The Gospel Gives Us What We Need

The Gospels can raise questions in our minds, and that is appropriate, the Word of God should raise questions and make you think.  In today’s Gospel, the young man in Nain is raised from the dead and the natural question to arise from that is why. Why him? Why not someone else? Truth be told, the Gospels don’t have every single moment of the life of Jesus written down in chronological order. The Gospels give us what we need to know. We need to know that Jesus performed great miracles, like raising people from the dead, but we do not need to know how many and all the circumstances.  
So why the man from Nain? Who knows? Maybe the inspired authors thought that was one of the most dramatic miracles to be witnessed. We’ll never know until we too share in the beatific vision in heaven. My point is this, don’t worry about why something is in sacred scripture, but try and figure out what it means for you and your life. It can be easy to let the mind wander when reading our bibles. I would bet that sometimes you read it thinking that these stories can’t be relevant to my life now, and perhaps some of the Old Testament might fall into that category, but the reality of MY life and YOURS is that the New Testament is very relevant. Especially the Gospels, for they lay out very clearly the life of Jesus and his suffering, death and finally resurrection. From these passages, we can learn much about what God wants for us, what He wishes for us and how, if we follow the examples of Jesus and Mary, we too can enjoy the reward of heaven. Read the scriptures my friends, read them with an open heart and allow the Word to permeate you. Pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle and in that prayer ask Jesus to give you what you need. We are a people of the Word, but also the Eucharist, and we must never forget that.  Try to get to Mass a few minutes early, pray before Jesus and allow Him to work in your lives. This prayer will change you --and perhaps that’s a little scary because being a committed disciple will have its scary moments-- but the rewards of discipleship far outweigh any fearful moments. Let us keep striving to be better disciples here and see how it can transform not only a place, but more importantly how it transforms us.  Peace.