32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
November 7, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is This Hunger for Eternal Life?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE PYRAMIDS
A year ago last summer, I served as the priest chaplain for a large group of people visiting the Middle East.
On the ten-day trip we visited Egypt and saw the magnificent pyramids on the Giza Plateau near Cairo. These pyramids are made of huge blocks of stone and were built almost 4,000 years ago.
The highest pyramid in the world stands at more than 2,700 feet and is considered the largest man-made building in the world. Imagine, and built 4,000 years ago!
At the bottom of each pyramid, there is a burial chamber for the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built.
Within the burial chamber, along with the mummy of the pharaoh, were placed food, drink, clothing, jewelry, and even the bodies of sacrificed slaves. All of this was to help the pharaoh in the after-life.
So ancients believed that the pharaoh would live on in some way after death. The pyramids are a very dramatic expression of that belief.
HUNGER FOR ETERNAL LIFE
Each of us has this desire for unending life embedded within us. It is part of who we are as human beings.
I would suggest that God plants this hunger in us at the moment of creation as a way of orienting us to one day being one with him forever. Or you might say that this hunger is evidence of the eternal life of God that we already share through the act of being created.
However we understand it, today Jesus responds to this hunger and tells us something more about it. In today’s readings, there are three messages that clarify this hunger for eternal life.
MESSAGE 1: DIFFERENT LIFE
First, Jesus reveals that life beyond this earth will be different from this life.
Picture a line that rises in elevation at the point of death
Some of the religious leaders in today’s gospel pose a ridiculous example to discredit Jesus’ teaching about resurrection. Jesus responds that life “in the age to come” or “resurrection” will be different from this.
It will not just be a continuation of this life so we cannot simply apply our experience of life now to our new life in the world to come.
Resurrection will be a new and transformed way of life, another level of being or living. It will be an experience where God is God and where we clearly and directly will be with God.
MESSAGE 2: ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
And that takes us to Jesus’ second message about resurrection, namely that this life beyond death will happen because of an ongoing relationship that we have right now.
Most of us have experienced the pain of losing a loved one. We know that at death, our love does not end.
We continue to love and because our loved one’s spirit lives on, the relationship is ongoing. Picture a straight line, with death as a demarcation, and continuance of the same straight line.
Well, Jesus’ message is that life beyond death is based on the nature of God who is pure love.
God’s love for us is absolute and complete and it is because of this love, because of who God is, we are sure that our relationship with God will continue beyond death.
That assurance is precisely why the brothers in today’s first reading are willing to die rather than violate their faith by eating pork.
They trust in God and in their ongoing relationship with this loving God. This love will strengthens us as well in times of trouble. It draws us to a new level of commitment in the here-and-now.
MESSAGE 3: PRESENT ENERGY
And this brings us to Jesus’ third message: that this hope of future resurrection offers us in every moment we live, new energy for living.
It energizes us to bring light where there is darkness, to bring love where there is dysfunction, and pardon where there is injury.
This is exactly what it does for Jesus. He is so one-with-the-Father and life beyond that he has energy even in the present moment as he dies on the cross.
He is able to say: (1)“Father, forgive them” and (2)“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
So too with us, the promise of future resurrection gives us a present energy for dealing with all the challenges, complexity and adversities of life.
CONCLUSION
At our Parish Mission this week – Monday and Tuesday at noon and at 7:30pm, and Wednesday at 7:30 – we’ll have the opportunity to (1) Develop our relationship with God through one-on-one encounters and (2) As the grace of divine presence flows to have it energize and animate us as believers.
Big promises? Yes! But come see for yourself how big!
All Middle or High Schoolers, all young adults, adults or seniors of all faiths are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment