BLOG # 75

BLOG # 75 JESUS IS RISEN ! Jesus is risen ! Our sins are forgiven ! Peace and joy be yours! What joyand peace should be ours that God sent His Son to live among us and then to die and rise as a sign of God's power and plan of love for all who believe. But just as when the sun rises in the morning the darkness of the night must go, so the light of the risen Savior will come into our hearts and into our lives when we cast out the darkness which is sin. We mus cast out sin if we wish to have the peace and light that Jesus came to bring. There have always been different reactions and responses on the part of different men and women to the message of Jesus. This has been true whether He be preaching that message through the meekness and humility of the Christmas stable or through the eternal wisdom of the sermon on the mount. Whether Jesus be telling us of the power and goodness of God through His healing of he sick and the multiplication of the loaves and fish, whether He be telling us of the strength of God's love for us from the Cross or of the unlimited faithfulness of the Father through the resurrection, there have always been different responses to His message. When Jesus preached voluntary poverty to the rich young man, as told in the nineteenth chapter of St. Matthew, the young man walked away sad. When Jesus preached forgiveness of sin to Peter and Judas Peter went out and wept but Judas hung himself on a tree. When Jesus hung on the Cross, one thief cursed Him and the other became a saint. So it is with Jesus today. He is the same, yesterday today and forever. ( Heb 13: 8). If we are faithful to His message of love and goodness we can be sure that one day we will share with Jesus His glory and total victory over sin and death. Jesus desired this for all of us. We can tell Him yes. We can tell Him no. May our yes be manifest day by day in our love for God above all and our love for one another as Jesus loves us! That will be our proof to ourselves and to the world around us that Jesus is risen!