RISE UP

RISE UP – 5^th Sunday of Lent, Year A

            We continually experience the need to be raised up in some way, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, on every level of our being, body, mind and soul. We eat to be raised up physically, communicate with others to be raised up emotionally, read to be raised up mentally and pray to be raised up spiritually. There are built-in drives in us to move us to live.

            No matter how many “resurrections” or “lifts” we experience in this life, they all come to nothing unless we are raised up eternally in Christ. The spiritually seeking person concentrates on being raised up from sin to forgiveness and peace from one level of spiritual understanding to deeper levels, from conversion to Christ to deeper conversion, from faith to deeper or clearer faith, from hope to deeper hope, from love to higher love. Life is a process of many resurrections and movements from one level to another. To be raised up on one level means leaving behind another level. That is the death to life principle. If I am to be raised up to life, I have to die to sin and so forth.

            What death is present in my life, or needs to take place in my life, for a new resurrection or a new birth, or a new raising up to take place? Some cannot embrace or reach the higher or be raised up because they are not prepared to die to the lesser. Learning how to die or let go of something whether it’s physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental for something higher demands dying. We are called to die to sin and moral darkness, to be raise up to salvation, the Gospel vision, and the Kingdom of Christ.

            Some, in great times of conversion, undergo violent deaths to sin. Many die much slower to sin and wait until they no longer need whatever the sin was giving them. This is the slow death approach to sin, and the price can be very heavy, since it may take years to slowly die to some sin. Whereas, if a sin or attitude or circumstance is violently rooted out of one’s life, and the death is swift, the person rises to a new level and experiences a deeper and more permanent conversion and following of Christ. It’s better to say, “I renounce this sin now”, than to say later, “I am too old to commit this sin”, or, “I have experienced the full fruits of this sin which has brought me spiritual death”, or “I wish I had rooted that sin out years ago, since I realize now my life could have been better and peaceful”.

            The Lord calls us to live on the level of the Spirit and not to remain on the level of the flesh. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The Holy Spirit dwells in us to raise us up to live the life of Christ. “If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also…” Through the Prophet Ezekiel, God promised to raise up His people. Ezekiel had a vision of dry bones which appeared dead and was told they could be raised up by the power of God’s Word and the life giving spirit being breathed into them.

            The Lord wills to continually raise us up in our life to share in His life. “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live…” Unless this resurrection takes place in our life following death, it won’t matter too much how many resurrections we have undergone in this life. Through the raising of Lazarus from physical death back to physical life, Jesus gave a sign that He is the resurrection and the Life. Our faith convinces us that having been raised up in Baptism, the Spirit will also raise us to full life in the kingdom following our physical death. The same faith moves us to seek to be continually raised up in Christ through prayer, the Scriptures, the sacraments, works of charity and justice, and in living by the Spirit of Christ. “Lazarus, come out!”

            The Lord calls us to come out of death to life. He also calls us to help others leave death behind for life. “Untie him…” Jesus told them, “and let him go”. Death and life, dying and rising are one. To have died to self and sin in its various forms is to have experienced resurrection from the dead. The Cross is the royal road to the glory of the Risen Christ! Die and rise daily!

Reflection from Divine Mercy #1507

“All grace flows from mercy, and the last hour abounds with mercy for us”.