Where do you often find yourself — in the land of the living or somewhere else? - Daily Reflections November 5,2015

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.