Weekly HOMILY for November 15, 2009: LIfe Lived from the End Looking Backward

33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Our Lady of Grace
November 15, 2009

Life Lived from the End Looking Backward
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Planning Funerals

Recently I read an article about a pastor who does an unusual exercise in his pre-marriage counseling.

At one point in the marriage preparation process, the priest asks the couple to plan each other’s funeral. At first take, this sounds like a real downer.

After all, weddings are supposed to be happy, up-beat times. So, why talk about something sad like the death of a spouse?

This priest finds that the exercise leads the spouses-to-be to think about the kind of person their partner may be years or decades later. And then the two of them start talking about how they might best take care of each other and their marriage right now.

In other words, the couple looks at how their marriage may end, with the death of one of them, and in doing this, they discover how to begin and sustain their marriage in the best possible way from the front end.


From the End Looking Backward

In effect, this is what Jesus is asking us to do today.

He presents a view of human history from the end looking backward and does so by using several images.

For example, he say, “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming.”

The clear consensus among biblical scholars is that Jesus does not intend these images to be taken literally. And for sure, he is not intending them to help us to predict when the end will come.

Instead, Jesus is simply reminding us that that there will be an end – someday an end of the world, and certainly an end to my individual life on this earth.

By hammering away on this point, he presents a view of our lives from the end looking backward. (Demonstrate this spatially.)

Jesus’ intention is for us to have that future end shape how we live in the present. Another way to say it is that he wants our faith and hope in the future to mold our lives right now.


The End Shaping the Present

APPRECIATION: With this view of our lives from the end looking backward, we might make sure that we appreciate persons in our lives right now. Husbands and wives might make sure that they speak the endearing words they use and use them more frequently.

Parents might make sure that they affirm the unique strengths and gifts of their children.

Friends might make sure that they are there for each other both in accomplishment and in need.

PROCRASTINATION: Again, with this view of our lives from the end looking backward, we might do things that we keep putting off. We might do our part to patch up a relationship that has broken down.

We might figure out a way to have that family vacation that we always talk about. We might schedule regular visits or phone calls to our parents before it is too late.

CREATIVITY: And again, with this view of our lives from the end looking backward, we might do some imagining and create opportunities for things that we will really want to have done.

We might read that spiritual book or be part of that Scripture group for nourishing our relationship with God.

We might plan that once-a-month or once-a-week date night with our spouse or relationship night with friends or extended family.

We might even write a list of the twenty--five things we want to do before we die.


Conclusion

Jesus, in his divine wisdom, gives us some special wisdom today.

Look at your life from its end looking backward. Let that future moment, the moment when my life on earth will end and I will meet god face-to-face, let that shape the present.

Let our faith and hope in that moment begin to mold our lives right now.

This is the best way, it is the way for living life fully now and preparing for the fullness of life with God.