One Minute Reflection – 18 September – Today’s Gospel: Luke 7:11–17, Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of St Juan Macias O.P. (1585-1645) and St Joseph of Cupertino O.F.M. Conv. (1603-1663)
And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”...Luke 7:14b
REFLECTION – “Even if the signs of death have removed all hope of life, even if the bodies of the dead lie beside the tomb, yet, at the voice of God, the corpses of those ready to decompose will rise and recover speech. The son is restored to his mother, he is called back from the tomb, snatched out of it. And what is this tomb? Your own. Your bad habits, your lack of faith. This is the tomb from which Christ delivers you, this is the tomb from which you will return to life if you listen to the Word of God. Even if your sin is so grave that you are unable to wash it clean for yourself with your tears of repentance, the Church, your mother, she who intercedes for each one of her children like a widowed mother for her only son, will weep for you. For she feels for it with a kind of spiritual suffering natural to her when she sees her offspring dragged down to death by lamentable vices…
Let her weep, then, this pious mother; let the crowd accompany her – and not just a crowd but a large crowd – and may it show compassion towards this tender mother. Then you will come to life again in your tomb and will be delivered, the bearers will stop and you will start to speak the words of the living; everyone will be astonished. The example of one will correct the many and they will praise God for having granted such remedies to us for escaping death.”…St Ambrose (c 340-397) Father & Doctor (A treatise on the Gospel of Saint Luke)
God wants us to stand upright. He created us to be on our fee,: for this reason, Jesus’ compassion leads to that gesture of healing, to heal us, of which the key phrase is: “Arise! Stand up, as God created you!”. Standing up. “But Father, we fall so often” — “Onward, arise!”. This is Jesus’ word, always. His word revives us, gives us hope, refreshes weary hearts, opens us to a vision of the world and of life which transcends suffering and death…Pope Francis – General audience, 10 August 2016
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, help me to be holy in the way that You have laid out for me. Let me stand upright and carry out my duties of my state of life to the full. Only in You may I attain holiness, learning to give myself, my will, my heart and my to You. St Joseph of Cupertino, you who were so disadvantaged, achieved by the grace of God, sanctity in this life and now behold His Face through all eternity. St Juan, in your lowly work, you stood in the Light of Christ, allowing the lowly and rich, to see Him who saved us. We ask You Holy Father, that You grant, by the intercession pf St Joseph and Juan, that we may reach our heavenly home. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
