Let God Shine In You

By participating in the Holy Badarak and partaking of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus, we must be mindful that we are committing ourselves to carrying the divine presence within us, undefiled.

In the prayers after Communion, we thank the Heavenly Father for having made the Church for our salvation, and through our membership in this Body, we glorify the Most Holy Trinity. We ask the Holy Spirit to continually renew us as members of the Church, the true Body of Christ. We thank the Lord Jesus for nourishing us with His Life-giving Body and Blood. We ask Him to keep us holy and unblemished by establishing His abode in us, and to teach us to recognize His voice and to follow the guidance given to each of us in the abundance of the Holy Spirit.

We receive our commission for the week until next Sunday. How do we translate the holy commitment at the Altar of God into concrete acts of grace beyond the church building, into the Church-Body of Christ? How do we bring the Most Holy Trinity residing in us to the world around us through our deeds?

Does our behavior spread care, brimming with the love of Divine Providence? What fruits do we carry? Fruits abounding in goodness, bringing life filled with love, or soothing words in the language of humans and angels, yet empty? Paul the Apostle counsels that the children of light should bear fruits of light, of goodness, justice, and truth, choosing only what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5.8 and 10). 

To choose what is pleasing to the Lord, we must come to know our Lord. We must cultivate faith in His person and know His preferences; we must possess His mind (1 Corinthians 2.16), have the Spirit of Christ, and belong to Him (Romans 8.10), so that we may act throughout our days, driven by that Spirit as children of God (Romans 8.14). The Heavenly Father will see His unblemished image in each of us and place His favor upon us, not for narcissistic pleasure, but because He will see in us His own image, gained in function, enriched through the grace of obedience to His voice, and a union of the wills. See in us the genuine shine of His divine care, abundant in brotherly love, rich and overflowing with happiness brought by peace, resolute confidence, and boundless divine goodness (Galatians 5.22).