The Telescope

The bloody wounds that we opened in the body of Christ are the connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. They are so important that our most Holy Eucharist points to them. The body and the blood point to the wounds. The wounds are the connection between body and blood.

On the near side of the bloody wounds is the Crucifixion. On the near side is his ignominious defeat. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. The Crucifixion is the story of the evil we did to him. 

On the far side of the bloody wounds is the Resurrection. On the far side is his glorious victory. He emerged from the black hole of death still alive and still in love with us. 

The bloody wounds are a telescope through which we can look from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and vice versa from the Resurrection to the Crucifixion. The bloody wounds pierce the veil between heaven and earth. By looking through the telescope, we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. 

The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the two chapters in the autobiography of God. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the diptych that the Son of God painted to reveal to the world the identity of God. Who is God? God provided the answer in the combination of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. 

That he emerged alive from the dead is the proof that Jesus is God. Nobody emerges alive from the black hole of death. He did. 

That he emerged from the dead still in love with us is the proof that there is more to God than omnipotence. Omnipotence is but one detail of divinity. There is another detail that is relevant to us. Divinity is love. Moreover, that his love for us survived the evil we did to him is the proof that his love for us is indestructible. That the evil baptism into which we immersed him did not extinguish his love for us or reduce it by even the slightest degree tells us that nothing can.

To understand the nature of God, we must look through the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ as though they were a telescope and behold the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the connection between the two. Anything less distorts the nature of God.

On the near side of his bloody wounds is the sourness of godlessness. On the far side of his bloody wounds is the sweetness of paradise. The piercing and opening of the bloody wounds in the body of Christ pierced and opened the veil between heaven and earth. Through his bloody wounds goes the escape. The escape starts in godlessness, passes through his bloody wounds, and finishes in paradise

Rescue

Like foolish children, Adam and Eve ran away from their home with God in paradise and took us with them into godlessness. They abdicated paradise for godlessness. They opted out as Lucifer and the gaggle of angels that follow him opted out. When God gave them the gift of paradise, God wanted them to keep it. However, they fumbled the ball - they muffed it. 

Godlessness sucks. In godlessness, we are fish out of water. We were in trouble. We needed help.

So the Son of God dove into godlessness after us to rescue us.

He did not say "goodbye and good riddance" as the door between paradise and godlessness slammed shut behind us. 

He did not delegate the job of rescue to his subordinates. He did not send his flunkies. The Son of God did the job himself. Our welfare is so important to God that he came to rescue us himself. (Thanks be to God.)

None shall perish because our rescuer is the God who loves us. God does not fail. God does not come up short. God does not miss the mark. The only people not rescued are the fools who refuse to be rescued - those who tell God to bugger off.

God designed his rescue plan to reduce the likelihood of post delivery paradise opt out to near zero.

Our lifeguard stays on the dock and watches as we are drowning in the stormy sea of godlessness but only for a moment. The delay gives us a taste of the sourness of godlessness. He gives us the experience that Adam and Eve so desired. By letting us drown for a little bit in godlessness we learn for ourselves that godlessness sucks. The illusion conjured up by the serpent that sugarcoats the sourness of godlessness is shattered. 

The delay between the delivery of the gift of life and the delivery of the gift of paradise is the source of all the complaints about God's rescue plan. It is the cause of harsh criticism. Indeed, the delay is harsh medicine. However, the effectiveness of the medicine justifies its harshness in the eyes of God. When God gives us with the gift of paradise as he gave it to our parents, Adam and Eve, we, unlike them, shall not opt out. Oh! no. We shall keep it. The prodigal son is never going back to the pig sty and neither are we. By experiencing the pig sty for ourselves, we know better than to opt out.

Godlessness is autodidactic.  It itself is the sledgehammer of truth that shatters the illusion as the blow of a hammer shatters glass. When the illusion is shattered, rational people flee the sourness of godlessness. It is contrary to their self-interest to do otherwise. 

When the sourness of godlessness becomes unbearable, he rescues us. He pulls us out of this world and puts us into his world. As Our Lady said at Quito, we make that great leap from time to eternity.

Therefore, let us stop referring to our rescue from this world as death. Instead, say God rescued him or her from this world and, when the time is ripe, we, too , shall be rescued. In the interim, hope in our Savior and cling to the life preserver that he tossed to us - cling to love of him and our neighbor. Cling as Jesus clung while we wait for rescue.