He descended into hell and on the third day arose again. Jesus is God, and Jesus descended into the depths of death to preach the Good News of God's very love to the dead. Who better than to preach the love of God than God? God, through Jesus Christ holds out the offer of eternal life to those who died without knowing salvation was possible.
Before returning to my Catholic faith, I understood the terms salvation, and I knew intellectually what that meant. I also took for granted the offer of Jesus Christ to accept the love of God. Oh, I could preach all about love and the need to love one another, but in my own soul, I had a void. When I returned to the Catholic Church, the first thing I did was meet with a priest who offered me the fullness of God's love in the form of the sacrament of penance! Yes, by going to confession I opened up my soul and laid myself out before God. All that laid dead within me, or was killing me was out in the open. But more than that, God forgave all of my sins. That was offered to me by Jesus Christ in his death and descending into the depths of hell...the depths of all that divides our spirits from God.
When Jesus rose again on the third day, Jesus overcame our death to sin and evil. Jesus restored our lives! I could not have ever felt that life had Jesus not descended into the depths and offered me forgiveness and wiped my slate clean. I could never have come to that understanding without coming back to the Catholic Church. Our Church provides the sacraments for our benefit. We must not take them for granted.
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