24TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain. 

It’s likely that if you are reading this meditation, you believe that Jesus rose from the dead. After all, this is a central truth of our Catholic faith.

But have you ever considered how this belief can make a difference in your everyday life? Jesus wants the good news of his resurrection to be more than something intellectual or something we just recite at Mass on Sunday. He wants us to experience the power of his resurrection in a personal way.

What might that look like? When Jesus rose from the dead, he conquered sin and death. And because we are united with Christ, that victory is ours as well. In whatever situation we might be facing, we can hold onto the truth that sin and death do not have the final word in our lives. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that the Lord wants to unleash in our own lives to give us the faith and hope to endure and even triumph.

We all have experienced situations that feel like mountains that won’t move. It could be a difficult family relationship, a loved one who has strayed from the faith, or a struggle with a persistent temptation. But these are also precisely the situations in which Jesus wants to bring his resurrection power! He wants to breathe faith and hope into our minds and hearts and to encourage us to not give up believing that he is working, even if we can’t see or sense anything on the surface.

To all appearances, on Good Friday it looked as if all was lost and over—Jesus had been crucified. But then on Easter Sunday, the stone was rolled away from the tomb, and Jesus was raised from the dead.

And because God raised him up, our faith that the tough situations in our lives can turn around is not in vain. On the contrary, we have the right to hold onto our faith that Jesus will bring good out of any situation. Remember, Jesus’ resurrection is more than a doctrine. It’s his power, working in your life, even now.

“Jesus, bring your resurrection power to every aspect of my life and all the concerns on my heart.”

Psalm 17:1, 6-8, 15
Luke 8:1-3