Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Conformity to the Image of Christ as spiritual perfection

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Conformity to the Image of Christ as spiritual perfection

In the Office of Readings for today, there is a wonderful reflection by St Gregory of Nyssa on Christian Perfection. He uses 3 images to help illustrate his point - a pearl, pure stream and stamp.

It is important to note that in patristic terminology the word “passions” refers to disordered desires, and so has a negative meaning. This is different from our modern understanding of being “passionate” as something that is positive.

All of us by virtue of our baptism are conformed to Christ. We are recreated in His Image, and sealed by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation. This is the foundation of our entire spiritual life as Christians, and it gives us the grace needed in our life as we follow Christ. St Gregory reminds us that our following Christ must be in our thoughts, words and deeds. All 3 are necessary.

The more that we confirm our thoughts, words and deeds/actions to Christ then as we progress spiritually Christ will be made manifest in our life. We will begin to reflect Him to others, the light of Christ shining through us helping other people to encounter Him through the beauty of our holiness. This beauty of God that shines through us attracts others to God and draws them into relationship to the most Holy Trinity. This is not our own doing, but instead it is the work of the Trinity in us through our identity in Christ and our continual conformity to His Image that we bear through the life of grace.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.