He has Risen!!

Glory to God in the Highest, Jesus Christ has risen! The glory of God is truly shown in His Son. In denying the resurrection an Christian pulls out from under his feet the spiritual legs that he stands on. If there is no resurrection than what is a Christian's faith in? It is in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that atonement for our sins is made. If Christ merely died than there is no difference to what he did because everyone dies, there must be something different that had never happened before or since. Something that would give the Apostales the courage to face the very Centurians and leaders who had crucified Christ. Something was very different in these Fishermen who ran away when they came to take Christ away. They were able to stand up and proclaim the risen Lord. This is not Easter, but Pentacost. When the Church is clothed in fire and the Holy Spirt. But there is a very dark time before Pentacost can ever happen. Christ must die and so must we.....before we can experience Pentacost we must go with Christ to Calvary. So let us journey through Calvery to Pentacost.

My God, My God...

With Passion week we start to hear at Mass the words of Christ qouting the 22 Psalm, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1a). Some say that he cried this out because he was for that time made to feel the full weight of sin and became cut off from the beatific vision. To me this theory makes no sense, unless you deny the full union of God and man in Christ, because to be cut off from the Beatific vision Christ would have been cut off from Himself. This does not work at all. God cannot be cut off from Himself. No, Christ knew Himself, rather He spoke these words to for the world to hear for the benifit of the world in remebering the 22 Psalm. The Psalm goes on to ask where God is to the faithful servant but in the end is turned into triumph. The triumph of God over all the world and the hope that is in Him. This leads into Psalm 23 which has the famous lines, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever" (23:1-6). From abandondment to confindent hope and courage in God's gracious love for us. The fluidity of these verses shows the truth of what Christ is doing and saying, "Trust in me even in the darkest times." Christ is the one who gives us hope when all else fails. Toliken puts this role in Arogon, "I give hope to others and keep none for myself." This does not mean He despairs but rather He empties Himself of everything He has to give, even His life. And in giving His life, gains life for all.