THE most remarkable thing about Our Lord Jesus is that He keeps nothing for Himself. He not only gives all glory to the Father, but then wills to share His glory with us to the extent that we become coheirs and copartners with Christ (cf. Eph 3:6).
Speaking of the Messiah, Isaiah writes:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6-8)
Jesus, in turn, shares this mission with the Church: to become a light to the nations, healing and deliverance to those imprisoned by their sin, and teachers of divine truth, without which, there is no justice. To undertake this work will cost us, as it cost Jesus. For unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit. [1]cf. John 12:24 But then He also shares with the faithful His own inheritance, paid in blood. These are the seven promises He makes from His own lips:
To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God. (Rev 2:7)
The victor shall not be harmed by the second death. (Rev 2:11)
To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna; I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name… (Rev 2:17)
To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end,
I will give authority over the nations. (Rev 2:26)The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels. (Rev 3:5)
The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God… (Rev 3:12)
I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne… (Rev 3:20)
As we see the Storm of persecution billowing on the horizon, we would do well to re-read this “Victor’s creed” when we feel a bit overwhelmed. Yet, as I’ve said before, it is only sheer grace that is going to carry the Church through this time as she shares in Our Lord’s Passion:
…she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 677
So, if Jesus received an anointing before His Passion, like He did in the Gospel,[2]cf. John 12:3 so too, the Church will receive an anointing from God to prepare her for her own Passion. That anointing will likewise come through a “Mary”, but this time the Mother of God, who through her intercession and the Flame of Love from her heart, will help equip the saints to not only persevere, but march into enemy territory. [3]cf. The New Gideon Filled with the Spirit, the faithful will be able to say, even in the face of their persecutors:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (Today’s Psalm)
For the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for the Victors. [4]cf. Rom 8:18
…the Holy Spirit changes those in whom he comes to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives. With the Spirit within them it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely otherworldly in their outlook, and for cowards to become men of great courage. —St. Cyril of Alexandria, Magnificat, April, 2013, p. 34
We are given reason to believe that, towards the end of time and perhaps sooner than we expect, God will raise up great men filled with the Holy Spirit and imbued with the spirit of Mary. Through them Mary, Queen most powerful, will work great wonders in the world, destroying sin and setting up the kingdom of Jesus her Son upon the ruins of the corrupt kingdom of the world. These holy men will accomplish this by means of the devotion of which I only trace the main outlines and which suffers from my incompetence. (Rev.18:20) —St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary, n. 59
First published March 30th, 2015.
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Footnotes
| ↑1 | cf. John 12:24 |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | cf. John 12:3 |
| ↑3 | cf. The New Gideon |
| ↑4 | cf. Rom 8:18 |