Embrace dying within so that new life may emerge

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Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
“Looking Ahead” is a reflection on the Sunday readings by Father Perry for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
“The menu is not the meal.” — Alan Watts.
As we prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are confronted with the call and necessity to experience our own death and resurrection internally.
The Gospel calls us to complete transformation — the seed must go into the ground and die if it is to produce much fruit.
Even the Year A Gospel (used for the Masses with the RCIA elect) this weekend focuses on death and rising from death in the story of Lazarus.
Empty tombs seem to be the order of the day. Death will have no more power over us.
With Paul, we can ask: “Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh Grave, where is your victory.”
We are called to embrace the process of dying within so that new life may emerge.
This, of course, goes far beyond Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
We are a Paschal people who embrace this not on just a couple of days, but as a way of life.
Further, we are to model it so that others may discover the power of the cross — the death and the resurrection in their daily living.
Liturgically and spiritually as church we come to these holiest of days to find the fullness of life.
Come to these sacred and powerful liturgies. Make use of the sacraments these days, especially confession.
Let healing, renewal, emptying of our inner tombs be the order of our day!
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
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