Monday, April 9, 2012

Waking to New Life

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

One of the (many) things I love about being Catholic is that Easter is not just one day.  It's a whole week, followed by another six weeks of joy of the risen Christ, culminating in another celebration, the "birthday" of the Church on Pentecost.  When celebrating the single greatest event in human history, the conquering of mankind's greatest, common foes--sin and death--by the God Man who came among us, celebrating for one day, or even a few days, simply will not do.  But that is not why I wanted to write today, so I'll save a few more thoughts on that for later.

Today, Easter Monday, I wanted to share a spot that Michael Voris from RealCatholicTV.com did last week, reflecting on the sheer power of the Resurrection, and speculating on what Christ's personal experience must have been like as his lifeless body was reanimated to a glorified, immortal state, and the unimaginable joy that must have been shared when he first greeted his mother, whose fiat had allowed him to take on him human flesh.




+AMDG+

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Christ Descended Into Hell

Christ's Descent into Limbo by Jacopo Bellini, 15th century, Museo Civico, Padua, Italy
Holy Saturday has often left me at a loss for words.  In the time between our Lord's death on the cross and the joyful completion of his triumph over death in the Resurrection on the third day lies today, Holy Saturday.  In the words of the Credo, "he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day."  Though the absolute, full weight of the events of Good Friday and the Resurrection may escape us, the historical accounts given to us in Scripture give us something tangible to contemplate, something that we can take into our hearts and minds to begin to make real for us what Christ accomplished.  What has been more difficult for me is to imagine what took place during what we commemorate today, the time of silence that the Author of life spent in death.  This ancient homily, shared by Brandon Vogt at The Thin Veil, helped this morning to bridge that gap and imagine the powerful encounter of what happened when Christ descended to bring the Gospel to those who had been trapped in death since the original sin.


"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."



+AMDG+