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Committed Sustained Informed - Intercession
A New Season
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"A New Season"

"Mission" (Relational Purpose: Part 6)

          Jesus made of himself the offering in his human nature for our sake--the offering for our sins. Our whole mission as intercessors is to be one with the Lamb of God who takes away sin. It is the Lamb alone who takes away the sins of the world:

 "He is at once priest and sacrifice, God and temple. He is the priest through whom we have been reconciled, the sacrifice by which we have been reconciled, the temple in which we have been reconciled, the God with whom we have been reconciled. He alone is priest, sacrifice and temple because he is all these things as God in the form of a servant" ("From a treatise on faith addressed to Peter by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop" in LH vol. II, pp. 383-84).

This is his redemptive mission for the remission of sins that he graciously gives us a share in. What the Lamb has done for us he is desiring to continue from within us:  Jesus calls us into union and mission with him. We have already spoken of this union--transforming union--in the previous teaching. We participate in the redemptive mission of the Lamb as we allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to Calvary mystically.

          Our mission is to make up now in our bodies what is still lacking in the sufferings of Jesus for the sake of his Body, the Church. Therefore, as intercessors we carry about in our bodies the 'death of the Lord' so that others may have life:

"We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified"("From a homily by Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishop" in LH vol. II, p. 393).

For, this is a life-giving mission for the salvation of souls. It is a mission where we offer our lives as a sacrifice so that others may receive graces of spiritual re-birthing within themselves. Part of our mission also involves gaining graces to help prepare other souls to enter into the same dying process we have entered into so that they, too, can experience the full power of the resurrection within themselves.

          Through us Jesus desires to continue his redemptive mission  of giving life to his Bride, the Church. Our mission, then, includes the renewal of the Church from within through intercessory prayer. Our vocation 'to be love in the heart of the Church' necessitates a call to victim-hood--becoming victim lambs modeled after Jesus, the Lamb. Jesus is seeking victim lambs who will allow their hearts to be pierced so that he can continue to pour forth his life and redemptive love through us. We are to be distributors of his manifold graces for others. If people are going to have an experience of salvation and forgiveness of their sins, there is a need for victim lambs who are willing to be brought to the cross in order to take on sin in union with Jesus so that sin can be taken away: "Make your own the expiation for the sins of the whole world" (Saint Gregory Nazianzen, LH vol. II, p. 393).

          Obedience unites us to the sacrifice of the Body of Jesus. Through our obedience to God and our union with Jesus, we are joined with the Lamb in removing disobedience from souls--disobedience being the primary sin of the world. Therefore, our mission necessitates that we live a lifestyle of sacrificial love and the daily dying of self-denial that allows the Lamb to live and offer again now from within us. If we allow Jesus within us to continue to take on sin, other people can also become 'the very holiness of God'.

         

Questions:

1)   Are there any areas of my life where I still resist being associated so closely with Jesus as a victim lamb?

2)   Are there any areas of my life where I find sacrificial love and self-denial to be a struggle?

Scriptures:

Any scripture from the text; Eph. 5:1-2; Heb. 10:12-14; 1 John 2:2

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