Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Shunammite woman recognized what was passing by and made room for it. She saw the holiness before the miracle came. The room on the roof - bed, table, chair, lamp - was prepared in advance, before she knew what the receiving would produce. She gave the room because the man was holy. The son was the gift that followed the giving.

Consider yourselves dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. This is the central instruction of the baptismal section: not a command to achieve but a reality to receive. You were baptized into his death. You were raised with him. Death no longer has power over you. The life you are living now is already the resurrection life - live from that.

Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In your twenties the life you are finding is being formed. The losing-to-find teaching is not primarily about martyrdom. It is about the daily ordering: the dream that would have to be surrendered to follow, the comfort that would have to be given up, the status that would have to be released. The finding comes after the losing, not before.

Consider yourself dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. Receive that as a fact about yourself - not a goal but a reality. Then ask: what am I holding onto from the pre-resurrection life that I should have already left behind? Name it. Lose it.

Lord, let the baptismal reality be operational. I am dead to sin and living for you. Let me live from that. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.