My dear parishioners, our Lord Jesus Christ graces us with salvation and bestows on us every spiritual blessing. You have been baptized into the death of Christ. You died to your old sinful self in the waters of baptism, rising to new life in the Body of Christ. Therefore the Son of God, to whom the eternal father has given everything, claims you as very own possession. Thus you are responsible for your body as you are with your life though you own neither. And the hour grows near when your deeds will testify before God of your stewardship for both.
 
Take this idea to heart. Your body is God's earthly gift to your heavenly soul. Not to the blessed seraphim or cherubim, nor to the archangels, nor to any angel in the nine glorious choirs has Christ given such a temple. Thus your very personhood belongs to Christ who created you and all mortal human beings. “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” says the Lord.  [Mt 5:48]  In this, you are commissioned to respect and reverence your body as an act of justice toward God to whom such is due. You have a solemn duty to fulfill. Clothe your body in with righteous deeds. Follow Jesus in a holy way of life. Prize the name Christian as your very own.
 
The number one dead idea is that the human body is one’s own personal property to do with as he pleases. Perhaps Our Lord's own glorious temple -- that is to say, his body -- means little to you. Perhaps our Savior’s holy life has little or nothing in common with your own life. If this is true, then the center of your life holds nothing of value. In fact, there is no center. For the person who denies Christ has emptied himself, not for the sake of others, but to his own destruction. Recall the apostle who betrayed Jesus, who sold himself for 30 grubby pieces of silver. The ancient serpent would sell the whole world, if that’s what it took, to enslave your immortal soul in the eternity of the damned.
 
From Nigeria comes a marvelous parable about the human condition. It calls you to change, to think again, to renew your interior life and outward commitment to Christ's definitive victory won for us over two millennia ago on a bloody Roman cross. It is a prayer: “God in heaven, you have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig, of his own choosing, after another. Before I knew it, he had built a dwelling place and was living in it. Today, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest.”
 
The Apostle Paul was not slow to grasp how believers rise to new life in Christ. It was Jesus who, by the price of his own passion and death, ransomed us from death. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”  [1Cor 6:19-20]  Join the revolution of Christ:  “. . . the most complete revolution that has ever been preached; in fact, it is the only true revolution, because all the others demand the extermination of somebody else, but this one means the death of the one who, for all practical purposes, you have come to think of as your own self.”  [Fr. Thomas Merton]
 
As Pope Saint John Paul II of blessed memory has written, “Allow (your) spirit to be overturned in order to make it turn towards God.” Do not be apprehensive. God is with you. Ready yourself for new things. On your part, humbly surrender your will to God. He knows perfectly what your capabilities are. Moreover, he will impart the graces you need each day: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, knowledge, courage, reverence, wonder and awe.  [cf. Isa 11:2-3]   Reject sin. Be holy. Love God passionately. Peace be with you in this Lenten season. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Rev. Richard Barker.
 
 
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