THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 7

 Verses of promise 

-          “But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.”   

-          Revelations 11: 11-12 

-          "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?”  

-          Hosea 14: 14 

-          “I am with you always till the end of time…”

-          Matthew 28: 20

Closing Prayer…

Lord God of eternity, please be with me as I seek to allow 

love to be my primary compelling motivation in life.

I want to show Jesus my love and appreciation for all that He has

done to save me.  

I want to live for Jesus so others know that He is

Lord of my life.  

I want my words and life to show

His love to others, so that they can truly experience it and

 come to know Him.  

Please bless me as I pursue this goal.  

In Jesus' name I pray.   Amen.

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 6

The glory of God and the resurrected Christ  

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."    Ephesians 3: 20-21 

Sometimes we go through life as if we – and not Christ – are the centre of the universe forgetting that the smallest microscopical bacteria can lay us on our backs more effectively than a toughest boxer.  At other times, when we are able to notice that the same universe around us now seems to be conspiring to come to our aid and supporting all our efforts, we forget Who is really behind that same universe!  When we are able to do that, in the full realization that our reliance on Him who matters is the start of our rebirth in Him, then there is nothing left for us to do except praise God!    

St. Josemaria Escriva wrote: “It is impossible to live according to the heart of Jesus Christ…. without the clear realisation that we ourselves need to trust in the mercy of God more and more every day.  As a result, we will foster in ourselves a vehement desire to live as co-redeemers with Christ, to save all souls with Him"   

The other day I read a reflection in which it said that while we undoubtedly may too often dream of doing great things for God and His Kingdom, the dreams aren't as big as God's plans.  While we may be richly talented, influential, powerful, or rich, these are merely tools in God's hands, not symbols of our sufficiency. 

 What motivates us to do what we do?  What drives us to accomplish, to achieve, and to pursue even more?  St Paul said that love was his compelling force.  What would happen in our lives if love was truly THE compelling factor in our motivation and behaviour?  What if our desire to love those who do not know Jesus' saving grace became our all-consuming concern?  He died so that it would be so! 

God knows more than we do; and, since he is a Father who loves us unreservedly, He is always providing us with those things we stand in real need of. Moreover, he anticipates our requests, for - according to St Pius V Catechism – “he responds to the inner, hidden desires of the needy, not waiting for them to make explicit requests"  

"God is able" has to be one of the best and most accurate phrases in the Bible.  But this time, it's said about His work in you, in me.  He is able to do much more than we imagine to work through and in us when we allow Him. He went to the greatest of lengths to do this….by giving His own life so ours can be saved.   

St Francis de Sales asks: "What follows from this?  I seem to hear the voice of the Apostle like a peal of thunder startling our heart: It is easy to see, Christians, what Christ desired by dying for us. What did He desire but that we should become like Him? ‘…that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.’  How powerful a consequence is this in the matter of love!  Jesus Christ died for us; by His death He has given us life; we only live because He died; He died for us, by us, and in us; our life then is no longer ours, but belongs to Him who has purchased it for us by His death: we are therefore no more to live to ourselves but to Him; not in ourselves but in Him; nor for ourselves but for Him".      -       What can we say to that but Hallelujah? 

John17: 22-23

“The glory that You have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and You in me, that they may become completely one….”

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 5

Jesus is risen from the dead 

“The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world”  (John 1:9)

“So that God may be all in all”  (! Corinthians 15: 28) 

My friend Paul relates:  “There I was having breakfast with some friends during a weekend retreat.  I was immersed in enjoying their company, chatting and eating this piece of toasted bread. Suddenly the unexpected happened. The bread stuck in my throat and my windpipe was blocked. I couldn’t breathe.  I realised that I had to try and clear it and coughed as hard as I could. Nothing happened. I got up off my chair and tried to bend over forwards to dislodge the bread.  But it was for nothing. My friends came round but they were really panicking, not knowing what to do.  I was conscious and rational all the time.  Then it dawned on me that I was not breathing, that I was not able to cough or talk. My airway was completely blocked. I  was really going to die in a few  minutes unless someone knew how to administer a Heimlich manoeuvre. Automatically I clutched my throat with both hands as if to signal my distress.  

