SPIRITUAL AND MORTAL LIVES


SATURDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Phil 1:18-26; Ps 41:2-3,5; Lk 14:1,7-11

Our Mortal Life and Death in Christ

Our fallen nature and nurture make it difficult to think of death or the end of our mortal life without trepidation or fear. Our long sojourn in the prison camp of the powers of darkness has distorted our understanding of life and death. We now fear what we should not fear and tremble before what we should never fear. All of this results from our long association with the father of lies and illusions. We have received new spiritual and eternal life by acceptance of Jesus Christ. But we are still unfamiliar with what we have received from the Father of love as an eternal inheritance in Jesus Christ. We rarely enter our spiritual selves to get familiar with the gift of life and the giver. We still enjoy the company of the dead in the land of the dead, and the silence of the spirit holds a foreboding fear for us. The Scripture and the Spirit keep inviting us to taste and see how good the Lord is to those who believe and trust in him. The joys of spiritual life hold no attraction for us because we still harbour love for the world and its sinful and passing amusements. This love is contrary to God’s love. We must empty ourselves of the love for this region of death to develop a taste for true life.

When we compare spiritual life to this mortal life, this passing life assumes the character of death. Mortal life is an illusion when compared to what will last forever in the glory of the Trinity. Those who have entered the spiritual path sustain mortal existence, comparable to death, by hoping in the sweetness of what is promised and now started in Jesus Christ. Saint Paul confirms these with his words. “My one hope and trust is that I shall never have to admit defeat, but that now, as always, I shall have the courage for Christ to be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results—I do not know what I should choose.” Our acceptance of spiritual life from Jesus Christ makes our mortal life a continuous march to death, which increases our grasp of the spiritual life; for unless we empty, we cannot be filled. In the real sense, death is our rejection of the Father’s will, and true life is to accept and live it daily. Hence, life is Jesus Christ, who reveals the will of God the Father to us in all things. Our entrance into the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in our spirit, begins eternal life, which makes mortal life a dwelling in the land of the dead. We should hunger to be with Christ Jesus as Paul did. This hunger or thirst for the fountain of life indicates the spiritual life of our souls.

The psalmist expresses the thirst which characterises every spiritual soul. “Like the deer yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?” A soul with this longing dies daily to self, to receive more spiritual life in Christ. So, the Christian life is a march to death of the body. Our Lord taught this lesson metaphorically as he watched the guests take the places of honour by themselves at a wedding celebration. “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, ‘Give up your place to this man.’ And then, to your embarrassment, you would have to go and take the lowest place.” God the Father has invited us to the wedding feast of his Son, Jesus Christ. We must humble ourselves everywhere; we are unworthy of anything divine. We express this humility in our lives here, as we journey to heaven, by dying to self and desiring to fulfil the Father’s will at all times, as Paul teaches us. Our Lord taught us this great lesson of humility. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.” Let us pray for grace to cease being afraid of death, which humbles us, that God may exalt us with a life that lasts forever.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may merit what you promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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