Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a
The Son of the Shunammite Woman
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[8] One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. [9] And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who is continually passing our way. [10] Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there."
[11] One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. [14] And he said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." [15] He said, "Call her." And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. [16a] And he said, "At this season, when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son."
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Commentary:
4:8-37. Elisha here is an itinerant prophet who has only one servant and whose base is Mount Carmel: in this he Is like Elijah. This passage shows, firstly, God blessing the childless woman with the gift of motherhood, thanks to the prophet's intervention (vv. 11-17); and, secondly, the prophet's extraordinary power to raise up her dead son (vv. 18-37).
From a literary point of view, it is a well-constructed account full of little details which help to build up the dramatic tension. The feelings of the woman, who first of all receives the of a son without having sought it, and then cannot resign herself to his death, provide the basic story-line. St John Chrysostom quotes this passage show that real love means being concerned even about the physical welfare of others: "Elisha not only gave spiritual help to the woman who had shown him hospitality; he also tried repay her in a material way" ("De Laudibus Sancti Pauli Apostolici", 3, 7).
The first part of the story shows the reward given someone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet; it is reminiscent of the reward that Jesus promises to those who acknowledge and welcome an apostle (cf. Mt 10: 13-14). The main thing to be learned from this passage (as also from 1 Kings 17:6) is the power of the prophet's prayer and indeed anyone else's prayer when done with faith. But we also learn that when God gives a gift, no matter how surprisingly and unexpectedly (such as the gift of a son to this woman), he also gives the grace to conserve it and make it bear fruit. The Lord does not leave us to our own devices when he gives us, for example, personal talents, or a vocation even if we may not have sought one.
Elisha's journey to the dead boy and the action he takes is compared by St Augustine and other Fathers to the incarnation of Christ and to his work of redemption. "Elisha arrived and went up to the chamber, just as Christ would come and go up to the scaffold of the cross. Elisha stretched himself upon the child, to raise him up; Christ humbled himself in order to raise up the world that was laid prone by sin. Elisha put his eyes on the child's eyes, his hands on his hands. Notice, my brothers, how that grown-up man shrank himself in order to fit the size of the dead child. What Elisha prefigured (in the way he cured the child), Christ fulfilled in regard to all mankind. Listen to what the Apostle says; 'He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death.' Because we were children, he made himself a child; because we lay dead, the first thing the doctor did was to bend over, for no one can raise his stricken brother unless he bends down to him. The child's sneezing seven times stands for the seven forms of grace of the Holy Spirit that are given mankind, in order to raise it up, at Christ's coming (Sermons attributed to St Augustine, "Sermons", 42, 8).
Baptism (Continuation)
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[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? [4] We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
[8] But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. [9] For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] The death He died He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
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Commentary:
1-11. The universal dominion of sin, which began with the sin of Adam, is not the only event to be reckoned with. When sin reached its full extent, the grace brought by Jesus Christ came in superabundance. Through Baptism this grace reaches each of us and frees us from the control of sin. When we receive this Sacrament we die: that is to say, our blameworthiness is destroyed, we renounce sin once and for all, and are born again into a new life.
"The Lord", St. Ambrose tells the newly baptized, "who wanted His benefactions to endure, the serpent's plans to be turned to naught, and the harm done to be put right, delivered a sentence to mankind: 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' (Genesis 3:19), and made man subject to death [...]. The remedy was given him: man would die and rise again [...]. You ask me how? [...] Pay attention. So that in this world too the devil's snare would be broken, a rite was instituted whereby man would die, being alive, and rise again, being alive [...].Through immersion in water the sentence is blotted out: 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return'" ("De Sacramentis", II, 6).
This passage of the epistle, which reveals the key truths concerning Baptism, also reminds us of the profound meaning of this rite which Christ established, its spiritual effects in Christians and its far-reaching effects with respect to the Christian life. Thus, we can apply to Baptism what St. Thomas Aquinas says about all the sacraments: "Three aspects of sanctification may be considered--its very cause, which is Christ's Passion; its form, which is grace and the virtues; and its ultimate end, which is eternal life. And all these are signified by the sacraments. Consequently, a sacrament is a sign which is both a reminder of the past, that is, of the Passion of Christ, and an indication of what is effected in us by Christ's Passion, and a foretelling and pledge of future glory" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 60, a. 3).
