The Choices We Face

2 Timothy 1:9 "He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time".

Readings from Wisdom 18: 6-9, Hebrew 11:1-2, 8-19/8-12 and Luke 12:32-40.35-40 The first reading is taken from the book of Wisdom, one of the books that make up the corpus known as the Biblical Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. The reading is a reinterpretation of what happened in the night in which the people of Israel finally left Egypt. The author used a literary genre known as syncrisis, a kind of comparison that points out the contrast between the plight of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians. The literary form was used to show that God reversed the means the Egyptians had hoped to use to afflict the Israelites. The outcome was that the Egyptians were smitten while the Israelites went unharmed. The point the text wants to make by using the literary form was to show God's providence for Israel, his elect. Even though they took great risk in fleeing their place of oppression and bondage, they trusted in the promises of God and the usual benevolence of God. God's ...

1 Peter 2:9 "But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvellous light". Happy Sunday

1 Peter 5:10 "But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation".

1 Corinthians 1:4‭-‬5 "I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace he has given you through Christ Jesus. For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things, including all speech and all knowledge".

2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".

Psalms 119:1‭-‬2 "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord .  Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart".

Romans 1:17 KJV "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith".

It strikes me that way into Eastertide, the gospel of this week, takes us back to Jesus speaking of his up-coming passion and death. It seems the liturgy wants us to ever keep in mind that there would have been no Easter glory without the agony of Good Friday. Jesus himself in the passage describes his passion and death as his glorification and unites the twin event with his new commandment of love. Why does he unite the two realities? This question sets me off on this reflection centered on the importance of practicing this new commandment which Christ gave as a distinguishing mark of re-born followers of his New Way. If practiced, the new commandment also engenders the new world spoken of in the second reading. It is the new law for new life, new people and new community brought about by Christ's paschal mystery. Jesus lived the paradox of God's Will turning a shameful death on the cross into a means of glorification and expression of love. His "obedience unto death...