Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
2 Timothy 2:8–15
“Enjoy your life.”
We hear it everywhere.
In advertisements.
In songs.
On social media.
In casual advice.
Enjoy it,
because life is short.
Travel more.
Buy more.
Experience more.
Protect your comfort.
Do what makes you happy.
Nothing wrong with that, is there?
But is life only about collecting more
before time runs out?
Jesus gives another answer.
He says:
“Follow me.”
And then He speaks of losing life
in order to find it.
He warns us
that gaining the whole world
means nothing
if we lose the soul.
At the heart of the Gospel
is Jesus’ passion and crucifixion.
As the risen Christ explained:
there was no other way
to His glory.
All the early followers
walked that road.
One of them
was the apostle Paul.
The moment he began to follow Jesus,
he knew what he was getting himself into.
Paul’s life was hard.
Danger.
Rejection.
Prison.
Exhaustion.
Loneliness.
And yet,
many of us would exchange
all our cellphones, tablets,
and AI hype
for the life that Paul had.
His life was not empty.
He had found something
worth living for.
Something worth suffering for.
Something worth dying for.
Christ.
The Gospel.
The Kingdom of God.
A new world
where justice lives,
where death is destroyed,
where God is all in all.
That gave Paul’s life
a fire no prison could put out.
In today’s reading,
he writes to Timothy—
one of his disciples—
from prison.
Chains are on his body.
But he
is not chained.
Now look at our world.
Many people are told
to enjoy life.
But many are not happy.
Entertained,
but bored.
Connected,
but lonely.
Busy,
but empty.
Free to choose anything,
but unsure why they are alive.
Maybe this is one wound
of our time:
we have many options,
but little meaning.
Many comforts,
but little purpose.
Many distractions,
but little hope.
A life centered only on oneself
becomes too small
for the human heart.
The heart was made
for something greater.
Paul found that greater life
in Christ.
It was a life of purpose,
a life of fulfillment,
a life for a project
that far surpasses
what any company can offer,
and that will outlast
everything we could ever build or make.
So next time you hear,
“Enjoy your life,
because it is short,”
reply:
What is the meaning of your life?
What do you live for?
Is it worth giving your life to?
Because the fullest life
is not the life we keep
for ourselves.
It is the life we give
for something greater,
for Someone greater:
the risen Christ,
the Lord of history,
His mission
of saving humankind from ourselves,
and His Kingdom
of love, peace, and righteousness,
that will never pass away.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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