THE PRE-EMINENT

 Meditation for Friday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time
(Col 1:15-20; Lk 5:33-39)

“Christ 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…” St Paul gives this all-time description of our relationship with Jesus Christ in relation to the Father and the rest of creation. Since the Father has ‘transferred’ us to inherit the riches of the Kingdom of His Beloved Son, we need to understand the position Jesus Christ occupies in our lives. “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” That means our lives, families, society, etc cannot have lasting peace if they are not formed in Christ.

“He is the head of the body, the Church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be PRE-EMINENT. 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.” Since is God among us, and we have been called to faith in Him, we must accord Him that highest position as the pre-eminent in our lives and worship.

Think about the freshness of life we have in Jesus, to whom we have surrendered ourselves, such that He now becomes ‘our conscience’ and principle of life! Think about how powerful we are when we render ourselves powerless before Jesus! That means, if Jesus becomes pre-eminent in our lives, He will give us a new beginning and keep us reconciled with God. This new ‘burst of life’, to which the Father has transferred us to, must be received with a new heart. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.”

The old legalistic and hypocritical approach of the Pharisees and scribes cannot contain the ever-new riches in glory given to us in Jesus. Yes, Jesus Christ is pre-eminent; He is the Beginning, before all, and God among us. Therefore, we need a new wineskin, a new heart, like the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to preserve these divine riches. And we shall have peace and be bubbling with life like the new wine! Amen.  

St Gregory the Great, pray for us! Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Friday September 3rd, 2021.
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