Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Receptivity

Crisis: Far from the Spirit of the Lord: On the Pope’s New Motu Proprio by Peter Kwasniewski

What we need to see, and see clearly, is this: the highest dignity of the baptized is to welcome Christ the Lord in Holy Communion. Period. Nothing else they do, no other function or service or activity, can compare to the Marian privilege of receiving God. When we elaborately multiply functions, services, and activities, we introduce distractions, invert priorities, build false hierarchies, and undermine simple faith, devotion, humility, and reverence. The participatio actuosa or actual participation of the faithful in the liturgy is not about doing, but about being, or more precisely, being a good recipient of the Word, so that this Word may be fruitful in us. It is not about busyness with much serving, but about contemplation, the union of love.


There is also the receptivity of the Son, who receives everything from the Father. Marian receptivity is symbolized by her, as a woman, becoming the Theotokos. Marian receptivity on a spiritual level is the receiving of the Divine Life by being a filia in Filio, just as the Son receives everything He is from the Father.

Does God Make Us Precious?

Or is our "worth" or goodness a result of God's creative act?

St. Paisios the Athonite