In the letter to the Romans today we see a well laid out argument for the flow of God’s grace into the world. For me, though, it hints at something that has to do with original sin. According to the Sacred Scriptures, mankind once walked in the garden of God’s love. Their days were filled with His presence and they beheld Him face to face. After the fall of our first parents, we began to live in a world that struggled with the consequences of sin. Tasked with the care of the soil and the duty of creating life, mankind began to spread and work his way through this life. To many people, life is just a reminder of that toil. Day in and day out, working “our fingers to the bone” until either we are too broken to continue or we simply stop living and go on to our eternal dwelling places.
I think this section of Romans though turns all of that on its head. It is through the lens of Jesus Christ that we must view life here and now. God did not take us back to the Garden of Eden when we were baptized, we still live in “this world.” Or did He? Just as before our baptism we walked in a fallen world, our faith teaches us that after our Baptism we have risen with Christ. I believe that is what a life of grace truly does for us. It restores us to walk with Jesus Christ in this world right now, not just after we pass on to the next one. When we begin to realize that we are now, right here, walking again in the Garden of Eden, life begins to look differently.
“Dear friends, if you learn to discover Jesus in the Eucharist, you will also know how to discover Him in your brothers and sisters, particularly the very poor.” – Saint John Paul II
To me, that’s exactly what girding our loins means. Yes, I do believe that at the end of time Jesus will return to take us to Heaven. I do believe He is coming again. I also believe He is coming right now, that the Master is constantly returning to us in our everyday lives. Just as in Eden He came to us in the breeze of the day, the Holy Spirit flows through our lives giving us glimpses and ‘God winks’ that continue to remind us that we are, through Jesus Christ, experiencing aspects of the divine life right here, right now. The question is: are we watching the door, looking for it to crack open and give us a glimpse of the beauty of God’s Kingdom that grace affords us each and every moment of our lives? When we begin to see the presence of Christ in everything, every person… then all of those difficulties become a gift. To again quote our Saint for today, John Paul the Second:
“The Eucharist is the sacrament of the presence of Christ, who gives Himself to us because He loves us. He loves each one of us in a unique and personal way in our practical daily lives: in our families, among our friends, at study and work, in rest and relaxation. He loves us when He fills our days with freshness, and also when, in times of suffering, He allows trials to weigh upon us: even in the most severe trials, He lets us hear His voice.” – Saint John Paul II
A reflection on the readings for October 22nd, 2019: Tuesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time.
Today is also the optional memorial for Saint John Paul the 2nd. If you’d like to learn more about this wonderful Saint, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, please click the following link: About Saint John Paul II