< <  

Saturday, March 27, 1999

  > >
Ezekiel 37:21-28
Jeremiah 31:10-13
John 11:45-57

View Readings
Similar Reflections

goings-on

"If we let Him go on like this, the whole world will believe in Him. Then the Romans will come in and sweep away our sanctuary and our nation." —John 11:48

If we let Jesus go on, if we let it be done to us according to His word (Lk 1:38), if we "let go and let God," we will lose our lives (Lk 9:24) and lifestyles. If we let Him be the Lord of our lives, He will turn the world upside down, or more precisely, right side up. Jesus will change our plans, dethrone us, topple our kingdoms, invade our comfort zones, and place us at His feet (1 Cor 15:27).

However, if we don't let Jesus "go on like this," He will keep knocking on the door of our hearts (Rv 3:20). He will challenge us to repent. "To us He is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see Him is a hardship for us" (Wis 2:14). Because Jesus persistently insists that we repent, we will have to either repent and crucify our "flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24), or crucify Jesus for ourselves and hold Him up to contempt (Heb 6:6). Jesus acts in such a way as to give us no alternative to crucifixion — either we are crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19) or we crucify Him. To avoid crucifying Jesus, we must carry the cross daily (Lk 9:23). Let Jesus go on.

Prayer:  Father, I surrender to Your love.

Promise:  "They shall live on the land which I gave to My servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with My servant David their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace." —Ez 37:25-26

Praise:  Grace gave as a wedding gift the promise to pray daily for the newly married couple for the rest of her life, and she did.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, July 23, 1998


Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 27, 1998