April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
AMAZING GOD
A seed grows within us
In the Gospel for the fifth Sunday of Lent, Jesus teaches that the seed, the grain of wheat, must fall to the earth and die or it will never fulfill the purpose for which God created it - "but if it dies, it produces much fruit."
The seed, as it comes from the hand of God, contains everything it needs to fulfill its purpose. What is that purpose? To produce plants, flowers, shrubs, fruits and vegetables.
I remember, from my childhood, the opening of the television show "Dr. Ben Casey:" Dr. Zorba intones, "Birth, life, death, infinity." For me, this sums up the cycle of life. Life has meaning, purpose and a flow that each person has or will experience.
The parable of the grain of wheat, however, has a deeper meaning. Jesus speaks of life and death not just in the human context, but in a spiritual context.
The seed can be seen as life itself. Jesus teaches us that there is more to life than that which we feel and see and hear and taste and touch. There is a deeper reality. Life has a purpose that goes beyond the mere mortal. Life has its origin from God, its sustenance by God and its fulfillment in God.
But, to achieve that purpose, we, like the grain of wheat, must "fall to the earth and die." Faith tells us, however, that death is not the end of life, but the doorway through which we must pass if we are to achieve our God-given destiny.
As we prepare to celebrate the great events of salvation - Palm Sunday and the Triduum - we are reminded that Jesus, "like us in all things but sin," lived the same cycle of life that we do.
To paraphrase Dr. Zorba, Jesus goes from birth to life, to Passion and death, to resurrection. He invites us to travel this same journey.
Because Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead, we are empowered by Him to do the same. Our amazing God loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son as our brother, savior and redeemer.
God's compassion is manifested in this gift. Jesus willingly accepts death on the cross in order that you and I might experience forgiveness and, ultimately, eternal life.
As we celebrate springtime, Holy Week and Easter and beyond, we can be strengthened for the challenges we face in this life, knowing that if we remain faithful and strive to reflect the compassion of Christ in our dealings with others, we will win the victory.
After all, in the seed that God has planted within us, we are given all that we need to achieve our destiny: to live in the presence of God for all eternity.
(Father Pagones is pastor of St. Paul the Apostle parish in Schenectady.)[[In-content Ad]]
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