Lectio
“There we shall enjoy the gifts of nature, that is to say, all that God the Creator of all natures has bestowed upon ours — gifts not only good, but eternal — not only of the spirit, healed now by wisdom, but also of the body renewed by the resurrection. There the virtues shall no longer be struggling against any vice or evil, but shall enjoy the reward of victory, the eternal peace which no adversary shall disturb. This is the final blessedness, this the ultimate consummation, the unending end.”
— St. Augustine, City of God, Book XIX
Meditatio
In the crucifixion, we see that true love gives itself away with no thought of self-interest, profit, or repayment. True love is not transactional. True love is not even fair. It gives itself fully and freely until there is nothing left to give, even unto death.
But this does not mean that the lover is left empty. In the emptying out of oneself in love, something greater fills what was once there. By giving of oneself, the finite gives way to the infinite.
By giving oneself in and for love, love is not diminished. Rather, the self is diminished. The transitory, the transient, and the ephemeral aspects of who we are diminish, making room for that which is eternal, abiding, and inexhaustible. Making room for Christ.
That which dies in and for love is reborn in and through love. That which dies to this world makes room for that which is reborn in the next. That which dies in the flesh is resurrected — body and spirit — made new, made perfect, even if with the wounds this world has earned us.
This is the resurrection. Christ’s death teaches us how we are to live and his resurrection teaches us how we are to die. By living in and for love in this life, in this body, and in these circumstances, we are reborn as and with love in eternity, where all that we gave is given back more perfectly than when we gave it, not as a transaction, but as a transformation, as a transfiguration, as a resurrection. As Love.
Oratio
looking into your face
I cannot see you
a cloud of unknowing
between us
but I sense it is you
I want it to be you
breaking bread
giving your word
my heart burns
of your love
this finite container
cannot hold
for now
Contemplatio
What would it mean to live today as though the wounds this world has earned you are already held within the love that makes all things new?
Related Scripture
“What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:42–44 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Where Light Enters: The Wounds of Christ and the Wounds We Carry, which explores how the risen Christ bears his wounds into eternity — and how our own suffering, held in his love, becomes the very place where grace breaks through.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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