Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 356

If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.

With this song or poem, Saint Paul reminds the Church of what we know and have known about God, about Jesus, and about our sad history. 

First, we must be reminded that "we have died with him." Death is pretty serious business, but sometimes we use words like death, kill, slay, and murder casually, and even in jest. A commedienne slays an audience. Children say "They'll kill me!" when they disappoint their parents. Not even the Lord's death by crucifixion, recalled as we eat his flesh and drink his blood, deters our rushing into our next preoccupation.

We should and must ponder his death often as we face innumerable smaller "deaths" by sacrifice each day. Getting up early enough for prayer, retiring early enough so that we can get up early enough to pray; passing up that second helping and one dessert; saying thank you when we accept some help; and offering something when we have something to offer: daily life is full of opportunities to make sacrifice. Dying daily becomes habitual. People expect it of us and should not be surprised when we do it.

...if we persevere

we shall also reign with him.

Saint John warns us, "If we deny him he will deny us." We know the story well enough. The Bible is full of stories of the infidelity of God's people, and his reliable punishment of them. I see Our God smiling benevolently on His people as I read Psalm 88 and the passage:

You plunge me into the bottom of the pit,

into the darkness of the abyss.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me;

all your waves crash over me.d

Because of you my acquaintances shun me;

you make me loathsome to them;e

Caged in, I cannot escape...

The Lord might reply, "When you have finished your complaining, you may approach me." For:

If we are unfaithful

he remains faithful,

for he cannot deny himself.

God cannot integrate evil into Himself and will not evil into us. It must be purged from us as we die to ourselves and live for him. As Alcoholics Anonymous says, "Half-measures availed us nothing."

The Christian's life is a surrender to the Mercy of God and a death to self. We deserve nothing less, nor will God accept anything less.