33rd Sunday Homiy
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
At the bottom of the pond little grubs were crawling around. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the lily and never come back. “I wonder what its like up there.” They agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back. The next little grub that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature crawls up the stem and out on the surface on the lily leaf. It was really bright up there. It had been so dark and murky down below. They won’t believe this. Suddenly something begins to happen. The grub begins to open out. The grub spreads out two huge beautiful colored wings and becomes a beautiful dragonfly. It never imagines that this could have happened. It thought it would remain a grub forever. It flew back and forth across the pond. It could see the other grubs in the pond below but they couldn’t see it. It realized there was no way it could get back and that they could not recognize such a beautiful creature as ever having been one of them.
My dear brothers and sisters this will be true when we think of the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection day. Many times our culture avoids consideration of death. Many attempt to avoid the fullness of the eschatological teachings of the Gospels. There is a heaven. However, it is also equally true that there is a purgatory and that there is a hell.
Some day, as yet unknown to us, this life will come to an end and God will judge us according to our deeds. "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober" (1 Thessalonians 5: 2, 7). We need to be ready as the prophet Malachi warns us. “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will see them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 4: 1).
The temptation to interpret these events literally through the Book of Revelation would be very dangerous. In Mark we read "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son of Man, but only the Father" (Mark 13: 32).
In the Catholic liturgy we pray: "In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ".
On May 19th, 1780 in Hartford, Connecticut, the sky darkened portentously, and some of the members of the State House of Representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the House, rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought in to the chamber." Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and wait.
Fear must not control us. There is a humorous story about two explorers who were on a jungle safari. Suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. "Keep calm" the first explorer whispered. "Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run." "Sure," replied his companion. "You've read the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?"
I am not minimizing the magnitude of the challenges that confront us. Nevertheless, if we truly wish to experience the joy that the virtue of hope provides, we must abandon ourselves with total confidence to the loving hands of God our Father who knows all things.
You have a Big Day ahead of you, and so do I. It’s the day we will die. The whole world and all of humanity also have a big day that lies ahead, the Day of the Lord, that day in which the world as we know it will come to an end. Both our own Big Day and the world’s will each be a day of reckoning, that day in which we will account for all that we have done and all that we have not done through neglect, indifference and simply not caring.
How does the Catholic Church want us to think of that Day of the Lord? What’s the right attitude and vision that we should have about that day, a day that we will all certainly face?
Now the Catholic Church doesn’t ignore the fact that the world will come to an end and that Christ will come again in judgment on the Last Day. But our Church does ask us not to spend a lot of time and energy pondering over when He is coming. It does want us to pay attention to the fact that He will come again.
Why is this so important? Because death gives meaning to life. If we ignore the fact that we will die and give a reckoning to God, then we’ll forget about how we should be living here and now – today, tomorrow, the rest of the week, the rest of the year, and so forth. If we ignore that we are facing a Day of Judgment, both individually and collectively, we will ignore the way we treat others. We’ll forget about accomplishing the tasks we all have here and now in revealing God’s presence in our own lives and in the lives of others.
The Church puts the Last Days in front of our eyes so that we can judge what it is we’re doing for Christ these days, here, right now. The most effective way to ensure the value of the future is to confront the present courageously and constructively. The Lord speaks to us of the End of the World because thinking about it puts our present day’s values in proper perspective.
While it’s quite true that you may die tomorrow in some sudden and unexpected accident, your value in death, the value of the days you have lived among us, will depend on what you have done with the days God has already given you as well as upon what you have done today. So do I. We should plan ahead and work as if we’re going to live forever… and we should live like we’re going to die tomorrow. Today is not only the first day of the rest of your life here on earth; it is the first day of your eternal life.
Many people in our world, people that we know, live without caring a bit about the end of their individual lives as well as about the end of our world. If we don’t care about the Final Day of Judgment, and if we don’t care about our own particular day of judgment (the day we die) then we won’t care about what we’re doing today and tomorrow, about what’s important in life, or about the way we treat other people, or the world’s resources, or about making the world a more beautiful place.
