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Deacon Tom Writes ©
“Built To Last”
The author of the Book of Wisdom writes, “God formed man (and woman) to be imperishable…in the
image of His own nature”. In
Jesus we get to see the image of God dwelling among His people. Jesus is
tireless in preaching the kingdom of God. Mark relates numerous stories of
Jesus working miracles as he encounters people who needed to be healed,
reconciled, and fed. Today’s readings contain several such miracles. After curing the man who was possessed,
Jesus crosses the lake and encounters Jairus who implores him to come to his
house where his daughter lies near death. But, as Jesus begins his journey, he
senses “power had gone out from him”, power that had been usurped by the
hemorrhaging woman who found herself healed.
Jesus brings about much healing in Mark’s
Gospel. It seems as if Jesus is rushing off from one miracle to another the way
Mark recounts it! It is interesting to note that the word that Mark uses for
the “healing” is the Greek word “sōzō”, a word that not only means “to heal” but also “to save”. In other
words, Jesus not only heals people from their sickness but also he saves and
restores them to the original state they were created, as “imperishable” beings… made in the image and likeness of God and
destined to share eternity with Him.
A challenge we face in our busy lives is that
there are so many activities and so much technology available to entertain us
that we have little time for spiritual reflection or very little time to probe
the deeper meanings of our human experiences for that matter. And so we go from
one activity to another, from work to recreation. We get a little sleep, cut the grass, do the shopping, and
bring the kids to this activity or that sport. We are so fatigued at the end of
the day, we go to sleep only to rise the next morning and begin all over again.
We seldom give any conscious thought to key spiritual aspects of our lives such
as our mortality or what lies ahead when we die. For most people, this is
“living the dream”. We are rarely
looking to seeing or experiencing God in any of our daily routines.
Yet, I believe, we all long to experience the
presence of God that touches and heals us and brings us his salvation. But in
order to find that calming peace and healing presence, we must first look to
find God’s presence in the ordinary…in the mundane… in the routine and boring events
that are the bulk of our day-to-day lives. We must, as St. Ignatius discovered,
“find God in all things” if we are to experience the divine and to recognize
its imprint within us. If we think
about it, that is, if we take the time to think about it, we have already
entered into eternity. Life for
those who believe will be changed, not ended, as proclaimed in our Christian
funeral liturgy. For, as the Book of Wisdom reminds us today, we were made in
the image of God’s own nature. So then, we can believe and trust that we have been made to
go the distance. We were, as it were, “built
to last”! So, once we have lived and spread the good news in this life, we
can look forward to celebrating it forever in the life to come!
Enjoy the day!
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