“…and he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Luke 20:38.

We live in a society that pushes. One cup of coffee has turned into two pots, eight plus hours of sleep has become six, and a 40 hour work week has turned into sixty. Although we are doing more, are we actually living less?

As college students, we write over 500 pages of e-mail every year. I cannot even imagine how many e-mails professionals of all sorts send each year. Yes, it is true we are communicating, but are we really talking about and sharing our lives with one another? We are more in touch with the world around us, but have we lost touch with ourselves? We try to pack 26.5 hours into a 24-hour day. We may be living, but how alive are we?

This passage from Luke’s Gospel today was a powerful reminder to me that I am a creature of God and that he wants and calls me to live for and within the abundance around me. He wants us all to the live in abundance of one another, of the beautiful trees and leaves, in the sunlight, and in the darkness. God is the God of the living and He calls us into communion with everyone and everything around us. This gospel passage is deeply connected with the Catholic Church’s belief in the communion of saints. Although we experience a mortal death, we are offered the promise of life once again in Christ. Thus, for God, all are alive.

The First Reading today presents us with the reality of life when we turn away from God and try to live outside and against His abundance. The only way to become dead is to reject the life that God so freely gives. The message of King Antiochus I think is the following: when we become greedy and try to control our lives and the lives of others around us, we make ourselves gods and in the process reject the love of God the Father and the life He gives.

Life is not lived though e-mails, or text messages, but in the beautiful presence of God and all those we love and those who love us. In order to be truly alive, we must be truly present to God and others.