Homily for Ordinary Time – 33rd Sunday Year B 2015
Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14,18; Mark 13:24-32
Introduction
In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes, so
said Benjamin Franklin.
With all due respect to Franklin, Catholics have a lot more
to expect than death and taxes. Catholic
tradition teaches Four Last Things that are certain and about which today's
readings speak: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.
Scripture and Theology
The first one, death, brings an end to human life as we know
it. At death we come to the end of that
time, which God gives us to either accept or reject his love in Christ (CCC
1021). The time while we are on earth is
the time to choose, to be with God or against him. In fact, that is the only reason God created
us, to share his love with us, so that we can then love him back in this life
and in the life to come. With death,
this opportunity of choosing ends.
That is why the second thing is judgment, when we are judged
on the choices we have made before our death.
There are two kinds of judgments that await us: the Particular Judgment
we receive immediately after we die and the Last Judgment that will come at the
end of time.
1.
In the Particular Judgment right after we die,
we are rewarded immediately in accordance with our faith and works. In parable of Lazarus, for example, as soon
as the poor man dies, he is judged and found worthy and therefore rewarded with
a place in the bosom of Abraham in heaven.
The rich mean man, however, is judged and found unworthy and is
therefore punished with a place in the fires of hell.
2.
The Last Judgment will come at the end of time,
when Christ will return and assume kingship of the whole universe. Jesus describes this judgment in the story of
the sheep and goats, when he will separate the sheep to one side and the goats
to other. The sheep will be those who
were kind to him in the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and prisoners,
while the goats ignored him. This Last
Judgment will restore the world to God and reveal to us the ultimate meaning of
God's plan (CCC 1040).
And so death brings about judgment and at judgment God
assigns a place of final abode, Heaven or Hell, depending on how we lived.
The Bible describes Hell as a place of fire, perhaps because
being burnt is one of the things we human beings fear most. It is a place of punishment for those who
rejected God; the punishment is essentially that one is cut off from God. As much as he wishes that everyone would go
to heaven, Jesus warns that he "will send his angels, and they will gather
. . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," (Mt
13:41-42) and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me,
you cursed, into the eternal fire!’ (Mt 25:41)” (CCC 1034).
As for heaven, the Bible describes it in terms of a beautiful
paradise, a lavish banquet, astounding garden.
These marvelous images of heaven are really trying to describe the
indescribable. How could you describe life
with God, true happiness (CCC 1024)? In
heaven we get to fulfill our destiny and live as God created us to be, sharing
in his life and love forever.
And so for Catholics, the four Last Things that are certain
in life are Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.
But actually only three of them will affect each us
personally. While death and judgment
await us all, our final destination will either be heaven or hell, depending on
how we have lived our lives.
Christian Life
Unfortunately some Catholics have further reduced these four
things to just two: death and heaven.
They keep death because it is unavoidable; but they assume that heaven
has an open door policy with no cover charge or requirement. They ignore judgment and hell, because they
are too unpleasant to speak about.
And then those who do not believe in God have reduced the
Last Things to just one, death – because it is inevitable.
If April is the month that reminds
us about the taxes that Franklin spoke about, November is the month that
reminds us about death and these Last Things.
·
Coinciding as it does with the season of Fall,
November has nature adding its gloomy reminder of death in the shedding of
falling leaves.
·
Some of us began this month by celebrating Halloween, the secular holiday of the
condemned dead, who have failed to make it to heaven.
·
But most of us began this month by celebrating All Saints Day, the Catholic holiday of
the blessed dead, who have made it to heaven
·
On November 2nd, we then celebrated All Souls Day, praying for the faithful
departed, who are still on their way to heaven, having made a brief detour in
purgatory, to take care of some unfinished business.
It is no wonder then, that the readings of November should
remind us of the Last Days and help us to face our own mortality and what is
beyond it.
The ominous things that we heard about in the readings are
not meant to scare us, especially in view of what happened recently in Paris
and elsewhere in the world. The readings
are simply reminding us to set our sights on what will count in the final
analysis, life with God. We should
respond to this message not in fear and despair, but in hope and
readiness. Let these last things frame
the way we live. Just like any student
goes about his studies with the final exam in mind, so should we also live our
lives in view of these four Last Things, that will surely come. If we let these things frame the way we live
today, we will focus on what is really important in the wider scheme of things,
like faith in God and love of neighbor, rather than merely focusing on our own
passing pleasures and our earthly well-being.
When I was learning Spanish, I missed class during the
lessons on the future tense. And so,
when I speak the little Spanish that I know, I cannot express myself well
concerning things of the future. I say
things like, "tomorrow I celebrate Mass," "next year, I visit my
mother to Uganda." Unfortunately, I can't use the future tense in Spanish. But our Christian lives cannot live just in
the present tense; they must consider the future tense, the Last Things that
will come.
Perhaps we will be more faithful Christians if we realize
that this life of ours is not the real thing, but is only a temporary passage;
the real thing awaits us in heaven. The
inadequacy of our lives here on earth, even the best lives of those who have it
all, should tell us that this surely cannot be all that life is; there must be
much more. That is what God in his Son
Jesus has revealed to us and invited us to be a part of.
Conclusion
You perhaps remember those long road trips you took as a
family for vacation or to visit the grandparents. Your kids kept shouting from the back seat:
“are we there yet? are we there yet?” Of
course when asked every five minutes, these questions can be annoying. But there is something to be said for this
enthusiasm of children, who look forward to where they are going, the
destination.
May our reflection on the Last Things, make us as
enthusiastic about where we are going, about heaven, the destination prepared
for us by God. And may this enthusiasm
for heaven push us to begin living today with one another, the kind of love we
hope to share with God in heaven forever and ever.
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