Ordinary 33

The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2016 – Cycle C Malachi 3:19-20; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 23:7-12; Luke 21:5-19

Do you ever reflect on death?

I do.  With a mother who is 91 years of age and experiencing many of the infirmities associated with length of life, I often think as I put down the phone, will this be the last time I speak with her.  As I drive away and see her look out the kitchen window waving, will this be the last time I see her alive?   I often reflect on death.  As a priest, much of my ministry is with the dying, the dead and mourning parishioners.  You never get used to it nor should any of us.

Death is at the center of our faith and this Eucharist.  Each week we tell the story of how, “on the night before he died, Jesus took bread…”  In the Creed we each declare, “I believe…Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried…”   We sing, “When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord…”  We pray for our dead in every Eucharistic Prayer, “Remember our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep…and all who have died in your mercy.”

The Church continually reflects on death.  And the Sundays of November into Advent’s December invite us to reflect on aspects of our faith we probably would rather not ponder: death, judgement, heaven and hell.

What is this experience called death?

• Many people today believe that death is simply the end of life. Is that true?  If you don’t believe that death is the complete annihilation of life, why?  How do you know?

• I’ve often heard people remark that their relative died on the OR table but the surgical team brought them back to life. Is it true that death is no longer permanent and has been conquered by science and medicine?

• In the not too distant past, death was determined by the cessation of breathing and then it was the heart muscle no longer pumping; now it is brain activity we measure, but is death only a measurable physical reality?

The Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church make few statements about death.

• Christianity understands that human beings are an inseparable unity of body and soul. We are incarnate spirits.  We Christians hold on to many seemingly contradictory unities:  Jesus is human and divine.  Mary is virgin and mother.  God is one and three.  Jesus is dead and alive.  Belief is faith and reason.  Humans are body and soul.  The poetic paradoxes of our faith are held in tension.  The truths they express are wonderfully imaginative and mysterious speaking deep to the hear.

Death is the separation of a unity that is inseparable.  [CCC 1016]

• The Book of Wisdom clearly states that God did not intend death for us. “God formed the human being to be imperishable…”  [Wisdom 2:23-24].   The Church understands death as the consequence of our sinful choices: “From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you shall die.” [Genesis 2:15-17]  [CCC 1006]  Parents that should sound familiar to you.  Isn’t that one of the first aspects of life that you teach your children that there are consequences for your choices. How many people die early, sometimes painfully, because they made choices against their health?  There are consequences for whether we study or not, for physical training in sports, for playing or not playing fair and cheating, for whether we are respectful or not to people, for using our abilities or are incompetent and lazy at work, for choices in regard to kindness, greed, and generosity toward people.  Life is daily filled with choices big and small that are opportunities for taking our responsibilities to God and each other seriously.

Sin, not listening and carrying out the will of God for us, has consequences: death.

• And there does come a time when there is no more time to make choices. Life is not open-ended.  [CCC 1021] This is made explicit in the parable of Tens Virgin Bridesmaids: “Then the door [to the wedding feast] was locked.  Afterwards the unwise virgins came and said, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’  But the [groom] said in reply, ‘I do not know you.’” [Matt 25:10-12]

Of all the stories Jesus told, this one ends most menacingly.  What do you make of it?

But God and our Christian belief do not leave death with the last word because we believe that God thrust his hand into the heart of death and pulled out life.  Thus we sing, “We proclaim your death, O Lord and profess your resurrection…”  Another paradox!  Jesus is himself and more than himself.  Jesus is dead and alive.  Jesus is with God in heaven and within us on earth.  Jesus has died and transformed death.

The theologian, Ladislaus Boros challenges us to understand that death now emptied of power by Christ’s death, is our last act of faith.  We choose death and enter into it as Jesus did.  Consider Jesus’ final prayer: “Into your hands I commend, I entrust, my spirit; you will redeem me, O faithful God.”  [Psalm 31:6; Luke 23:46]

Do you ever reflect on death?  Why not?

God was faithful to Jesus.  Why would our God not be faithful to me, to us?