So today is the first day of the rest of your life – both your life here on earth as well as your eternal life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
At the bottom of the pond little grubs were crawling around. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the lily and never come back. “I wonder what its like up there.” They agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back. The next little grub that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature crawls up the stem and out on the surface on the lily leaf. It was really bright up there. It had been so dark and murky down below. They won’t believe this. Suddenly something begins to happen. The grub begins to open out. The grub spreads out two huge beautiful colored wings and becomes a beautiful dragonfly. It never imagines that this could have happened. It thought it would remain a grub forever. It flew back and forth across the pond. It could see the other grubs in the pond below but they couldn’t see it. It realized there was no way it could get back and that they could not recognize such a beautiful creature as ever having been one of them.
My dear brothers and sisters this will be true when we think of the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection day. Many times our culture avoids consideration of death. Many attempt to avoid the fullness of the eschatological teachings of the Gospels. There is a heaven. However, it is also equally true that there is a purgatory and that there is a hell.
Some day, as yet unknown to us, this life will come to an end and God will judge us according to our deeds. "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober" (1 Thessalonians 5: 2, 7). We need to be ready as the prophet Malachi warns us. “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will see them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 4: 1).
The temptation to interpret these events literally through the Book of Revelation would be very dangerous. In Mark we read "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son of Man, but only the Father" (Mark 13: 32).
In the Catholic liturgy we pray: "In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ".
On May 19th, 1780 in Hartford, Connecticut, the sky darkened portentously, and some of the members of the State House of Representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the House, rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought in to the chamber." Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and wait.
Fear must not control us. There is a humorous story about two explorers who were on a jungle safari. Suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. "Keep calm" the first explorer whispered. "Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run." "Sure," replied his companion. "You've read the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?"
I am not minimizing the magnitude of the challenges that confront us. Nevertheless, if we truly wish to experience the joy that the virtue of hope provides, we must abandon ourselves with total confidence to the loving hands of God our Father who knows all things.
You have a Big Day ahead of you, and so do I. It’s the day we will die. The whole world and all of humanity also have a big day that lies ahead, the Day of the Lord, that day in which the world as we know it will come to an end. Both our own Big Day and the world’s will each be a day of reckoning, that day in which we will account for all that we have done and all that we have not done through neglect, indifference and simply not caring.
How does the Catholic Church want us to think of that Day of the Lord? What’s the right attitude and vision that we should have about that day, a day that we will all certainly face?
Now the Catholic Church doesn’t ignore the fact that the world will come to an end and that Christ will come again in judgment on the Last Day. But our Church does ask us not to spend a lot of time and energy pondering over when He is coming. It does want us to pay attention to the fact that He will come again.
Why is this so important? Because death gives meaning to life. If we ignore the fact that we will die and give a reckoning to God, then we’ll forget about how we should be living here and now – today, tomorrow, the rest of the week, the rest of the year, and so forth. If we ignore that we are facing a Day of Judgment, both individually and collectively, we will ignore the way we treat others. We’ll forget about accomplishing the tasks we all have here and now in revealing God’s presence in our own lives and in the lives of others.
The Church puts the Last Days in front of our eyes so that we can judge what it is we’re doing for Christ these days, here, right now. The most effective way to ensure the value of the future is to confront the present courageously and constructively. The Lord speaks to us of the End of the World because thinking about it puts our present day’s values in proper perspective.
While it’s quite true that you may die tomorrow in some sudden and unexpected accident, your value in death, the value of the days you have lived among us, will depend on what you have done with the days God has already given you as well as upon what you have done today. So do I. We should plan ahead and work as if we’re going to live forever… and we should live like we’re going to die tomorrow. Today is not only the first day of the rest of your life here on earth; it is the first day of your eternal life.
Many people in our world, people that we know, live without caring a bit about the end of their individual lives as well as about the end of our world. If we don’t care about the Final Day of Judgment, and if we don’t care about our own particular day of judgment (the day we die) then we won’t care about what we’re doing today and tomorrow, about what’s important in life, or about the way we treat other people, or the world’s resources, or about making the world a more beautiful place.
So today is the first day of the rest of your life – both your life here on earth as well as your eternal life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment