“Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.” ~ Gospel Acclamation
Our Lord Jesus Christ came not only to forgive men’s sins, but to raise him to new life. Not to a new earthly life like the one we now possess, but to a heavenly life. To partake of His divine life even while we possess our earthly life and to enjoy His heavenly life forever after our death.
The Earthly Life
In the Gospel reading, Jesus is sought by a man that wishes Him to raise his daughter from the dead. When He arrives at his house and sees the disordered crowd raving over the girl, He says, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” In the Gospel of John, Our Lord again calls the death of Lazarus only sleep.
With our Lord’s incarnation, the loss of our earthly life has lost its sting. It is only a temporary state, like sleep. Someone who has died in Christ has not lost life at all, even though that life cannot be clearly seen from the body. The only death we are to fear is the death of the soul through mortal sin, as Our Lord says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”
The Interior and Heavenly Life
In the first reading, Jacob sees in a dream a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven. The angels are ascending and descending up on this ladder. And the Lord speaks to him from the ladder. This ladder is established by the incarnation of Christ, Who traveled from heaven to earth and back again. Jacob has access to this ladder only in his sleep, which shows us that this ladder is not to be approached by exterior actions. This exact passage is used in the spiritual tradition as an image for prayer. We ascend the ladder towards God by prayer, which lifts us from earth towards heaven. By prayer we grow in grace and partake more and more by degrees in the life of heaven.
Seeing then the danger that lies in failure and the glory that awaits those that seek it, let us recommit ourselves to the interior life of prayer! 15-20 minutes of daily interior prayer meditating on Scripture! Or, a spiritual book said by all the saints to be essential to the spiritual life and keeping out of mortal sin. If you have not built this habit yet, start. You will be amazed at how clearly you will see God act during prayer and outside of it!
