God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.
The Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad, who has experienced some serious health issues, has given an interpretation in his homily from the Jesuits Residence in Cairo (here in French: En Lui La Vie...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rBVsE0MYR0). According to him, God gives humanity access to eternal life in Christ Jesus raised from the dead. Christ himself experienced death in his humanity. In the Gospel, Christ carries divinity in his body - when a woman touched his clothes, her hemorrhage stopped immediately as Jesus sensed certain power brought out from him. Again, requested by a synagogue official named Jairus, Jesus was able to bring back to life his daughter who had died. This is a manifestation of the power of God in Christ. By reflecting upon the hours that preceded the betrayal of Christ, his crucifixion and death, one can only attempt to fathom the passion of Jesus in what St. John of the Cross described as 'The Dark Night of the Soul.' Although Fr. Boulad did not mention it in his homily, he said that his faith in Christ's power over evil and death and Christ's own assertion that He is the Way and Life to eternal joy are the basis of his faith. I believe that Fr. Boulad was able to cross 'The Dark Night of the Soul' in his health crisis from which he is recovering. Active in missionary work over nearly the past 50 years, including his missionary work in the Sudan, his electrifying lectures in Europe, Canada, and Egypt, it was hard for him to give up an active life to discern God's will for him in the next years. I can only admire his faith especially his recent discernment. When I asked him last week by email to pray for my health, he answered right away that he is praying for me. Together with the blessed Virgin Mary and other saints, let us continue to pray for this scholar yet humble priest.
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