Jesus assures us that those who keep his word will never see
death. What a promise! Those who follow Christ will be preserved from the
spiritual death which comes through disobeying God. Remember, in the Garden,
God desired to preserve Adam and Eve from death, he warned them to avoid the
forbidden fruit or else they would die. The devil, contradicting God, claimed, “You
will not die.” But they did. Spiritual death came through sin. As St. Paul says,
the wages of sin is death.
Through Jesus Christ, fallen man is reconciled to God, lost
life is restored, and Christians are to remain connected to God through Christ
as a branch to a vine. But, Many people today attempt to have a relationship
with God without Jesus Christ. They attempt to be “spiritual”, engaging in
esoteric practices like reiki, yoga, westerners flirt with buddhist or
transcendental meditation, or once in a while they turn to God in great
emergencies, but when the emergency ends, so does their prayer.
Jesus does not promise happiness, peace, salvation or life
through these so-called “spiritual, but not religious practices”. They might
bring some temporary results, but so did forbidden fruit.
In his exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” Pope Francis gives
expression to this dimension of our faith. He writes “The joy of the Gospel
fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his
offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and
loneliness. Whist Christ, joy is constantly born anew.” Only through Christ do we
receive the life God wants for us.
Or some claim to have some sort of special deal worked out
with God, where they claim to believe in Jesus but have nothing to do with His
Church. But Pope Francis also said rightly, a few years ago: “It is not possible
to find Jesus outside the Church…it is 'an absurd dichotomy' to want to live
with Jesus without the Church, to follow Jesus outside the Church, to love Jesus
without the Church.”
Jesus founded a Catholic church…meaning everything we need
for salvation and for sanctification, joy and peace, can be found within the
Church…the Holy Scriptures entrusted to her, the Sacraments, Sacred Tradition
which rightly guides our lives and moral decisions, the saints who teach us how
to pray and how to love.
Lent should deepen our conviction for spreading the saving
truths of Christ, and continues to challenge us personally and spiritually. Which
of the Lord’s teachings do we do well to take to heart? Which word have we been
ignoring or glossing over? The call to forgive? The call to purity? The call to
selflessness? The call to trust God in our trials?
May we continue to incline our ears to our Savior, and if
today we hear his word, may we not harden our hearts, but receive his life
giving word with trust and obedience for the glory of God and salvation of
souls.
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That the Church will experience the graces of profound
renewal during this season of Lent. That
we may grow in our eagerness in spreading the Gospel of Christ.
For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have
fallen into serious sin, those who have lost their faith, or whose faith has
been poisoned by error or heresy, for their reconciliation with God and the
conversion of all minds and hearts.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will
be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of
Christ. We pray to the Lord.
For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are
sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness,
imprisoned, for victims of terrorism, those affected by severe weather, and
those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in
their trials. We pray to the Lord.
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