“Luckily one of my friends rushed over and knew exactly how to grab me from behind and delivered a series of upward abdominal thrusts that put pressure on the lungs and the airway, forcing air in to push the toast out. At the second attempt the toast was freed and life giving air flowed down my throat once again. I was going to live after all. I was thankful for this new lease of life that God had allowed me. It was like I had a new body. 


“When I think back at that moment I realise that the experience was extremely frightening.  I thanked God that I was not alone when it happened as otherwise it would have been even more frightening. I knew that in such a choking emergency it is important not to panic.  Panicking, while understandable in such a scary situation, impairs judgment and can make it harder to help yourself.” 

Jesus had now laid on the cold tombstone for three days.  Now the Father showed that He had not abandoned Him and on this third day, life giving air again started to flow in His human  body. Jesus the man was alive again….gloriously alive, in a new body fit for a God made Man.  He had conquered death and as God’s power and divinity again coursed through His veins, mixing with His human blood, the Teacher became the Messiah and the Redeemer.  

And we again found the way back to the Creator whom we had turned our backs on for our own selfishness and egoism. 

  Ezekiel 37:1-6

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, `Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "

 Acts 2: 29-34

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and  was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’"  Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 4

Mary awaits the resurrection

“Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.

And blessed is she who believed…” 
 (Luke 1: 28, 45) 

Can you imagine what it would be like to have watched your only Son being scourged, nailed and killed on a cross?  Can you imagine the kind of thoughts going through your head if you were her?  One word: WHY?  She had no answer.  She could only remember that notwithstanding all she had remained close to Him always.   

Think for another moment. If you were a pregnant Mary, waiting in anticipation for this special son who would be born, one who would change the world.  Think of her as she remembered those special moments with Joseph as he lovingly taught Him to handle pieces of wood. When He was young she had taught Him by example, by her prayers. She didn’t only talk about prayer with Jesus - or believed in a prayer time with Him - but she took the time to pray with Him and for Him.   

I can just imagine her teaching Him His night prayers.  Every good Jew had to pray a number of times a day, and she showed Him the way, even though, in the deepest of her heart she knew He already knew it all.  But He submitted Himself to her completely just the same, obedient to the end.  

All this time of His growth she had stayed in the background, yet ready to come forward in the thick of things to support and comfort her Son, as any mother would.  

Now He was dead. Or was He? We do not know if He had ever spoken to her more clearly than is recorded in Scripture about His resurrection. But as a good Jewess she believed in the teaching of the resurrection so perhaps she did look forward to His rising again as He himself had prophesied.   

She waited, full of hope. Her confidence must have been boosted with this knowledge that it would happen…very soon! Did He say three days?  Such a short time to wait, so she put aside all the things she had to do, the house cleaning, the mourning she was expected to live and display, the desperation of losing her son the way she did….and concentrated on the only task that would truly satisfy her heart….. more time to free herself to be with the Lord Her son..  

1 Kings 17: 17-24

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"

"Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!" The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth."

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 3

  Jesus dies on the cross 

“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit….”   (Luke 23: 46)

Have you ever died?

Or thought what it would be like to die?

They say that no one ever came back to life after he or she died but a believer knows this to be untrue.  Especially if your name was Lazarus.  Or you were Tabitha.  

So have you ever thought what it would be like for Jesus to have felt as he faced death on the cross?  He, The Almighty, with open arms outstretched to embrace all from this wooden cross. Yet the human body He was occupying now was making Him feel rather inadequate.   

What was this that was causing Him suffering? As God, He didn’t know what it really was; but as man He had discovered for Himself this weakness. His arms ached.  His knees were sore and blooded. His hands were in great pain. And numbing. This tree he had carried on His back had probably also dislodged a disk or two in His spine.   

As He felt this human life ebbing in Him He suddenly realised He was beginning to feel cut off from His Father as a result and realised too the full extent of His situation –“this is what is required of me, to suffer death on this tree. I must accept His will.  As Job had said, (13:4) I have become a laughing stock, though when he called upon God he answered that if he was a mere laughing stock, then at least he was a righteous and blameless one.  

“Unto You I therefore surrender myself. And my Spirit returns to You, Beloved Father.”     

