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Wednesday, September 07, 2005 Meditation Colossians 3:1-11 “She’s so heavenly-minded she’s no earthly good.” We can all picture this person: She spends hours reading Scripture, attending Mass, reciting rosaries and novenas. She regards recreation as self-indulgence and only grudgingly gives her body a minimum of food and exercise. After all, her real destination is heaven; life on earth is just something she has to endure. She manages to keep her home tidy and provide meals for her family, but there’s no room in her schedule for responding to the unexpected demands of a sick neighbor or friend in distress. Such a person may feel she perfectly lives out Paul’s admonition, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). However, is it possible that she has missed a different dimension to the Christian life? God did not come to earth as an angel to rescue us from our sinful bodies. He came as a human being to transform us so that we could live a fully human existence on earth. Jesus may be “seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1), but that’s because he has defeated the enemy of “life in abundance” (John 10:10). “Things that are on earth” doesn’t mean everything in this world. It means those things that are opposed to the reign of God: impurity, greed, anger, slander, lying, and divisiveness (Colossians 3:5,8-9,11). Unfortunately, many of these self-centered attitudes can coexist with external piety. Paul’s remedy isn’t gradually allowing our sinful habits to fade but decisively putting to death whatever stands in the way of our relationship with Christ. Sometimes that obstacle may be paying too much attention to our bodies to the neglect of our spirits. But in other cases, the challenge is to cultivate our God-given talents and answer the cry of the poor and needy even as we develop our interior lives. Whatever our current obstacle, it was put to death when we died with Christ in baptism. We are now clothed with Christ (Colossians 3:9-10). We possess his meekness, contentment, forgiveness, encouragement, and joy—all enumerated in the Beatitudes. We have inherited a life of joyful praise. It is ours here on earth, not only after we die and go to heaven. “Incarnate One, you lived life on earth to the full. Help me to live the vibrant life of your kingdom here and now.” Psalm 145:2-3,10-13; Luke 6:20-26 |
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