Thursday of the
Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 7:36-50)
A woman was giving testimony to her faith. She talked of her father. “A hard man,” she called him. She said that he taught his family that
religion is for the weak. He scolded them
not to have any part of it. Rather than take refuge in religion he desired that
they become self-reliant. From observing
many needy people coming to church, it may seem that the man’s harsh criticism
of religion is on target.
But such as perspective cannot account for what St. Paul
writes in the first reading. Paul
himself was as tough a person as they come.
His body was no doubt covered with wounds from the beatings he endured
for his faith. More importantly –
indeed, what is all important – he provides a list of people who saw the risen
Lord Jesus. It is specific and
extensive. It cannot be fanciful because
Paul himself – oddly enough, he intimates – encountered him. These appearances assure Christians that faith
is not in vain. Indeed, the appearances
fill believers with the yearning to meet Christ in death.
The Church is for both the weak and the strong. It brings people together to support one
another. It teaches us that
self-reliance is an illusion of the strong.
It enables us to find the image of Christ in the weak. Finally, it shows us that by loving one
another, we imitate the resurrected Christ, testify to his living presence, and
prepare ourselves to meet him in the end.
