"Sharing in the Glorious Freedom of the Children of God" (See Romans 8: 18-250

In today's first reading, Romans 8: 18-25, St. Paul asks us "to consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed  for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We  know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."

Each of us lives in hope of a future glory, the redemption of our bodies.  We know not the day nor the hour when we will be set free of our physical  bodies and be clothed with immortality, entering eternal life with the Lord and all those who have gone before us. When anyone of us is sick unto death, Jesus says to us what he said about Lazarus:  "This sickness will not end in death but in God's glory and through it the son of God will be glorified" ((Jn 11: 4).  Jesus himself said to those who were upset with him when he spoke of his upcoming death,  "Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell  you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest."  In faith and hope, we know that our loved ones in heaven are at work and yielding a rich harvest in accord with God's will for humankind.  As St. Paul says in today's first reading, "we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance," for that time, when, we, too, will, in eternity, continue to yield a rich harvest with all of the angels and saints before the throne of God.

Until that time, let us use the moments when we are called to die to whatever hinders God's will from being realized in our personal lives or in the lives of others.