Dying and Rising with Jesus

In today's first reading, 2 Corinthians 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 we are] carrying about in [our] body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body."  St.  Paul further reminds us that "the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us...in his presence."

Jesus says to you and to me:

Dorothy Ann (insert your name), you carry within you, as does everyone and all of creation, my dying and my rising.  A dying is at work in you all of the time so that a resurrection to new life here on earth and eventually in heaven can take place.  All of this is of God, a treasure from above planted within each person and every other living thing, plant and animal.  Why? To give glory to each one's Creator God from whom and for whom each exists!

My response:  Lord, may I honor and respect this reality.  May I die to all that is not of You so as to rise to the fullness of life that You have promised us in Christ Jesus!  May I, and every human being, die to sin--to selfishness, bigotry, misogyny, hatred, promiscuity, gluttonous attitudes, idolatry, abusive behaviors of any sort--and rise to holiness: to loving and serving others generously,  compassionately and unselfishly, to sharing of this earth's goods and wealth so that all thrive and become the persons God intends them to be. May we enhance life for all, not destroy it!  May we create unity, not promote divisiveness in Jesus' name.  Amen!

Called to Know Jesus and Live as He Lived

In today's Gospel,  Mark 3: 13-19, Jesus goes up to a mountain to pray and, while there, summons those he wanted to join him as His first apostles.  He appoints twelve men to this position, affectionately nicknaming some of them. Among the twelve is impetuous Peter and the doubting Thomas as well as a traitor, a tax collector who cheated people of their money and, each of them, men thinking that Jesus will become an earthly king saving them from the ruling Romans. They are also men who clamour for position, arguing, at one point,  who among them is the greatest and who will sit at Jesus' right or left in His kingdom!  These are very ordinary men with strengths and weaknesses yet chosen to carry on the work of Jesus once He returns to His Father. They are men who, in the company of Jesus, learn who Jesus is--the Son of God--and learn what He is asking of them. Their faith is so strengthened at Pentecost that they are no longer afraid to speak openly and boldly about Jesus' death and resurrection and spread the Gospel that Jesus taught and lived.  They risk their very lives in carrying on Jesus' mission of building the Kindom of God (right relationships with all) here on earth to the point of dying for what they believe!

Jesus prayed you and I into this kingdom/kindom as well.  At our baptisms we died and rose with Jesus and were given a special mission here on earth in spreading the Gospel by how we live, the words we say or leave unsaid, the behaviors we choose to bring justice to all peoples, to lift others up to their greatest  potential as a human being, and to show God's love, mercy,  generosity, and forgiveness.

How am I doing as a disciple of Christ? Howe are you doing?

Dying and Rising with Jesus

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor 4: 7-15, Paul reminds us that we carry about in our bodies
the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live 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. So death is at work in us…”

The life of Jesus and the death of Jesus are always working within us. Paul gives a vivid descriptions of the situations that challenge us to rise with Christ in grace and holiness.  “We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed….”  Like Jesus, we experience affliction but are not held back from proclaiming our faith in Christ Jesus.  Like Jesus, we are perplexed by unbelievers and critics of our faith but are not “driven to despair.”  Like Jesus, we are “persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.”  Jesus overcame death and we will, too.  Jesus became sin for us, suffered and died for us so that we, too, will rise with Him. 

Paul says, and we say it with him, “I believed, therefore I spoke,…knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us…in his presence.”   Therefore we do not shy away from proclaiming our faith in the Lord Jesus  no matter what “dying” is involved! I will die to fear. I will die to pride. I will die to selfishness. I will die to deceitfulness. I will die to idolatry because the life of Jesus resides within me.

Remember Jesus' Resurrection and its Significance

“Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead,” Timothy asks of us in today’s first reading of Ordinary Time, 2 Timothy 2: 8-15.  There is nothing ordinary in Jesus’ resurrection.  Proclaiming the resurrection in Timothy’s time resulted for many in martyrdom. They were imprisoned and put to death for speaking in Jesus’ name and for proclaiming their belief in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, as it contradicted the story that circulated among the Jews at the time, and to this day,  namely that Jesus’  body was stolen from the grave during the night while the guards slept.  In their minds there was on resurrection. There was no Easter morning.

We might have a difficult time comprehending the seriousness of the charge against those thrown into prison, suffering, as was Timothy, “even to the point of chains, like a criminal.”  In his pain, Timothy proclaimed that “the word of God is not chained.” Nothing would deter Timothy from preaching God’s Word.  Salvation came from the Word of God who died upon the cross and rose three days later so that we, too,  would rise from sin and death to new life in Christ Jesus.  No way would Timothy stop proclaiming that truth “for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.”   Timothy goes on to remind us that:

                “If we have died [to sin] with him

                we shall also live with him;

                If we persevere [in being faithful to Jesus]

                we shall also reign with him.

                But if we deny him         

                he will deny us.

                {Even if] we are unfaithful

                he remains faithful,

                for he cannot deny himself.”

Jesus, the Word of God, is faithfulness itself.  He cannot not remain faithful to the Father’s will, namely , that you and are saved from sin and death. 

 For this I was chosen and so were you! What a gift! What love! There is no suffering you and I might undergo  in our efforts to live as Jesus lived that is too much to ask of us given Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father’s will.  Jesus will never, never abandon His mission to save us from sin and death.         How about us?

Choose Life, not Death

Today’s readings, Dt. 30: 15-20 and Luke 9: 22-25, challenge us with the following statements: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom….Choose life, then,…by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.”  In the Gospel Jesus says to us: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he [or she] must deny…[him or herself] and take up his [or her] cross daily and follow  me. For whoever wishes to save his [or her] life for my sake will save it….”  Following Jesus, we know, leads to death and resurrection. Many times, we focus only on the dying part and get scared and flee the scene as the apostles did on Calvary. But following Jesus, dying with Jesus, always  leads to resurrection, to new life, new hope, deeper faith and stronger loving.  The dying is what is difficult. None of us cherishes letting go of that in us that needs to die if new life is to arise for us and in and through us.  

Recently, in a slump, I cried out to the Lord, offering Him the following prayer:

“Lord, I give you my all:

•   My holiness and sinfulness

•   My humility and my pride

•   My hope and my hopelessness

•   My manipulativeness and my straightforwardness

•   My generosity and my stinginess

•   My love and my hate

•   My serenity and my anxiety

•   My selflessness and my selfishness

•   My faith and my faithlessness”

The cross—my sinful nature, my weaknesses, my frustrations, my disappointments, my doubts and fears and anxieties, my pride—all of that I need to take up, acknowledge, bring to the Lord in humility and trust. 

Follow me, Jesus, says to us.  Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem. Deliberately! Even when He knew that the chief priests and leaders of his people were waiting to arrest him, charge him as a blasphemer and put him to death, He still went to this city to “sell all”.  Choosing death was, for Jesus, choosing life for all of us. Jesus truly believed in the resurrection. In John 2: 19, Jesus says to the Jews: “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.”

Do I believe that when I allow Jesus to destroy sin in me, that He will raise me up in three days to new life, new hope, deeper love?