Passing beneath Christ’s outstretched arm
Part 5: His shed blood transfers God’s grace to us
And you say you are changed? Yes, but forgive me, not changed enough. Yet changed completely, and certainly sufficiently. How can you say that a drop of Christ’s blood fell into your soul but you are not changed enough? Is God not God? Is Christ’s blood not as effective as you claimed? He is God – and so is Christ – and his blood is effective, but we still need to understand that we are still human. A drop of divine pure love has infused our souls – a truly precious receptacle, holding pure holiness. But we are still human and if we think we can now manage, because “I have God inside me!” then we are still lost in confusion. That drop of blood is working, but most of all it is a promise – given and received – that, at the end, when still, after all that God has done for us, we still need to kneel in confession, that the word of God will come to us, “Life is always my gift to you. You do not earn it. You either live it as my gift to you, or you don’t truly live it at all”.
So, at the end, as always, it is grace that we need to enter God’s presence. The drop of Christ’s blood, falling into our souls is, to us, pure grace. That is what happened when we passed beneath Christ’s outstretched arm; we received the gift of grace that he was offering. God’s freely-given loving kindness, his forgiveness – his amnesty and promise of forgiveness – his quashing of the charges against us, his redemption of the preciousness of life that we squandered, pawned to purchase delusions, his willingness to embrace us even after endlessly shunning him: all this is, to us, pure grace. And it has made us whole.
Spiritual Devotion 