Carrying the Dying and the Rising of Jesus in our Bodies

In today's first reading, 2 Cor 4: 7-15, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians, and us, that we "are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body 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 the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us." But so is the Spirit, the spirit of faith. We know "that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us...in his presence."

Death is all around us via the covid-19 virus and we are warned that this situation will only get worse! Sadly some people still believe our president who, in the beginning of this outbreak, named it a "hoax."  The majority of people, however, have come to realize that the information about the virus has to be taken seriously and that, by no means, is the coronavirus a joke. Thousands of people, all over the world, have died from this virus and continue contracting the disease every day. Thousands continue dying from the illness.

Yes, death is all around us! But so, too, is the Spirit. We carry the dying and the rising of Jesus in our bodies.   In the midst of the presence of death, is the presence of Jesus. We are not abandoned. And, in faith, we know that death is not the end of our lives but the beginning of our lives in eternity!

As difficult as times are right now, we know, in faith, that Jesus is in the boat with us. He may seem asleep but is not. He bids us come to Him, as He bade Peter to come to Him over the waters. When Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink, Jesus reached out His hand and saved him. He does the same for us.

Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and not sink under the onslaught of those who are venting their anger in our streets, destroying property, killing fellow citizens, striking out wildly at those who speak the truth. Jesus saves!  Jesus is God! We are not!

Grief Turned into Joy

In today's Gospel, John 16: 16-20, the disciples are trying to figure out what Jesus meant when he said to them:  "A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.....Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, 'Are you discussing with one another what I said,...Amen, amen, I say to  you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.'" 

Jesus gives us the same message.  Our life here on earth is short--eighty years if we are strong, the psalmist says to us.  Our time here on earth is brief. And, from time to time,  it is filled with weeping and mourning, while the world around us rejoices.  We will grieve for a time but our sorrow will be turned into joy, just as Jesus' was!  Much of Jesus' life was filled with grief: the grief of the loss of His foster father, the grief of being rejected by many, by having chief priests and leaders of His people plotting to kill Him, the grief of others walking away from Him when He spoke of the Eucharist, that is, of eating His Body and drinking His blood. That was too much for many of His disciples.  He endured being accused of blasphemy when He spoke of being one with His Father. Jealous of His growing popularity and of the crowds following Him, the chief priests and leaders found a way to destroy Him, that is to have Him crucified as a criminal to the State of Israel. Yes, Jesus wept and mourned over Jerusalem while the world around Him rejoiced. His grief was turned into joy at the resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. Our grief will also be turned into joy when we, too, like Jesus, return to our Father in heaven!  May we have the courage to endure until the end of our lives, believing in Jesus, trusting Jesus and loving Jesus beyond all else that is!

Mary and God: No Strangers to Sorrow,

My heart is heavy as I consider the hundreds of people who die of the coronavirus each day. This day, 2000+ years ago Mary stood beneath the cross of her dying son. Now, in 2020, she stands beneath the cross of so  many of her sons and daughters dying of this horrible disease and grieves with the parents, siblings, sons and daughters, grandchildren and other relatives and friends of those losing their lives to this virus.  She knows the sorrows of each, as she herself is no stranger to sorrow!

Just as Mary could do nothing but stand and watch, so, too, family members can do nothing either but stand and watch a loved one die. And in many cases can not even do that, as they are not allowed by the bedside of the sick person! 

God, too, knows our sorrow and grieves with us!  Why, we ask, doesn't God remove this scourge from the face of the earth? Why did he not stop the crucifixion of His only begotten son?  Perhaps the answer to that question is the same answer.  Our salvation depended upon Jesus being obedient to God unto death. Jesus, we are told in the Scriptures, learned obedience from what He suffered!  Are we, too, to learn obedience to God from what we suffer? Are we, in fact, suffering this horrible virus because of the many, many times that we walked away from the challenges of surrendering to God's way of living here on earth?  Have we made serious mistakes that led to this pandemic?

Jesus, we know, did not make any serious mistakes while He walked, lived, taught among us here on earth. His honesty, His confrontation of evil, His building the Kingdom of love and peace that He was sent to build, His healing of the sick, His driving out of demons, His way of challenging the people to live  the spirit of the law and to realize that the letter of the law can, at times, kill led the chief priests, the scribes or teachers of the law as well as the leaders and elders of the nation to feel threatened by Him and jealous of Him and therefore were determined to destroy Him, which they did on the first Good Friday 2000+ years ago!

