In our Epistle, Saint Paul speaks of our freedom. He says, “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our Mother.” And he says at the end of the epistle, “Freedom in Christ as set us free.” In speaking of freedom, Paul means freedom from sin. He means freedom from sinful ways, sinful habits which are called passions. Paul means freedom from being a slave to sin, or a slave to the world. In the holy doctrine of Paul, when we are in Christ we are a new creation. In Christ the eyes of our heart see above the firmament into the heavenly places.

In Christ the dry land of our sinful existence, the dry land of spiritual darkness becomes earth, becomes capable of growth, becomes capable of redemption, of being made right, because of the Holy Cross. Dry land cannot grow grass which bears seed; dry land cannot grow fruit trees bearing seeds in the fruit. When we are slaves to sin, we are in darkness, the darkness of the abyss. Christ brings us out of the darkness, because Christ is our light. And God parts the sea, He gathers together the waters so that dry land appears. And He calls us the dry land earth; He calls us “earth” and desires that we are good soil: this is the freedom we have in Christ, that being free, we can spiritually grow, that on the earth, which is to say in our heart, we can bear fruit and have seeds within ourselves, indeed that our heart can contain the seeds of all good works and virtues, that we can perform works of love and works of mercy, which are brought forth from the good treasure of our heart.

Our Collect invites us to be comforted by the grace of Christ, that in our suffering we may be relieved by the mercy of Christ. And what can comfort us more than Christ Himself? Who can provide grace to us but Christ Himself? Who may bestow mercy upon us to relieve us from our suffering, our wounds, our hurts but He Whose very nature is mercy, Jesus Christ Himself? Our Lord Jesus gives us the peace which passes all understanding, and He does so by His presence. He does so personally for each one of His children. He does so personally for each of his parish churches as a Body, because we are His Body. We are in Him, and He is in us.

And to His Body the Church He gives His Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament, in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Eucharist. Saint John teaches us that Jesus Christ distributes Himself to those who were seated. The image of being seated most powerfully is given us in the image of Saint Mary Magdalene, seated at the feet of Jesus. In being seated at the feet of Jesus, she offers herself as a living sacrifice to God. In being seated at the feet of Jesus, she adores Christ, listens to Christ, and puts all of her focus on Christ. In being seated at the feet of Jesus, her heart is centered on Christ and His Sacred Humanity. In being seated, she is fed by Christ, as He fed the five thousand who were seated.

In feeding us within Himself, Christ transforms us. We are transformed because the Sacrament of Christ’s Love, which is the Eucharist, fulfills its purpose in us. Receiving into our bodies Christ’s Body and Blood, we are drawn to become that which we receive: and we receive He Who is Love, so that we are drawn out of darkness, out of being merely dry land, to become fertile earth upon which the seeds of the Gospel grow into large trees bearing fruit. Christ’s Gospel seeds grow in our heart and transform our heart. Christ’s love envelops us and covers us and protects us. Christ’s love heals us, cleans us, and feeds us. Freedom in Christ means the ability to grow up to the fullness of the stature of Christ. Christ’s love perfects us; makes us more and more perfected; makes us more and more like Him.

Because Jesus Christ is the source and summit of our life, so the Eucharist, the blessed Sacrament of the Altar, is the source and summit of our life. The Eucharist is Christ, and Christ is Himself the Eucharist. Thus the Eucharist is itself the surest tradition, the one tradition on which we always can safely rely. Thus we adore the Blessed Sacrament. Thus we always allow the Blessed Sacrament to shower upon us heavenly benediction. No matter what our feelings may be on a given Sunday, the very nature of the Eucharist is that it is Christ’s most precious Body and Blood, which we receive irrespective of how we are feeling. The Eucharist heals us because Christ heals us, and He is the Eucharist. The Eucharist strengthens us because Christ strengthens us, and the Eucharist is Christ. The Eucharist showers us with heavenly love because Christ is Love incarnate, Who became man in holy sacrifice for us, and Who always lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Get full access to Anglican Ascetic Podcast at frmcdallman.substack.com/subscribe