18th Sunday after Pentecost 8 Oct 2017 Sermon

18^th Sunday after Pentecost 8.10.17 Life to the full

Our Lord restores the young man, spiritually and physically.

He said once: I have come that they have life and have it to the full (Jn 10,10).

It is commonly said of people who have died that they ‘lived life to the full’ - usually meaning they were adventurous and had lots of experiences.

But Our Lord was not referring to physical activity. He meant life in the spiritual sense – being and doing good; good as defined by God, not merely human wisdom.

The spiritual measure of life is very different from the physical. One could be elderly and unable to move, yet have more life than a young person in the bloom of physical health.

It is not something we can see or measure. We do not even know our own degree of life. We can talk about ‘more’ alive or ‘less’ alive.

How alive am I at this moment? It is the same as asking: how much do I love God? Or, how much am I in union with God? How much do I let God achieve His will in me? Do I belong to Him totally, or am I a part-time visitor, or a stranger to Him?

All this we cannot answer exactly, even for ourselves, and less still for others.

We do not need to know precisely. We can just look for ‘more’ rather than ‘less’.

Every time we do something which yields more grace then we are more alive. Every time we sin we are less alive.

This life (grace) can be lost or gained in one action. Lost through mortal sin. Gained through contrition and confession.

Knowing what can happen will help us make the right responses. We are less likely to throw it away if we have given the matter enough attention. We are more likely to make progress into further life if we are aware that such a thing is possible.

When we are in a state of grace we will be more likely to ask for the right thing, to seek the spiritual element, because we recognise that is where the essence of life is found.

If we are alive, we build on it; if dead, we come back to life (through repentance), and then build on it.

We live ‘life to the full’ in this redefined sense.

The more we are alive the greater glory we are giving to God; the more we are getting to His purpose in creating us.

We reject the minimalist mentality, that seeks to do only what is necessary to avoid hell. We are not trying to sneak into heaven, just making the cut.

No, we run for the prize, while yielding forth a harvest of good works.

We can change for the better. Many will say they cannot get any better, and just rest with their faults.

But any sin can be removed, and any bad habit can be overcome, as Christ comes to dwell in us. He had no faults, so neither will we, once we become sufficiently united with Him.

He re-makes us, re-forms us. we are not the same person year after year. We can take on new ways of thinking, of desiring, which will pass into our daily life.

This is to be alive in Christ; we have His nature acting in us. We are copies of Him!

This is really something to hope for.

The gates of Heaven are coming into view. Don’t throw it away.

Abundant prayer is necessary if we are to hold on to what we have, and increase.

Our Lady also came ‘that we might have life’. She came to Fatima 100 years ago. It was a simple message, but not yet sufficiently accepted by the human race. May she move us now to complete that acceptance on our part.