Lenten Meditation Six - Good Friday

"He descended into Hell." In the spiritual sense, death is the description of a person's ongoing condition. It is not that they no longer exist, they are very much that person, that soul, God brought into existence. But the state of their existence is now marked by the absence of the original "Goodness & Truth", that was intended to be their eternal state. "Goodness & Truth" are now replaced by "Evil." The Devil and the other fallen angels were the first of God's good creation to descend into this condition. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Rev. 12:9 The "Great Problem" facing this world is "Evil". Evil is at war with Goodness and Truth. Evil is vowed to infest every human soul, thus corrupting it and cause it to end up in the same condition as its own. Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.  1 Peter 5:8 Souls that have been corrupted by Satan and sinned, now exist in a hell of hopeless separation from God's good purpose. In 1 Peter 4:6,  we read: "That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Jesus defeats Satan's hold of condemnation over the souls departed. They hear Jesus VOICE, calling them by name, forgiving them their sins, and leading them personally out of "hell" and into the eternal light of God's presence.  In your prayer this day, try to understand that your salvation was not God announcing from heaven and saying; "People, it's alright, no worries, I forgive you". The Son of God must come down to each soul personally, to reveal to that soul the message of salvation in ways that it can understand and accept.  The Cross was Satan's attempt to scare off Jesus from ever accomplishing this goal. As vicious and evil as the passion of Jesus was, Satan failed. Jesus entered fully into the death of every soul, that he might encounter them, person to person, and offer them salvation through forgiveness. Understand, it is your personal salvation that has brought Jesus to this cross. For you, Good Friday is personal. The following is taken from The Catechism of the Catholic Church.  ARTICLE 5: "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN" Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell 632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479 633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483 634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."484 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption. 635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487 476 Eph 4:9-10. 477 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet. 478 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20. 479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19. 480 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13. 481 Cf. Ps 89:49; 1 Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26. 482 Roman Catechism I, 6, 3. 483 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53. 484 1 Pet 4:6. 485 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9. 486 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15. 487 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10. LINK to reference:

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