Facing a fiery furnace?

Good News Reflection
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
March 24, 2010

Today's Readings:
Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95
Daniel 3:52-56
John 8:31-42
http:/www.usccb.org/nab/032410.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_03_24.mp3

Facing a fiery furnace?

In today's first reading, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego face the fiery furnace. In the Gospel reading, Jesus faces the cross. What are you facing that's difficult or fearsome? A painful task? The uncertainty of a rocky relationship? Perhaps you've been wrestling with your conscience because a Christian decision could cost you your job or a promotion.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were so devoted to God that they were willing to die for him. Jesus was so devoted to you and me and everyone else that he was willing to die for us. Love hurts. Love means making sacrifices that are painful. The question in every difficulty is: How much do we really love God? It's measured by how much we love those whom he loves.

When I think of the person I like least of all, it occurs to me that since Jesus suffered and sacrificed his life for that person, can't I at least be kind to him or her? When I think of all that I want to do with my life and remember that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to give it all up for God, can't I at least give up a portion of my life to serve God with my talents and money in the parish and the Internet and other places?

God is not asking much of us, not really. He's not asking us to die for him – although who knows? For some who are reading this reflection, that could be the glorious way they will go Home to him.

Is that a scary thought? When reading the lives of Saints who were martyred, I've wondered, "How could they die so joyfully?" Some of them were tortured terribly. How could they endure it so happily? The answer, I've noticed, is that God gave them special graces to do whatever they were called to do at the time they did it. If they were willing to say yes to dying for him, he gave them a supernatural joy like you and I have never experienced because we've never needed it. If he asks us to enter our own fiery furnaces, he will give us that same gift.

He helps us through every little martyrdom that we face. If we are willing to sacrifice a job or a promotion or a relationship or an easy life for the sake of standing firm in our love for God, then God gives us an extra dose of grace so that we can endure the hardship. We still feel pain (so did Jesus), but it's easier to bear when we're covered by grace.

Instead of saying no or serving grudgingly and sparingly with our money or ministry, we can say yes and expect God's help. Instead of hesitating because the task looks fearsome, we can say yes and receive supernatural grace to endure it. It's in the toughest of times that we spiritually grow the fastest, leaping into the life of Christ, getting through the pain of the cross all the way to the glory of the resurrection.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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