Reflections
for Sunday, June 28, 2009
God did not make death--what a strong statement. What do you think about death? Why does it happen? Is it just a natural phenomenon? Why do most of us struggle against dying in so many ways? God did not make death! Death came because of the devil. Death is not natural in our world.
Life is a sign of the presence of God. The Gospel makes this clear today. God in Jesus Christ is master over all death. Death cannot defy Jesus our Lord. Power goes out from Jesus and cures and heals and brings life. The power of our Lord is strong enough to overcome all death.
Most of us think of physical death today, but how much more important is the death of the soul caused by sin. Yet our modern cultures don't seem to care about that at all. Our values are based not on the Gospel, not on the Sacred Scriptures, but on pleasure, money and power. We seem to ignore entirely that there are actions and choices that truly kill us and only the Spirit of God can revive us.
The Second Letter to the Corinthians is so very eloquent today when it tells us: For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
We are invited to live that same way, giving up what we have so that others who have nothing may then have something because we have given it to them. How foreign this is to our modern way of thinking. Why should I give up anything? If you want something, you have to find a way to get it yourself!
Jesus shows us a completely different way of live. Jesus lives in service of others. Jesu s is willing to give His life for others and we don't want to give anything for others. Yet if we are to be faithful to the call given us in Christ Jesus, we must learn how to give up what we have in order that others may also have.
Let us ask our loving God this Sunday to give us courage. We shall find out that in giving we do truly receive. Let us thank the Lord for His goodness.
Readings of the day:
First Reading:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
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