Weekly THIS AND THAT for April 1, 2007: A Fountain of Youth for You?

This and That:
A Fountain of Youth for You?

The final session of our Lenten Family Friday series: “How What We Believe Can Make A Difference” was entitled, A Fountain of Youth for You?

We began the session by looking at some “Youthful Longings” and “Adult Fears”. We named the first fear as mortality – the fear of death and the corresponding longing is for life unending. The second fear is that life has no meaning and we are just drifting through our existence. The longing that counteracts this fear is the longing for meaning and purpose in our life. The third fear is isolation and our longing in the face of that fear is for connections with others. The final fear is being alone in the universe and our deepest longing is for love.

We then turned our attention to some teachings of our Catholic Church that speak to our fears and longings. Those teachings include the following:

➢ This life is NOT all there is.
➢ We believe in resurrection of the body
➢ We believe in life everlasting
➢ We believe in a Risen Lord
➢ We believe that “resurrected” life begins here on earth

With these beliefs in mind, we looked at how our culture promotes a very different set of beliefs, including:

➢ Live for the present moment
➢ Instant gratification
➢ You only live once
➢ Believe in what we can see now

During table discussion, we considered our belief that God has created us for eternal life, so this life is not all there is. We thought about what shows us that when something sleeps, dies, or is in a state of upset – it’s not the end?

Some of the things that came to mind were: how we see in nature that plants die to be born again; how the body heals after illness or injury; how we experience that relationships that were broken can be healed; how grief subsides over time; and the reality that we wake from sleep each morning. These are hints from our experience that point to the promise of our glorification.

Next, we looked at our belief in the resurrection of the body, which is based upon our faith the Jesus rose from the dead bodily. Resurrection of the body builds on our experiences of healing. If the Spirit can raise Jesus, the Spirit can raise us also. What we experience in the hints to glorification will become fully realized when we are resurrected. We read this belief in the New Testament Letter to the Romans:

“If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Romans 8:11

What’s more, we believe that this glorification will last forever, as we will live forever with God. In the Gospel of John we read, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” John 6:40

Jesus is the Way to this glorification forever. We believe that this is guaranteed by the fact that he is risen and still present to us, bringing us along to glory with him.

All of this is a promise of our own eternal life. The hints to glorification that we experience now become actual through faith in Jesus. In the Gospel of John, we read the story of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, who has died. Jesus tells Lazarus’ sister, Martha, “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” We believe that resurrected life begins here and now. We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven after death to live the resurrected life.

Which would you prefer? “Pie in the sky when you die” OR living heaven now? As followers of Jesus, we are called to live our lives NOW in union with him, that we might also live in union with him forever.

How could “living heaven now” influence your choices?

Does this understanding color how we approach death – as a passage to eternal life? Does it change how we prepare for death – by the way we live now?

Does it give us a perspective on our lives – this is not all there is?

Does it call us to live in hope, since we live the resurrected life because of our Baptism in Christ?

Returning to our title for this session, a “fountain of youth” is not about the number of years you live on this earth, it’s the experience of heaven – life in union with God, and we can have it NOW!

So…Does what we believe make a difference?

Fondly,
Father Nick Amato