Happy July 4th!

Happy  July 4th!

This week we celebrate July 4th. We are grateful for our country and we want to be good citizens. On July 4th, 1826, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter: “May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ...For    ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion to them."

The best thing we can do to become better citizens is to be better Christians. Every year around July 4th the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invites us to pray for religious freedom. We are excited to celebrate July 4th, but we need to hold on to that spirit every day, every aspect of our life.

Last Sunday, we meditated on the storms of life and restoration of peace. This Sunday we meditate on death and restoration of life. The readings urge us to be grateful for our body and soul health and use God’s gifts of life and health responsibly.

What is death? Every living being dies. What is our experience of death? Fearful…..isn’t it? In the first reading from the book of Wisdom (1:13-15, 2:23-24) we heard that God does not make death. Ezekiel 18:32 says, “For I find no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies—oracle of the Lord GOD. Turn back and live!”

The first reading takes us to the book of Genesis: God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness (1:27) for       immortality. The natural order was wholesome. But the devil brought death into the world.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 397 says, “Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and,  abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be   disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.” After the Fall, suffering, and death entered the world.      Nevertheless, in Genesis 3:15, God gave the promise of redemption which is known as the protoevangelium (First Gospel).

The first reading prepares us for the Gospel reading (Mk 5:21-43) raising of Jairus’ daughter and healing of a woman who was afflicted with hemorrhages. This Gospel passage is like a sandwich- start with Jairus’ request to heal his daughter, then the woman enters the picture who received healing and the passage ends with Jairus home and Jesus raising his daughter.

Jesus, the New Adam, came to restore the life of humanity. In this Gospel passage, we see, that he witnesses to his divinity and strengthen the faith of his followers. The restoration of the life of the diseased girl is a prefigurement of the dead as well as his own resurrection. When he entered the house, he told them, “The child is not dead, but sleeping” (5:39). In other words, Jesus said that the girl’s condition was temporary.

St. Blade says that the girl signifies the young Christian whose heart remains deadened by the world. Christ must clear away the crowd of impure thoughts to revive and strengthen the believer to begin walking in good deeds.

The woman who was afflicted with hemorrhages – was suffering for twelve years. It was a condition that made her and everything she touched unclean (Leviticus 15:25-30). In the Gospel, Jesus removes her uncleanliness by physical touch. Jesus came to destroy death and restore life.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 2616 says, Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs that anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer of faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief) or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful woman). The urgent request of the blind men, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" or "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" has been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith: "Your faith has made you well; go in peace."

Jesus brought numerous people to life. Ultimately, like Paul says in the second reading, “the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the sacrificial love of Jesus restores man’s ability to receive the life of God.

God did not make death. It is the work of the devil. In the second reading, St. Paul (2Cor 8:7,9,13-15) says that Jesus     embraced poverty so that we may become rich. Jesus emptied himself of his glory to restore our life through his passion, death, and resurrection. He came to make us a new creation.