Entries

Month of the Holy Souls II (Day 18)

November 18, 2024

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Day 18

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles (2:24-32)

Peter said, God raised Jesus up, having freed him from death,^* because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
“I saw the Lord always before me,
   for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
   moreover, my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
   or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
   you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

‘Fellow Israelites,^* I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
“He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

From his Commentary on the Gospel of John by St. Cyril of Alexandria

‘I am dying’; said the Lord, ‘for all men, so that through me all may have life; by my flesh I have redeemed the flesh of all men. For in my death, death will die, and fallen human nature will rise again with me. In this way l have become, like you, a man descended from Abraham, so that I may be made like my brethren in every respect.’

Saint Paul understood this well when he said: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. There was never any other way to destroy the one who had the power of death, and therefore death itself. Christ who had to give himself up for us; the one had to be the ransom for all, for he was the head of all.

Accordingly, he said in another place, namely in the psalms, when he offered himself to God his Father as a spotless sacrifice on your behalf: You wanted no sacrifice or oblation, but you prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin. Then I said, “Here I am.” He was crucified on behalf of us all and for the sake of us all, so that, when one had died instead of all, we all might live in him. For it was impossible that he should be defeated by death or that one who is life by its very nature should yield to corruption. Indeed, Christ’s own words prove to us that he offered his flesh for the life of the world: Holy Father, keep them. And again: For their sake I make myself holy.

He said, I make myself holy, meaning ‘I consecrate and offer myself as a spotless sacrifice with a sweet savour.’ For what was offered on the altar was made holy or called holy according to the Law. Therefore Christ gave his body for the life of all, and through his body planted life among us again. How this came about I shall explain as best I can. When God’s life-giving Word came to dwell in human flesh, he remade it for its good, that is, for its life. Being linked with flesh in this unique form of union, he made it a source of life, just as he is by his own nature, a source of life.

Thus the body of Christ gives life to those who share with him. By being among those who are liable to death, his body drives death out; by bringing forth in itself a principle capable of utterly destroying corruption, his body expels corruption.

Archives