My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The first article of the Apostle’s Creed is: I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth. There are forty “in brief” statements in The Catechism of the Catholic Church which treat this article of our saving faith. What follows is a reflection on article 413.
Part of God’s good creation is life. While the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) is latter in the Creed called ‘the Lord the giver of life’ this gift of life is not done in isolation from the other Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity. God’s gift of life reaches its apex in human life, begun at conception, but it is likewise present in the grass of the field, the fish in the deep and the birds of sky, not to mention that which crawls on the ground (Genesis 1:10-27). Philosophers remind us of three (3) sorts of life: vegetive, sensitive and spiritual. This roughly corresponds to plants, animals and ourselves. The Angels, however, likewise exist and live as purely spiritual beings.
When some people hear us speak of ‘spiritual life’ all that can be imagined is hands folded and knees bent and heads bowed. And that is part of religious spiritual life lived in the Church founded by Jesus Christ. That we are able to know and love one another (and God) is likewise part of our spiritual life. When we sin we forfeit this, abandoning the Greatest Good (God) for a lesser good (creatures, creation…).
Death is one of the various ‘consequences of Original Sin’ which we inherit with our human nature. God’s original gift in creation included, as a ‘preternatural gift’ immortality which our first parents forfeited and abandoned. Saint Paul reminds us, inspired by God, that: ‘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’ (Romans 5:12).
Rather than having ‘brotherly love’ for us fellow creatures the ‘seducer of the whole world’ (Revelation 12:9), the ‘prince of this world’ (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) sinned a sin of envy, not willing to rejoice in the mysterious plan of God which included the Incarnation, that God would become like us in all things in Christ. The devil did not want to serve a material being (man before the Fall) or God made man, Christ Jesus. We should let this be a reminder to us to flee envy and be vigilant in rejoicing in and with our neighbors who are variously blessed, resisting all the while our adversary the devil by strong faith (1 Peter 5:8).
In this way, with the Lord Jesus leading the way we are able to rebuke the Devil (Matthew 4:10). Jesus Christ has overcome all sin (John 16:33). He rejoiced in the Spirit (Luke 10:21) and calls us to do the same, rejecting sin in all its forms (John 8:11) that we be converted and live and move and have our being in Him.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr