The readings for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) May be found at:
You only live once. We’ve all heard this phrase before, haven’t we? At times, we use these words to justify a purchase, a trip or a decision we know we probably shouldn’t make, because after all…you only live once.
But life, at least in terms of our immortal soul is a long one and in today’s gospel, we hear the promise of eternal life. An eternal life that we are meant to spend with our Lord in heaven.
But how often do we really think about heaven? How often do we think about the alternative? If we thought more about it, would that change the way we think about our life now?
In heaven, we will love everybody, but more perfectly than we do now. In fact, if our enemy makes it to heaven, we will love them more than we love our spouse or family or friends now. That should fill us with great hope.
And that’s what today’s readings are about - hope.
All the boys that died in the first reading - they talked about the hope of the resurrection, and that was before Jesus came and proved there was a resurrection by rising from the dead. That’s hope!
They said you may take my life now, but God will give it back for eternity. That’s hope!
St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to reinforce the strength that God would give them so that they could be hope-filled.
So, we need to be a people of hope.
That means no matter how dark things seem, no matter what happens in the Church, in this collaborative, no matter what happens to those that we love, no matter who says what about whom, no matter who gets elected, no matter what, we need hope!
The hope that no matter what - God is with us and strengthens us.
Regardless of what happens in this life, as followers of Jesus, we are people of hope and that means that God always wins. Always.
And being people of hope, we need to make sure we live not just for this life, but for eternal life. And that’s not always easy. Speaking for myself, I can get so caught up in day to day life and my “to do” list, that I can often forget what’s important and that’s heaven.
So as people of hope, our ultimate goal is to keep our eyes on eternal life in heaven, which is a place of love.
When you and I go beyond ourselves, in little and big ways every day, and live for others, we are preparing for what heaven is going to be like. Those in heaven already learned this while they were on earth - that the purpose of life is to love and take care of others.
In a way, that’s what we focus on in the Church in November.
One of the ways we love others is to pray for the immortal souls of those who passed from this life before us. Sometimes, we don’t pray for them because we assume they’re already in heaven, which can be a mistake. We need to show them love too, by praying for them, having Masses said for them and helping them along in their journey to heaven.
This is what hope is all about.
And so, if you have a quiet moment this week I’d ask you to have a think about how you’re doing in this life in preparing for eternal life. Ask yourself -
Am I more concerned about others than myself?
Do I make sure that I take care of those in need on a consistent basis, not just when I can fit it into my schedule?
Do I lay down my life for others?
Am I just living for now, next week or next year, or am I living for eternity?
Whether we like it or not, every one of our mortal bodies is going to die. Jesus’ mortal body died and we know we don’t measure up to Jesus. But his resurrection from the dead that we’ll proclaim in the Celebration of the Eucharist in just a few moments - gives us hope.
While our bodies will die, our souls are immortal and we need to protect them by loving and caring for others.
We may only live once – but if we do it right, with hope and love for others and our eternal soul – once is enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment