Daily Meditation - Monday 3rd. March 2008 - ONLY THE WOODEN BEAM AND THE OPEN GRAVE

[BarbaraTherese]

DAILY MASS READINGS
usccb.org/nab/readings/030308.shtml

Meditation
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=03&day=03&year=2008&x=12&y=7

Ask a physicist to define light, and you might hear that light consists of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. Ask a biologist to define life, and you might hear that it is the property that distinguishes living organisms, and that it manifests itself in growth, reproduction, and response to stimulus. Ask one of the writers of the New Testament, however, and you’ll get an entirely different answer. Most likely, you’ll hear that light and life are dynamic gifts from God made available to us in Jesus Christ.

There is so much more to the Christian life than the “light” that consists of intellectual understanding. There is so much more than the “life” that consists of surviving in this world. Endless galleries of divine revelation and unmerited grace exist that can bring us to a personal knowledge of God and his plan for our lives.

One of the greatest promises of the Christian life is that our minds can be lifted up by the Holy Spirit and our hearts filled with the light of divine revelation.

Where do we find this revelation? In Jesus Christ, the Word of God. According to the church, “in giving us his Son, God spoke everything to us at once—and he has no more to say” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 65).

For the rest of our lives, however, we can dig ever more deeply into this revelation of Christ. “He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures; however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit” (St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle).

Why do we need the light and life of Christ? Because without him, we are dead. Scripture tells us that, because of sin, we have forfeited our inheritance of divine life. The law of death holds sway over us, and there is no escaping it on our own power.

Only the wooden beam and the open grave can restore this life to us.

Faith in Christ can open so many more doors than we can imagine. So come to Jesus today and ask for a double portion of his light and his life.

“Lord Jesus, I believe that by your cross you have overcome my darkness and restored me to divine life. May I be like you, bringing light and life to a needy world.”

An account of Roman Crucifixion - this information is also quoted in Catholic Culture, although the link below gives the full text, which is very graphic with diagrams. I will be giving this its own thread in this Spirituality Forum closer to Holy Week and Good Friday:
http://www.intermirifica.org/lent/passion1.htm