Kelsey Collins
Sunday Reading Reflections
Sunday April 21, 2013
When we think of blood the first thing that might come to mind is death. Sometimes we think of pain or something scary. No one likes blood, it stains your clothes and it’s even gross to look at. Think about it though, without blood we wouldn’t be living. We wouldn’t be able to love, to laugh, to sing.
In the second reading this past Sunday, April 21, we read from the book of Revelations. It tells us that John has a vision of people from all the nations standing before the throne and The Lamb. But something that he also sees is all of us wearing white robes that have been washed in the Lamb’s blood. The way I want to think of it, the robes represent our lives and the way we live. Our robes are like our bodies, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The reason we have showers is because we get dirty and when we get dirty, we stink and no one wants to be around us. We clean our bodies in the shower, but we can only clean our souls when we go to Reconciliation. We still have flaws as humans, so our spiritual “robes” will still have a couple stains.
What one of the elders said to John was, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelations 7:14). So those standing before the throne and The Lamb are all of us at the gates of heaven. All of our bad decisions and all the sins we have made have been washed away, not with soap and water, but with the blood of The Lamb. Now, this doesn’t just happen in a snap. We have been given this gift from God and we have to accept it with our actions. Throughout our lives we need to accept God and preach the word of The Lord. We need to live our lives with God as the center of it. For the people who aren’t fortunate enough to have the education like my classmates and me, we need to teach them what Jesus has taught us. Just like following the rules at school is being a good student or following the law is being a good citizen, we need to follow God’s law to be a good Christian. For example, going to mass every Sunday. It’s not that difficult. This opportunity is a precious gift that we have received.
Yes, we will have a few bumps in our long journey but those bumps and bruises that we get along the way will be healed. Just like Jesus, who shed his blood for us, suffered and died for us, and has freed us from our sins. We may have shed some blood along our road but when we die we will bathe in The Lamb’s blood and it will clean our dirty robes that are torn and stained and transform them into white robes that are pure.
Getting into heaven is the ultimate goal in life. No more pain, no more sadness. God will provide you with anything you’ll need. Our robes will be white and pure.