Greco-Christian stream·The Imitation of Christ·Book IV — Of the Sacrament of the Altar·Chapter VIII. Of The Oblation Of Christ Upon The Cross, And Of Resignation Of Self
VIII. The oblation of Christ on the Cross; self-resignation
The oblation of Christ on the cross is the pattern; the soul's oblation of itself is its participation. The Mass and communion as the place where the soul lays down its own life into Christ's, joining the great cosmic self-offering of Calvary.
Source context
- Theme
- Christ's sacrificial self-oblation on the Cross as archetype and summons for the soul's total self-resignation
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
- GA 68b, 1905-12-09Steiner places the Imitation of Christ almost on a par with the New Testament as a document of the soul's language, implying its meditations on sacrifice and self-surrender carry genuine initiatory weight.
- GA 53, 1905-03-16Steiner groups the Imitation of Christ with the Gospel of John and the Bhagavad Gita as texts in which patient immersion yields direct spiritual-scientific results, lending the chapter's theme of sacrificial self-offering a preparatory esoteric function.
Cross-tradition
- Vedantic self-surrender (ātma-nivedana)The Bhagavad Gita's teaching of surrendering the fruits of action to the Divine (nishkama karma, BG 3.30) exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's demand that the soul abandon self-will entirely in union with Christ's kenotic act.
- Sufi fana (annihilation of self)The Sufi doctrine of fana, the extinction of the ego-self in God, parallels structurally the chapter's insistence that complete self-resignation is the condition for receiving the grace flowing from the Oblation.
- Dionysian apophatic theologyPseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's account of the soul's ascent through self-negation toward the divine darkness exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's movement from self-willed activity to passive receptivity before the Cross.
Chapter VIII. Of The Oblation Of Christ Upon The Cross, And Of Resignation Of Self
OF THE OBLATION OF CHRIST UPON THE CROSS, AND OF RESIGNATION OF SELF
The Voice of the Beloved
As I of my own will offered myself unto God the Father on the Cross for thy sins with outstretched hands and naked body, so that nothing remained in Me that did not become altogether a sacrifice for the Divine propitiation; so also oughtest thou every day to offer thyself willingly unto Me for a pure and holy oblation with all thy strength and affections, even to the utmost powers of thine heart. What more do I require of thee than thou study to resign thyself altogether unto Me? Whatsoever thou givest besides thyself, I nothing care for, for I ask not thy gift, but thee.
2As it would not be sufficient for thee if thou hadst all things except Me, even so whatsoever thou shalt give Me, if thou give Me not thyself, it cannot please Me. Offer thyself to Me, and give thyself altogether for God, so shall thy offering be accepted. Behold I offered Myself altogether to the Father for thee, I give also My whole body and blood for food, that thou mightest remain altogether Mine and I thine. But if thou stand in thyself, and offer not thyself freely to My will, thy offering is not perfect, neither shall the union betwixt us be complete. Therefore ought the freewill offering of thyself into the hands of God to go before all thy works, if thou wilt attain liberty and grace. For this is the cause that so few are inwardly enlightened and made free, that they know not how to deny themselves entirely. My word standeth sure, Except a man forsake all, he cannot be My disciple.(1) Thou therefore, if thou wilt be My disciple, offer thyself to Me with all thy affections.
(1) Luke xiv. 33.