Last week I left you with the concept that all of our human experience glows with the light of Christ’s sacrifice. But why? And how?

My husband, Daniel, can create analogies like nobody’s business. Honestly, it’s such a gift. He and I were deep in conversation about salvation years ago when he came up with an analogy that has forever changed the way I know salvation. For most of my Christian life, I’d thought of the Cross much like the Hunger Games (psst! spoilers ahead). In this analogy, humanity is Prim and we’re all headed to death - in this case, death by Hunger Games - thanks to Adam & Eve’s first sin (cf Romans 5:12) and then boom! Katniss (Jesus) goes in Prim’s place and Prim is saved. All of which is, of course, absolutely wonderful because Prim is saved. However, Daniel put salvation better in this way: Instead of merely stepping in, salvation is more like Katniss going in Prim’s place, but then carrying Prim piggyback through the entire Hunger Games (cf Romans 5:10) and Prim gets to be a part of the same victory in the end as Katniss (cf Romans 8:17).

Along the same vein, I recently watched Fly Away Home (more spoilers ahead!) and thought it had similar symbolism. Amy didn’t just teach her geese to fly, but she became one with them in her plane and flew with them on the journey, because they couldn’t do it themselves.

Like in last week’s article, this changes everything. When I realized we can participate in the same Cross and victory as Christ, it opened up a new perspective that really rocked my world. Saint Paul writes of this participation theology often throughout his letters, anytime he says “in Him,” “through Him,” or “with Him.” I love the prepositions here, because they express a very real intimacy that Christ has with us throughout our life.

“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”

Romans 6:3-5

When we miscarried our baby Ren in 2017, a line from the Anima Christi prayer consoled me through the grief, “In Your wounds, hide me.” Time and time again, I came back to an image of me, curled up, resting inside of Christ’s wound in His side. The pain and grief I felt was so great, but the suffering brought me so much closer to Jesus, because He has united our sufferings to His (cf. Colossians 1:24). The intimacy of being “in Him” in this extraordinary circumstance is the same as in our ordinary moments as well.

Until this point, I’d been looking at our human experience in a bottom-up outlook, i.e. families have fathers and God is like a father, but actually, life is a top-down reality, i.e. fathers are put into families to be like God the Father. Or, put another way, we don’t have marriage because God is like marriage, but really, marriage is given to us so that we can be like God in our marriages.

This is how our whole being glows with the light of Jesus’s saving power. The answer to the question of why is a good one. It’s because He loves us. All of life is a revelation of God’s love to us and an invitation to be closer to Him. Not just our souls, but our bodies, too. This is what I felt under my hands as I worked in textile processes for the first time. I was becoming one with Jesus.

Next week, I’ll get into how any of this relates to my artwork. I’ve been itching to share this with you all and I can’t wait! For now, some homework and extra credit to help you think and pray about these ideas.

Homework: Listen to “What Does the Holy Spirit Actually Do? (Superhero Analogy) by Father Mike Schmitz (youtube link here) - this is our 4 year old’s favorite podcast episode that we listen to almost every day on the way to school

Extra Credit: Listen to “Used to This” by Maverick City Music