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b'(1Kgs.17:17-24;\\xa0\\xa0 Ps.30:2,4-6,11-12;\\xa0\\xa0 Gal.1:11-19;\\xa0\\xa0 Lk.7:11-17)\\xa0\\n\\u201cO Lord, you brought me up from the netherworld.\\u201d\\n\\u201cYou preserved me from among those going down into the pit.\\u201d\\xa0 For I was dead, but now I live.\\xa0 These should be the words of us all, for the Lord indeed is our salvation \\u2013 our life breath comes from Him, and He will preserve us from all death.\\xa0 No longer in sin, we rise to new life.\\nThe resurrecting power of God is clearly evident in our readings today.\\xa0 We see both Jesus and Elijah raising the dead.\\xa0 And perhaps the rising of Paul from the blind pit into which he\\u2019d fallen, which led him even to persecute and attempt to destroy the Church, is the most remarkable resurrection.\\nWhat we should take from today\\u2019s readings is the sure knowledge that God is life and that life has no origin other than Him.\\xa0 Paul proclaims the Word he preaches comes only from God through the revelation of Jesus Christ \\u2013 emphasizing that no man taught him the Word which burns in his soul (a Word which gives life to all who hear it) \\u2013 and in both the gospel and the first reading those who witness the raising of the dead attribute rightly its source to the Lord.\\xa0 In one they proclaim, \\u201cGod has visited His people,\\u201d and in the other the widow of Sidon states of Elijah: \\u201cThe word of the Lord comes truly from your mouth.\\u201d\\xa0 This is the character of the Word, this is the quality of God \\u2013 He gives life.\\xa0 And so we know Him.\\nAnd we indeed are all as the widows in today\\u2019s readings; we are all bereft of our only sons, of the light of our eyes and our very life.\\xa0 We mourn for the loss of our souls which is imminent because of our sin.\\xa0 And we, too, weep.\\xa0 Who shall save us?\\xa0 Who shall speak a word to us to revive us, to return our life\\u2019s breath, to restore our souls?\\xa0 Jesus comes to us.\\xa0 He visits our city, He comes to our door.\\xa0 His Word approaches our hearts and calls to us to arise \\u2013 He breathes upon us the breath of new life.\\xa0 His apostles go forth from the foundation set in Peter, and this true Gospel is that which shall save the world, which shall bring it from its mourning to joy.\\nBut do we mourn the loss of our souls?\\xa0 Do we bewail that which is taken from us by sin?\\xa0 Do we see the death upon us?\\xa0 We must come as widows calling upon the Lord to find His Word at work in our hearts, bringing us to life.\\xa0 And we must share that Word with others.\\xa0 Once raised from the dead, we must proclaim what the Word has done for us.\\xa0 We must recognize His power at work in the world.\\xa0 \\nMay the Word go forth to the ends of the earth, speaking of the saving power of God.\\xa0 May it raise all from death.\\xa0\\nWritten, read and chanted, and produced by James Kurt.\\nMusic: "Be Well" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt.\\n*******\\nO LORD, let the life breath return to your children;\\nby your grace let us rise from the dead to praise you.\\nYHWH, your Son looks with pity upon our poor condition, He sees that we are bereft of our only Child, of the light of our eyes \\u2013 He sees our souls descend to the nether world and desires only to raise them from such darkness to the eternal light of your presence\\u2026 and He prays for us\\u2026 and He calls to us\\u2026 and we rise and are held in our Mother\\u2019s arms.\\nTo the Church Jesus entrusts our souls; our very lives are in the hands of our Mother on earth. Dearest God, let us never be separated from the life-giving Breath you give us through your apostles, through the magisterium, through the teaching of your Son which they guard so assiduously.\\xa0 In your House let us remain all the days of our life.\\nWhat hope have we if you call attention to our guilt, to the sin upon our souls?\\xa0 But in your compassion you preserve us from certain death, and for this we praise you.\\xa0 Thank you, LORD, for visiting your people and changing our mourning into dancing before you.'