The glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.
St Irenaeus, Against Heresies

It could well be asserted that humankind is the apogee of biological development on our planet, because we have the capacity to know God and enjoy his presence as part of our life. This knowledge has two components: an intellectual one that enables us to explore the universe and fathom the very process of creation (thus entering to some extent the mind of God), and an intuitive grasp of reality which finds its peak in a direct apprehension of the Godhead in mystical union. The impact of that mystical experience is so shattering in its radiance and power that no one who has known it remains the same, in so far as a new person is born out of the debris of old associations. The knowledge of God makes us more Christlike, as we play our part in the daily scene with a wisdom and love that we never previously knew.

And so we begin to know what living means - no longer a mere groping for existence in the bowels of the earth but now a joyful striding over its plains as every encounter shows us something of the divine splendour. Jesus said, "I have come that men may have life, and may have it in all its fullness" (John 10.10). The same Gospel writer said of him that whoever received him and gave him their allegiance were given the right to become children of God (John 1.12). At last every faculty was fully awakened so that the spiritual realm was fully open to their gaze and consequently part of their existence.

In one of the most remarkable visions of Ezekiel, the prophet was carried by the Spirit of God to a plain full of bones. He was told to prophesy over them so that life might be restored to them and a mighty army arise (Ezek. 37.1-14). This was a symbolic prediction of the reanimation of the children of Israel; from their impotence as captives in Babylon, they were to return to the Holy Land to rebuild the Holy City and its dominating Temple. More than even this, they were to grow into a mature understanding of their Jewish faith as a preliminary for their great contribution in providing the physical body of Christ himself. Their release from Babylonian captivity was an act of pure grace, an unmerited gift, of God, but they then had to put into action the promise bestowed on them. God gave them the potentiality for new life which they then had to realize.

There is indeed a type of life that is little more than an animal striving for pleasurable sensations, not necessarily bad in themselves but having no lasting effect either on the person or the world. There is also a life in the image of Christ that raises up the earth from death to immortality, from decay to resurrection. Such a life is a joy even when all the forces of destruction are ranged against it. But the saint is inviolate, because his or her vision is directed to God in rapt contemplation. As St Paul writes, "Because for us there is no veil over the face, we all reflect as in a mirror the splendour of the Lord; thus we are transfigured into his likeness, from splendour to splendour; such is the influence of the Lord who is Spirit" (2 Cor. 3.18). This is the life of the fully realized person beholding God at all times, even when a crucifixion experience terminates the mortal span.

Of course, we little ones can hardly aspire to these spiritual heights, but if we remember to bring God into our lives, he will bring more life to us. We should start by the regular practice of contemplative prayer with its petitional, confessional and intercessory outpourings. If we really care for God and our fellow creatures, the divine presence will be with us ever more insistently, and life will flow through our bodies that will enlighten the world.

I thank you, Lord, for revealing to me the image of a truly alive person in the form of Jesus Christ. May I be so filled with your Spirit that the new fire flowing through me may be a source of renewal and healing to the world.