We depend upon a presumed order. The “spectacles” as Kant describes them are a set of presuppositions that determine how we make sense of the world we inhabit. As empiricists, we rely on the belief that objects are the same from one experience to another, but we do not know that to be the case. For all we know, the world is recreated every time we open our eyes.
The current spate of anarchy threatens this way of life. Indeed, anarchy itself, on the reading of evil as an absence of good, can hardly be described as a way of life. This anarchy stands in direct contrast to the sacralised order presented in the Bible. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 characterises the Antichrist as riding on the wings of anarchy. Christ, by contrast, is characterised as the agent of order. He abolishes the chaos of this present evil age and brings about a new Eden, one better than the last.
But men love the darkness: our deeds are evil. Long ago – though not so long compared with eternity – this wickedness brought the Flood upon itself. God spared the righteous to restart the world. We need not quibble about whether this flood was global or local; the principle is the same on either reading: corruption brings judgement. God promised never to flood the world in that way again; He set His rainbow in the sky as the sign of His covenant with the descendants of Noah.
That rainbow appears again in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, where the scene is once again one of judgement. The angels blow seven trumpets and pour out seven bowls of wrath. The earth is restored, and trees grow whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. This cycle of judgement and restoration is central to the Biblical concept of the “Day of the LORD”.
The Cross is also at the centre of this concept. On the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke the prophecy of Joel about the darkness and celestial signs that would precede Christ’s Coming, and before those the pouring out of the Spirit, which the crowd gathered in Jerusalem had just witnessed. But on Good Friday too the sky was darkened and God’s wrath was poured out on His beloved Son. “He was chastised for our iniquity.” The wrath was followed by restoration and renewal, the Resurrection.
Christ is the saviour and restorer. He is the Wisdom of God by whom the world was made. There can be no order apart from Christ: in Him we live and move and have our being.
Nicholas, A profound and moving post for which many thanks. I liked especially your insight – “The world is recreated every time we open our eyes.”
Your words remind me of Isaiah 40:26 (NASB)
“Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
The Bible reminds us that every time we open your eyes , we behold the handiwork of God and are recreated.
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Thank you, Malcolm. I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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I think that it is interesting to meditate upon the musings of Archbishop Fulton Sheen; that evil [or darkness] has its hour but the Lord has His day [light].
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Hans Urs von Balthasar is my favourite theologian. His Mysterium Paschale is profound..
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I would agree that Balthasar left us a meditation worthy of many contemplative hours concerning the importance of Christ’s descent into hell as the full completion of His death on the Cross. For God’s love is seen in His absolute stripping away of any connection to the Godhead in placing Himself with those in hell. It makes the resurrection all the more meaningful as the risen Christ’s glory is shown both in heaven and on earth.
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The chapter “Going to the Dead Holy Saturday moved me in ways that no other Christian author has achieved. The chapter so full of quotations from other spiritual writers as far apart as Calvin and Nicholas of Cusa demonstrate a mind that can creatively reconcile views and experiences that are crucial in our understanding of the Lord’s descent into hell.
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Holy Saturday is one of those days where I think the evening Mass (after sunset . . . so it is technically in Jewish thought, Sunday) has us looking forward rather than contemplating the day for what it is. It is the darkest hour for mankind . . . from 3:00 Friday to after sunset on Saturday. We easily forget Saturday altogether . . . as a day when we have no Lord in the Church but perhaps abandoned in hell before being raised in glory. Anyway it is a way to gain more of the Easter joy if we spend those hours in mourning and contemplation.
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I agree. We tend to move on to Easter and the Resurrection far too quickly as if the descent into Hell is something to get over as quickly as possible.
The cry from the Cross – My God, My God why have you deserted me – Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani in Aramaic, catches the l desperateness scene of abandonment. The English Word Dereliction catches the pathos and loneliness of the scene. The descent into Hell underlines and emphasizes the dereliction suffered by the Lord.
Balthasar’s phrase – “Going to the Dead” carries with it the mourning and grief of all mankind in the face of death.
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Indeed. I have even had pastors who held Easter Egg hunts on Holy Saturday as it was more convenient than having it after the Masses on Sunday. I find such things rather incongruous to the spiritual reality of this momentus day within the liturgical calendar.
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Such activities on Holy Saturday trivialize everything.
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