perichoresis

(Written version of a homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter)

Deacon Douglas McManaman

I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 

Perichoresis (peri: ‘around’; choreo: ‘to go’) is a Greek theological term first employed by St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John of Damascus. It describes the complete mutual indwelling (the “divine dance”) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three Persons of the Trinity. What this means is that all three Persons of the Trinity exist entirely in one another; the Son exists entirely in the Father and entirely in the Holy Spirit, and the Father exists entirely in the Son and entirely in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit exists entirely in the Father and in the Son.  

But, you and I have been made partakers of this perichoresis, because as Jesus said: “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (Jn 14, 20). If you are in him and he is in you, and he is in the Father and in the Holy Spirit, then you are in the Father and in the Holy Spirit, and the Father is in you and the Holy Spirit is in you. In other words, the entire Trinity dwells within you. 

But we can take this further. If both you and I are in Christ and all that this implies (the Trinitarian life within us), then you and I are in one another. There is, with us, a mutual indwelling or co-inherence. This means that what happens to me affects you, and what happens to you affects me. And so, even the most secret sin that I commit will affect everyone, and conversely, the most secret work of charity will also affect everyone positively, without them necessarily knowing it. I am not some isolated individual with my own private existence; rather, I dwell within you and you in me, because we are both in him, who is in the Father (and the Father is in him). This is what holy communion means; when we receive communion, we enter into a very profound communion with one another.

Paul, however, takes this further and says that “we are individually parts of one another” (Rom 12, 5). Now, the more I get a handle on the weight of this point, the more I will hesitate to do something that will diminish me (sin), because if I am diminished, you are diminished, and if I love you, I do not want to diminish you. If I am indifferent to you, however, I don’t care that I diminish you by my sinful choices. And, the converse is also true. As I grow closer to God through charity (divine friendship), I take you along with me, because you and I are individually parts of one another. That is precisely why Paul says: “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy” (1 Cor 12, 26). 

Consider some of the implications of this principle. First, the good that you do in secret is actually very public, not in terms of knowledge–because what you do is done in secret–, but the unknown and unacknowledged good that you do moves the world forward and builds up the Church in ways that are beyond your ken. That few people know about what you do makes no difference in the end. The whole Christ knows. The converse is also the case; the evil that I do in secret, the lying, or little acts of unkindness, greed, selfishness, etc., are actually public, once again not in terms of knowledge, because they are done in secret, but even when no one is looking, they diminish every one, because we co-inhere in one another. And although they are done in secret, they will eventually be known throughout the entire mystical body; for Jesus himself says: “For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light” (Lk 8, 17). Further on in the same gospel, he says: “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Lk 12, 2-3). 

In the second reading, Peter says: “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God” (1 Pt 3, 17-18). But when we suffer for doing good, we, like Christ, suffer for one another. The reason is that we exist in one another. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6, 2). This is the law of Christ, that my suffering in the Person of Christ has the specific quality of bringing relief to another. Because we are parts of one another, we actually do bear one another’s burdens. What this means is that my suffering, which is a burden to me,  has the specific quality of bringing relief to another. Think of what it means to carry another’s burden. We lighten their load, so to speak. Recall what it is like to suffer alone, only to have someone come along and acknowledge your suffering, actually feel the sorrow you feel, to some degree at least. When this occurs, you feel your burden getting lighter and easier to carry, while the one who listens to you actually feels heavier and feels greater sorrow. Victims of injustice do not feel so alone when somebody finally listens to them, acknowledges the injustice and shares in their anger. 

Life in the community of Christ’s body is very much a zero sum game, a series of trade offs, as it were. It would not be that way if my life was closed off from yours and vice versa, if we were merely two private individuals existing side by side without any mutual indwelling or co-inherence. 

And so, a person might wonder at times: “Why is this happening to me?” “Why am I suffering like this?” Of course, I don’t have the specific answer to that question, but only a general one. Such a person might very well be relieving another of his burden, because he/she exists in Christ, and Christ suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, and this person is sharing in Christ’s life. And others in that same mystical body have carried my burden throughout my life, so that I could enjoy momentary relief from suffering, and I don’t know who they are.

So, although your suffering might seem pointless, useless, meaningless, you will be delighted to discover in the fullness of God’s kingdom that you were actually carrying someone else’s burden and providing them with much needed  relief. That is why as chaplains we pray that God join the sufferings of this patient to the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of someone else. We share in Christ’s redeeming work when we suffer, and this suffering is precisely a matter of carrying one another’s burdens. Our suffering is never pointless. 

And there is one other very important implication here, and that is none of us are saved except through one another. Christ has made you and I participants in the salvation of the world. We can think of the joy that will be ours when we discover that our struggles, difficulties, and sufferings that were part of the life in Christ that we chose, were a real factor in the salvation of so many people, and think too of the the joy of knowing how the difficulties, burdens, struggles and sufferings of this person and that person were a factor in your salvation and my salvation.