Why Things Are

Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday of 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, and the Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, September 3rd, 2021 Texts: Col.1:15-20; Ps. 100:1-2.3.4.5; Luke 5:33-39 

St. Paul, in today's first reading, gives answer to the question: "Why are there things instead of nothing?" There are things because Christ is. We live because He lives. St. Paul expresses it thus: "Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities — all things were created through him and for him." Two things are key here: 1. We are created in Him and 2. We are created for Him. The first emphasizes that there are things because He lives, we live because He lives; without Him we would have not existed. The second emphasizes that without Him we have no reason to exist, that is, we exist because of Him. Outside Christ our life has no meaning. Today, St. Paul gives us a wake-up call to continue in Christ; for those who are yet to embrace Him to do so; and for those who have gone astray to return to Him. Whenever life is in disarray, just know that it is because Christ is lost. Our world is in disarray because some people have lost Christ. To find meaning and order in our lives, we have to be in Christ. St. Paul shows us how Jesus Christ is related to the creation in His divinity; as God is related to the world so also Christ is related to the world. When we have relation with Christ we have also relation with God: no relation with Christ means no relation with God; no relation with God is no relation with Christ. Christ is the way to God. St. Paul puts it in the following words: "Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, ..... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." Hence, St. Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is God among us, in Him God is fully present to us. The message of the presence of God in Jesus Christ continues in the gospel reading. The pharisees and scribes failed to see God in Jesus Christ. The call, today, is that we are to be conscious of God in Christ. We are to know that when we are in Christ, we are in God. The implication of this is that we are to commit our whole self to Him, love Him with one's whole heart and whole soul and whole might. We are because He lives and our life has meaning only when we live for Him.

 Thank You God for the revelation of Your Son to us, grant us the grace to commit ourselves to Him as our Lord and God. Amen.

 Fr. Andrew Olowomuke