STUPID QUESTIONS

PRAYER MOMENT                      

Saturday 20 September 2014.

STUPID QUESTIONS

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions.” (I Cor 15:35 ff))

Reflection. Paul has little time for such questions because they show a mentality that has not grasped the total transformation that takes place at death. People have speculated for 2000 years about what ‘resurrection of the body’ might mean but they are no nearer an answer. All we know is that when we pass from this life we will be totally transformed while keeping our individuality. Paul speaks of seeds: the seed of an oak or a cedar or a baobab is so insignificant and yet look at what it can become! The seed of animals and humans; look what it can become! Each tiny seed carries the individuality of its origin and also the potential for being something entirely new. But Paul says such language hardly scratches the surface of what the resurrection means. ‘The thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious.’.      

Prayer. Lord Jesus, the day will come when we ‘will stay with you for ever (and we can) comfort one another with such thoughts as these’ (I Thes 4:18). Help is to have such faith. Amen  

David Harold-Barry SJ