Gospel Paradox 4/2/06
by Fr.Gus Carter

The paradox of the Gospel is that we must die to live. That sounds like a contradictory statement. In paradox we use one word that expresses two different ideas. We die to our selfishness in order to live for God. No wonder so many humans are confused. Theologians maintain that God could only create us for himself There was no other motive for our existence. Since God is infinite, no real gain comes to the Lord in creating except the exercise of his love. One theologians stated that, since the net gain in creation comes to us, "God created us for his sake for our sake." We are made for God. We are meant to live for God. We reach the end for which we have been created when we love and serve our Creator. "God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him in this life, and to be happy with him forever in the next." The paradox is that we live most for ourselves when we live for God. Yet the world around us constantly presses us to live a fulfilling life by doing everything we can for ourselves. Seek and use pleasure, power and wealth. When we concentrate on these, however, our actions lead to much pain for ourselves and for others. The seven deadly sins dehumanize persons who fall under their domination.

Since we are made for God, when we disobey God's laws, we are going against our nature, and therefore, we are destroying ourselves. The Buddhists express this law as "karma." When we disobey the laws of life, life reminds us of our evil by the pain we cause to ourselves and to others. The good we do comes back to us as blessings. Jesus reminded us that we receive a hundred fold of blessings by following him in our lives.
The tragedy of life is that so few people realize that we are infinitely loved by our Creator. The very fact that we exist is an expression of God's love for us. We sing at times the hymn "I Have Loved You with an Everlasting Love,"quoting the prophet Jeremiah in the name of God. All the kind words and deeds of Jesus in the Gospel are meant as an expression of the Lord's love for each one of us. The Prayer of the Church brings to our minds every day that the "tender compassion of our God... breaks upon us ... to guide us into the way of peace."

It may not always be well-expressed but everyone has principles by which they live. Lent has been a time to check what ideas of living dominate our lives. Most people find themselves struggling in some way to choose right living. We realize that we are free to love or not to love. We also are aware that our capacity to love has been crippled by various things that have happened to us in our lives. We must pray for the grace to forgive the hateful and unjust things that have been done to us. If we hate and seek vengeance ourselves, we are letting the behavior of others to determine the kind of person we are.

We must also pray to appreciate ourselves as God's loving gift to us. Our bodies and minds are a marvelous collection of systems that keep us alive and active. The saints of the Church learned the amazing truth that everything in creation tells us of God's love for us. Particularly, the flowers of spring exhibit the astonishing plenitude of God, the fullness of ways the Lord has to demonstrate divine love and care for us.

We cannot grasp God's love for us by ourselves. We need the grace of God, but that grace will always be given to us if we continue to ask. The Lord's desire for our welfare is expressed in the second reading today. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that when the Word of God became flesh, he offered "prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears" for our welfare. Here is expressed in human terms the depth of God's love for us and the Lord's desire for our good. In the Epistle to the Romans St. Paul says, "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings." The Spirit, God's love is there aiding us in realizing how much we are loved. Any effort we make to accept the Creator's love for us will be abundantly rewarded. We are beloved of God.