This is not a superficial game that he is suggesting. Rather, he calls upon us to go deeply within our inner lives and find — actually to discover — those areas of life that need to die.
The truth is that things get implanted deep within our spirit and some of those things “choke off life.”
Think of a time when you were wounded by another person intentionally, or without their knowing you felt wounded by them. Think of the many times that this wound was replayed, revived, and reinstated until it became a part of your very self.
Think of the pain, the hurt, the anger, the resentment that soon became inseparable from your inner heart of hearts.
“Let it die,” says Jesus. Love something or someone else more than that.
Jesus uses strong and vivid language to capture the essence of the decision and the process to make the change. The kingdom of God is the reality of dying and coming to life — letting go and grabbing on to something bigger, better, deeper and more loving and more wonderful.
Jesus always seeks our joy and our hope and our desire for God, deep within.
“What are you looking for? What did you lose? What have you found?”
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at perry.leiker@gmail.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
