BROADCASTS.com

(2Mac.7:1-2,9-14;\xa0\xa0 Ps.17:1,5-6,8,15;\xa0\xa0 2Thes.2:16-3:5;\xa0\xa0 Lk.20:27-38) \xa0 \u201cOn waking I shall be content in your presence.\u201d \xa0 Our hope is in the resurrection, brothers and sisters.\xa0 It is this which gives us strength, and it is our endurance which brings us to His presence. Brothers and sisters, indeed, as Paul wishes us, we have \u201ceverlasting encouragement and good hope\u201d through the grace of our Lord.\xa0 He strengthens our hearts \u201cin every good deed and word\u201d and guards us \u201cfrom the evil one.\u201d\xa0 Thus our hearts should be directed \u201cto the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.\u201d We have as our example today these seven brothers spoken of in the Second Book of Maccabees, who showed the endurance of Christ and their faith in the resurrection to life despite the severity of their torture at the hands of the wicked of this world \u2013 and all this before the coming of Christ into the world and the great graces He has since imparted to His Church.\xa0 If they could die so for the law alone, to what deeds should we not be able to attain?\xa0 If in the presence of their torturers they could state with such confidence, \u201cThe King of the world will raise us up to live again forever,\u201d what should we not be able to declare in the name of Him who has now been raised from the dead and ascended to glory?\xa0 If they were so well able to regard their suffering \u201cas nothing,\u201d how much easier should be our own sacrifice, we who stand \u201cin the shadow\u201d of His cross and have His wounds in which to take refuge?\xa0 Indeed, such greater reason have we to hold to \u201cthe hope God gives of being raised up by Him.\u201d \u201cThat the dead will rise\u201d there should be no doubt in our hearts.\xa0 The fact that \u201cto Him all are alive\u201d should be firmly fixed as a peg in the deepest recesses of our souls.\xa0 Certainly, this is who we are, children of the resurrection, with the calling to come to Christ, He who has been raised to life.\xa0 I pray we shall all be \u201cdeemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead.\u201d\xa0 Children of God, may we be like angels in His presence when we rise.\xa0 May our minds not be darkened by the night upon this earth, but let our hope be fixed on the coming morning and our faith strengthen us to endure until we stand with Him on that new day. \xa0 Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. \xa0 Music: "Too Good for This World" from Remove the Mask of Lies, second album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. \xa0 ******* O LORD, give us the courage to believe\xa0 we shall rise with your Son. YHWH, keep us steadfast in your paths that soon we might come to your heavenly kingdom; let us be ready to die for you, that we might be raised to glory. If the seven brothers spoken of in Maccabees could so readily give their lives, could so courageously face the cruel torture imposed upon them by the devil, what faith should we not have, dear LORD, we who have your only Son now at our side and your Holy Spirit to open our eyes?\xa0 Do we not even now look upon your face; are the glimpses we gain today not so much greater than then? How strong we should be in walking your way, LORD, we to whom the resurrection has been spoken of so clearly.\xa0 We whom your Son has told in no uncertain terms that the just shall rise from the dead and be like the angels of Heaven should have no doubt remaining in our hearts and no fear of proclaiming Jesus as God.\xa0 O help us to endure with joy even to the Day of His coming!