Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wednesday before Easter: Life and immortality

ASSIST us mercifully with Thy help, O Lord God of our salvation; that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts, whereby Thou hast given unto us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [BCP]
Peter Kreeft from Making Sense Out of Suffering:
Jesus did three things to solve the problem of suffering. First, he came. He suffered with us. He wept. Second, in becoming man he transformed the meaning of our suffering: it is now part of his work of redemption. Our death pangs become birth pangs for heaven, not only for ourselves but also for those we love. Third, he died and rose. Dying, he paid the price for sin and opened heaven to us; rising, he transformed death from a hole into a door, from an end into a beginning.

That third thing, now - resurrection. It makes more than all the difference in the world. Many condolences begin by saying something like this: "I know nothing can bring back your dear one again, but.. ." No matter what words follow, no matter what comforting psychology follows that "but," Christianity says something to the bereaved that makes all the rest trivial, something the bereaved longs infinitely more to hear: God can and will bring back your dear one again to life. There is resurrection. [more]
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.
[Jeremiah 17]

Suffering by Peter Kreeft

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:36 PM

    We have just come back from the Foot of the Cross in which we changed the red Cloth that was draping to a black cloth .

    How poewrful this on the blog as I read it in the context of the service of emembrance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. I'm very pleased that you were blessed.

    ReplyDelete

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