Today Jesus reminds us that there is life after death - a resurrected life that will transform our whole existence.
Belief in life after death affects the way we live here and now - as we heard recounted for us in today’s first reading from the Old Testament. Anyone who is baptized has been given a share in the very life of God, a life that does not end. When we choose to live by that grace, we choose to live and love as Jesus did.
Jesus is the model for graced human living, because he is both God and human. That is the gift we now share. He shows us how to live our new life in a way that gives witness to our dignity - a dignity that has been given to us by the merciful grace of God.
In today’s second reading, St. Paul summarizes how a believer lives - a believer’s life is a life ruled by God’s love and the constancy shown by Jesus. Jesus knew that his Father loved him. He returned this love by doing his Father’s will.
That is how we are urged to live - trusting in God’s love for us and making every effort to understand our Father’s will for us today and then choosing to do his will to the best of our ability. Living this way each day with the strength of God’s grace is how we can respond to the gift of God’s life within us. It also prepares us for the fullness of life promised us when we die.
St. Paul’s prayer can be our prayer: Lord Jesus, you have shown us our Father’s love for us. Console our hearts each day and strengthen them for every good work and word. May the life you share with us make us fully human and bring us to the fullness of life you have promised in heaven.
