Gen 3:9-15; Ps. 130:1-8; 2 Cor. 4:14—5:1; Mk. 3:20-35
What is unseen has been revealed through the eyes of faith. What is unseen is the beatific vision of heaven yet it is revealed in the person of Christ in mercy and fullness of redemption. What is unseen is our resurrected body yet it is seen in the resurrection of Jesus to his disciples and to many others. Everything we see before us is transitory and we cannot hold on to even a moment of this life but what is unseen is eternal always in the present outside of time. Do we believe?
Adam and Eve were created to see and believe all of God’s creation but failed to see the enemy. The enemy is the angel of God disguised as a serpent who could not bear to have a new creation be greater than himself. He knew the way to bring death to this creation was to have it desire the fruit of knowledge of good and evil and commit mortal sin. It was the angel’s sin of pride with which he tempted Adam and Even in order to remain greater than humanity. In the end both humanity and the angel fell from grace. Adam blames the woman and the woman blames the serpent but God makes everyone fully responsible something to contemplate.
We live in a time where we value individual accountability but we forget that individual accountability does not mean that the person who committed the crime is the only one responsible. How have others contributed to nurture, discipline, teach, and/or fail to love a person in ways that also bear some responsibility. Perhaps in no way or perhaps in many ways that only God knows. We are reminded that God knows every hair on our head thus how much more every sin of our lives. Who can stand before the Lord? That is why we pray for every sin we have done, those we know and those we fail to recognize seeking his mercy and forgiveness.
We see ourselves grow in age at first with excitement as a child grows and develops into a man or woman. We look forward to exploring our talents and becoming the best person of ourselves God created us to be. Then suddenly we become anxious as we see time moving quickly and wonder if the best years have already passed. Every material thing we struggle to obtain becomes old and broken and soon our own body begins to resemble what we possess, something less useful, less wanted, less capable of serving our needs and less in demand from others. How is this just? We were never meant to be our own god but to serve our God. God’s plan is the greater gift we strive for and believe in.
His ultimate justice is to free us from our sin and restore us to our greatness before him. This is what is so amazing that he brings us justice through self sacrifice of his only begotten Son. Humanity cannot understand this and will join with the voices who claim “He is out of his mind.” God is possessed by God that is by his agape love, a love so great in search of souls in his own image. We are redeemed and restored as children of the lamb as he alone strikes at the head of Satan. With the Lord “there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.” Therefore, we can speak and not be silent “since we have the same spirit of faith”.
This day our inner self is being renewed, in the Eucharist and in the Word of faith. The Lord comes to raise us up to himself as he promised “everything indeed is for you”. God desires that we his people receive an abundance of grace but it can only be poured out to those who in return offer themselves in worship, sacrifice, and love to the God of love. We cannot be children who sit in wait for his coming when he has already come and is with us, remains in us, and purges us of our sins through the sacramental life of the Church. We are children who act in faith with our vision focused on Jesus, strengthened by the Holy Spirit and loved by our Father, the God of all creation. Together we belong to the Church with our Blessed Mother Mary and all the heavenly angels and saints.
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