Jesus, may the crisis which we are now experiencing because of the spread of this virus be a wake up call for us. May our eyes be opened to the fact that, like you, none of us will escape death however it comes to us. However, may we also realize that death is not the end of our life but the beginning of a new resurrected life in heaven with You.  I ask for these graces in your name. Amn

Food for Thought--IV

The coronavirus crisis and the crisis of Jesus sufferings and death:

Condemned to death, Jesus freed us from eternal      death.
On the cross, Jesus prayed: "Father forgive them for  they know not what they do."
Remember me when you get into your Kingdom,      the good thief prayed!
On the way to Calvary, Jesus said to the women:      "Weep not for me but for yourselves and your           children."
Never will I deny you, said Peter to Jesus and, filled  with fear, ended up denying Him three times!
Afraid, the apostles all fled--only John stood with      Mary at the foot of the cross!
Verily, "this is the Son of God," the fearful onlookers  said when an earthquake shook the ground and      darkness covered the earth after Jesus' death.  
In cooperation with Satan, Judas betrayed Jesus        and then, in despair, took his own life.
Resurrected, Jesus triumphed over fear and death.
Until the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost, the        apostles hid behind locked doors for fear of the        Jews.
Secure in their faith by the outpouring of the Spirit    on Pentecost, the apostles went forth to spread        the Good News of Jesus' resurrection and did so        with incredible boldness and courage, not afraid        anymore to express their faith in Christ Jesus.

Following the crisis of the coronavirus, I pray that we will no longer be afraid to put God first in our lives and proclaim our faith in Christ Jesus by living just and upright lives for each other's sake!

"Lazarus, Come Out"

In today's Gospel, John 11: 1-45, Jesus is informed that his friend Lazarus is ill. when Jesus hears this, he says:  "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." The same is true of the illness that has swept the world in our day.  God's glory will be revealed in it!  Jesus does immediately go to Bethany to comfort Mary and Martha, Lazarus' sisters and also close friends of Jesus.  He waits two days.  His disciples are concerned that Jesus would ever consider going to Judea, where his friends live:  "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?"  Jesus not only risks his life for his friends, and for us who are also His friends, He actually surrenders his life for us on the cross and is risen from the dead for us. As with Jesus, so with us. Jesus simply and lovingly and faithfully goes before us. We will follow.

Jesus weeps for Lazarus and with Mary and Martha. He also weeps with us in our losses. He approaches the tomb in which Lazarus' body is and says: "Lazarus, come out!" Lazarus comes out wrapped in burial cloths from head to foot.  "Untie him and let him and let him go," Jesus says to Martha and Mary.

As we know, Jesus is the Resurrection and, like Lazarus, enters His tomb and rises from death. He also enters whatever "tomb" you and I are in and calls us to come out of those tombs. Likewise, He asks that we become "untied" of that which interferes with us answering God's call to holiness. We are asked, as well,  to "untie" anyone else that needs our assistance to be free! 

Jesus/God is one with us in all things human!  He cries with us, laughs with us, "dies" with us and "rises" with us. He shares our joys and sorrows! He also celebrates with us and invites us ultimately to His banquet in eternal life!

The Way of the Messiah and Our Way

In today's Gospel, Mark 8: 27-33, Jesus and his disciples are traveling to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way, He asked his disciples:"Who do you say that I am?" And Peter answers: "You are the Christ,"   that is, the Messiah, the one sent to set the people free.  The people were hoping that Jesus would free the people from Roman rule and occupation of their country.  So when, later on this journey, He tells them that he "must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days," Peter vehemently rebuked Jesus. "Get behind me Satan. You are thinking, not as God does, but as human beings do."

First of all, who do I say that Jesus is?  Do I truly believe that He is the Son of God, the One sent by the Trinity to save me personally, to set me free from the evil that is capable of separating me from God forever, that has the power to destroy me spiritually? Do I believe that Jesus is the One who will raise me to eternal life with Him following the end of my mission here on earth? Do I believe that Jesus is the One who created the universe and all that is in it for the glory of God, that He is the One who created me and all human beings in the image and likeness of God Himself for the same purpose, that is, to give glory to God here on earth and in heaven itself?

