60._ Prolepsis
But an aspect that is most important, in our opinion, exists, of the mission of the Church: the "anticipation" of the Kingdom.
Jesus Christ was not mistaken: the Kingdom yes is imminent if is seen it from a personal point of view, as surely He saw it.
(We have affirmed that the Redemption makes a "loop" in time: the spirit of God has united the final moment of history --the "threshold of the last emergence"-- with the historical moment of the death/resurrection of Jesus. We can conceive, then, that in front of the conscience of Jesus two "futures" were opened, two temporary routes: one, the one that happens through his death and follows by the normal historical temporary sequence; the other, the one that in his same death reaches the resurrection at the end of history. This second route is the one that gets to be most real for him: absorbed in it, he speaks of a real and certain imminence of the Kingdom, that will be visible also to which soon communicates his Spirit, providing to them a perspective and an experience authentically anticipatory of the time end.)
For who sees it with "the eyes of this world", in the public, universal time, he lacks thousands of million years --probably-- for the appearance of the Kingdom. But for each individual person, her resurrection to the Kingdom arrives at the moment of her death; it comes soon, at most in few years, surprisingly, unexpectedly perhaps; therefore, she must be prepared, she must keep guard and pray, without letting extinguish her lamp of faith, like the one who feasts, which at night waits the coming of the husband, to the dawn. And to maintain and reinforce her faith and hope, she will be living anticipately the establishment of the Kingdom; for her, from grace of the Spirit, the Kingdom already is here, early; right now her transformation begins to incorporate her to the Mystical Body; her judgment and conversion are happening continuously during her life. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are already present in her interior, and in the middle of which they meet in His name.
In his last supper with his disciples, Jesus offered the bread to them saying: "you take and you eat, this is my body, that will be given by you". He talked about, in a triple identification, to the bread, his present human body, and his future Mystical Body; in a symbolic anticipatory act --but authentically real--, who eats of that bread is participating early in his death: that "given" body; but also of his resurrection: incorporating himself to His revived Mystical Body, as He had predicted saying: "I am the bread of life came from the heaven; who eats of it will live for always". And the wine is also authentically anticipatory symbol, as much of His blood physically spilled in the cross, like of the spiritual blood, the divine grace, that flows towards each member of His Mystical Body.
There is a Greek word that means "authentic anticipation": "prolepsis", that is used to talk about to experiences like this one. The supper of the Lord, the ritual consecration and consuming of bread and wine, as real symbols of His body and blood, are prolepsis of the death and the resurrection of Christ; who participates in it with this intention is anticipating, simultaneously that commemorating, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of His Kingdom. It is the sacrament of the Eucaristy.
The Christian Church is, then, the community --or communities-- that, by grace of the Spirit, lives "proleptically" the Kingdom of God. She herself is --in spite of the unworthy that she can be of it-- prolepsis of the New Jerusalem, the universal community of the redeemed ones that will be the Church in total sense. The Christian lives early in the Kingdom of God through the sacraments: "proleptic signs" of the events and gifts that will be manifested totally to the time end. The baptism is prolepsis of the death (immersion) and resurrection (emergence), and of that new polished identity --"we ourselves"-- that will be reached by means of the acceptance of the grace of God. The sacrament of the "reconciliation", "penance", or "confession", is prolepsis of the repentance and the pardon that are requisite and beginning of the transformation and the entrance in the Kingdom. The "communion" is prolepsis of the incorporation to the Mystical Body, a "spiritual flesh" and "spiritual blood" shared with all through Christ –the anakefaleosis--, for the eternal union with God --the apokatastasis.
The sacramental life, the oration, the meditation, but mainly the right and merciful action to imitation of Jesus --on agreement to His new commandement: "love each other as I have loved to you"--, and all form of authentically Christian activity, can acquire this "proleptic" meaning, that allows us to enjoy early the eternal goods, and to be prepared for the imminent --in personal time-- coming of the Kingdom of God.
