The Church has been made by Christ and must live according to Christ.
[Christ] comes to destroy [sinful passions], and give [men] His grace, so as to make of them all one Holy Church. (Pascal, 783)
As Pascal reminds us, our passions keep us apart from God. It is through the death of these passions, which Christ put to death on the cross with Himself, that we are able to embrace the gift of God’s grace. In this series, we’ve returned again and again to the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the gospel. This is what we must hold on to, even when we think we have it. We are continually putting our sinful passions to death on the cross. Unlike Christ, who rose again to life, our sins do not rise. They are replaced by the grace of God and his free gift of salvation.
In this death, repentance, and submission, we received the free gift. It is not of ourselves, as Paul reminds us, but is a free gift of God. Yet, where do we go from here? Pascal tells us this too: We become part of the one Holy church.
Chances are good that you’ve heard of the church as either “one holy and apostolic church” or “one catholic church” before. The focus Pascal makes is that it is “one Holy church”. One Holy. One. Through the ultimate plan of the Father, the works of the Son, and the direction of the Spirit: We, the church, the many, have become one. As the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Out of the many: one.
We are starting to return to where we began. Have you noticed that? We started our journey with Pascal with one man, one truth, one God. We quickly ventured into searching out the infinite God, and have returned to the one. The infinite God has made us one.
I love the connection between the number one and God. All numbers tend toward the number ‘one’, just as all creation tends toward God. Out of all of the infinite numbers, they are composed of the factor ‘one’. We use fancy version of the number ‘one’ to make fractions get along, and solve for unknown variables. There is no end to what a good algebra student can do with the number ‘one’, just as there is no end to what you can do with the One God!
Do you doubt? Test the things taught by Pascal with the truth of mathematics and the miracles from history.
The two fundamentals; one inward, the other outward; grace and miracles; both supernatural. (Pascal, 805)
Jesus Christ has verified that He was the Messiah, never in verifying His doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but always by His miracles. (Pascal, 808)