What do I believe? And how strong is my belief? When Jesus says to me: "Dorothy Ann, I am going to be rejected. I am going to suffer greatly. In fact, Dorothy Ann, I am going to be put to death!" The One who is sent to free me will Himself be brutally killed? Do I say with Peter: "No, Lord! Never! You're crazy! No way! You are the Messiah. You cannot be killed by the rulers of this age! You don't know what you are talking about!"  End of conversation! 

When I look around and see good people killed by others, dying prematurely, evil people taking over the world, good people rejected, suffering greatly at the hands of others, do I rise up in protest and say: "No way, Lord!  This is not to be!"  Do I repel? Perhaps I did not hear the rest of Jesus' statement "And rise after three days"! Life involves great suffering, death and rising to new life forever following our sojourn here on earth.  That is what life is about and Jesus was not spared that. He was no exception to being a human being! At times, we are baffled by what happens to  us and to family members and all others! At times life is simply incredible,  a mystery to be lived, not solved.  Life treats us no differently that it treated Jesus and Jesus teaches us to believe in what he taught us: Death is not the end! Suffering will not destroy us. We have immortality within us. We have the power of the Spirit to raise us up beyond the cross, as the Spirit did for the Incarnate God, God made human for us.

God Is Love: In God I Live and Move and Have my Being

In today's first reading, 1 John 4: 7-10, John reminds us to love one another, "because love is of God" and that "everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever," he says, "is without love does not know God, for God is love."

Hear Jesus say to you, in prayer:

"(Insert your name),  love is your destiny.  In and through love, you are begotten of God, that is, you are  reborn in God, renewed by God's  love, purified by God's  love, made whole by  God's love. You live and move and have your being in God, that is you live in love and for love and through love!"

"(Insert your name),  you know me because of your love for others and for yourself. Those who know not love know not me or the Father or the Holy Spirit. Love is the gateway, the door, the foundation, the air your breathe in Christ Jesus, my Son and your Savior! I revealed My love for you and all in the world by sending My Son born of Mary.  He took on human nature so as to redeem you and all humankind from the snares which Satan set, the sinful lures that, if not crushed by the blood of my Son, would  have led to eternal death and permanent separation from Me for all my children. I'd have none of it and Satan knows it. His power my Son took from him when he offered His life to Me for you and all humankind on Calvary's hill. I rose my Son from the dead, destroying death, which sin is.  That is My love for you and all my children!"

Thank you, Lord, for your incredulous and unconditional love for each of your children. Thank you for your love for me shown to me by Jesus' life and death and resurrection--the gift of redemption. May I learn to love as Jesus and You and the Holy Spirit, Father God, taught me in the Scriptures, through others and through the events of my life!

"Seeing the Bounty of the Lord in the Land of the Living" (Psalm 27)

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 27, we acknowledge our belief that "the Lord is  [our] light and our salvation,...[our] life' s refuge."  We ask the Lord for the the favor to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of [our lives and to]...gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple."  We then, at the close of the psalm, express our belief that we "shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living."  In order to experience any of the graces expressed in this psalm, however, the psalmist tells us that we  need to "wait for the Lord with courage....[B]e stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!"

"The Lord is our light." In order to know the Lord as our light, we need to experience darkness, as did the man in today's Gospel, Luke 4: 31-37. Think of the joy he experienced when Jesus, His Savior,  delivered  him from the power of an unclean spirit that had taken possession of him. To truly know joy, as this man did,  we need to experience the darkness of  sorrow. To deeply know the strength of our faith, we need to go through the darkness of doubt! To bask in the joy of being healthy we need to live through the dark times of an illness!  The man in today's Gospel, I believe, would have gone through all of these experiences! Even Jesus as a human being was not exempt from experiencing darkness, the most awful of which was His crucifixion and death upon the cross! He passed through death, however, to the glory of the resurrection!  We will, as well!

