Daily Retreat 11/13/07
2007 Nov 13 Tue:Frances Xavier Cabrini, v, r M
Wis 2:23 – 3:9/ Ps 33(34):2-3. 16-17. 18-19/ Lk 17:7-10
From today’s readings: “By the envy of the Devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.... I will bless the Lord at all times.... We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do....”
Wisdom’s Take on Death
The verses of the first reading are probably the most familiar in the Book of Wisdom - they are often selected for the Old Testament reading at Catholic funerals. It is especially noteworthy that this beautiful reflection on death (tempered by “hope full of immortality”) was written before Christ’s Resurrection!
Perhaps the most fundamental insight about death comes in the opening verses, “God formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made them. But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world....” In other words, notwithstanding the natural mortality of the human body, in God’s design, death was not intrinsic to original human nature! Since the Fall of Man, death has become a consequential part of human nature, but in the beginning, “God formed man to be imperishable.” (Cf. CCC §1008).
As will be shown later, this insight is an essential part of the groundwork for understanding the redemptive nature of Christ’s death - that He did not have to die, but in choosing to die, He paid the price for our sins, which thus transforms our own death from “affliction” and “utter destruction” into “sacrificial offerings” which God takes to Himself, “because grace and mercy are with His holy ones, and His care is with His elect.”
Wis 2:23 – 3:9/ Ps 33(34):2-3. 16-17. 18-19/ Lk 17:7-10
From today’s readings: “By the envy of the Devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.... I will bless the Lord at all times.... We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do....”
Wisdom’s Take on Death
The verses of the first reading are probably the most familiar in the Book of Wisdom - they are often selected for the Old Testament reading at Catholic funerals. It is especially noteworthy that this beautiful reflection on death (tempered by “hope full of immortality”) was written before Christ’s Resurrection!
Perhaps the most fundamental insight about death comes in the opening verses, “God formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made them. But by the envy of the Devil, death entered the world....” In other words, notwithstanding the natural mortality of the human body, in God’s design, death was not intrinsic to original human nature! Since the Fall of Man, death has become a consequential part of human nature, but in the beginning, “God formed man to be imperishable.” (Cf. CCC §1008).
As will be shown later, this insight is an essential part of the groundwork for understanding the redemptive nature of Christ’s death - that He did not have to die, but in choosing to die, He paid the price for our sins, which thus transforms our own death from “affliction” and “utter destruction” into “sacrificial offerings” which God takes to Himself, “because grace and mercy are with His holy ones, and His care is with His elect.”
posted by FrPitstick | 11/11/2007
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