All of our faith hinges on the fact Jesus Christ, the God-man, rose from the dead. This is crazy! When we think of oxymoron, irony and paradox, we often don’t understand at face value what is going on. Most of us enjoy the use of oxymorons: Definitely-maybe, farewell-reception, original-copy, deafening-silence, tight-slacks, jumbo-shrimp, alone-together and the list goes on. Insights into the context of these things of course gives us a greater understanding, but there does remain something a little mysterious about them.
When it comes to the paradoxes of our faith, this takes on a new level. The mysteriousness of our faith takes on a more concrete form when we say yes to that paradox, the God-man. One of my favorite passages speaking about the mystery of God is from St. Augustine, where he states,
“What then are you my God? most piteous and most just; most hidden and most near; most beautiful and most strong, stable, yet contained by none; unchangeable, yet changing all things; never new, never old; making all things new, yet bringing old age upon the proud without their knowing it (Job 9:5); always working, yet ever at rest; gathering, yet needing nothing; sustaining, pervading, and protecting; creating, nourishing, and developing; seeking, and yet possessing all things. You love, yet do not burn; are jealous, yet free from care; You repent, yet do not suffer; are angry, yet serene; You change Your ways, leaving Your plans unchanged; You recover what You find, without ever having lost it.” (Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 4)
Today in our sequence we contemplate the tomb of Christ, who is living. This does not make sense to us at face value. Only when we enter into the mystery and begin to contemplate the wounded-healer, who gives life through death, do we realize that we really need to die to self if we desire to receive his life within us.
May God bless you all!!
Fr. Doug