The mystery of the gift of a new nature

Dying on the cross, Jesus said to the disciple: “Behold, your mother.” We are saved in the holy name of Jesus: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (cf. Rom 10:13) Jesus assumed human nature through Mary and the Holy Spirit. Mary is not God but the Mother of God, and she is full of grace (cf. Lk 1:28). Jesus comes into our heart, too, through Mary and the Holy Spirit. Mary represents us, humans – in fact only those who received Christ. She stood by the cross and experienced the mystery of unity – i.e. crucifixion and death with Christ. She also experienced the truth of Eph 2:6: “He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.” She was raised up with Christ at the moment when Christ appeared to her. The Scripture is silent on this event but the Tradition confesses it. In baptism we were grafted on these two mysteries – death and resurrection with Christ. These mysteries should be actualized in us by faith and by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

God promised to give us a new heart and a new spirit (cf. Ezek 36:26). He performed this transplantation of heart when Jesus, dying on the cross, said: “Behold, your mother” and the disciple received her. Each of us must be a disciple standing bravely by the cross like John. It is the place where our salvation and transplantation of heart is accomplished.

Union with the Holy Trinity is achieved through a new nature, or a new heart – i.e. through the Mother of God who is our Mother. The fact that Eve and the poison of sin are present in us is a mystery. The fact that Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Father are present in us through Mary, who is full of grace, is a mystery too. We cannot penetrate into this mystery by speculating. God alone can initiate us into it. We should receive it by faith and God will initiate us into it little by little. We will fully understand it when we cross the threshold of eternity.

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