SSF 103 – The Priesthood of Christ and the Devotional Life

Through many gifts in the life of the Church, especially more widespread devotion to Saints Therese of the Child Jesus and Elizabeth of the Trinity, the hearts of many faithful are catching flame with the truth of the indwelling Trinity. Indeed, at the opening of the Jubilee Year in 2000, Pope Saint John Paul II characterized the New Millennium by this mystery, writing that, “A spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us” (Novo Millennio Ineunte 43).

Our union with the Trinity is not mediated, but immediate. Unlike the priests of the Old Law, who stood between God and the assembly, Christ our High Priest stands at no distance from His members: He gives us His own life. This course will offer a sustained reflection on the implications of belief in the indwelling God, particularly as it transforms our devotional life and spiritual practices.

Students will contemplate:

• The inner logic of devotions and spiritual practices as radiating from the treasury of Christ’s priestly heart;
• that the least degree of sanctifying grace contains and gives us to possess all of the goods of Christ and all the saints; and
• God’s divine indwelling in our hearts by grace, and how this leads us to reinterpret many other truths of the faith in its light.