A Treasure Within Us

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor 4: 7-15, St. Paul reminds us that we “hold…[a] treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.”  That treasure is the death of Jesus, a dying that leads to the manifestation of the life of Jesus in us.  “…[W]e are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh,” Paul says to us.  That dying is a death to our self-will, to human pride, to the wealth of possessions when such would  distract us from living for others; a dying  to any sinful inclinations within us.  That dying leads to the power of God rendering us obedient to the Father’s will, as Jesus was obedient. It leads to the power of God rendering us humble, as Jesus was humble, abandoning His place in heaven to come to earth below to transform it into the image of its Maker, to make justice spring up on earth as in heaven, to proclaim God’s Kingdom among us and within us. That dying leads to the power of God making us one with Jesus in  the self-emptying of ourselves for the sake of others.

O, truly, we “hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us,” that God  may be glorified in the hour of our dying to sin and selfishness, to narcissistic endeavors as God was glorified  in Jesus’ hour on the cross.