In daily life we deal with people as they come to us. But behind each of them, Jesus says, stands God. What we do to that person, we do to him. Thus in a sense that outrides all human sense, God has become our Brother. Not only by taking upon himself our sin, but because he has made himself the advocate of each and every one of us, and regards our interests as his own.
- Romano Guardini
In our Scriptures we are confronted by this notion of God's identification with his people. When we are thinking of ourselves this concept is easily celebrated. God has united himself with me. He has taken my sin and given me his righteousness. He has made himself my friend in the cross. There is a further joyful opportunity and responsibility that we only take advantage of when we look outside of ourselves to see God in the other and in the world around us. Because God has identified himself with his people in Jesus, every relationship we are in with a person is an opportunity for us to worship God. Not by worshipping the person, but by honoring them as a child of God. This awareness need not set us on pins and needles, but it does help us to expand our perception of Holy Ground. Our religion is not something that can be contained by the Sanctuary, nor does our sense of Holy presence end when we walk away from the communion rail. We are awash in opportunities to experience the divine presence in the other. The divide between Church and secular is an artificial one for the Christian, because she knows that everyone she meets is a soul for whom Christ gave his life. This is a difficult awareness to come to and an even more difficult awareness to maintain in the comings and goings of sin and life, but the reward is that we walk and talk with God every day that we live.
Because Christ is the perfect Love, his life on earth can never become a life of the past. He remains present to all eternity. Then he was alone, and bore the sins of men as one whole, alone. But, in death, he took us all into his work. Therefore the Gospel is now present with us.
- Mother Maria of Normandy
Pr. Phil Vickers
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