9781644135945

The Light of the World
Saturday
“I expect the resurrection of the dead” (Credo). But before heaven is opened to us and before
we can be with Christ, we must conquer death with Him. “It is appointed unto men once to
die” (Heb 9:27).
“Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt return” (Gn 3:19). “Wherefore as by one man sin entered
into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned”
(Rom 5:12). Death is the punishment for Original Sin, which all men contract through Adam.
It is a severe punishment, a punishment which no man can escape, but which the natural man
would avoid if he could. Death means the loss of all that man possessed on earth, the loss of all
that he treasured and prized. It means the separation from the friends he loved, the occupations
he enjoyed, the works in which he gloried, and the habits and tastes which he acquired. But
death also means an end of all temptations and occasions of sin, the ceasing of the danger of
losing God and His grace; it means also the end of the time for merit, for after death we cannot
add one iota to our reward in eternity. With death our status is fixed for all eternity, for after
that there will be no change. Whatever has not been finished then, will never be finished. Death
decides all issues permanently. Opportunities neglected while on earth will never come again.
“For to me to live is Christ; and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). For us who have been incorporated
in Christ, death has lost its terror. For us death is a gain, a release. It opens to us the door
that leads to our Father and our heavenly home. Death will mark our last opportunity for consecrating
ourselves to God by a perfect act of love. We accept death willingly, as a means of uniting
ourselves to God, as a necessary condition imposed on us by God for that union. We could
never give to God more than we can give in that moment; that is, ourselves and all that we have.
“All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death” (Rom 6:3). In our
death Christ continues His death and His sacrifice on the cross until the end of time. When
Christ offered Himself on the cross, He also offered us who are members of His mystical body.
Through our death we complete and “fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of
Christ, in [our] flesh, for His body which is the Church” (Col 1:24). Our death is a death in
Christ, a death with Christ, a consummation of that sacrifice to which we were dedicated by
our baptism. Sacrificed with Christ, drinking the chalice of His suffering, we, too, become a
sacrifice acceptable to the Father, effective for the salvation of our own souls and for those of
our brethren, for the salvation of the whole Church and for the whole of mankind.
The Christian is Christ living, Christ suffering, Christ dying. He is the vine, we are the branches;
but we are one “mystic being” (St. Thomas). When we are dying, we are like Him, the victim
and the priest who is offering the sacrifice. We are the sacrifice because we have been subjected
to suffering and death by God; we are the offering priests because we accept willingly and with
complete resignation the death He has imposed upon us. Thus we offer our last sacrifice to God.
“May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for me; and I pray that they may be found
eager to rush upon me, which also I will entice to devour me speedily, and not deal with me
as with some, whom out of fear they have not touched. But if they be unwilling to assail me, I
will compel them to do so. . . . Now I begin to be a disciple. And let no one, of things visible or
invisible, envy me that I should attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of
wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let
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