What has been massacred in your life?

Good News Reflection
Monday the 4th Day in the Octave of Christmas
December 28, 2009

Today's Feast: The Holy Innocents, martyrs
Pray for the protection of children.
The prayer from my book for this is not available online;
to order the book, please go to http://gnm.org/books.htm

Today's Readings:
1 John 1:5 -- 2:2
Ps 124:2-5, 7-8
Matt 2:13-18
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122809.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_12_28.mp3

What has been massacred in your life?

What part of your life has been massacred? It might have been extremely traumatic, or it might have been small hurts that accumulated and changed how you react to life's circumstances. In some way, your innocence was lost.

Hopefully, you've allowed God (and perhaps counselors and/or support groups) to help you recover, but what was lost can never be regained. Have you let God replace it with something else?

Today's responsorial Psalm says, "Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the hunter's net." Is your soul still trapped by the pains of the past? Or have you been truly set free by the healing love of Christ? When hurtful people rise up against you, do they swallow you alive? Or is your soul free from their snare? If your moods are controlled by what others do or don't do, your soul is not free.

We should be able to handle life's circumstances in a spirit of holiness, imitating Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit within us. However, in whatever ways our souls need healing, our behaviors have been ensnared by our wounds, and thus we still live in darkness. In today's first reading, we're reminded that if we say we fellowship with Jesus but continue in darkness, we're liars.

The truth is, Jesus died on the cross to set your soul free to soar to the heights of God's love and holiness. Although we want to be free to follow Christ, as long as we remain entrapped by the past, we behave as if we're not totally convinced that he loves us.

To escape from the dark traps and let our souls fly freely to God, we have to let Jesus rescue us. That means we have to get honest with ourselves and open up our boxes of darkness, ask God to take what was lost, to take what was stolen from us, to take what was massacred, and to replace it with something that he chooses to give us.

The pains of the past should remain in the past so that he can give us something new today.

What will your "something new" be? Perhaps it's a ministry where you help others find recovery from their hurts. Perhaps it's a different location where you're away from the people who reopen old wounds, or perhaps it's new patience and strength for staying where you are.

Perhaps it's a hobby or talent you've never had time to enjoy before; find a way to use this gift for the benefit of others.

Could it be a new commitment to spend more time with Christian friends and less time alone? Or spending more time alone with God and less time in busy activities?Christian music instead of secular music? Daily Mass attendance? Dreaming new dreams and actively making them come true?

Take time to figure out where to fly to and how to get there!

"Broken was the snare, and we were freed. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
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