Stain glass window of the Resurrection, St. Peter Church, Steubenville
"This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24
Truly, this is the Lord's day! Today, the Lord has risen; today Jesus has taken this world back for Himself, setting apart the first day of the week as a day of re-creation. In this way, God has brought all the time of this world to His goodness, for the service of His love. This is the day of the Lord, the eternal day of redemption and salvation, a gift of an eternal now of resurrection. We must remember this day with our whole lives, as we do every Sunday as a tangible reminder of the resurrection.
For this is the day the Lord has made! This is a day to rejoice and be glad that God has poured out infinite mercy for our salvation, for our true freedom as sons and daughters of the Father.
Yes, we were made for our freedom found in the love Father. Look at David:
"How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests..." -Matthew 12:4
Now, David did not presume that the laws of God were arbitrary, easily changed for man's good pleasure. Rather, he received the gift of the Father that was meant for the strengthening of God's servants, that he could freely give himself as a sacrificial servant to God in his vocation.
"Or have you read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?" -Matthew 12:5
Here do the priests of the Lord do one good thing in a way that ignores their good and priestly duties? No, it would be a sin to avoid the priestly vocation they were given. Rather, God gives a way for them to live out their call while still honoring the Sabbath.
The point of both of these examples is to show the freedom God gives His children to follow His will. For the things of this world are all done for the purpose of the greatest glory of God. Jesus, when He presented these moments for our reflection, gave this as the key for us to discern how to live in God's will:
"I tell you, something greater than the temple is here." -Matthew 12:6
The will of God is more than following simple rules, in blind obedience, in buildings of our own design. Rather, living in the will of God is following and rejoicing in God's guidance, in loving and willing obedience, in trusting in God's design.
Jesus has offered His own life for us; He has brought us to His resurrection. He calls us to live in this fullness of life with every moment of our time, but He does not want us to do so alone. Rather, Jesus, God Himself, is here with us. He is greater than the simple plans of this world, so He wishes for us to plan with Him, to live with Him, to rejoice in the love of the Father with Him.
To take our lives, our faith into our own hands in the way that just makes us feel responsible and mature, without really living out the relationship of daily love God has given us for our lives, is to condemn Jesus' gift of holy freedom.
"And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." -Matthew 12:7
Our true sacrifice cannot be "sacrificing" God's greatest plan for the sake of our own will and intentions. Our true sacrifice needs to be a sacrifice of our lives to the mercy of God, saying with every moment, Jesus, I trust in you. Following Jesus' timing and plan in everything, freely following and joining Him in His mission, we will die to ourselves to be brought to eternal life, now, and even until the end of time.
This is the day the Lord has made! It is the Lord's day! Let us rejoice and be glad in Him! For in the humility of sacrificing our own lives to His mercy, and in the joy of following His life in freedom, we can live in His resurrection in the new life that He triumphantly gives. Christ the King has re-created us to live in His eternal life even now...
"For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." -Matthew 12:8
Let us turn now to the handmaid of the Lord: Our Queen, our Mother, Mary. As the Immaculate Conception, she was blessed to spend her entire life in the service of the Lord, without sin. Up to the point of the Annunciation, she had been given every opportunity to serve God in the temple, simply and straightforwardly. Giving her whole life to God, she was content to follow God's will to the extent that it had been given to her.
Suddenly, however, at the Annunciation, a wrench was thrown into her plans. She had been content up to that point to serve God as the law had prescribed; now she was given the call to serve the Lord as the MOTHER OF GOD. This was far more than she had expected! But now, she was given a free choice: to follow the law of the Lord without sin, or to live for the greatest glory of God in following His greatest will without sin.
Her choice for the greatest glory of God led her into the holy freedom of the eternal life of God, from that time and forever in heaven.
We often have a hard time living in this resurrection! It is hard enough to be obedient to God's will; it is far more difficult to do so with joy and humility!
With her help may we rejoice to live in the fullness of life in Christ! By Our Lady's intercession may we serve God with joy and humility! Through the Immaculate may we give our whole lives, for the greatest glory of God, in the freedom of being a son or daughter in the will of God.
Regina Caeli, laetare, alleluia!
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