Post-feast of the Encounter; Our Venerable Father Boucolus, Bishop of Smyrna; the Holy Priest-Martyr Sylvanus, Bishop of Emessa and Those with Him
1 John 2:18-3:10; Mark 11:1-11.
Read 1 John 2:18-3:10
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
[W]e know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
We shall be like Him. We shall see Him as He is. Have you ever just stopped and thought about this? This is incredible.
John was able to perceive something of our Lord as He is at the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Our Lord was filled with light such that the light shone from Him rather than on Him. It was real enough for John, with James, his older brother, and Peter, that they wanted to build tents for our Lord, Moses, and Elijah. And John saw Him again after His resurrection on the third day.
In the fourth century, St. Athanasius was trying to explain some of the fruits of the Mystery of Incarnation of our Lord. One of those fruits was a restoration and transformation in the union with our Lord. He wrote in his work, On the Incarnation, the following: “God became man so that man might become god.” As God is by nature so might we become by grace. St. Peter wrote that we are to become partakers of divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). This process is called by a few names: theosis, divinization, deification. All of them point to the same thing – to become godly.
It’s not that we are called to become gods like the one true God and separate from Him. Nor are we called to be part of the Trinity. The union that we find in Christ Jesus is such that we become exactly what God had intended for us, to dwell within Him as beings created in His image and likeness. As Fr. Peter Damick states – it is union without fusion.
And this entire process is simply because the Lord is love, and He loves us.