December 8, 2022

Reflection

REDEMPTION

You would think being a Redemptorist since 1960 - growing up in a Redemptorist parish - going to Redemptorist seminaries - hearing Redemptorist sermons on Redemption, I would know what Redemption means.

But here is is July 24, 2008 - still pondering  - Thursday after the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer - that I chose redemption as the final reflection in this book.

What is the heart of the matter when it comes to understanding redemption?

First answer: I am not God.

That means I have an end coming.

Will that mean that's the end of me?

If I want to get beyond death, that means I need a Redeemer.

I  need a Messiah, a Savior, God who can wake me up on the other side of death.  I need someone to take me across the sea of death. I need someone who will call to me with breakfast on the beach - in the morning of  Resurrection.

Up till my death I thought at times I could go it alone - without God, without religion, without others, but just like I needed parents to get started, I need someone greater than myself to start again after I end.

At 68 I faced the death question

At 58 I didn't face it as much.

At 48 I was more into the here and now.

At 38, it was all work.

At 20 Jesus did come to me - in prayer - late into many , many nights - in Esopus, New York, slowly and gradually. I was realizing Jesus was the one I could connect with - for life.

At some point in my early 20's, I heard St. Alphonsus' words, "The meaning of life, the whole ball of wax, is the practice of the love of Jesus Christ."

That was it.After that I needed to remember: "I know my Redmerlives."

The Redemptorists, besides St. Alphonsus, F.X. Durwell and Paul Hitz, helped me to get to know Jesus Christ.

Bottom line: I am not alone. I will not be alone forever.  Jesus will always be here, now and always with and waiting for me.