Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on Ascension Sunday.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The eleventh article of the Apostle’s Creed is “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” There are five (5) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding this article of the Creed. The following is a reflection on article 1018.
The consequences of the Fall, Original Sin, include the forfeiture of the Preternatural Gifts which God had intended from all eternity for us to enjoy. Suffering, death, ignorance (the difficulty we have in knowing the truth) and the tendency to sin (concupiscence) are consequences of Original Sin. Had our first parents not sinned, suffering and death would not be our lot. We would easily know the truth and have no tendency to sin.
The Catechism here cites the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, 18, of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) when addressing our faith in the resurrection of the body, which presupposes our death. Death is a part of the riddle which is our human existence. We are tormented by both pain and the deterioration of our bodies and dread perpetual extinction. Our faith in the resurrection of the body, however, reminds us and assures us that there is a blissful purpose beyond the reach of any earthly misery and that all suffering and death will be vanquished for the saints in the life to come. Our faith in the resurrection of the body provides us with the answer to anxiety regarding the future.
Sacred Scripture has much to teach us here. Death is a consequence of Original Sin by which God’s original gifts were forfeited. God did not make death nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living (cf. Wisdom 1:13). God made us incorruptible, in His image and likeness, but the devil and his envy introduced death into the world (cf. Wisdom 2:23–24). Yes, sin and death seem to reign and prevail, but Christ Jesus who dies no more and is the source of our everlasting life is for us the source of grace and redemption that we might reign with Him (cf. Romans 5:21). Original Sin which we inherit with our human nature and our actual sins which we commit bring down punishment upon us. But, God’s graciousness and mercy are our hope as we read in Sacred Scripture: “The wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23:).
Fallen folk bring fallen folk into the world. The risen Lord Jesus who fell repeatedly under the weight of the Cross, made heavy not only by the timbers but by the weight of human sin could not be kept down by its burden, by the nails, by the tomb. We have from the risen Lord faith and hope in the resurrection, His and ours. Our life in Him, now and on high in the hereafter, is one of His great gifts (cf. James 1:15–18).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr