46. Why should more be said? By the
death of One the world was redeemed. For Christ, had He willed,
need not have died, but He neither thought that death should be shunned
as though there were any cowardice in it, nor could He have saved us
better than by dying. And so His death is the life of all.
We are signed with the sign The reference of
course is to the sign of the Cross, which, as we know from various
authorities, the early Christians constantly used, at rising, lying
down, going in or out, at prayers, etc., etc.
of His death, we show forth His
death when we pray; when we offer the Sacrifice we declare His death,
for His death is victory, His death is our mystery, His death is the
yearly recurring solemnity of the world. What now should we say
concerning His death, since we prove by this Divine Example that death
alone found immortality, and that death itself redeemed itself.
Death, then, is not to be mourned over, for it is the cause of
salvation for all; death is not to be shunned, for the Son of God did
not think it unworthy of Him, and did not shun it. The order of
nature is not to be loosed, for what is common to all cannot admit of
exception in individuals.