In Psalm 27, we pray to "gaze upon the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple."  How might that happen? I believe that the loveliness of the Lord resides in every human being and that all people and all of creation are God's temple. God, I believe, lives in each one of us and in creation itself. As temples of God and dwelling places of God's loveliness, we are called to make known God's loveliness and to build God's temple by co-operating with God's grace.  We have examples of this in creation. Everything in the universe reveals God's brilliance, God's loveliness, God's beauty, God's love for us!  As persons with free will, we may or may not cooperate with grace in revealing the loveliness, the beauty, the brilliance of God, the love of God within us and supporting and nurturing the God-life in others. 

The choice to live in the Light or in darkness is ours to make each day, as is the choice to move through "death" to resurrection or to new life each day!  If we choose life and reject death each day, we truly "shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living."

Happy Easter!

In today's Gospel, Luke 24: 1-12, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James went to the tomb at daybreak with spices they had prepared to anoint Jesus' body. They found the tomb empty. While these women,  and others who accompanied them,  were puzzling over the empty tomb, "two men in dazzling garments appeared to them...and said to them: 'Why do you seek seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise from the dead.'"  The women shared their experience with the apostles, who dismissed it as nonsense. Peter, however,  went to the tomb to check the women's story and found only the burial cloths. He returned "home amazed at what had happened."

Death had no power over Jesus. Neither will it have any power us, as St. Paul reminds us in Romans 6: 3-11. "Brothers and sisters: are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life....If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him...." nor over us who believe in Him and live like Him.

Alleluia!

Never Seeing Death (See Jn 8: 51)

Jesus says to us in today's Gospel, John 8: 51-59 that "whoever keeps my word will never see death." The Jews are perplexed by that statement and reply: "Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.' Are you greater than our father Abraham , who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?'....'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM"  (the caps are mine)." The Jews are so angry that he claimed that he is the I  AM, that they tried killing him by stoning but Jesus went into hiding.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the  covenant God made with Abraham and the chosen people!  The Jews, God's chosen people, will have none of it and thus they throw stones at Jesus, hoping to kill Him.  they do not succeed at this point so they continue plotting against Him.  When later they crucify Him on Calvary,  they believe that they have, in fact, destroyed Him. As Christians, we know otherwise. Jesus overcame death. He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, when we celebrate His and our resurrection.

As Jesus overcame death, so, too, will those who keep His word, as Jesus says to us in the beginning of today's Gospel: "[W]hoever keeps my word will never see death."  Death, for those who believe in Jesus and live the Gospel way of life that Jesus modeled for us here on earth, is the gate through which we enter eternal life, our inheritance from God!

Thank you, Jesus!

Faith in Rough Times

In today's Gospel, Mark 5: 21-43, we encounter two persons who seek out Jesus, one a woman who has been "afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years, has suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors, and had spent all that she had" and the other a synagogue official whose 12-year-old daughter is seriously ill.   The woman hears about Jesus and is determined that if she only touches the hem of his garment she will be healed.  She "came up behind him in [a large]crowd and touched his cloak." Immediately she is healed and Jesus knew that power had left Him. "Who touched me," He asked. The woman realizes what has happened to her and approaches Jesus "in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to  her, 'Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.'"  At the same time, people from the synagogue official's house arrive and inform the official that his daughter has died and suggests that he stop bothering Jesus. "It is over," so to speak! Jesus says to the official: "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He proceeds to the official's house, enters the room where the little girl is and says to her:  "Little girl,..., arise!" She "arose immediately and walked around." And Jesus instructs her parents to give her something to eat!

Neither individual gives up!   Nor does Jesus!  In case of the woman, neither despair nor repeated failures stops her from getting close to Jesus and touching His cloak.  In regard to the synagogue official, he does not let the discouraging message from his people get between him and Jesus. Nor does he despair because he's been told that his daughter is dead. In the case of Jesus, the crowd taunts Him, as though saying to Him:  "Who touched you? For heaven's sake,  the crowd is pressing upon you!  Of course, someone brushed against your cloak!  Move on!" Jesus also ignores the people who proclaim that the little girl is dead. "Have faith," He say to the synagogue official!

Do you and I keep our eyes on Jesus? Or, do we let what others think and say dissuade us and lead us into despair? into giving up on Jesus?

