My Sisters and Brothers:
In the prayers of the Mass, we proclaim and profess “Save us Savior of the World, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free!” We call this “the Mystery of Faith,” and as baptized Christians, we believe freedom from sin, salvation, resurrection, and unending life, are promised to us by our faith. These concepts help us to understand who we are as children of God, they guide our paths through our present lives, they give us abiding hope, and they’re great consolations for those who mourn the passing of loved ones. Today’s Scripture readings give us reason to reflect on these fundamental Christian ideas, and they challenge us to know who we are from eternal perspectives!
The Old Testament “martyrdom of a Maccabean mother and her seven sons,” only partially narrated in today’s first reading, happened nearly two-hundred years before the birth of Jesus (see 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14). At the time, faithful Jews who lived in and near Jerusalem were persecuted and martyred by the evil pagan ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his cohorts. As they were about to die at the hands of their tormentors, the mother and her sons fearlessly testified to their belief in the resurrection of the dead; these testimonies gave them courage to face their deaths with the hope of new lives that would never end.
The professions of faith of the Maccabean mother and her sons speak to the theme of today’s Gospel, in which Jesus taught about the resurrection of the dead (see Luke 20:34-35). As with the new realities and eternal lives expected by the Maccabees, Jesus assured his followers their heavenly existence would also be very much different from those experienced in the flesh. Jesus promised salvation and an eternal life of complete and total happiness in the presence of God the ever-loving Father. He clearly proclaimed a life after death to be enjoyed with those loved and cherished in the here-and-now (such as family members and dear friends), but that would be passionately focused completely on God, and free of any earthly limitations (such as the worldly needs to have possessions, or to be contractually bound to husbands or wives).
Teachings about salvation, resurrection, and eternal life are often at the top of my thoughts as I celebrate baptisms and funerals, the two “bookends” of most Christian lives! In fact, I always get a little choked up when, after baptizing a newborn baby and presenting the child’s family with a lighted candle, I speak the words “this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly . . . when the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” Similar words get me a bit “verklempt” during funeral rituals when I pray “merciful Lord, turn toward us, and listen to our prayers: open the gates of paradise to your servant and help us who remain to comfort one another with assurances of faith, until we all meet in Christ and are with you and with our dear loved one forever.” The hope of resurrection permeates our journey of life, from beginning to end!
“The Mystery of Faith” assures us Jesus “saves us as the Savior of the World, and by his cross and resurrection, has set us free!” As we contemplate the salvation, resurrection, and eternal life promised by our baptismal faith, let’s fear no evil, nor worry about any human limitations we might face while walking the paths of our present lives.
My friends, keeping our eyes focused on the promise of eternal life, let’s be confident Jesus saves us and has come to set us free!
Praise God! Friar Timothy
Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo
No comments:
Post a Comment