming up short is truly hell.

Mention only be made that Michael in Hebrew (Mikha’el)
means, “Who is like God?” Note the question mark
associated with his name. Not to be confused with Satan
who is “like” God, Mikha’el purposefully ends with a
question mark as a rhetorical question for Satan, Adam and
Eve, or anyone who desires to be “like” God.

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NOTES:

7. Here, it must be noted that various Saints and scholars have studied the nature of angels and have placed them in order of rank. However, cherubim in early Hebrew literature would have generally referred to angels rather than the second ranked “Cherubim,” in the order of angels. As for

St. Michael the Archangel, early Christian and Renaissance artists would place him as the guard just outside the gates of Eden. Even though the Scholastic era included the following ranks of angels, it was not unheard of to place Michael as the prince of these heavenly hosts. The traditional ranking of angels is found here:

Seraphim - first order (those who see most clearly) 

Cherubim - second order (fullness of knowledge) 

Thrones - third order (contemplate divine justice) 

Dominations - fourth order (providence is enacted through them)

Virtues - fifth order (movement of the heavenly bodies) 

Powers - sixth order (precise and preserved enactment) 

Principalities - seventh order (welfare of human affairs as a whole)

Archangels - eighth order (sharing of higher things to all of mankind) 

Angels - ninth order (individual affairs of mankind)