St. Stephen's Witness

It is the day after Christmas and the Church celebrates the martyrdom of St. Stephen described in the first reading, Acts 6: 8-10; 7: 54-59.  In the Gospel itself, Matthew 10: 17-22, Jesus asks us to "[b]eware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans....Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved."  Eight days after his birth, Jesus is brought to the temple and Simeon says to Mary:  "You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected--and a sword will pierce your own soul too--so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare" (Luke 1: 14-15).

Jesus also tells us in the Gospels not to be afraid when  you encounter troubles in the world, as He, too, encountered troubles and conquered them. In the darkest day of our salvation history, when Jesus hung on the cross dying, He, like Stephen, said to God: "Into your hands I commend my spirit." Three days later Jesus conquered suffering and death and rose again. Forty days later, Jesus ascended into heaven. Stephen, as he faced his murderers, was "filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of God standing at the right hand of God.'"

May we like Jesus and like Stephen commend our spirits to the Lord when we, in turn, are at death's door waiting to pass through death, by whatever means, and enter eternal life. Like Stephen, when we are dying, may we look to heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father waiting for our return to our eternal home.  In preparation for that moment, may we, throughout life's difficulties turn to the Lord for help.  May we always take refuge in the Lord and focus on the Lord when we are facing challenges instead of locking ourselves into our anger, feeding it and thus succumbing to temptations we would otherwise be able to resist because God is always at our side, as He was for St. Stephen.

Jesus' Obedience Saves us from our Disobedience

In the opening prayer of today’s liturgy, we pray “to attain the grace of the resurrection,” a grace secured for us by Jesus’ obedience to the Father unto death. Jesus submitted to death for our sake. He accepted His passion with all of its sufferings: submitting to being arrested with chains and clubs, to being betrayed by one of the apostles, to being falsely accused, of being scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, being hit in the face and spit upon, to His beard being plucked, to being insulted while dying upon the cross for our disobedience.  Jesus did all of this in order to show God’s love and determination to redeem us from our sins against humanity and against God. Jesus did whatever it took to reconcile us to God and to one another in accord with the Father’s will!  Jesus suffered, died, was buried and rose from the dead. Death and Satan had no power over Him.

In Christ Jesus, we, too, will overcome satanic forces in our lives and rise from the dead with Jesus at the end of our trial here on earth.  In gratitude, we offer Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrifice of the Mass, praising God with all of the angels and saints in heaven and on earth for the "grace of the resurrection,"--the gift of our salvation--and, yes, begging for God’s ongoing mercy upon all of humankind, especially as we choose to worship other gods, ignore the needy, falsely accuse others of wrongdoing they did not commit or let those engaged in evil go scotch free, allowing leaders to enact corrupt decisions that will bring harm to ourselves and others, especially innocent children.  

How appropriate the prayer over the gifts of bread and wine that we prayed today at the liturgy:  “Receive, O Lord, we pray, the offerings made here, and graciously grant that, celebrating your Son’s Passion in mystery, we may experience the grace of its effects. Through Christ our Lord.

Your Redemption is at Hand

“Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Luke 21:28).  In the face of evil, we need to remember that God is our Savior, and God alone. We need to keep our eyes upon the Lord and look to God for the help we need to remain faithful, to live our faith, to trust in the Lord God. I think of Good Friday, when our Master and Lord was crucified and how dark it looked. That things would be okay was not guaranteed. The apostles fled and hid behind closed doors, terrified that they, too, would be put to death, that the worst would come to them. That did not immediately happen and when it did the gates of heaven opened for them.  On Pentecost, baptized by the Spirit, the apostles left the upper room and boldly preached the Word of God. They were no longer afraid to stand up for Truth. Their message was a message of hope. Their hearts were set on fire with God’s love. The Spirit that was given them was not a spirit of cowards but of courageous disciples of Christ.

In the face of difficulties, I pray, that I, and you, will be filled with the same Spirit that empowered the apostles to live lives of courage, of boldness, of fearless trust in God, strong faith, and a willingness to endure whatever it took to stand up for the Lord, to bring God’s message of the cross and resurrection to everyone! 

Whenever we encounter suffering, as Jesus and the apostles did, our redemption is at hand.  Let us put our hand in the hand of Jesus and ask Him to lead us through our sufferings to new life, as He did on Easter morn.

