Between death and life, there is living!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2020: Philippians 1: 18-26; Luke 14:1,7-11

Paul speaks to us of a popular dilemma that all of us are caught between - the dilemma between death and life! At certain points in our life, this dilemma is strong, at other points it is mild, but it never ceases to exist, given the nature of the certainty of death and the uncertainty of its time or mode! These days with the global health crisis and the frequent news about sickness and death, brings this dilemma more to the limelight.

Which is better... to die or to live? Truly life is a gift! We have it and we treasure it. But there are times when troubles come, unnecessary concerns cloud our days and necessary burdens weigh us down. There are moments, invariably in every person's life, when he or she, at least for a fraction of a second thinks, of what use it is to live! At the same time there is an insatiable anxiety within us to live, to live on and to live forever.

God has given us a gift of death too! Though many do not look at it that way, that is, death as a gift, it is in fact true. Imagine, there were nothing called 'death'? How many problems and how many queries to fend for! Death, in the Christian parlance (in another day. we shall be beginning with the month dedicated to faithful departed), is the gate through which one has to pass to encounter the Lord, for that ultimate face off. Can there be any other reason more exciting and inviting than that? 

We know all this,  that life is a gift and death is equally a gift, but we find it hard to accept it- be it for our own sake or for others. Paul clarifies that dilemma to us today: his statement simply is, that it is a wrong question to ask which is better, life or death - because it is neither death nor life, instead, what comes between the two: living! How we live our life - that is truly what matters. 

There are three clues to living that life: one, from the hands of God: living our life from the hands of God, realising the gift that it is, and striving to realise all the time its true purpose - be it immediate purpose or ultimate purpose; two, living with our eyes fixed on God: that God may call us back anytime and God alone is the author of life and God alone can instruct us about what is best for us at any given moment; three, living for the glory of God: that God be glorified in everything I am and I do!

Between death and life, there is our call to live, our commitment to live to the full, and our opportunity to live for the glory of God. When we do that, we would be able to say with Paul: for me to live is Christ, to die is gain!