IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING
Today’s
Responsorial Psalm is a good subject for reflection. It declares: “I
believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the
living.” Truly, God intends nothing but “good things” for us. Jesus made
this clear when He declared: “I came that they may have life, life to
the full” (John 10:10). And so God has good things in store for us. But
where do we find them? The psalmist directs us: “…in the land of the
living.”
Reflecting on this psalm reminded me of the Easter admonition of the
angel to the women who went to the tomb intending to anoint Jesus’ body
(see Luke 24:2). Noting that Jesus has risen, the angel said, “Why do
you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).
“Do not seek the living among the dead” is not only an Easter season
antiphon. This should be our daily admonition. Isn’t it true that we
seek that which is living among the dead, instead of in the land of the
living? We are a bundle of desires, longings and aspirations. The
philosopher Peter Kreeft wrote that the “…terrible truth about man is
that he has a heaven-sized hole in his heart, and nothing else can fill
it. We pass our lives trying to fill the Grand Canyon with marbles. As
St. Augustine said: ‘Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are
restless until they rest in Thee.’ That’s
the greatest sentence ever written outside Scripture because it tells us
the secret of our destiny, our happiness — and our unhappiness.”
Our desires are not the problem. It is what we do and where we go to
satisfy them. That’s the secret of many of our unhappiness — we seek the
living among the dead.
Believe it, God wants good things for us. But He stores them in the
“land of the living.” The land of the living is where God’s will is
sought, where God’s precepts are fulfilled. Go there. Stay there.
Flourish there. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Where do you often find yourself — in the land of the living or somewhere else?
Incline my heart to You, O God, that I may see the good things of the Lord, in the land of the living. Amen.
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