Saturday, April 1, 2017

Rising from the dead

THE story of Christ raising Lazarus to life again (cfr Jn
11,1-45) is a poignant reminder that all of us also need to rise from
the dead, that is, the death of sin and its many dangers and threats
that continually hound us all throughout our life.

            Only Christ can raise us from such death. But we somehow
need to dispose ourselves to such intervention of Christ, either
personally or, if not possible, with the help of our friends.

            In the latter case, we have to remind ourselves that if we
have the possibility we should help others get to Christ for them to
receive such intervention of Christ. We have to be instruments to
their rising from the death of sin by bringing them to Christ.

            Yes, we have to work on our continuing conversion, ours
and that of others. That’s because conversion is a necessity for us,
since no matter how good we feel we are or how good we have been doing
so far, we cannot deny the fact that deep in our heart there is always
a fundamental choice we have to make every step of our life between
good and evil, between God and us. And we often make the wrong choice.

            We can never over-emphasize this need for our conversion
and renewal. In spite of our best intentions and efforts, we somehow
would find ourselves in some irregular, imperfect if not completely
sinful situation.

            If Adam and Eve, our first parents, still in their state
of original justice, managed to fall into sin, how much more us who
have been born already handicapped and wounded with original sin and
exposed to all sorts of temptations and sin in our earthly life.

            The Book of Proverbs tells us that “the just man falls
seven times, and rises again.” (24,16) And our spiritual warfares are
no trivialities, since “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph 6,12)

            If we go to Christ begging for his mercy which he will
always give, we will be made new again like a new-born baby. St. Paul
tells us as much. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
The old has gone, the new is here.” (2 Cor 5,17)

            But we may ask, what does it mean to be ‘in Christ,’ and
how does Christ make us new? What has his resurrection got to do with
our becoming a new creation? What does his resurrection contain that
it can make us new?

            These questions, I believe, can help us to have a finer
understanding of the process of our renewal, which actually is a
lifelong process for us and which we have to do continually.

            We need to renew because we tend to grow old and to die
spiritually. Bodily, of course, we cannot help but grow old and die
eventually. But spiritually, we are supposed to live in eternity, ever
young, new and fresh.

            We have to remind ourselves that what makes us old and
subject to death is sin, that is, when we detach ourselves from God
from whom we come and to whom we belong. We, who have been created in
God’s image and likeness and adopted children of his, are meant to
live our life with God who is eternal, ever new and never growing old.

            To make ourselves new again after we have fallen into sin
and thus putting ourselves in the system of getting old and dying, we
need to be forgiven, to receive God’s mercy.

            This is how we rise from the dead.


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