In  yesterday's Gospel Jesus taught an important lesson for us to keep always before us. There is life after death whether with God or alienated from God. How we live our present life will determine our  final judgment before the Lord. Jesus calls us to keep our priorities in right order. If we do so, then our words and actions will reflect our priority. If being with God eternally is our deepest desire, then learn to be with him in this life. Making him the center of our lives, our one and true Lord to whom we belong, will prepare us to be his eternally. We should not fear death, but always be prepared for the inevitability of death by living in relationship with God. How? St. Paul tells us: "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, choosing the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect." (Rom 12:2)

 As we celebrate the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, I share this quote from him.  If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can."

Another way of looking at this is from the gift of his Divine Life, which he gives as a sign of his love. How conscious are we, not only in keeping this gift, but growing in it? What negatively impacts this gift? Sin. This is the distraction he is referring to. Sin is non love. Sometimes we are more conscious of other things impacting our lives, such as our weight, our looks, what others think of us, than the temptations that lead us to sin.  A little breeze may not snuff out the spark of fire within us, but a blast of wind can. But even the constant little breeze will have it's effect on the spark of life within us. Be attentive and watchful.

 St. Paul reminds us that we are children of the light, not of the darkness. What does that mean? The darkness he is referring to is the darkness within us that comes from sin in our lives. The light is the life of Christ within us. To the extent that Christ's life is in us to that extent the darkness is dispelled. Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world that must be seen by others. If there is more darkness than light, how can we make a difference. Unfortunately, some of us are more people of the dusk, some light but more darkness. We should be more the people of the twilight, growing in light, less darkness. The five wise virgins had their lamps trimmed and ready to welcome the bridegroom. The five foolish virgins let their lamps go out. Each of these different illustrations have the same meaning. Strive to live more in the light and life of Christ now, so that when he comes for us, we can live in his eternal light of glory.

 

Homily: Thirty-second Sunday Year C

 

Reading 1: Here we have in the Old Testament the belief of life after death. What motivated the seven brothers and the valiant mother to fidelity to God over the fear of death? It was the hope of life beyond death. But even greater than just life after death but life with God eternally.

 

Their belief and relationship with God had made such a difference in their lives, individually and as a family that nothing was more important to them. Remaining true and faithful to God who loved them so much was more important than avoiding physical death through torture. This takes courage and commitment.

 

What the pagan king was offering them was a temporary reprieve from an inevitable moment. What their faith in God was offering them was eternal life of true joy and happiness. To choose what the king was offering them would lead to eternal alienation from God. To choose what God was offering was eternal life with God.

 

Once God becomes the most important relationship; once God is truly God in my life; once I realize that in God is my all, then even physical death and torture will not sway me from being true to God. The reality of eternal life with God versus the fleeting life on earth, as pleasing as it may be, becomes the greater good my will chooses.

 

Gospel: The Sadducees were a privileged class among the religious leadership of Jesus’ day. They were more in line with satisfying the Roman authorities in order to keep their privileged status than fidelity to the Covenant. On the other hand, the Pharisees saw their subjugation under Rome as something to be tolerated even though they hated it.

 

The Sadducees did not believe in angels or life after death; the Pharisees did. Jesus did. While the Pharisees had not been able to entrap Jesus and discredit him, the Sadducees thought they could. They thought they would propose an extreme situation that would be impossible to answer.

The Sadducees were asking the wrong question for the wrong reason. They were not interested in the truth, because they did not believe in the resurrection and life eternal.

 

Jesus knew their hearts and their motive. He spoke the truth. The issue is not whose wife she would be but that she will continue to live eternally with God who is. Jesus was saying, you can’t judge heaven as you judge the earth. Earthly life leads to death; heavenly life is eternally different. There is no more dying or pain, crying out or concerns. The focus of those in heaven is God; all relationships are focused on him. Our concerns while on earth are no longer the same concerns in heaven. St. Paul expressed it this way: eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has prepared for those who are with him in heaven.

 

Reading 2: Paul reminds us that God is faithful and he gives us the strength to be faithful in turn so as to endure in Christ whatever may come. We can depend on the Lord to the extent we have a personal, real, true relationship with God.

 

Jesus in his humanity was able to endure the cruelty of the crucifixion because he loved the Father and knew the Father loved him. He didn’t desire death by crucifixion but he wanted to do the will of the Father out of love even it meant his death for our salvation.

 

It is the same love of the Father that will enable us to embrace the difficulties and trials of life, even the moment of death. We know that nothing can separate us from the love of God. With this awareness and the hope of entering into eternal life after death, we live each moment as it is our last, so that our last will be eternal in the presence of God.

 We remember today all the souls who have gone before us, who died in Christ, but are not in final glory. They are in the final stage of purification. They have seen God and now they yearn with greater eagerness to be stripped of any baggage that still clings to them so that they enter into God's presence. Our prayers support them in this stage. Our prayers are signs of our love for them. The existence of Purgatory is a mystery of our faith. Though Jesus has redeemed us and forgiven us of all our sins through his death and resurrection, the effects of sin may still remain after death. To enter into the full presence of God, we need to be purified of any residue of non-love within us. To be in Purgatory means that one is on the last lap in the race to the finish line. All the angels and saints in heaven and those of us on earth are cheering them on. What a God we have to so provide for us! May the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace soon.

 Thirty-Second Sunday Gospel C

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died.  Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." 

· The Sadducees were less orthodox than the Pharisees. They held only to the first five books of the OT, the Torah. Since the belief in a future resurrection developed in the later books of the OT, they did not accept this understanding.

· But even though they are normally in opposition to the Pharisees, here they are in union with them. Jesus is their common foe. The Pharisees have not succeeded in trapping Jesus, so the Sadducees take their shot at him.

o They try to present Jesus with a dilemma. If Moses permited a woman to remarry every time her husband dies. The dilemma is: will this not bring confusion into the next life? How will she determine who is her legitimate spouse if all of them are raised?

Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.  That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out 'Lord, ' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

· What two answers does Jesus give them? He deals with them on their own terms.

· Life in heaven is entirely different from life on earth. The focus of our union is not primarily with each other but with God. Because of our union with God, our union with each other is perfected. There is no more jealously or selfishness, only love of the other.

· The resurrection was foreshadowed even in the first five books of the OT. Because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob physically died, they are alive with God in heaven as all who are truly children of God.

· Even though in the Creed we profess the resurrection of the body and life everlasting, how often have we reflected on what this truly means to us?

· What do we take from this passage and apply to our life? 

 

"Come, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory." (St. Bernard)

As we celebrate this Solemnity of All Saints, I share with you this quote. Our purpose in this life is to share eternally in the life of God, which we were gifted with in Baptism. If this is not the desire of our hearts, then in reality we are wasting our time on things that will have no positive, lasting impact in our lives. In the words of Jesus, "What profit is there to gain the whole world, but in the end lose your soul.?" The saints have won the victory and are interceding for us before God that one day we may share with them in the presence of God. Don't disappoint yourself. Don't disappoint them. Above all, after what God has done for us, don't disappoint God. Run the race to receive the crown of glory.