Death was inevitable for Jesus too. God Incarnate had to die because that is what humans do and further He had to come to terms not only with mortality but with the nature of His mortality. How could Our Lord identify with us if he floated away after a predetermined time, or remained with us for centuries? This Crucifixion was the only death that Our Lord could expect if He wanted to do any justice to the misery of the human condition separated from its creator. We can be sure that God understands our condition first hand, not remote on a celestial throne, but bleeding, disgraced, the victim of injustice, in unimaginable pain - all for us!
I pray thee, O Lord Jesu Christ, by that bitterness of thy Passion, which thou suffered at the hour of thy death, and then above all when thy most holy Soul passed forth from thy blessed' body; pity my soul when it is departing out of my body and bring it to everlasting life. Amen.
2 comments:
This is a text I have. It seems to come from a "sincere" source.
Fr Anthony
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"I saw my physical body lying lifeless upon its bed, but here was I, the real I, alive and well.
For a minute or two I remained gazing and the thought of what to do next entered my head, but help was close at hand. I could still see the room quite clearly around me, but there was a certain mistiness about it as though it were filled with smoke very evenly distributed. I looked down at myself wondering what I was wearing in the way of clothes, for I had obviously risen from a bed of sickness and was therefore in no condition to move very far from my surroundings. I was extremely surprised to find that I had on my usual attire, such as I wore when moving freely and in good health about my own house. My surprise was only momentary since, I thought to myself, what other clothes would I expect to be wearing? Surely not some sort of diaphanous robe. Such costume is usually associated with the conventional idea of an angel and I had no need to assure myself that I was not that!
Such knowledge of the spirit world as I had been able to glean from my own experiences instantly came to my aid. I knew at once of the alteration that had taken place in my condition; I knew, in other words, that I had ‘died.’ I knew, too, that I was alive, that I had shaken off my last illness sufficiently to be able to stand upright and look about me. At no time was I in any mental distress, but I was full of wonder at what was to happen next, for here I was, in full possession of my faculties and, indeed, feeling ‘physically’ as I had never felt before. … the whole process must have taken but a few minutes of earth time." (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, Life in the World Unseen 10-11.)
That is quite fascinating, Father, and if a common experience to us all, then very comforting.
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