32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our belief in the resurrection should change our perspective on death.  The Sadducees in today’s gospel do believe in the resurrection but based on the questions they ask it is clear they don’t really get it.  I think this forces us to ask ourselves if we really get it.  Do we really believe in the resurrection of the dead?  Every Sunday in the Creed we pray that we believe in the resurrection of the dead.  But does our belief in the resurrection really change how we react to death?

When one of our loved ones dies, we often say that that person has passed such and such years ago.  Or we say did you hear that so-and-so passed away.  I was talking to a parishioner recently who was reflecting on this as she was looking at the crucifix.  She thought to herself that no one says Jesus “passed” 2000 years ago.  When we pray as Christians, we don’t say Jesus has passed away on the cross for us.  No, we are bold enough to say that Jesus died on the cross.  We can be bold enough to say that Jesus died because we believe in the resurrection.  We know death has no power over Jesus and so it is okay that Jesus died because we know death is not the end of the story.  But do we have this same courage and boldness when it comes to our family members and loved ones? 

A few years back I was called to the hospital to anoint a parishioner.  Outside of the room the family asked me to just say I was there to visit and say some prayers but not to let the man know that I was doing the sacrament of the anointing.  They were afraid that he might know that he is dying.  But if we truly believe in the power of the resurrection then we can boldly face our death. 

Now don’t get me wrong, our belief in the resurrection of the dead does not make death easy or light.  Death is still difficult.  Our loved ones are meant to be a spiritual mirror of God’s divine love.  Through our loved ones we experience here and now the beauty of God’s love and we experience a foretaste of heaven.  And when that loved one dies, we no longer have that spiritual mirror to reflect the beauty of that love in our physical world.  To be frank about it, when we lose that beauty of a loved one in our lives it just plain sucks.  But our belief in the resurrection means that we are bold enough to confront death knowing that it is not the end of the beauty of this love.  Death does not have power over us.  We may have lost the person who gave us the foretaste of heaven through loving them and being loved in return, but our belief in the resurrection means that we no longer need that foretaste because we can experience heaven itself. 

There is no greater feeling in this life than the euphoria of loving someone and being loved by them.  And when that person who shows us that love dies, it hurts.  But our belief in the resurrection and heaven is that it is a place where we are constantly in a state of loving and being loved.  Death may take away that one powerful experience of love in this life, but death cannot take away the experience of loving and being loved for all eternity. 

If we truly believe what we say we believe in the creed.  If we truly believe in the Jesus’ resurrection and the possibility of our participation in the resurrection then it should change our perspective on death.  Such a belief in the resurrection does not make death easy or light.  But our belief in the resurrection should make us courageous enough to face death knowing that death is not the end and death has no power over us.