Mystical Theology and Liturgical Renewal

By David Torkington -
640px-Κοινωνικόν_του_Πάσχα_-_«Σῶμα_Χριστοῦ_μεταλάβετε»The Old Testament tells the story of God’s plan for his people, and eventually through them for all mankind, and for the whole of creation. Many different metaphors are used to this end, but the commonest is to present the plan as creating a perfect kingdom to be inaugurated by the Messiah. When the Messiah did come however, in the person of Jesus, he never said that the Kingdom has come, but only that it is to come (Jn 7:39). It is to come, he promises, after a unique and unprecedented outpouring of God’s own infinite love, in such a way that human beings can receive what they have never been able to receive before.
Receiving the infinite love of God would have instantly annihilated a person, according to the teaching of the Old Testament. It only became possible because of what happened to Christ immediately after the Ascension. When, on his return to the Father, he took with him the human nature that he shares with us, something quite literally, out of this world took place. God’s love not only continued to fill his divine nature, as before, but his perfect and unsullied human nature too. This enabled the infinite love of God to be transformed through Jesus into human loving, enabling his human nature to become the means of transmitting that love to other human beings.  read on

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