catholicsphere

With all this talk about the supposed “Tomb of Jesus” recently, it seems only fitting to remind ourselves of The Truth of the Resurrection (as I have also tried to touch on briefly as it relates to the entirety of our Catholic Christian faith). Carl Olson over at Ignatius Press’ Insight posts the excerpt from (then) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger / (now) Pope Benedict XVI.

The article is an excerpt from “Introduction to Christianity” (available from Ignatius Press). In it, Cardinal Ratzinger does not simply dive into the history or the narratives of the story, but first demonstrates and expounds on the deeper meaning behind all that God did in and through Christ Jesus.

Of course, all this is only half the story; to stop at this alone would mean falsifying the evidence of the New Testament. Experience of the risen Christ is something other than a meeting with a man from within our history, and it must certainly not be traced back to conversations at table and recollections that would have finally crystallized in the idea that he still lived and went about his business. Such an interpretation reduces what happened to the purely human level and robs it of its specific quality.

It is a wonderful read, not simply to because of the nonsense of “the Jesus tomb”, but as it is properly directed to a deeper contemplation of what our Lenten journey is about: what Jesus did for us by taking our sins in Him to the Cross, dying for them that we might be healed, and then rising on the third day to triumph over death and give us who join with Him the joyous hope of a life of eternal happiness.

One cannot have both the Christian faith and “religion within the bounds of pure reason”; a choice is unavoidable. He who believes will see more and more clearly, it is true, how rational it is to have faith in the love that has conquered death.

[tags]lent, catholic, pope, ratzinger, christianity, faith, resurrection, jesus, jesus tomb, catholicsphere, carl olson, ignatius press[/tags]