Raised Powerful

Today’s first reading is a powerhouse of hope and glory!

1 Corinthians 15:35-37, 42-29:
            Brothers and sisters: Someone may say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?” You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual one.
            So, too, it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly, so also are the heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. 

One of my favorite lines in this passage is: “it is sown weak; it is raised powerful.” Of this line, the Magnificat said in the short reflection for today’s Mass:

“That is, it enables us today to live the very life of God with a hundredfold intensity.”

I re-read this line at least four times in my prayer this morning. The seed of weakness that we are sown in this life, if put to death, is raised to power – the power of God. We die to ourselves, to our worries, our fears, our sinfulness, our insecurities – or rather we put them to death, so that Christ can reign in us. Our weakness raised to power is what ‘enables us today [and everyday!] to live the very life of God with a hundredfold intensity’. No matter what you have planned in your day today, and whatever happens unplanned, we are all enabled to live the very life of God with intensity. I LOVE that word intensity; we aren’t called to simply live the life of God, but to do so with intensity! That is, with our whole focus, our whole being, our whole life. How can you keep God as the center focus of you day, and live his life with intensity in your journey this day? What might need to change in your day to be more pleasing and honorable in the sight of God? What can you add to your day, or how can you adjust your outlook or attitude to be more intensely fulfilling God’s life within you?

Claim the power that God promises! “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one”, by denying ourselves and aligning our day with the promises and power of God, we are enabled to live the very life of God with a hundredfold intensity, so that “we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.”

A hundredfold…. another powerful word that alludes to the way God goes above and beyond to increase our gift back to him. Like the parable of the mustard seed: we give the little that we can, and God makes it glorious. We don’t have the power ourselves to live the life of God with a hundredfold intensity, but it is possible to do so because if we offer what we have to God, He gives it back a hundredfold; he fills to overflowing the cup, the shell that we offer, and makes it glorious. Be raised powerful today.