TO DIE WITH CHRIST IS TO REIGN WITH HIM

THURSDAY, NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

2 Tim 2:8-15; Ps 25:4-5,8-10,14; Mk 12:28-34

We shall live with him if we have died with him

God made us to live in his presence, for he made us rational beings. God is the light of rational beings. Our rationality is not like that of the angels, who are pure spirits. We were made embodied spirits and given the material universe as a home and a ladder through which we ascend to God. Before the fall, man understood the material universe as a gift from God and lived and walked in the material paradise in the presence of God. The fall turned man away from God, his centre, to creatures. When man was God-centred, he walked by the divine light. But now he is turned to creatures he walks in darkness, for creatures compared to God are like darkness compared to light. The Good News is that God appeared in the form of a creature to make man God-centred again. Faith in Jesus Christ is preached everywhere to bring men to turn from darkness to the light of God. Appearance of the Son of God in human nature is a great sacrifice which showed us his love for the Father who willed it for our salvation, and the love of the Father for us in that he willed such a sacrifice for his Son; and the Son’s love for us who accepted the sacrifice for our salvation, and the Holy Spirit—love of the Father and the Son—who has made his home in us forever.

Subsequently, the Christian way is that of sacrifice, and sacrifice defines the nature of Christianity and the worship of God therein. This is the Good News we are to remember always. “Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal—but they cannot chain up God’s news.” God’s news cannot be chained because it burns like fire in us once we have comprehended the truth of the Gospel enough. The sacrificial fire will not burn unless we devote time to digest God’s news that is within our reach. Thus, to walk in the light of God is to let the story of Jesus Christ shape our worldview and motivate every action. The material body we carry is like a chain; thus, many refer to it as a mortal prison for our souls. But even this mortal chain or prison ceases to be so when God’s news fills our understanding and inflames our wills. Everything is transformed into glory when seen through the light of God’s news. This is what we mean when we say that those who are in Christ walk in the eternal light and never in darkness, for the Day of the Lord has dawned in their consciousness.

Jesus’ story becomes our story when we completely identify with him. Just as St. Paul said: “If we have died with him, then we shall live with him. If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us.” It is on this inner integration of our consciousness with Jesus Christ, achieved through his Spirit within us, that our Lord’s response to the scribe’s question on the priority of love in the commandments made a deep impression on him. “The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’” True religion is to refocus our attention on God our creator. It is to walk in the light of his word every day and to dedicate everything to doing his holy will. The Christian religion is a vocation to participate in God's sacrifice of his Son for us. The holiness of God is in his undivided attention on our salvation. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided in our love for God and worship of his holy and eternal will. St. Paul expressed this in the first reading: “We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.”

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to know your way of faithful love, so that we may strive with your grace to walk in the light of that love and let ourselves burn with the same love for you, with which you loved us in your Son.

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