I need those graces right now. What about you?

The Feast of All Souls

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls, that is, we remember all of those who have gone before us, all who have fallen asleep in the Lord and who, in Christ Jesus, will be brought back to life in eternity.  All of the just are in God’s hands, the author of Wisdom tells us in chapter 3: 1-9.  We certainly grieved their passing and may even have thought that their deaths were a tragedy or absolute foolishness.  Some believe that their loved ones are dead, period!  And that nothing exist after our deaths.   But, no, there is life after death. Jesus died and rose. In our baptism, we died and rose with Christ. Our final resurrection will happen at the end of our lives, as it did for Jesus.  

You and I walk this earth, undergoing a chastisement, a purification, as we grow in intimacy with the Lord.  At the appropriate time, God’s time, we will leave our earthly life for a heavenly one, having been “found worthy” of God, Wisdom tells us. “As gold in the furnace, [God proves us], and, [in death] as sacrificial offerings [God takes us] to himself. In the time of [our] visitation we] shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble…and the Lord shall be [our] King forever....[The] faithful shall abide with [God] in love: because grace ad mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.”  You and I, through our baptism, are God chosen ones, God’s elect. Death will have no more power over us than it had over Jesus.  St. Paul says to us in Roman s 6: 3-9:  “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.  For we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”    Yes! With Jesus, we shall overcome death and, like Jesus, rise to new life in our own resurrection!

I believe! How about you?

Glorious Triumph of our Savior

In the Entrance Antiphon for today’s liturgy of Thursday of the Third Week of Easter, we pray: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has gloriously triumphed.”  In the Collect, we ask the Lord to “let us feel…[His] compassion more readily during these days when, by…[His] gift, we have known…[God’s compassion toward us] more fully, so that those…[the Lord has]  freed from the darkness of error may cling more firmly to the teachings of [His] truth.”

How aware am I that God the Son, Jesus, has “gloriously triumphed” in my life and will continue to triumph in my daily life, alerting me to the good I am invited to do, opening my eyes to His Love at work in my life and in the life of others around me as well as lifting me up from hopelessness, fear, apathy, discouragement, sin itself, deceitful patterns and so on, over and over and over again?  Am I aware that I have truly been “freed from the darkness or error” in my past and that God will do so in my future? Believing in Christ Jesus and humbly acknowledging my weaknesses and sinfulness, repenting of my sins in the sacrament of confession and in communication with those against whom I have sinned puts me on the path to eternal life! What a gift and what a challenge in living this truth day by day, clinging “more firmly to the teaching of [His] truth” every day!

God, a Mighty Champion, a Warrior

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 20: 10-13, the prophet describes the situation around him:  “I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! Let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.’ But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.”

I couldn’t help but think of Jesus.  The Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and leaders  of His day were looking for ways to trap Him. They wanted evidence that would justify their intent to have put Him to death and then wash their own hands clean of any wrongdoing.  What these “bounty hunters” rejected was that Jesus was the Son of God, the Anointed One, the sinless Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, who would die and rise again as He prophesied. God the Father was on His side. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were champions of the New Covenant. God’s promise of eternal salvation, of crushing Satan’s head, the ultimate enemy of God’s Covenant, would not be thwarted by the faithlessness, the jealousy, and the pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and leaders of Jesus’ day.

T o this very day, those who taunted Jesus on the cross  are “put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.” That Good Friday scene is never forgotten! You and I, when we attempt to thwart the will of God in our lives or the lives of others, are also put to utter shame and thrown into confusion. Only when we repent of our ways, acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for forgiveness are the shame and the confusion lifted.

Jesus' Endurance for Our Sake's

In today's first reading, Hebrews 12: 1-4, St. Paul speaks about Jesus' endurance of the cross, "despising its shame," and then taking his seat at the right hand of the Father in eternity.  Many times, much suffering accompanies our following of Jesus, our obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us throughout the day. We may be called upon to walk away from gossip or to refrain from gossiping or, even, to confront such behavior among our co-workers, family members or friends. The Spirit  may challenge us to be honest, humble, kind, outgoing and solicitous for the good of another when we want to promote ourselves.  Or the temptation to sin may be even greater: committing adultery, stealing from our employee in some way, not really doing a full day's work, for instance, or abusing a child, a spouse, an elderly person, physically striking them, or verbally or emotionally abusing their spirit, killing their initiative or spontaneity, crushing their self-esteem, crippling their self-confidence.

