How Do I Decide What Is Right? (Part 3)

How Do I Decide What Is Right?
Part Three
 
Last week I wrote that if we are to make good moral decisions we must know who we are; for when we know who we are then we know how we ought to act. In last week’s column, I said that our deepest and most important identity is the identity we enjoy in Christ. And I suggested that if we are conscious of our identity in Christ we will know how we ought to act. In this week’s column, I am presenting five ways that we can think of our identity in Christ that will help us to make the right moral choices.
 
We are a people who have been baptized into Jesus Christ. At our baptism each one of us was baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At that moment we were sacramentally united with Christ’s saving death and his life-giving resurrection. This means that we died with Christ to the power of Sin so that it is no longer necessary for us to sin. Put another way, we are free not to sin! Our baptism also means that we enjoy the new life of grace, and so we are free to live in a new way. While the power of Sin still affects our lives, we are no longer under its power. We are free to live a life apart from the power of Sin, if we choose.
 
We are a people who have been sealed with God’s Holy Spirit. At baptism and confirmation we were sealed with the power of God’s own Spirit—the Holy Spirit. This Spirit enables us to do what we could not formerly do. It allows us to live as God wants us to live. If we allow the Spirit to act within us, the Spirit of God produces its fruits of love, joy, and peace within us.The Spirit enables us to live a morally good life.
 
We are a people who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. By his death on the cross, Christ redeemed us from our slavery to the powers of Sin and Death. Previous to Christ’s death and resurrection we were enslaved to these powers that ruled over life. But after Christ’s death and resurrection these powers no longer rule over those who believe in Christ. This means that we, the redeemed, can live in a new and better way if we wish.
 
We are a people who have been reconciled to God. When Christ died on the cross, God reconciled us to Himself. This means we are at peace with God, not because of something we have done but because of something God has done for us. We did not, and we could not, reconcile ourselves to God, so God did what we could not do for ourselves. God reconciled us to Himself by the blood of his Son. This means that we are a people who are reconciled to God and so ought to live as a people who are at peace with God.
 
We are a holy people who form the Church. We are not just individuals; we form the community of the Church, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Living God. We are a holy and sanctified people whom God has sanctified by the blood of his own Son. By this blood, God has consecrated us for service to Himself. This means that all the members of the Church can rightly be called “saints,” not because we always do the right thing, but because God has consecrated and set us aside for service to Himself.
 
            The five points I have made above point to our dignity as Christians. They tell us who we are. If we remember our Christian dignity, if we remember who we are, we will know how to act. 
 
Fr. Matera