While we have mentioned that the sufferings of Jesus Christ were meant to be an example for us, nevertheless, first and foremost, they were on account of our salvation. God created us for Himself alone, and when through sin mankind separated itself from Him, God deigned to bring us back to Himself.
This plan
was begun immediately in the Garden of Eden, with the promise of a descendent
from Eve who would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). The plan had many foreshadowings in the Old Testament, such as the Ark of Noah and the Flood, the sacrifice of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea, and numerous other events. Yet all of these things pale in comparison with the actual event and fulfillment of the plan in Jesus Christ. The introduction to the Letter to the Hebrews shows this, as it says:
"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had mad purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs (Hebrews 1:1-4)."
Just a week ago, we celebrated the Annunciation of the Lord. In this, we saw how the eternal Son of God, desiring to save mankind, took on a human nature. Every Sunday and Solemnity we proclaim this fact in the Creed, for we say, "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." How can our hearts not melt with love at this fact? God Himself, Who transcends all things, loves each one of us with an infinite love! Without Him, we are nothing. There is no real comparison which can adequately relate man to God, for any comparison will, in the end, show more dissimilarities than similarities. Nonetheless, God has bridged this gap, for the Father sent His Only-Begotten Son to redeem man through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and He has now sent the Holy Spirit upon us for our sanctification.
God has saved us! God is saving us! God will save us! On the Cross, He accomplished once for all the salvation of mankind and destroyed the power of sin and death. In our lives now, He sends the Holy Spirit into us to complete our sanctification. And at the end of time, He will definitively cast out the devil and all the evil powers from this world, when Jesus Christ takes up His visible earthly reign!
It is in that final hour that all will bow before Him, powers in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and will have to acknowledge His eternal power, dominion, and justice. However, then it will be by force, unless one has already done so in their lives. Unless we bow to our Lord, reigning gloriously from the tree of the Cross in this life, we will be forced to bow before our Lord at the end of time, and it will be to our eternal shame, if not also to our eternal misery!
The final hours of Lent are upon us, and the hours in which we will commemorate the saving events of our Redemption are almost upon us. Let us resolve to enter fully into those events and to dedicate ourselves fully to the adoration of Christ on the Cross, so that we may now, during our earthly lives, bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became man for our salvation, and accomplished all that had been decreed from the first moment of Creation, so that, when our mortal lives are ended and, "we return, on account of sin, to the earth from which we came . . . . when God gives the sign, we who have been redeemed by the Death of the Son, shall be raised up to the glory of his Resurrection (Preface IV of the Dead)!"
"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had mad purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs (Hebrews 1:1-4)."
Just a week ago, we celebrated the Annunciation of the Lord. In this, we saw how the eternal Son of God, desiring to save mankind, took on a human nature. Every Sunday and Solemnity we proclaim this fact in the Creed, for we say, "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." How can our hearts not melt with love at this fact? God Himself, Who transcends all things, loves each one of us with an infinite love! Without Him, we are nothing. There is no real comparison which can adequately relate man to God, for any comparison will, in the end, show more dissimilarities than similarities. Nonetheless, God has bridged this gap, for the Father sent His Only-Begotten Son to redeem man through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and He has now sent the Holy Spirit upon us for our sanctification.
God has saved us! God is saving us! God will save us! On the Cross, He accomplished once for all the salvation of mankind and destroyed the power of sin and death. In our lives now, He sends the Holy Spirit into us to complete our sanctification. And at the end of time, He will definitively cast out the devil and all the evil powers from this world, when Jesus Christ takes up His visible earthly reign!
It is in that final hour that all will bow before Him, powers in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and will have to acknowledge His eternal power, dominion, and justice. However, then it will be by force, unless one has already done so in their lives. Unless we bow to our Lord, reigning gloriously from the tree of the Cross in this life, we will be forced to bow before our Lord at the end of time, and it will be to our eternal shame, if not also to our eternal misery!
The final hours of Lent are upon us, and the hours in which we will commemorate the saving events of our Redemption are almost upon us. Let us resolve to enter fully into those events and to dedicate ourselves fully to the adoration of Christ on the Cross, so that we may now, during our earthly lives, bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became man for our salvation, and accomplished all that had been decreed from the first moment of Creation, so that, when our mortal lives are ended and, "we return, on account of sin, to the earth from which we came . . . . when God gives the sign, we who have been redeemed by the Death of the Son, shall be raised up to the glory of his Resurrection (Preface IV of the Dead)!"
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