Jesus confronts sin. His challenges of the evils of His day led to His crucifixion and His dying a shameful death on the cross, being obedience to the Father's will that Satan be overpowered by Good. Jesus destroyed sin by doing good and by His obedience.  He was restored to life in the resurrection and now sits at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us, as we, too, struggle with evil.  It is through Jesus' intercession to the Father on the cross itself--"Father, forgive them; they know not what they are doing" when cooperating with evil, when following Satan's lies--and in heaven that we, too, triumph over evil in our world and in our personal lives. 

God's Work within Me

Today’s readings, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11 and Luke 9: 18-22, are breathtaking. Verses 11-12 of Ecclesiastes reads:  

“What advantage has the workers from their toil? I have considered the task
 that God has appointed for them to be busied about. God has made everything 
appropriateto its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without humans
 ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done”
 (inclusive language used by me). 

Notice the incredible humility of God in hiding from us the awesome work that the Holy One does in each one of us and in our lives every single day, from the beginning to the end of our lives!  Note, also, that it is God who “has appointed” for you and me what we are “to be busied about” while here on earth a short while.  And not only that, our Creator “has made everything [in your life and mine] appropriate to its time”.  Wow! How can I mistake that I belong to the Lord, that I have been created for His purposes? Am I willing to surrender the right to myself to God to be used for His eternal purposes in whatever way and wherever He wills?

The author of Ecclesiastes reminds us that God “has put the timeless into our hearts.”  The Gospel enlightens us concerning this in the Son of God taking on human flesh.  Jesus tells the apostles that he will “suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”   God, in human form, will be killed and rise. Death will have no power over Him. With and in Jesus, we, too, will not be destroyed by death, any death. The Resurrection—the timeless--is in us, just as it was in Jesus. Yes, we are made in God’s likeness, in the likeness of Christ.

That means, that, through the power of Christ in me, I can resurrect from sin into holiness, from deceit into truth, from weakness into strength, from stupidity into wisdom and on and on to the point of rising from my physical death into resurrected life in eternity when my life on this earth comes to an end!

Do I believe this? Do I live life with this knowledge in the forefront of my mine? Do my human behaviors radiate both the divine and the human transformed by grace?  Do I, in truth, believe that resurrection is applicable, as well, to everything, to every one of my experiences to the very end of my life when I, too, leave this physical body?

Humans as Vehicles of Hope

In today’s Gospel, Mt. 22: 34-40, Jesus is being needled by the Pharisees who ask Him which commandment in the law is the greatest commandment. He responds: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…and your neighbor as yourself.” If you do not love yourself, this commandment is unfulfillable. You cannot love your neighbor if you despise yourself. You will end up despising others as well.  Neither will you follow the Lord’s commands, if you do not love God above all.  The other “loves” in your life will give you a run for your money and you are likely to follow other “loves,” not God who is love itself.

In the first reading of today’s liturgy, Ezekiel 37: 1-14,  we have the example of a man who loved God above all else. Out of that love he is ready to do whatever God asks of him. Ezekiel is staring at a pit of dried up bones of the entire army of the Israelites, persons killed, no doubt, in wars against other nations. Imagine yourself being Ezekiel and coming across this pit of human remains and God asking you to prophesy over these dead bones, saying: “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord….I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life. I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the Lord.”  Without faith and trust in the Lord, with no love of God in your heart, there is no way that you would carry out God’s wishes.   Nor  would you believe that God, in truth, loves us with all His heart, and with all His soul, and with all His mind and wants to restore “dead bones to life.”  What are you doing to develop a loving relationship with God? What are you doing to strengthen your  faith and trust in God?  Without that relationship, it will be impossible to stare death, destruction, decay, lifelessness  in the face  and believe resurrection, new life, is possible.  So I encourage you to begin to seek to know the Lord by spending time in solitude with God, by taking time to read your favorite Scripture passages, by letting yourself be loved by another person and, in turn, loving the other for his/her own sake. You will find God and God will find you in that love.