Homily, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38

Letting go of what we have, or what we are familiar with can be a daunting task. It requires profound faith and trust. The reality of death is a radical example of this process. And this current season of fall offers us visual reminders with the seasonal changing of the leaves on the tree. The remembrance of the saints and of the souls of the dead earlier in the week is another reminder of the transitional nature of life and death. 

The scripture readings for these last three Sundays of the liturgical year focus on the mystery of the resurrection of the dead. Today´s First Reading from the book of Maccabees is one of the most moving passages demonstrating fidelity to God. In it a mother and her seven sons testify that their faith and fidelity to God are absolute. The king tries to get them to renounce the rules of their religion, promising them riches and rewards for doing so. He even threatens them with death if they fail to comply. As the sons and the mother are put death one by one, they give witness to their belief. They know that the same Creator who gave them life, will give them everlasting life for not denying him. Eternal happiness motivates them more than any temporal reward or punishment. 

And in the Gospel, Jesus confirms the hope these brothers and their mother professed. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were the major sects in Judaism at the time of Jesus. Ironically, the Sadducees did not believe in heaven or even spiritual realities. More ironically still, they try to make Jesus admit the impossibility of life after death by employing an example of seven brothers, who marry the same woman one after the other as the preceding spouse died. Jesus uses their sarcastic question to give them and us important teachings about our soul, our life, and about our future. 

The first truth is about our soul. Jesus says there is eternal life because in the Law of Moses God describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not that God “was” but that God “is” the God of the patriarchs. The Law of Moses refers to these patriarchs in the present tense and therefore they are alive. It is a technical argument that the Sadducees would understand. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we too are called into being by God. We are more than our bodies; we are more than our emotions or achievements. Though we are shaped by all these things, we are more than all of them. What holds them all together and makes them one is the part of us that doesn’t deteriorate and that lasts forever. That spiritual center is called the soul. 

The second truth is about our life here on earth. Jesus says, “All are alive for God”. Nobody is an accident. We are all called into being by God through our parents. We are alive for God and have a place in God’s plan. Each of us is here not only for a season but a reason. We are alive for God and have a place in God’s plan.

And the third truth is about our future- our destiny which is union with God in everlasting life. Jesus says, “The children of this age become like angels and are no longer liable to death”. Eternal life is a mystery. It remains a mystery for nobody comes back to tell us the details about the afterlife. It is what Shakespeare so memorably called “The undiscovered country from which no traveler returns.” 

We do not live for this world alone but for the kingdom of heaven. The world is good, but it is meant to direct us to the heavenly realities. Belief in the resurrection is one of the most important beliefs for us Christians. Without it, life would be journey to nowhere. With it life becomes a journey to the promised land of eternal life. That is why every Sunday we end the (Nicene) Creed with these words; “We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

As we recognize the changing of the seasons and the life/death cycle of the natural world, let us bring to mind again our faith in the divine presence and our belief in the resurrection. To have faith doesn’t mean that we have all the answers. Faith is a trust not certainty. Faith involves absolute trust in God. 

This weekend, we begin National Vocations Awareness Week. Many of us worry about vocations in the Church. Will we have enough priests? Will there be sisters and brothers, consecrated men and women to serve the Church? In a special way this week , we are called upon to pray for those who are discerning the call to priestly life. Without priests to give us the sacraments we would not be able to fulfill our mission, our calling, and the gift we have received in our baptism: to be the Church. Let us follow what Christ asked us: “pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest.” Please, daily pray for each seminarian of our diocese by name and for an increase in vocations.