Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on Pentecost 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 1019.
Our saving faith in the resurrection of the body presupposes the resurrection of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Our saving faith in Jesus’ resurrection presupposes His saving passion and death which He freely suffered. This is why Jesus said: I have the power to lay down My life and to take it up again. No one takes My life from Me (cf. John 10:18b, a). Christ Jesus humbled Himself, obedient unto death, the death of the Cross, that we need not die the eternal death of sin, which unrepentant leads to Hell and damnation (cf. Matthew 7:23; 25:30, 41; 22:13; Luke 13:27; John 8:21, 24; Acts 26:18; Romans 13:2; Philippians 2:8).
The death (and resurrection) of Jesus Christ, has vanquished death. We have been reconciled to the Father by the death of Jesus and saved by His resurrection (cf. Romans 5:10). Death has no more dominion, neither over Christ who has been raised or over us whom He has purchased at the price of His life’s blood (cf. Acts 20:28; Romans 6:9). Having been born anew by grace and faith and Baptism, we have been freed from the law of death under which we were conceived and born (cf. Psalm 51:5; John 3:3–4; 9:34; Romans 7:6). The answer to the question(s) raised by death come not from trust in ourselves but from God who raises the dead (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:9).
The death (and resurrection) of Jesus Christ, opens the possibility of salvation to all people. Life everlasting is the lot of those who belong to Christ Jesus and receive His grace (cf. Romans 6:23). Our ultimate deliverance from bodily death is Christ’s gift to us which we look forward to receiving on the last day (cf. Romans 7:24). The spirit of life in Christ Jesus who dies no more is what delivers us from the law of sin and death (cf. Romans 8:2). In spite of death in this world, Sacred Scripture assures us that the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26). Christ’s victory over sin, death, the Cross and the grave are the source of our confidence, hope and faith that death has been swallowed up by His resurrection and immortality is ours as His gift (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:54). Saint Paul, inspired by God, mocked death when he wrote: “Death, where is thy victory? Death, where is thy sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
For our part, we are able to mock both death and the devil, who is at once the father of lies and death, by living holy lives pleasing in the sight of God, by His grace (cf. John 8:44; Romans 5:12; Hebrews 2:14).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr