St. Basil today continues with the theme we left off on in yesterday’s post. He says, translated from the Italian:
“God’s economy of salvation, our Savior, consists in the rearising of man from his fall and returning him to the divine intimacy, liberating him from alienation which had resulted because of disobbedience. The coming of Christ in the flesh, the burial, the resurrection are all for the salvation of man so that he may have anew, through the imitation of Christ, adoption as son which had been granted him in the beginning.
“For an authentic Christian life then, it is necessary not only to imitate his example of sweetness, humility and patience that he showed in his life, but also his very death….how are we to die, that is descend into the dead? Imitating the burial of Christ through baptism.” (St. Basil the Great, 15, 35; PG 32, 127-130)
Let us reflect well this Holy Week on the awesome grace of baptism in our lives, a baptismal grace that identifies us with Jesus’ own Paschal Mystery, that is, his life, suffering, death and resurrection. It is a grace that lifts us from the muck of sin and its effects, from the utter poverty of our condition, and elevates us to divine intimacy, as St. Basil says.
What a wonder that is!
