Day 11
A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus (1:11-20)
The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation,
and gladness and a crown of rejoicing.
The fear of the Lord delights the heart,
and gives gladness and joy and long life.
Those who fear the Lord will have a happy end;
on the day of their death they will be blessed.
To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
she is created with the faithful in the womb.
She made among human beings an eternal foundation,
and among their descendants she will abide faithfully.
To fear the Lord is fullness of wisdom;
she inebriates mortals with her fruits;
she fills their whole house with desirable goods,
and their storehouses with her produce.
The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom,
making peace and perfect health to flourish.
From “The Mystery of Time” by Fr Jean Mouroux (+1973)
Christ died to deliver us from the condemnation to eternal death and from the fear which enslaves the sinner. He has conquered death, the child of sin, because he has conquered sin itself. He has undergone death to destroy it. He has overcome this radical contradiction by elevating us to a participation in his risen life, in “life eternal.” Death has not yet been completely eradicated, but it has been completely transformed. Christ has delivered us all to the Cross because He, the Head of mankind, the Center of the redeemed universe, the Savior, “bore us all in Himself” during his sacrifice. Thus “if one died for all, then all were dead”, and all are saved from the satanical power of death. It is love, not damnation, which envelops us and restores us to God. It envelops us as individuals; as members of the human race; and as members of the Church…
Its infinite blessing affects our personal life at baptism, where with Christ we “are dead to sin, but alive to God”. The power of the Risen Christ dwells in us that “we may walk in the newness of life,” that each day we may cast sin farther away and crown our lives with the divine agape. The life of Christians in time is a paradoxical one. They are dead to sin, yet must die to it each day; they live in God, and must live for him each day; they are the battleground of an eschatological struggle in which Christ the Conqueror faces the vanquished devil, that he may triumph once again in the freedom of a regenerated heart. By immersing himself ever more deeply into baptism and Christ, the Christian grows with Christ and brings about his victory even in death.
Insofar as he lives in Christ, the Christian is totally enveloped by Christ both before and after death. Before death, Christ is the life-giving, saving Lord. After death, he calls, judges, purifies, and transfigures the life he has given. Here below, he communicates the seed of immortality, especially in the Eucharist. Up above, He will be the source of glory which will transform our soul and our body.
The Eternal One is present before and after death. So at our death Christ is present as the Savior who protects Christians from the last assault of the evil one, revives their flagging spirits, and leads them from the time of testing to their eternal reward.
Christ is the Mediator through whom and in whom every Christian experiences death. Externally, death still seems to be a terrible process of annihilation. But internally it is the mysterious maturation of the new creature in Jesus Christ. “This is the will of my Father who sent me: that every one who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise them on the last day”. “I am the bread of life. This is the bread that came down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die”.
Prayer
Lord,
in our grief we turn to you.
Are you not the God of love
who open your ears to all?
Listen to our prayers for your servants,
whom you have called out of this world:
lead them to your kingdom of light and peace
and count them among the saints in glory.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.