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Jesus Christ was not mistaken: the Kingdom yes is imminent if is seen it from a personal point of view, as surely He saw it.
(We have affirmed that the Redemption makes a "loop" in time: the spirit of God has united the final moment of history --the "threshold of the last emergence"-- with the historical moment of the death/resurrection of Jesus. We can conceive, then, that in front of the conscience of Jesus two "futures" were opened, two temporary routes: one, the one that happens through his death and follows by the normal historical temporary sequence; the other, the one that in his same death reaches the resurrection at the end of history. This second route is the one that gets to be most real for him: absorbed in it, he speaks of a real and certain imminence of the Kingdom, that will be visible also to which soon communicates his Spirit, providing to them a perspective and an experience authentically anticipatory of the time end.)
For who sees it with "the eyes of this world", in the public, universal time, he lacks thousands of million years --probably-- for the appearance of the Kingdom. But for each individual person, her resurrection to the Kingdom arrives at the moment of her death; it comes soon, at most in few years, surprisingly, unexpectedly perhaps; therefore, she must be prepared, she must keep guard and pray, without letting extinguish her lamp of faith, like the one who feasts, which at night waits the coming of the husband, to the dawn. And to maintain and reinforce her faith and hope, she will be living anticipately the establishment of the Kingdom; for her, from grace of the Spirit, the Kingdom already is here, early; right now her transformation begins to incorporate her to the Mystical Body; her judgment and conversion are happening continuously during her life. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are already present in her interior, and in the middle of which they meet in His name.
In his last supper with his disciples, Jesus offered the bread to them saying: "you take and you eat, this is my body, that will be given by you". He talked about, in a triple identification, to the bread, his present human body, and his future Mystical Body; in a symbolic anticipatory act --but authentically real--, who eats of that bread is participating early in his death: that "given" body; but also of his resurrection: incorporating himself to His revived Mystical Body, as He had predicted saying: "I am the bread of life came from the heaven; who eats of it will live for always". And the wine is also authentically anticipatory symbol, as much of His blood physically spilled in the cross, like of the spiritual blood, the divine grace, that flows towards each member of His Mystical Body.There is a Greek word that means "authentic anticipation": "prolepsis", that is used to talk about to experiences like this one. The supper of the Lord, the ritual consecration and consuming of bread and wine, as real symbols of His body and blood, are prolepsis of the death and the resurrection of Christ; who participates in it with this intention is anticipating, simultaneously that commemorating, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of His Kingdom. It is the sacrament of the Eucaristy.
The Christian Church is, then, the community --or communities-- that, by grace of the Spirit, lives "proleptically" the Kingdom of God. She herself is --in spite of the unworthy that she can be of it-- prolepsis of the New Jerusalem, the universal community of the redeemed ones that will be the Church in total sense. The Christian lives early in the Kingdom of God through the sacraments: "proleptic signs" of the events and gifts that will be manifested totally to the time end. The baptism is prolepsis of the death (immersion) and resurrection (emergence), and of that new polished identity --"we ourselves"-- that will be reached by means of the acceptance of the grace of God. The sacrament of the "reconciliation", "penance", or "confession", is prolepsis of the repentance and the pardon that are requisite and beginning of the transformation and the entrance in the Kingdom. The "communion" is prolepsis of the incorporation to the Mystical Body, a "spiritual flesh" and "spiritual blood" shared with all through Christ –the anakefaleosis--, for the eternal union with God --the apokatastasis.
The sacramental life, the oration, the meditation, but mainly the right and merciful action to imitation of Jesus --on agreement to His new commandement: "love each other as I have loved to you"--, and all form of authentically Christian activity, can acquire this "proleptic" meaning, that allows us to enjoy early the eternal goods, and to be prepared for the imminent --in personal time-- coming of the Kingdom of God.
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posted by Gabriel Letelier Guzmán at 6:03 PM
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