Tag: Union with the Father

NEW – Deification of Man in Christianity

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Deification Front CoverDeification is the transformation of man into god through the grace of God. Predominant in the theology of Eastern Christianity, but marginalized and obscured in contemporary interpretations of the theology of Western Christianity, Bartolo-Abela explores how it is deification, not just salvation, that was and remains the intent of God for mankind, with deification occurring not solely in patria, but in via and in patria. This is an understanding of deification which has been largely lost and needs to be recovered in the Western Church.

Examining the works of the Church Fathers on both sides of the East-West divide in Christianity, Bartolo-Abela shows that rather than being restricted to the East, deification featured consistently in many theological works popular in the West, with Continue reading “NEW – Deification of Man in Christianity” →

What is the meaning of the divine inheritance?

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The question was asked, “What does ‘the divine inheritance’ mean?” The response is simple, though by no means brief if answered in depth. The divine inheritance means we are called to literally inherit everything God the Father has, with Himself as Perfect Love above all else. And you have no idea what that is like, what perfect bliss and joy it entails, until you have tasted it.  Continue reading “What is the meaning of the divine inheritance?” →

What is deification? – Response to a question

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Deification is the attaining of likeness to God and union with Him so far as is possible (Dionysus the Aeropagite, EH 1. 3, PG 3. 376a).

God, you see, wants to make you a god; not by nature, of course, like the One whom He begot but by His gift and by adoption (Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 166.4).

Deification or the “divinization of the Christian is not an identification with God [but] an assimilation, a very eminent restoration of the original divine likeness [through a process where one] participates by grace in the perfections that God possesses by nature” (Gross, 1936/2003). Deification results Continue reading “What is deification? – Response to a question” →

The softness of God the Father – Reblogged by request

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God the Father is the Almighty Creator, the Alpha and Omega of the universe. Yet His softness is remarkable and tenderness unmistakeable in His intimate daily dealings with His children. Soft – a softness and tenderness unmatched elsewhere – can be said to best describe our Father within the function of His Paternality and Parentality. Gently caressing, infinitely loving and firmly  Continue reading “The softness of God the Father – Reblogged by request” →

Purification – The ascent

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Purification in the desert is an ascent, for all our untoward attachments are removed so the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – can come and live in us. If we are not thoroughly purified this way, how can we open ourselves up sufficiently for Them to come and live in us with power and might? Perfect light and life cannot dwell where darkness resides. This is why we are presently being Continue reading “Purification – The ascent” →

Worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth – 5 – Becoming partakers of the divine nature

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The process

The following aptly describes the process by which we become capable of worshipping God the Father in Spirit and in Truth (cf. Jn 4:23-24), as He so longingly and longstandingly desires:

“God descends to man in two senses, although simultaneously. By one descent He places in us an activity of divine love for Him, by the other He opens Himself up before our love, which is from Continue reading “Worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth – 5 – Becoming partakers of the divine nature” →

Seeing God the Father – 3 – From the Core of the Father’s Divine Heart

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Those who have not seen this light have not seen God: for God is Light (Symeon the New Theologian)

“Divine love descends from above as a fire over a sacrifice passively laying on a mountain peak or on an altar before the unseen God. Then divine love can ravish it that it might by itself go beyond the curtains of darkness which hide God from men . . . The mind which no longer sees even itself Continue reading “Seeing God the Father – 3 – From the Core of the Father’s Divine Heart” →

The Era of the 8th Day – 18 – Consecration by the Father, to Him, in Spirit and in Truth

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The second Pentecost

1. “And the glory which You have given Me, I give to them: that they may be one, as We also are One. I in them and You in Me: that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them, as You have also loved Me” (Jn 17:22-24)

2. “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us . . . Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:18-21)

When we allow God the Father to consecrate ourselves to Himself, in His Spirit and His Truth, after the heart of our souls have been re-opened but especially after the forthcoming global Illumination Continue reading “The Era of the 8th Day – 18 – Consecration by the Father, to Him, in Spirit and in Truth” →