Suffering with Christ for Sin(ners)
Posted on 19 February 2010
Table of contents for On Death: Lenten Reflections
‘One must become practiced at what is the ontological truth: If one (who is God) has died for me, then I have died… (Gal 2.20). The purification (so it has been said) is at an end at that point when the one who is fixed upon the pierced one would be ready to persevere in the fire as long as (not my own, but anyone’s) sin brings about this pain in the God-man. Who causes it has become a matter of indifference in view of the fact that he suffers. Whoever has been brought this far can enter into the “communion of saints“‘ (The von Balthasar Reader, p. 422).
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Here is a kind of death: agonizing with Christ because of sin – our sin and others’, whether personal,corporate, or systemic. In this season of Lent, we should pray that the groaning Spirit will empower us to (re) learn how to grieve because of sin, not only our own sins but also the sins of our friends, neighbors, and enemies, the sins of our parents and children and siblings, the sins of the world and the sins of the churches. We should follow carefully the clear instruction of James:
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
1 Response to Suffering with Christ for Sin(ners)
a great exhortation. Thank you.