Anima Ipsius | Life Within

"But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, 'Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.'" — Acts 20:10 (NRSV)

 

Photo taken by Józef Trzebuniak

In today's passage we see that Paul is bidding farewell to the people of Troas as he is moving to the next place of his mission. Since it was the last night with them he decided to spend more time with the people talking to them. At that time one young man named Eutychus, who fell asleep, fell down to the ground three floors below. It is mentioned in the Bible that he was picked up dead. However, Paul came down and picked the dead body of this young man and raised him to life saying, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul continued the meeting till dawn.

Dear brothers and sisters, as long as we have life in our body we are alive. God has given all of us this gift of life. It may be long or short we do not know. Along with life he also gives us freedom. The freedom to Choose God or devil. The real way of making use of this freedom is to glorify God through our life. But many choose the other way, the easy way to glorify evil.

The young man fell asleep while Paul was preaching the truth about Jesus Christ. The young man had not placed his heart in Jesus. We read in Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We most often place our heart on things, pleasure, people, wealth, power, name and fame etc. These things take away our hearts from Jesus. 

When we sleep in our Spiritual life we die spiritually. When we are spiritually dead it is for sure that our physical life also will be affected. Let us therefore make sure that we place Jesus in the center of our life. When we give first priority to God, God also will give first priority to us. Let us therefore ask Jesus to purify our sinful hearts and make our hearts like His. May the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of us all. Amen.

Reflection on Acts 20:7-12 by Fr. George Joseph SVD

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