Dear Emeka,

Thanks for the question.

The Church quotes the Scriptures and the Saints who use the language that some ignorant critics can't appreciate. 2 Peter 1:4 tells us that we are to become partakers of the divine nature. That means we are to become divinized in some sense. God adopts us as His children, but not like we adopt a pet, which simply remains a dog or cat, but God makes us like Himself, like real children of God — like that thing that Pinocchio dreamed about in becoming a real boy from a mere puppet.

That is an analogy to us becoming children of God, not by our intrinsic nature, but by grace.

What we receive in the Resurrection is far beyond our imagination, but we will become like Christ, and are in some mystical way connected to Him as He is connected to us.

St. Paul uses the language of the body of Christ to describe the Church (for example cf. Colossians 2:19 and 1 Corinthians 10:17), and ever since, it has been part of the theology of many saints.

In the Catechism references you cited, refer to the footnotes to see St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Irenaeus and St. Athanasius, all utilizing this same language and description of who we are. That's a lot of Early Church Fathers.

We are members of Christ's Own Body, and the Eucharist is the primary way we connect and become one. If you realize that God is a Holy Trinity, who all share the same life, yet are distinct, and then realize that God intends to bring us into His Life, it is mind-blowing!

The essential qualifier is the distinction between nature and grace, and without that, we would be talking nonsense or blasphemy so, in the end:

What God is by nature, we become by grace.

Peace,

Bob Kirby

Emeka,

The literalness for which you aim is unnecessary for those who understand truth. Christ used hyperbole often to underscore a point: 29  if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out," (Matthew 5:29). . . 26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple," (Luke 14:26) etc.

Think also of Matthew 25:31ff. Read this whole passage about the King and judgment. He says when you didn't do it to the least of these, you didn't do it to me. He presents no distinction. This notion of all in Christ, are one with Christ in some mystical way is derived from Christ Himself.

It was common for Jesus' enemies to try to catch Him in some sort of trap by presenting some black and white set of alternatives that he would be forced to choose from — the irony was that they themselves were trapped by their narrow vision and could not see, as God sees. For them, you are either God or man, but surely not both.

Jesus couldn't be God because he was man. That was their literal truth. They didn't allow for another possibility — that He was both. So likewise, don't let the idea of literalness dissuade you from the greater truth: that we will become Jesus Christ in some sense — a metaphysical unity that defies human understanding.

Here you must employ the same kind of theology that we use with respect to the Trinity: Three Persons yet One God. We speak of one God, yet the Father is not the Son, nor the Spirit.

• Is there not one God?
  
• Is the Son, the Father?

30 I and the Father are one, said Jesus. (John 10:30)

• Is that simply a moral unity as the Jehovah Witnesses would suggest or is He and the Father one in some other way?

If you are getting confused, don't worry, you are not alone. It took centuries for the Church to define the Trinity, the Hypostatic Union and other such concepts. That said, if your mind is not stretched, you are not growing in awe of God, who defies expectations.

Let me leave you with one more thing to ponder.

• Do you remember when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple as a baby?

Simeon said to Mary and a sword will pierce your own soul. (cf. Luke 2:33ff).

• Did Mary ever get stabbed with a sword?

Not that we know of, but when Jesus hung on the Cross a soldier put a lance through Him. Mary stood at the foot of the Cross and, as she watched her Son, who she was united with in every dimension of His Passion, felt every inch of the blade. Just meditate on those words of Simeon and it might become clearer.

35 So that the thoughts of hearts might be made manifest. (Luke 2:35)

Peace,

Bob Kirby