“He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”” (Luke 23:43.)
Pope Saint Leo the Great offers the following insight on this verse from today’s First Reading:
“Until now, one [thief] was the equal in all things of his companion. He was a robber on the roads and always a danger to the safety of people. Deserving the cross, he suddenly becomes a confessor of Christ…. “Remember me, Lord, when you enter into your kingdom.”
Then came the gift in which faith itself received a response. Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” This promise surpasses the human condition, because it did not come so much from the wood of a cross as from a throne of power. From that height, he gives a reward to faith. There he abolishes the debt of human transgression,46 because the “form of God” did not separate itself from the “form of a servant.”47 Even in the middle of this punishment, both the inviolable divinity and the suffering human nature preserved its own character and its own oneness.” (Sermon 53)
Then came the gift in which faith itself received a response. Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” This promise surpasses the human condition, because it did not come so much from the wood of a cross as from a throne of power. From that height, he gives a reward to faith. There he abolishes the debt of human transgression,46 because the “form of God” did not separate itself from the “form of a servant.”47 Even in the middle of this punishment, both the inviolable divinity and the suffering human nature preserved its own character and its own oneness.” (Sermon 53)
Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
Who as an example of humility
for the human race to follow
caused our Savior to take flesh and
submit to the Cross, graciously grant
that we may heed His lesson of
patient suffering and so
merit a share in His Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Who as an example of humility
for the human race to follow
caused our Savior to take flesh and
submit to the Cross, graciously grant
that we may heed His lesson of
patient suffering and so
merit a share in His Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
