God did not make death.
“God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.” —Wis. 1:13
The very first lines of scripture proclaimed to the people at Mass today remind us that God did not “create death”. If not God, then who?
We are responsible.
We ‘created’ death, or more specifically, our ancient parents Adam & Eve set in motion a course of events (sin) that required death as a (literally) natural consequence to satisfy justice in the Divine Economy that is all creation.
Of course, we are often reminded—nearly to the point of it becoming a boring trope—that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him might have eternal life…”.
What a miracle this is: from the very first moment of our sin, God provided yet another way for us to live with Him! How marvelous is our God! Even in our disobedience God seeks our renewal and not our damnation. This is a cause of great angst for demons who were not given a similar opportunity for redemption (that that is a blog post for another day).
This painful reality—of sin and death—has long resonated with me. I have been able to intuit since I was young that we are the authors of our own misery. I’ve never known quite how to express it, but it is something I’ve sensed deep in my soul for years.
We are, ladies and gentlemen, the authors of our own misery, and we have been from the very beginning.
Scientists have finally begun to take the lab leak theory seriously… Just imagine: it is quite probable that the carnage that has been this whole Covid situation may very well have been a result of our own hand, and it appears to be a gift that will keep on giving.
Every war. Every act of violence, no matter how small. Obesity. Addiction. Abuse. Broken homes. Divorce. Emotional turmoil. Famine. Communism. Socialism. Slavery. Murder. Pornography. Abortion. ALL OF IT.
We are, ladies and gentlemen, the authors of our own misery, and we have been from the very beginning. This was not what God had wanted for us, and indeed, it is this misery which Our Lord comes to remedy, made Incarnate in Christ the Son. How marvelous is our God!
Not only does Our Lord seek to remedy the ills of our souls, but even our bodies, here on earth. St. Paul reminds us that the Eucharist is for us a remedy to our ills, although he sternly warns that for those who take without perceiving our Lord, or who take Him unworthily, eat condemnations upon themselves and this is why they are sick and some have even died! Yowzers! When is the last time anyone reminded you about that?
But this week, in the fifth chapter of Mark, we learn that one woman who was hemorrhaging merely touched His garment out of faith in the crowd and was instantly healed. We need to ponder a few things here:
For starters, her illness would have been a peculiar one that would have made her a social pariah due to the jewish stigmas about blood and ritual cleanliness. Not only was she suffering physically, I’d wager she was suffering tremendously emotionally/socially as well. So desperate was she, in fact, that Mark tells us she had been to see a myriad of “doctors” to no avail (likely pagan ‘healers’). It is even possible that she was approaching Jesus with the same superstitious optimism she had approached all the others. But apparently Our Lord was touched by her faith in Him. And Our Lord is the real deal.
Power flowed forth from Him immediately to heal her. He doesn’t ask the crowd who touched Him as if He didn’t already know… He asks so that she has an opportunity to present herself of her own accord. So, too, does Our Lord treat us. He knows every fibre of our being, and yet He waits for us to come forward, to humble ourselves before Him. He wishes to heal us too.
A few lines later we hear that Christ raises up an official’s young daughter. So too does Our Lord say to us “Talitha koum” —arise!
As a post script:
It should be noted that this passage makes a great case for second-class relics. Mark doesn’t tell us that the woman touched Our Lord Himself, but rather that she merely touched His cloak. Even physical objects can be a cause for healing and intercession—not because the objects (sacramentals) are healing in themselves—but because they channel grace via a holy soul, or in this case, Our Lord Himself. It is always God who heals. It is always God’s grace that acts via the relic or intercession of a particular saint.
Peace be to you,
James
