Lec # 146- 29th
Sun of OT- Oct 21, 2012- Fr. Bresowar
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
today’s readings are reminding us of the need to conform our lives to that of
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not simply our Lord and Savior, our God sitting
on the judgment throne watching over us, but he is our brother, who is able to
sympathize with our weaknesses, and who like us has been tested in everyway,
literally, giving us the example of how to deal with life, and to do so without
fear.
When I was in seminary, my
spiritual director said to me, he said Vincent, you want to know the simplest
formula for success, happiness, and peace in life? I said sure, that sounds
great. He said, all of the knowledge concerning Jesus in the world, all
of the doctors of spirituality, all of great saints and all their advice boils
down to this simple formula… look at your life, compare it to the life of
Jesus, and make an adjustment. This holds true at every moment of your life. Look
at your life, and adjust it to the life of Christ.
In the first reading we hear
Isaiah prophesy about Jesus, he says, The LORD was pleased to crush him in
infirmity. That he gave his life for an offering for sin, and that because of
this he shall see the light in fullness of days. And, that his suffering will
justify many.
If this is the case with Jesus,
then it must be the case with us. Jesus invites us to participate in his very
life, and so it stands to reason that if God allows his son to suffer, and his
son invites us to share in his divinity and humanity, then God will allow us to
suffer as well. But that this is allowed not for punishment in this life, but
because it is the path to glory so long as we suffer with Him who suffered for
us.
Peter says in his
letter, Rejoice, beloved, in the measure that you share Christ’s sufferings.
When his glory is revealed, you will rejoice exultantly. Happy are you when you
are insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God’s Spirit in its glory has
come to rest on you. - 1 Peter 4:13-14
We live in a world that sees
suffering as something to be avoided at all cost, in fact, it is suffering that
causes many to lose faith in God and to make choices that only cause more
suffering. This is most clear in a society which looks to the killing of the
most innocent to solve it’s suffering. Pharaoh and Harod did this very thing.
Pharaoh because he could not stomach the fact that the Israelites were growing,
and Harod because he was worried that there might be someone to take his place
as King. They took the lives of the most innocent to try and solve their
problems and we know the outcome for both of these men. It didn’t alleviate
their suffering, it made it worse. They both tried to destroy life to avoid
suffering. We see this in our society as well, especially in abortion and
euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and so on… life must be destroyed to
try to alleviate suffering here on earth.
But what is true life?
Jesus is life, and he did suffer,
willingly, he showed us that to truly live, we shouldn’t avoid suffering which
God allows for a reason. That doesn’t mean we necessarily go out seeking it,
although some do, in acts of fasting, penance, almsgiving, mortification, but
not to destroy life, but so that they might truly begin to live.
Look at our lives, look at the
life of Jesus, and adjust. If he suffered, so will we. But our hope is in the
Resurrection and not death. We know the end of suffering if we persevere. His
apostles were asking in the Gospel for glory, and what does Christ say, he
says, you can’t have it, unless you are willing to be baptized in the baptism
of suffering. Are you willing to drink the cup that I have to drink? Do you
understand, that to die with me, is to truly live?
Christians have the key to
everlasting life, we have the treasure, but it is not a worldly treasure, it
will not bring us glory and wealth in this life, honor and praise amongst our
peers, the glory that we have is the Cross. The cross, which is foolishness to
the world, but is our victory and our salvation. IN the hospital, often
times when people are suffering the most, I am privilege to witness the
beginning of eternity. What people see has horrid and many fear, we Christians
see as the end of this life, and beginning of true life. We haven’t even begun
to live what God has in store for those of us who persevere and unite our
sufferings with that of his Son. Why are the Saints so willing to suffer? Because
they begin to experience Heaven in that suffering. If we experienced as they
did, we would be much more willing to suffer for love as well.
We participate in the redemption of the
world, we offer our very lives, our existence, we suffer, and in this, we
become like God.
So let us pray for the grace to
suffer well, and not to run from it when God allows it. To practice virtue, to
fast, to give alms, to not look for worldly honor and glory and praise (it’s a
lie, we really can’t find that ever-lasting joy in this world), but rather, to
look at the life of Jesus Christ and to adjust our lives to his, to understand
our lives in light of his, so that we might truly understand in our mind and in
our heart what the good news is, that to suffer and die with Jesus Christ, is to
love, and love is everything and the only thing that matters in the end.
