Sunday, March 3 : Origen

The mystery of our resurrection is great indeed and extremely difficult to fathom. It is foretold in many texts of Scripture but, above all, in Ezekiel…: «The Spirit of the Lord set me down in a valley full of bones…; they were completely dry. The Lord said to me: ‘Son of man, can these bones come to life?’ ‘Lord God,’ I answered, ‘you alone know that!’ Then he said to me: ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’ (Ez 37,1-4)… So what are those bones to which it is said: «Hear the word of the Lord»… if not the Body of Christ, of which the Lord said: «All my bones are racked» (Ps 22[21],15)… Just as the resurrection of Christ’s true and perfect body came about, so the members of Christ will one day… be reunited, bone to bone, ligament to ligament. Anybody without this ligament will not come to «mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ’s body» (Eph 4,13). Then… «all the parts of the body, though many, will make one body» (1Cor 12,12)… I tell you this with respect to the Temple – of which our Lord said: «Zeal for your house has consumed me» (Ps 69[68],10) – and to the Jews who asked him for a sign and with respect to his reply:…: «Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again.» For everything that disavows reason and arises from business affairs must be cast out of this temple, which is the Body of Christ, so that in future this temple will not be a house of buyers and sellers any more. Furthermore… after its destruction by those who turn away from God’s word, it is to be raised up again on the third day… Following Jesus’ purification, his disciples, having forsaken all senseless things and every sort of business, and as a consequence of their zeal for God’s Word present within them, will be «destroyed» so as to be «raised up again» by Jesus in three days… For three whole days are necessary for this rebuilding to be fulfilled. Hence we can say that, on the one hand, the resurrection has taken place and, on the other, that it is still to come. In truth, «we have been buried with Christ» and «we shall be raised up with him» (cf. Rm 6,4)… «In Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one according to its proper order: Christ the firstfruits and then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ» (1Cor 15,22-23).

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team