Memorial of St. Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)
Is the resurrection from the dead a Christian idea or does it have origins in pre-Christian times? This question gives many people pause as they are afraid that eternal life is too great a prize to be hoped for. There may be little evidence in the Torah, the primordial Hebrew Scriptures, on eternal life, but in the reading from Isaiah today we do find testimony to its standing in Israel.
In an encomium to righteousness, Isaiah tells us that those who have lived close to the Lord will not lie in the dust forever. Rather, he says, their corpses will rise from the dead like the dew flushes the earth with life. Then they will live forever in the light of God. The writings of St. Bonaventure express how this happens. “We cannot rise above ourselves,” he states, “unless a higher power lifts us up.” Who but God, the Lord of creation, is this “higher power”?
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