Homily For The Thirty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time. Year C, November 6, 2022
” For I trust, in whatever manner I die, that I shall not be deprived of the Mercy of my God, without which my eternal ruin would be inevitable, whether I die an unprepared death, or whether I have long anticipated my end .”
– St. Gertrude
My Dearest Friends,
We are gradually coming to the end of the Church Year and, providentially, the end of the calendar year. As the end draws near, the Church keeps our minds focused on end-time realities like death and resurrection which we shall hear in today’s readings. This is a time of reflection and recollection in preparation for the Season of Advent.
Today’s readings invite us to reflect on the theme of resurrection and provide us with convincing evidence of belief in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The Church does not attempt to offer proof of the resurrection of the dead but simply professes her faith in it and invites her children to do the same. For a scientist, the doctrine of resurrection may not make any sense since it isn’t empirically verifiable. However, I am not discussing science, I am simply talking about a religious belief that we have reasonable evidence to believe in because we are convinced of it. Our conviction stems not only from God’s Word but also from the testimonies and miracles of the Saints through the ages, who have proven beyond doubt that our life does not end in the grave. So, I encourage you to believe and also remind you, that the life you live today decides your eternal destination in the afterlife.
Do you believe that there is life after death or in the immortality of the soul? Maybe yes or maybe no? Many religions, apart from Christianity share similar beliefs in life after death. African traditional religion, for instance, has a strong belief in the “Ancestral cult.” An ancestor is a good man in a clan who died a good death at a ripe old age and was buried according to the norms of the tradition. He intercedes for his clan and his family. In African Traditional Religion a bad person does not become an ancestor when he dies. Here, ATR shares a similar but not complimentary belief with Catholicism, which is that good and righteous people continue to live eternally after their earthly life ends.
The first reading gives us strong evidence of belief in the resurrection, through the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons. Their martyrdom is a big challenge to us. It was during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, an anti-Semitic and pagan king, that tried to force the woman and her seven sons to go against their Faith and to eat pork (meat forbidden by the Jews). They preferred to die than compromise their Faith. The mother of these seven was the most remarkable of all and deserves to be remembered with special honor. She watched her seven sons die in the space of a single day, yet she bore it bravely because she put her trust in the Lord and in her belief in the resurrection. What would have death profited them if there is no resurrection? What would have death profited Maximilian Kolbe if death extinguishes the flame of life? But because there is life after earthly death, they all died to live in eternity. Here is what one of the seven brothers said before he died: “…you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the World(Christ) will raise us to live again forever. It is for His laws that we are dying.” Imagine such a courageous conviction!! How I wish we would all have such a convinced faith! Resurrection is not a fairy tale. Many Christian martyrs who witnessed the faith by shedding their blood, had great faith in their resurrection. Many among us have had the experience of a deceased loved one who spoke to them in a dream and gave us valuable information that turned out to be real and positive. What about the countless miracles of the Saints, especially their healing miracles that have remained elusive to science even with the most sophisticated or state-of-the-art diagnostic machines? I am very much convinced that there are mysteries beyond our human comprehension. The resurrection of the dead which we profess in the ‘credo’ is one of such mysteries. The resurrection is an article of our Faith. To reject it is to live without purpose because the meaning of life is fulfilled in death.
In the second reading, St. Paul appealed to the Thessalonians to pray for him to be delivered from the hand of the perverse and wicked people because many are yet to believe in the Gospel. We saw in the first reading an example of such wickedness in the person of Antiochus the pagan king. Our world today is becoming riskier to live in because many who don’t believe in the Gospel terrorize the rest. Our lives are not guaranteed, no matter how secure we think we are. The time of our death is very uncertain. Let us, therefore, remain fervent in prayers for each other and for the conversion and repentance of those who perpetrate evil against humanity because of their ignorance or rejection of the Gospel. May we live righteously doing good to all, and always be firm that God will not abandon us in life or death. “For I trust, in whatever manner I die, that I shall not be deprived of the mercy of my God, without which my eternal ruin would be inevitable, whether I die an unprepared death, or whether I have long anticipated my end .”
– St. Gertrude
In the Gospel, the Sadducees (those deniers of God’s ultimate justice) approach Jesus with a case meant to make resurrection look ridiculous. Jesus brushes them off with a theological shrug that simply rejects the premise of their case. They dispersed. Jesus was handed a case involving the complexities of Levirate marriage, that patriarchal institution that protected women by passing them from brother to brother. Be that as it may, what interests me in these readings is Christ’s theologically sound refutation which inspires our faith in resurrection.. He says that those who are deemed worthy to attain the coming age and to the resurrection will no longer die. “For they are like an angel, and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” So the issue of marrying and remarrying will end in this life. We shall all stand before the judgment throne of God on the last day to give an account of how we lived our lives as individuals, not as husband and wife or in groups. You came alone into this world, you will die alone, be buried alone, and be judged alone. So don’t let marriage or anyone be a hindrance to your spiritual growth. The challenging question we have to ask is, who are these who would be deemed worthy of the resurrection, and who shall never die? Of course, they are those who live righteously today in obedience to the commandments of God: love of neighbor and charity to the poor. Our God is the God of the living and not of the dead. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live .( cf. John 11:25). Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening but sweet and precious”.
– St. Rose of Viterbo
May we profess our faith in the resurrection of the dead and ask for God’s Grace to live righteously today and to rise again to live with Him forever on the last day when He comes again to judge the living and the dead.
Prayer: Lord you are the author and finisher of my being. Only you know when my end will come. Give me the Grace to live each day in Your Presence and to remain in Your Presence until this earthly life passes away.
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
