March 10

od our Savior made a plan for raising the human race from its fall and restoring us to his friendship after the long alienation from him caused by our disobedience. This was the reason for Christ's coming in the flesh, for his giving us in the Gospel a pattern of how we ought to live, for his suffering, his dying on the cross, his burial and resurrection. By imitating him we were to be saved, and would regain the adoptive sonship that had been ours in the beginning.

To attain holiness, therefore, we must follow the example that Christ gave us, not only in his gentleness, humility, and patience during life, but also in his death. Paul, who modeled his life on Christ's, said that it was by dying as Christ died that he hoped to attain to the resurrection of the dead.

Now we imitate the death of Christ by being buried with him in baptism. What does this kind of burial mean, and what do we hope to gain by it? First of all, it means making a complete break with our former way of life, which is impossible, our Lord said, without being born again. To be born again means beginning a new life, and this we cannot do without bringing our previous life to an end.

From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman