In
today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus’ encounter with a grieving mother who is
weeping while her son is being carried out in a funeral procession. Since we have had several funerals recently
at our parish that have touched the hearts of our parishioners and the hearts
of the families of these loved ones, we can all empathize with the emotion and
grief that this mother is feeling in today’s Gospel. Jesus was moved with pity
by this emotional scene. He responds by
raising this young man from the dead.
Jesus performed many healings and signs in proclaiming God’s kingdom to
the people of ancient Israel and to reveal his identity to them. The raising of this man from the dead is one
of these signs.
Jesus had his special way of
proclaiming God’s kingdom. We are all
called to proclaim God’s kingdom here on earth in the way in which God calls us
to do so. We can see this in the life of
the saint that we celebrate today. St
John Chrysostom, originally from Antioch, became a monk who austerely followed
Christ in the desert, but he later became the Archbishop of Constantinople and
an important early Church father. In fact,
John Chrysostom is one of only 33 men and women to be designated as Doctors of
the Church. He was very humble and
unassuming at a time when many of the important archbishops of the Roman empire
got caught up in the luxury and riches that their positions afforded them. His nickname was the “golden mouthed” for his
extraordinary preaching skills. John
Chrysostom calls all of us to live a life of a holiness, a life of faith where
a humble heart is much needed. He is quoted as saying: “Humility
is the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all virtue.” Unfortunately, John’s enemies got ahold of
him and he died in exile in 407.
May we all hold steady in the ways that God
calls out to us in life, in the ways that God wishes us to proclaim his
kingdom. May the humility in which we
are called to live out our faith always bring us closer to our Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment