“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph 1:3). The supreme gift of God is nothing less than God Himself—the blessing whereby creatures participate by grace in the eternal love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Gratia supponit naturam. God’s gift of grace presupposes and perfects the original gift of creation. Through the life, death, and Resurrection of the Incarnate Son, God has revealed his plan to gather creation into a new unity established by Christ. “For he has made know to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to the purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:10). This divine plan to recapitulate all things in Jesus Christ is accomplished in and through the sacraments, “the actions of the Holy Spirit at work in Christ’s Body, the Church . . . the masterworks of God in the new and everlasting covenant” (CCC 1116).

__________________

To read this article in its entirety, please download the free PDF available above.