Isaiah 43: 10-13

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no saviour. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "that I am God.  Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 2

Jesus receives his cross

“If any want to become my followers, let them take up their cross daily and follow me…”   (Luke 9:23) 

My friend Peter told me that sometimes, when he looks at himself he sees his character as somewhat suicidal.  He says: “Sometimes I look back at what life has thrown at me and realise that everything seems to have gone wrong. Perhaps even where I go and what I do seems to be wrong.  It could, in reality, be a psychological imbalance due to the stressfulness I have had a good dose of in my life.  It could be my inborn complexes that I have struggled to overcome all my life, leaving me with feelings of inadequacy and of not appreciating what I could really do.  What I was really worth in God’s eyes”.   This is something like the experience of the prophet Elijah.  God called him for a specific task – to eradicate the worship of Baal in Israel – and yet he barely believed in his own strength, let alone what His own God could really accomplish through him.  He was therefore allowed to plod around till he had come to terms with himself and with God’s calling.   

Whenever Elijah looked back all he could see were the many people who had died because of him… persecuted prophets killed in the hope that Elijah would be one of them…. a widow’s son who died for no apparent reason after she had shown him charity and taken him in when he had nothing and nowhere to go…. her city plundered and thousands butchered because, as he saw it, it had given him refuge as he struggled with his God’s calling, Someone the inhabitants didn’t even believe in themselves.   He saw this as totally unfair and unjust.  

Why do we seem to have to suffer the same kind of fate? Perhaps Elijah was right to argue with God about it all.  And to ask him to exonerate him of this calling and find someone better qualified to finish off the job successfully.  Yet, despite it all, Elijah is said to have appeared with Moses alongside Jesus on Mount Tabor where the Messiah’s divinity was confirmed by the Father.  These two chosen Hebrew spiritual leaders had, incidentally, argued with God and struggled to accept their calling.  Yet God prevailed and they accepted their calling, their role in His plan, difficult as it may have seemed at the time.  

Jesus also suffered and struggled with this calling of the Father so that now He too was being asked to face death to save those who wanted to kill Him.  Father was telling Him: “Sonny, I want this great sacrifice from you.  Do it for me and for them. I cannot promise they will all love you for it but I will love you more than ever. Lie on this cross and when You’ll be high and lifted up on it, the world will see how worthy you really are….and salvation will be theirs.”     

1 Kings 19:3-7

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life…[and]….went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."

THE WAY TO OUR RESURRECTION / a series of thoughts for our Holy Week - 1

Jesus is condemned to death

“What is truth?”       “Here is the man!”  

              

              (John 18:38; 19:5) 

Have you ever been wrongly accused of something in your life? It doesn’t have to be something criminal but even a small thing at home or at work.  Injustice has been served on you, the innocent party in this injustice. You feel hurt, abused, angry at your accusers.  You have been condemned  without fault sand there’s no way that you are going to be allowed to get out of it, irrespective of who is right.   

Imagine now that you are Jesus and the same thing is happening to you.  You are accused of blaspheming.  Of attacking God by claiming to be His Son.  Of being in league with Satan and his clique. If you were Him you would probably be saying to yourself  “But can’t the world see that this is not right?   How could I have been seen to be so bad? I only healed their sick.  I only gave the marginalised their dignity back. I only spoke about loving your neighbour. I taught them how to be better people and how to pray to their God.  And have a relationship with Father.  

“I loved them as if they were my children and now they do this to me. Look at me now. On show before this crowd and for all my good works I am condemned to death.  I hear the Roman say this about me: Here is the man!. I feel anger well inside me. I have the power inside me to balance things out and assert myself.  But Father whispers to my heart that this is not to be….I must suffer for them so that they will be given the chance to find the salvation that was promised to them from the beginning of time. .But, now that I think about it, I realise that all  this is unfair.  I have a right to my own freedom too, to my anger. I can roar and rage if I really want to…as I have done many times before (as Amos and others wrote about Me) but Father just looks at me and says nothing. Has He gone away and left me to the whims of  these people?  Or perhaps He wants me to decide whether I want to follow His will or mine.  It is so difficult.   Father has always known the plans He has for me, for us all too, plans to make us prosper and not to harm us.  What is truth?”    

Ezekiel 32: 17-20

"Yet your countrymen say, `The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. Yet, O house of Israel, you say, `The way of the Lord is not just.' But I will judge each of you according to his own ways."