Wis. 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24; 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mk 5:21-43
Live with the end in mind. “God did not make death” thus to live by grace is not to die but to be transformed into the eternal life “for justice is undying”. Death belongs to the darkness of the evil one and they will experience it. What hope for the living! But wait! Will only the righteous experience immortality as a gift from God and the unrighteous cease to exist? In God’s image we are “imperishable” but then we must look at ourselves and see his image in us and in our actions. What is that image? We were given an intellect to put on the mind of God and receive knowledge, a will to follow God’s will for a purpose driven life, and the emotions to receive God’s love to fulfill “God’s justice”. Live the image of God with the end in mind.
Often emotions are seen as inferior to the intellect, you must be “strong minded” over being “touchy feely” or have an “unbending will” over “sensitive nature”. What about the emotional “EQ” to fulfill justice in the world? Why would a stranger run out into the street to save a small child who has wandered off on the street when a car is coming that will kill the child. Is that smart, or a weak will to risk his own life or is there a sense of love greater than self than seeks justice at the risk of their own poverty if they could also die or at least be severely injured. The child has no chance against a car and is innocent of the danger but the adult recognizes the impending harm and is moved to act. “Excel in every respect” with the end in mind. Where do we want to spend eternity?
“Brothers and sisters: As you excel in every respect” along the spiritual gifts from grace excel in your poverty. How do we excel in our poverty? Our trust is in the Lord who made heaven and earth. We trust in God’s divine providence for by Jesus’ poverty his coming into humanity we receive our riches prepared for us in heaven. In our poverty we recognize all that we have, all that we are is God’s and we share that in charity to supply the needs of others. In his image we become the best God created us to be by our spiritual works of mercy and our corporal works of mercy.
Those who fail to think about where they will spend eternity will find the darkness of the “easy road” that is wide. Historically kingdoms have risen and fallen but scripture reminds us that it was God who saw the sins of man and revealed the fall to come. Those sins were driven by the kings and temple priests who ruled the people. They included idolatrous priests, cult prostitutes living in the temple apartments, immolation of children sacrificed by fire in honor of other gods, and consultation with ghosts, and spirits. Is the world different now than then? The nations of the world are more secular and deny the existence of God to worship the State and fight for control of the government as their god. The sexual revolution has taken prostitutes from the outskirts of town “red zone” and given them a place of honor, even the key to the city in one infamous recent “Stormy” case. The sacrifice of children by fire to other gods has become the sacrifice of children by abortion to the god of self. Consultations to spirits is still consultation of spirits, some things never change. The darkness is in battle for spiritual control with palm readers, “curanderas”, spiritualist, etc. It is time to turn to the Lord with our whole heart, whole being, and whole strength or suffer the same fate.
There are some who see Jesus coming as a coming “new world order” of socialism and can point to a reading like today “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less” as mantra for a redistribution of wealth. I was watching in the news a debate between what is recognized as a “conservative and a liberal” and the liberal was quoting scripture to justify their position. The conservative asked, if the liberal allowed the stranger into his home and had an open door policy to care for the poor. His response was he was not the “state”. Since when did Jesus say he came to establish a state run kingdom in the world? To the contrary he said his kingdom was not of this world. There can be no systemic justice without individual justice. It cannot be forced upon a free will, no more than we would want to becomes slaves to the state. God’s kingdom must live in the individual soul and some will choose the darkness of envy but others will choose the sacrifice of love, the “undying justice” of eternal life.
The work of salvation Jesus performed in miracles was relational. In the gospel Jesus cures the woman with hemorrhages and he raises the child to life. In the woman we see the power of faith because as the Apostles claimed the crowd was pressing upon him but it was the touch of faith that drew power out of Jesus. It was with the touch of the child’s hand that drew life back into her as he called out “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The child was dead in her humanity but asleep in her righteousness as a child of God for she did not belong to the evil one. Jesus could have easily cured by the crowd full and saved himself much time but he chose to impact one life at a time. The riches of his grace come when we reach out in faith and touch someone with love. Today we will reach out and touch the heart of Jesus with our hands and/or our mouth but will we also touch him with our heart believing in faith in his presence.
The transubstantiation of the host into his body and blood is the daily miracle we receive today. Eucharistic miracles when studied are always identified as flesh from a heart and AB type blood. One recent Eucharistic miracle occurred on August 18, 1996 in the church of Santa Maria y Caballito Almagro in Buenos Aires Argentina under the auspices of Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, our Pope Francis. (Mieczyslaw Piotrowski 2010 “Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires in Love One Another “ A team of five scientists were assembled and concluded:
“The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.
The scientists were not told that this human heart sample came from a host. Let us reflect on this one statement, “The heart was alive at the time the sample was taken.” It comes from a host. This is an indication of the living presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is also the tortured heart of Jesus that still bleeds for our sins and those of the whole world. From the Sacred Heart of Jesus comes the blood and water to wash away our sins in his divine mercy. Historical meaning of blood carried the life of animals and soul of humans. Science reveals the heart pumps the blood which carries the impurities of the body to be cleansed by the organs which in Jesus is a sign of our sins being washed away. Our riches rest in Jesus’ poverty, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the personal relationship for we are called by name. Jesus is calling, the Blessed Mother gave her fiat, let us be a child today in the touch from Jesus and say yes Lord I believe. Live with the end in mind with undying justice, heaven is waiting.
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