Hebrews 10:32-39 / Mark 4:26-34
There is nothing really nice or good about being down.
When something is down on the ground, it is in a very vulnerable position in that it will be stepped on. Being on the ground is certainly not at a superior position.
And when we are feeling emotionally down, then we will be prone to outbursts and other kinds of behaviour that will only drag us further down.
So whether physically, or emotionally, or spiritually, when we are down we will be vulnerable and prone to all things that are not nice and not good.
A phrase that is often used is that we will call something or someone "down and out".
But does being down also means being out? We say it so often that it becomes like a mantra: down and out, so much so that when one is down, it subsequently means that one is out, or has to be out.
But when we listen to the parables of Jesus in the gospel with regards to the seeds, then we will come to see that down doesn't necessarily mean out.
In fact, down means up, so it is not down and out, but down and up. The seeds show us that.
Only when they are down on the ground or in the ground that they will begin to sprout and grow and bear fruit and put out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in their shade.
Even when the 1st reading talks about sufferings and persecutions and being stripped of everything, others would see those early Christians as being down and out.
But the 1st reading tells us those early Christians might be down, but they are down and up.
Because they know that they own something that was better and also it is a lasting reward.
But all this reversal of the world's ideas and the mantra of being down and out, comes from none other than the Resurrection of Jesus.
In rising from the dead, Jesus showed us that down is not out; in fact it is down and up. Anyway it is also said that what goes down must come up!
So whenever we feel physically, or emotionally, or spiritually down, let us know that it is not going to be out.
Let us look at Jesus on the Cross and He will raise us up. Let us also look at the Sacred Heart of Jesus and know that that is what He will do. It is a promise from His Heart.