In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals that the children of God will rise again. We will rise because our God is not a God of the dead but of the living. St. Francis de Sales notes:
We must not look for surpassingly perfect love in this mortal life. Our hearts have a thirst that cannot be quenched by the pleasures of this mortal life. If they are moderate, our most cherished and sought after pleasures do not satisfy us. If they are extreme, they stifle us and become harmful. Only the fresh waters of undying life that God’s love offers us can quench our thirst and quiet our desires.
Since God’s love is so superior to ours, God willed to become like one of us to show us what we needed to do in order to live eternally. When we place our love in Jesus Christ, we place our life in Him. A spray of grapes united and joined to the stock brings forth fruit by virtue of the stock onto which it is grafted. So likewise our life in Christ vivifies and animates us with heavenly love. Through the sacred love that the Holy Spirit steeps in our hearts, we produce sacred actions that carry us toward immortal glory.
However, in this mortal life, the example of Jesus tells us that our salvation is a journey toward wholeness in Christ. Enduring injuries, contradictions and discomforts as peacefully as Jesus did are moments that fashion eternity. One ounce of patience acquired during a season of trials is worth more then ten pounds gained in any other season. In your daily meditation, reflect on patience so as to make yourself practice faithfully patience. If you find your heart agitated during this season, delicately take your heart with the tips of your fingers and put it back in its place. Then say, “Be cheerful, dear heart.” Great designs are effected through patience and duration of time. Courage, for our God who is God of the living is always with us, so that we may rise again in Christ.
(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)
