Kept with Christ

In the Lossky entry below, I quoted from the Small Catechism the opening words of the third article's explanation, words that ended:

"In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Church on earth *and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith*"

The Spirit keeps us with our Lord in the one true faith. To borrow a phrase: Was ist das?

I think that the Catechism here bears witness to a foundational truth that is too ofen forgotten: to be a Christian is not merely to believe *in* Christ; it is to believe *with* Christ. To be a Christian is to share His faith in the Father, His understanding of the mission the Father sent Him on. In short, it is (quoting the Blessed Apostle) to have "the mind of Christ."

Such a share in the mind of Christ is pure gift of the Holy Spirit, but it a transfiguring gift. Learning to live by faith in the Father's promise of resurrection. Learning to live by faith in Christ's convictions about sufferings being endured with patience and offered as obedience to the Father. Learning to live by faith that love is the foundation of the Father's every action - the "opus propium" of God, if you will - even when it seems so impossible to believe. The faith of Christ is what held onto the Father through the bitter sufferings of the cross, never letting go. Even there it was still "Eli" - note the "i" - MY God.

If we remember that the forming of this faith within us is the gift of the Holy Spirit alone, we see the importance of the Church's continual prayer: Veni creator Spiritus! Come creator Spirit! Come form in us the mind of Christ, come keep us in Jesus' own faith that we may share in the triumph of His resurrection!