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Theo Tigno•
4/6/2011 3:42 pm
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Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent |
John 5: 31-47
Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.
"I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
Dawg's Thought:
Today's prayer intention - for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
The retreat I was working on this past weekend had as its theme, "The glory of God is man fully alive" (St. Irenaeus).
For some, fully alive looks like skiing down a steep mountain or ascending a high cliff. For others, fully alive looks like driving down the highway at high speeds or weaving through the gaps in traffic.
"But you do not want to come to me to have life."
How often do we look to Jesus, who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" to know what it means to be "alive"? Like the people of Jesus' time, it's easy to have your blinders on and miss Christ before us. After all, what is "extreme" about prayer? Kneeling before God in adoration doesn't quite have the same rush as doing something that is dangerous.
If we were to be fully alive in the eyes of God, wouldn't it be man "fully" in communion with Jesus? Wouldn't it be "totally" cooperating with and participating in the work of Our Lord? After all, how could the Jews in today's reading be fully alive if they were rejecting the Author of Life ... the Giver of Life ... the Way the Truth and the Life?
Sometimes when I ride my bike for a long distance, I tell myself when my legs feel like they want to give up, "the glory of God is man fully alive." In a way, I have distorted that phrase to think that I had to push myself beyond the pain. It is a narrow minded view of that phrase, just as the Jews had a narrow minded view of God. What if, in acknowledging these words I used them to invite God into the pain that I am feeling? What if I use these words to turn my heart toward the Living God in my pain? What if I used the phrase to remember that I can offer my pain to unite myself to the Suffering Servant, Jesus Christ, in the time of HIs passion?
Let us believe in Him, Who bore our sufferings ... Who invites us to share in His sufferings ... and Who calls us forth to be in communion with Him just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in communion. Amen.
Take care and God Bless.
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