Transformation in Christ

Whenever Catholics stand for the reading of the Gospel in church, we sign ourselves with the sign of the cross on our foreheads, on our lips, and on our chests.  The prayer that accompanies these signs is "May the word of God remain in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, now and forever."

Last week, as I routinely traced the sign of the cross on my forehead, on my lips, and on my chest, I suddenly realized that what has become routine for every Catholic child is, in fact, the pattern of transformation.  Our Christian life is supposed to be a life of continuous transformation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, from the natural man -- the "empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers" -- to the spiritual man, the one who lives according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.  In other words, To all who received Him, He gave the power to become children of God.  The "power" He gives us, as He told us, is the power of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, from glory to glory.  That is, gradually and continually, the Holy Spirit transforms us into children of God by leading us into truth.

St. Paul tells us that we are... God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).  Now, if we look around, we see some people walking in good works, the outflow of the Holy Spirit, and others, not so much.  How do we grow from the "natural" man, the one who is concerned only about the things of the flesh and about his own life, to the "child of God," who is concerned about the things of the spirit of God and concerned for other people?

Romans 12 tells us to "present your bodies a living sacrifice.....and to be transformed by the renewing of your mind."  Psychologists today tell us that everything begins in the mind.  If we are to be "transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3: 18), then the process must begin in the mind.  As we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads, we open our minds to the influence of Jesus' words, the Gospel.  The cross means the death of the natural man, the mind that worries and "is anxious about many things;" it means that "one thing only is necessary," listening to the word of the Lord with our whole mind, our whole heart, and our whole strength.

Jeremiah 23:29 tells us that the word of God is like a "hammer that smashes rock into pieces," and Hebrews 4:12 gives us the image of "a two-edged sword" that "divides soul and spirit...and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

If we are to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into other Christs, we must allow the Word of God to penetrate even to the marrow of our bones; we must learn to "live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God," as Jesus did. 

So many people tell me that they cannot read Scripture, even though they have the time to do so. There is a reason for this common experience, as we learn from Ephesians 4:  ...if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them....for it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

One thing I have learned is that we are all incapable of reading Scripture without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  To some, God gives direct infusion of the knowledge of Scripture, so that when they actually read it, they recognize it.  They have already known it through the working of the Holy Spirit.  For others, we must, like St. Augustine, at some point, "Take and read," with prayer for seeing and understanding.  The more we read, the more we long for understanding, and the more we long for understanding, the more the Holy Spirit pours out His truth into our hearts and minds. 

Renewing of our minds is the first step toward transformation, but there are still two steps to follow.