How has God visited you? Are there areas of your life that need healing and restoration? - Daily Reflections September 16,2014

YOUNG MAN, ARISE!

 

Once in Papua New Guinea, I was held up in traffic by a funeral passing through. The crowd was large with lots of people wailing and weeping. Often, a considerable amount of people would follow the dead as a sign of respect and honor to the dead and the bereaved.

       The scene we have in the Gospel is pitiful. A widow, whose only son has died, is on the way to the burial. According to Jewish custom, the widow had no place in society. In the eyes of society, she was considered a nobody. Having lost her only son, we could only imagine the plight of the widow. We could imagine the pity that Jesus felt for her. What must have gone on in the minds of the people as Jesus approached the coffin? In His authority, He commands the dead to rise and the boy is given back to his mother. The people praise God who has visited His people.

       Many of us are as good as dead. We may not be physically dead (otherwise you would not be reading this reflection!), but many of us are dead through our sins. We need Jesus to wake us up from our stupor and place His hand on our lives. The crowd stood still. We, too, must stand still and listen to the voice of the Lord: “Young man/woman, I tell you to get up!”

       St. Paul reminds us that we should remove the works of the night. We are sons and daughters of the day — the day which is Christ, our Light and Life. God desires to visit us and bring us back to life.

       Listen to the words of Jesus today as He speaks into your life words of authority and power. Young man, arise! Fr. Brian Steele, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How has God visited you? Are there areas of your life that need healing and restoration?

 

Lord, You are the Resurrection and the Life. Give me life that I might call upon Your name. Amen.