The prayer of Christ

Abstract

Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the new-man, the first-born of many brethren, the one High-priest between God and man. He stands beside God alone precisely because he is at once perfect God and perfect man. Thus he is able to be the mediator through whom we come to the Father. And the new manner of existence, which in Christ is prepared for all his brethren, is to be taken up into his sacred humanity. Man and sin are no longer identical. Growth and development up to the stature of Christ are our lot. Sacramentality, by which is sometimes meant the sense of mystery, is in the core of religion. We cannot see God face to face, so we must meet him in mystery. The mystery is the created situation in which God himself is felt. Humanly speaking presence involves physical proximity, but there can be no physical nearness in the case of the incorporeal God head. We have to fall back on the idea of communication. God is present wherever he communicates himself, his wisdom, his love, his creative power. Our belief in Christ as the unique mediator has taken on the additional dimension of the Incarnation [...].