Franciscan Feast of the Portiuncula

Readings for the Franciscan Feast of the Portiuncula


In the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.  As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.  Galatians 4:3

We remember the fourth century for the Church councils of Nicea and Constantinople when our Nicene Creed was written, and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was defined. Within that intense discussion was the issue of our adoption as children and heirs of God. The bishops had to address the question, “If the Son is coequal to the Father in authority and majesty, and not simply another creature, who and where are we?”

Khaled Anatolios, in his book Retrieving Nicea, explains: 

“The church is defined as the community that confessed the unqualified divinity of Christ, and it is on  the basis of just this conception of the Church that Alexander (bishop of Alexandria and mentor of Saint Athanasius ) felt justified in excommunicating Arius and his supporters.

“We unanimously expelled them from the Church which worships the divinity of Christ.”

 The heretic had taught that Jesus is a god but less than God the Father; he is essentially only a creature, though superior to all other creatures.

Anatolios adds,

“(Alexander) …defined the content of Christian salvation precisely as being enfolded into the Father-Son relation…. The Son’s perfect imaging of the Father grounds both human worship and salvation, whereby humanity is incorporated by grace into the natural filiation of the Son to the Father.

I often hear that no one needs to be Catholic or Christian to be saved; being a good person is enough. Even some Catholics regard the Mass as something to do when they have nothing better to do.

It seems to me, given the deteriorating state of society and many of our institutions, we should cling more closely to our heritage and inheritance! The fig leaf of born-Catholic will save no one from the wrath to come.

Natural filiation is our adoption as children and heirs of salvation. Our human worship is the Mass and sacraments; our liturgies enfold us into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Those who gather for Mass each Sunday "worship the divinity of Christ." We recognize Jesus the son of Mary as fully human and fully divine. Eating his body and drinking his blood we are "incorporated by grace" into the intimate relationship of the Father and the Son. We are saved by sharing the same human nature with him; we are saved by his divine authority to be raised from the dead and revealed as God. Sharing his human nature, including his poverty and vulnerability, saves us; his sacrificial union with the Father includes in his divine life. 

This truth underlies every other truth we share with one another. But those who deny this truth, preferring their own political, economic, and medical fantasies, defy the One who saves us.