5th Sunday Lent: “When we die with Christ, we rise with him.”

God has given us the gift of faith which strengthens our relationship with Him. He has revealed Himself to us through various ways. He made a way for his people in the sea and delivered them from the bondage of Egyptians. Did all those miracles that God performed make a lasting impact on the faith aspect of the people? The obvious answer is, ‘No!’ Therefore, eventually God revealed Himself through His Son; but they preferred darkness and rejected the light.

We get a ray of hope from St. Paul’s experience of the risen Lord. When Jesus revealed himself to Saul, he believed in Him and through this faith Saul became Paul, the apostle of Christ. He participated in Jesus’ resurrection by becoming like Christ in his suffering and death. Paul’s personal experience of the risen Lord changed his entire life. Paul confesses this faith by showing his total commitment in his mission. We too have received God’s revelation in our lives. Do we have enough faith and courage like St. Paul to express God’s love among the people?

Only the faith of the faithful keeps Christ alive in the midst of the people. Only when they express it to others in the society, it will bear fruit. Down the history, all the messages of God fulfilled their mission by revealing God even to the non-believers. Many a time, we lock up this message of God within ourselves.  Are we ready to acknowledge God’s wonders in our life and share the unique gift of faith, which we have experienced in our lives? This faith goes beyond evidence and involves us into a personal relationship with God.

One of the participants in the Eucharistic Congress was sharing that he was atheist and just trying to be good to his wife before their children attended the congress with his wife last year. Now, he comes back saying the event changed him. He says he met Christ there. Meeting Christ changed his life and now his family means completely different. With Christ in the family, family means lot more to him. Now he is a believer who shares his faith with others joyfully. He met Jesus person to person, I mean, he has been touched by His love. He is not the same.

Have you met Jesus? If you have, you will make your own the words of St. Paul: I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. All I want is to know Christ. Do you?