Pope Benedict XVI
Subsequently, Christian readers added a word of consolation to the Archangel´s message, to the effect that after 5,500 years the loving King, Christ, would come, the Son of God who would anoint all those who believe in him with the oil of his mercy. “The oil of mercy from eternity to eternity will be given to those who are reborn of water and the Holy Spirit. Then the Son of God, Christ, abounding in love, will descend into the depths of the earth and will lead your father into Paradise, to the tree of mercy.” This legend lays bare the whole of humanity´s anguish at the destiny of illness, pain and death that has been imposed upon us.
What is new and exciting in the Christian message, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was and is that we are told: yes indeed, this cure for death, this true medicine of immortality, does exist. It has been found. It is within our reach. In baptism, this medicine is given to us. A new life begins in us, a life that matures in faith and is not extinguished by the death of the old life, but is only then fully revealed.
But he was filled with fear in the presence of the glorious angelic powers, and in his human weakness he could not contemplate the face of God. “Then God said to Michael,” to quote from the book of Enoch, “´Take Enoch and remove his earthly clothing. Anoint him with sweet oil and vest him in the robes of glory!´ And Michael took off my garments, anointed me with sweet oil, and this oil was more than a radiant light … its splendour was like the rays of the sun. When I looked at myself, I saw that I was like one of the glorious beings” (Ph. Rech, Inbild des Kosmos, II 524).
This renunciation – albeit in less dramatic form – remains an essential part of baptism today. We remove the “old garments”, which we cannot wear in God´s presence. Or better put: we begin to remove them. This renunciation is actually a promise in which we hold out our hand to Christ, so that he may guide us and re-clothe us. What these “garments” are that we take off, what the promise is that we make, becomes clear when we see in the fifth chapter of the Letter to the Galatians what Paul calls “works of the flesh” – a term that refers precisely to the old garments that we remove. Paul designates them thus: “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like” (Gal 5:19ff.). These are the garments that we remove: the garments of death.
Then, in the practice of the early Church, the one to be baptized turned towards the east – the symbol of light, the symbol of the newly rising sun of history, the symbol of Christ. The candidate for baptism determines the new direction of his life: faith in the Trinitarian God to whom he entrusts himself. Thus it is God who clothes us in the garment of light, the garment of life. Paul calls these new “garments” “fruits of the spirit”, and he describes them as follows: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22).
In the early Church, the candidate for baptism was then truly stripped of his garments. He descended into the baptismal font and was immersed three times – a symbol of death that expresses all the radicality of this removal and change of garments. His former death-bound life the candidate consigns to death with Christ, and he lets himself be drawn up by and with Christ into the new life that transforms him for eternity.
Then, emerging from the waters of baptism the neophytes were clothed in the white garment, the garment of God´s light, and they received the lighted candle as a sign of the new life in the light that God himself had lit within them. They knew that they had received the medicine of immortality, which was fully realized at the moment of receiving holy communion. In this sacrament we receive the body of the risen Lord and we ourselves are drawn into this body, firmly held by the One who has conquered death and who carries us through death.
In the course of the centuries, the symbols were simplified, but the essential content of baptism has remained the same. It is no mere cleansing, still less is it a somewhat complicated initiation into a new association. It is death and resurrection, rebirth to new life.
Indeed, the cure for death does exist. Christ is the tree of life, once more within our reach. If we remain close to him, then we have life. Hence, during this night of resurrection, with all our hearts we shall sing the alleluia, the song of joy that has no need of words. Hence, Paul can say to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). Joy cannot be commanded. It can only be given. The risen Lord gives us joy: true life.
We are already held for ever in the love of the One to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given (cf. Mt 28:18). In this way, confident of being heard, we make our own the Church´s Prayer over the Gifts from the liturgy of this night: Accept the prayers and offerings of your people. With your help may this Easter mystery of our redemption bring to perfection the saving work you have begun in us. Amen.
This was sent me by one of my Catholic Email groups. I am going through my Catholic files.
Even as a child, I loved the Catholic church and it was my safe place. The priests and nuns I knew taught me so much. It has always been my home and always will.
I think that is one of the reasons why I get so upset over this sex scandal is because for this abused little girl the Catholic Church was my safe place from the abuse not the source of the abuse. Yet, having PTSD for my own abuse in life, I can’t ignore the cries of other abuse victims. I keep on praying for the Catholic Church, the Pope, and all Catholics around the world. I pray that the bad ones be ejected from the church and we as a church can make things right and move forward to be the Chruch that Christ wants us to be.
In regards to the Easter message, I say as hard as I try to stop doing the sins of the flesh like anger, I find that I can’t do it on my own accord. There is something that is going to make me loose my temper and than bam I have fallen into a sin of the flesh. I strive for love, peace, joy, patience and all the other good fruits of the spirt that I am told to develop. Under my own power, I always fall, but I am beginning to think that only with the grace of God can one overcome the sins of the flesh and develop more of the grace of God.
Honesty should be one of the gives of the spirit too. If we are dishonest with ourself and others to cover up our acts or the acts of others, than isn’t that too a sin?
I was listening to a radio show I listen to yesterday and a Catholic was talking about what is going on. I like to think things over in my mind before making a decision on things. Maybe it is time for us as Catholics to realize that maybe the church was being dishonest by the fact that instead of taking care of the problem and expelling the bad priests, they remained silent and did nothing.
It is one thing to talk in little bits. I do that, because of the life I have had, I tend to talk in bits and pieces to see how much I can tell the other person and how they are going to react before telling the whole story of my life. I am not being dishonest, I am only dealing with the emotions that I can deal with now and waiting for more healing before dealing with other emotional issues. That is part of the PTSD. Yet, I have been accused of being dishonest because I didn’t tell my whole life story at once. I am not being dishonest I am just being careful because I tend to want to see what my punishment is before saying or doing something. I tend to weigh is the action worth the punishment I will receive afterwards. It is called survival.
Yet, what the church did was something different. They knew more and didn’t want to deal with the problem so they hid it. All my life I have been crying out for help and my cries were ignored because the people who abused me didn’t want me to get the help. So I also know what it is like to be a victim of crime and not being able to see justice done because no one believes you because the people who abuse have the power to control what message gets out while making it look like the victim is lying, crazy or anything else they can use to make it so that no one believes the crime victim and no help will come for that person and their actions won’t be found out.
We have got to start being honest with ourselves and face some ugly truths. Be determined to do the right thing as Catholics and live as Christ would have us live. We need more love and forgiveness than fear and dishonesty by cover up. It is not right when people use our failures to just bash us as a church, but yet at the same time we must have the courage to take an honest look at ourselves and our actions. Did they cause hurt to someone? Do we have to say we are sorry and work to make amends for the damage done to someone else because of our actions or lack of actions? It just seems we haven’t reached the place yet, and until we do the victims will not know peace or healing.
We must hold the Pope in our prayers and pray he does what Jesus shows him he must do as head of our church. As Catholics we should speak up and defend the Pope when he is right and not just let people bash him because they are anti Catholic and are using this as an excuse to spew their hate. People do that you know.