In the specific case of Baptism, the various things which the Sacrament implies carry a special nuance--a new birth which presupposes a symbolic death. It reproduces in us not only the Passion, Death and burial of Christ, symbolized by immersion in water (verses 3-4, 6), but also new life, the life of grace which pours into the soul, enabling the person to share in the Resurrection of Christ (verses 4-5). This sharing in Christ's Resurrection to immortal life is a kind of seed which will ultimately produce the glorious resurrection of our bodies.
The baptized person is, therefore, someone newly created, someone born into a new life, someone who has moved out of darkness into light. The white garment used at Baptism symbolizes innocence and grace; the burning candle, the light of Christ--two symbols the Church uses in the baptismal liturgy to signify what is happening.
Thus, in Baptism, God "removes every trace of sin, whether original or personal" ("The Rite of Baptism", Introduction, 5) and also remits the penalties that these sins incur. On being baptized in the name of the Three Divine Persons, the Christian is shown God the Father's love for him (a love he has not merited), is given a share in the Paschal Mystery of the Son, and to him is communicated new life in the Spirit (cf. "Instruction on Infant Baptism", 20 October 1980, 9). Baptism, which is also described as "the door of the spiritual life", unites a person to Christ and to the Church by means of grace, which makes us children of God and heirs to Heaven. Finally, in addition to the infused virtues and supernatural gifts, the person is given "the graces necessary to live in a Christian way, and on his soul is impressed the sacramental character which makes him a Christian for evermore" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 250).
Baptism, which confers a "character", that is, a kind of seal confirming our Christian calling, gives us a share in Christ's priesthood and makes us capable of receiving the other sacraments.
4. It is easier to grasp the symbolism of burial and resurrection if one remembers that in earlier times, and particularly in the apostolic period, Baptism was usually administered by immersion in water--in some cases by total immersion, up to three times, with one Person of the Blessed Trinity being invoked each time. "They asked you, 'Do you believe in God the Father almighty?' You said, 'I believe', and you were immersed, that is, you were buried. Again they asked you, 'Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross?' You said, 'I believe', and you were again immersed. This time you have been buried with Christ, and he who is buried with Christ rises with Christ. For a third time you were asked, 'Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?' You said, 'I believe', and for a third time you were immersed, so that by this three-fold confession you might be loosed of your many attachments to your past life" (St. Ambrose, "De Sacramentis", II, 7).
Today Baptism is normally administered by pouring water over the head-- a method also used in apostolic times and which gradually came into general use because it was found more convenient.
5. Just as the ingraft and the plant form a single thing and make a single principle of life, Christians by being grafted onto or incorporated into Christ through Baptism form one single thing with Him and begin to draw on His divine life. We are also "united with Him in a death like His": Christ suffered physical death; we, in Baptism, die spiritually to the life of sin. St. John Chrysostom explains this as follows: "Baptism is for us what the Cross and burial were for Christ; but with this difference: the Savior died physically, He was physically buried, whereas we ought to die spiritually. That is why the Apostle does not say we are 'united with Him with His death', but 'in a death LIKE HIS'" ("Hom. on Rom.", 10).
9-10. Jesus Christ chose to bear all the consequences of sin, even though He was sinless. His voluntary death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection broke the bonds of death, for Himself and for all His own. Death no longer shall have dominion: "[Christ died] that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15). And as a consequence He won, for His own human nature and for us, a new life.
In all those who have been baptized these same events in Christ's life are in some way reproduced. "Our past sins have been wiped out by the action of grace. Now, so as to stay dead to sin after Baptism, personal effort is called for, although God's grace continues to be with us, providing us with great help" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on Rom.", 11). This personal effort might be encapsulated in a resolution: "May we never die through sin; may our spiritual resurrection be eternal" (St J. Escriva, "Holy Rosary", 1st Glorious Mystery).