We are "The One and Only Bride of Christ"

Today in my Magnificat the meditation of the day is from Saint Peter Damian, a doctor of the Catholic Church who died in 1072. What he says has some application to what I am saying; I will quote some of it. This selection comes from pages 111-112 of A Word in Season, Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours, volume V.

“The Church of Christ is united by a bond of mutual love so strong that not only is it a single entity subsisting in many members, but in each member it is also mysteriously present in its plenitude. So it is that the entire universal Church is rightly said to be the one and only bride of Christ, and each person, through the mystery of the sacrament, is believed to be the Church in its fullness. One in all and entire in each, holy Church is single in the plurality of its members thanks to the unity of faith, and manifold in each of them thanks to the bond of charity and the diversity of charisms, for they all come from One.”

What I understand Saint Peter Damian to be saying is that the Church is one Body with many members, as Saint Paul says, and the Church is also present in Her fullness in each of Her members. The part that I don’t remember hearing before is that the Church is present in each of Her members; I had thought something like that, but I don’t remember ever reading it. If you and I, as members of the Church, bear within ourselves the plenitude of the Church, could what is said of the Church, in some sense, be said of us?

Since the “entire universal Church is rightly said to be the one and only bride of Christ,” could it not also be said that each of us participates in that one spousal relationship with Him? The highest level of prayer and the spiritual life is called mystical marriage or mystical union with God; in prayer, the endpoint is to become the spouse of Christ, and this we already know, especially from the works of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Theresa of Avila. The Catholic Church also teaches that all are called to be holiness, that there is a universal call to holiness. There is no holiness without a deep communion with God in prayer, so in some sense, it could be said that there is a universal call to contemplation and to its fulfillment: mystical marriage.

One of the pillars of my theory is that God made us to be His spouse. When, in the very first chapter of the Bible in Genesis 1:26, we were made in the image and likeness of God, since every other living creature was made according to its own likeness and kind for reproduction and we were not made according to our own likeness and kind but in the likeness of God, that passage is saying that we were created to be the spouse of God. It is in our mystical union with Him that we bear much good fruit. We see this best lived out in the Blessed Virgin Mary who was so closely united to God and trusted in Him above all else, that she bore the best possible fruit, the very Son of God, and she did so virginally as a pure gift from God Himself.

How great a dignity we have; we are indeed temples of the Holy Spirit; God lives and dwells within us; when we foster that relationship with God and give ourselves to Him more and more each day, our mind, heart and will more closely conform to His; the more we become like Him, the more able we are to receive Him and His life; having removed all attachments to sin and created realities from our souls and desiring to please only Him, we approach the deepest spiritual union with God; it is in this that we become the bride of Christ as an individual, participating in the life and reality of the singular bride of Christ, the Catholic Church.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Saint John of the Cross

Blessed feast of Saint John of the Cross!

The feast is almost over now that I am sitting down late at night to write. One of the few times I have freedom to write is late at night when my family is in bed. I don't know much about Saint John of the Cross, but what I do know I like. He is a Doctor of the Church and is one of the masters of the spiritual life. Here is a passage from The Spiritual Canticle that deals with spiritual realities. He is giving commentary on a poem and explaining what it means; in stanza 14-15 paragraph 28-29 he says:

28. The Supper that Refreshes and Deepens Love
Supper affords lovers refreshment, satisfaction, and love. Since in this gentle communication the Beloved produces these three benefits in the soul, she calls it "the supper that refreshes, and deepens love."

It should be known that in divine Scripture this term "supper" refers to the divine vision [Rv. 3:20-21]. Just as supper comes at the end of a day's work and the beginning of evening rest, this tranquil knowledge causes the soul to experience a certain end of her evils and the possession of good things in which her love of God is deepened more than before. As a result, he is the supper that refreshes by being the end of evils for her, and deepens love by being to her the possession of all goods.

29. Yet for a better understanding of what this supper is to the soul--it is as we said her Beloved-- we should note in this appropriate place what the beloved Bridegroom says in the Apocalypse: I stand at the door and knock; if anyone opens, I shall enter and we shall sup together [Rv. 3:20]. In this text he indicates that he carries his supper with him, and it is nothing but his very own delights and savors that he himself enjoys. In uniting himself with the soul he imparts them, and she likewise enjoys them. For such is the meaning of the words, "we shall sup together." Hence these words declare the effect of the divine union of the soul with God, in which God's very own goods are graciously and bounteously shared in common with his bride, the soul. He himself is for her the supper that refreshes and deepens love, for in being bounteous he refreshes her, and in being gracious he deepens love in her.


I recommend reading more of Saint John of the Cross; this was just one tiny little bit. I need to read more of it, too. He constantly talks about God as the Bridegroom and our souls as the bride; God seeks to give Himself to us as such. He stands at the door and knocks at each of our hearts. Will you let Him in?

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.