Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21; PSALM 12 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-13, 11-32
St. Paul writes that our union with God is realized by dying with Christ. “For you have died with Christ, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3). Any sense of separation from God is an illusion created by our ego that demands that I must be the captain of my ship. Even if one believes that “God is My Co-Pilot,” then one should consider switching seats. In order for union with God to be fully experienced one’s ego or false self, must die many deaths until we can declare, as Paul did, “I no longer live I, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) These little deaths prepare us for and culminate in our bodily death and the ultimate realization that we exist only in union with God.
Julius Caesar in the play by William Shakespeare states, “A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” A nice turn of phrase regarding how the coward feels when fleeing danger, however, a truly honest person must abandon any grandiose notions of being the superhero in order to surrender to one’s dependence on God and be truly brave in the face of the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. (A little Hamlet) Then to die, into that sleep of death when we have shuffled out of this life, as all must do someday. “It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.” (Continued from above)
Our lives, like the life of Jesus, are filled with a myriad of events: miraculous, and mundane, joyful and tragic, some victories and many defeats… and in all of this is the hand of the Father making all things work together for us who love God. (CF Romans 8:28) This is the message I received from the story of Lazarus’ death and resurrection in this Sunday’s Gospel. Even in our bodily death, we can hope for a new life. The strange thing that occurs to me in this story is that poor Lazarus had to die again. I suspect that his first death prepared him for his final bodily death in the same way that people, who have had near death experiences, do not hold the same fear as the rest of us about ones demise. But even for the rest of us our little deaths and not-so-little deaths can teach us to be more authentic and less dependant on the false and egoist-self. By the small and not-so-small deaths I am referring to the sickness we have endured, job loss, divorce, missed opportunities, and paths never taken. If we can embrace these we may learn how to do better to pass through the final portal with more grace and peace.
The other benefit of embracing life challenges with courage and relinquishment is that we are now freer to live our lives more fully. This is called, ‘letting go of the past.’ The other necessary thing is to prepare for the future without letting our fear of the unknown future rob us of our present joy. To live life to the fullest means living in the present moment with acceptance and wonder at what the present moment provides.
It seems that nothing is gained by worrying about the future, no one gets out alive. Perhaps we worry about losing the things we treasure. Losing things like home, family, physical, and mental capacity. For all the things of this life will pass. How would our fear change if we trusted that God has our best interest at heart? What would change if we believed that God unconditionally loved us? Maybe Lazarus knew and believed how much Jesus loved him and this was a major part of why he rose from the dead. Perhaps Jesus rose because he believed that his Father loved him very much and would never abandon him. Would this explain how his miraculous resurrection took place? Maybe our own resurrection is based on believing that God loves us.
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