Life Beyond Death

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 20:27-38.

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 
saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.'
Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 
Then the second 
and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 
Finally the woman also died. 
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." 
Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; 
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 
They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." 
   

Reflection

The month of November triggers a lot of questions of the afterlife.  What is to be expected after we die? How do we exist as human being in heaven? The Sadducees who posed the question to Jesus did not believe in life after death. They posed the question in order to trap Jesus in a logical puzzle. However, Jesus went beyond their trap when he shattered their misconceptions of the after life. Because of them, Jesus gave us a sneak peak into the life that awaits us after we breath our last.

Perhaps instead of talking about "life after death" we need to talk about "life beyond death". The resurrection of death imparts unto us God Himself. The children of God finally have inherited their Father that is why they rise from the dead. Life beyond death is a life in God. That is why it is a life of fulfillment because in Him we find the true meaning of who we really are and in Him we come to grips with our true identity. That is why we become alive once more because when we have arisen we are already living the life of God, that is, eternal life.

What is eternal life? It is not about life without end. It may be part of it but more than length of time it speaks of fullness of life. It is a life lived where each moment is an experience of being fully alive. We all had that experience when there comes a break in the mundane repetition of everyday life. What was ordinary, what was a boring cycle suddenly pauses and we enter into an experience of peace and tranquility. Suddenly, our minds are at ease and everything falls into place because we had an experience of God after an event, after looking at the beauty of creation, after talking to someone who touched our hearts. Multiply that moment for eternity and perhaps that is eternal life.

We no longer die because God lives in us. Today's world is so much concerned with the quest for the fountain of youth, for the beauty miracle in cosmetics that would defy aging. We are too concerned of staying in our young adulthood when our bodies are at their peak and there are no wrinkles nor joint pains nor high blood pressure. The life of God goes beyond these temporal things. No, it embraces these. Jesus was born, grew up and died on the cross. A life in God is a life that springs forth from a union with Him from the depths of our hearts and flows unto the world. God who is Life Himself springs forth from our deepest beings and He becomes our life.

The secret of eternal life is that it does not begin after death. It can begin and continue on in every heart that is open to God. It is the very life offered to us in Eucharistic Communion in the Holy Mass. The life in the Body and Blood of Christ becomes our food and drink. It is the very life that comes alive in us whenever we become aware that we are part of a bigger Church. But sadly it is a life that is oftentimes overlooked today. We are too afraid of death. We are too afraid of growing old. We cannot see the greater picture of an eternal life that encompasses everything.

In our fears we tend to get addicted only to the current moment. You Only Life Once, they say. We are too afraid of death and sadness that we try to suck out the joy in each day as if human life is a bottomless sponge of happiness. When it has become dry, we tend to find joy in other places only to end up brokenhearted. But human life is not always happy, that is a fact. What eternal life offers is the God in the ups and downs of daily life. It is God that makes life meaningful and sweet even with tears and disappointments. It is God that makes human life eternal and that is why it is able to defeat even death. It is life beyond death.

While alive we enter into eternal life when we have put our life in the perspective of eternity in God, when even here we are already living the life of God. It comes when we love without measure, when we forgive even if the other doesn't even deserve it, when we give until it hurts. And when death has come to wrap up this earthly life, Jesus promises an eternity of that fullness of life where we live like angels before God. Where at last we would be united with those we shared our life here on earth and come to the realization that this life is but a short moment and that there is such a thing as a life beyond death.

Needing God

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 18:9-14.

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. 
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. 
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity--greedy, dishonest, adulterous--or even like this tax collector. 
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' 
But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' 
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."   

Reflection

We all have an irritation towards self-righteous people, people who love to brag about themselves, people who believe they are higher than most, people who think they’re elite. Nagbubuhat ng sariling upuan. Pagarpar ug palapad. They step on our nerves because sometimes they remind us that we too have that tendency and deep down inside they remind us that we too have pride that shouldn’t be stepped on by others. In the final analysis, their behavior and our reaction is all about human pride.

Jesus, in this Sunday’s Gospel, reminds us through the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector of what really matters in the eyes of God. God is close to those who need Him, but for those who don’t they shut Him away. The tax collector went home justified because he recognized the truth that we oftentimes forget: all of us are weak and broken, sinful and erring, and we all need God. The Pharisee shut out grace because he thought he was already perfect. In his self-deception, he shut out the Truth.

It is only when we realize how poor we are as human beings that we open ourselves to the richness of God’s grace. The realization of how little we are puts everything in perspective and it opens us to the truth of our existence. We need God. When this has already sunk into our consciousness then we become humble and the humble attract God the most.

The Pharisee did nothing wrong. He followed the rules. He observed the Law to the letter. Yet he claimed all these as his achievement. He forgot that we can only be good because God is good. In the end, all his good deeds were empty. They were all fueled by his own self-righteousness and pride. They were all fueled by his emptiness.

In our society today where everything is changing fast, where everyone wants development and a better life, where everyone wants to be financially secure and live happily, let us not forget that all these things could only have value for us if we put God in the midst of these. If we want to have a good society, a God-fearing country, then we ourselves must be good. But in order to be good we must allow ourselves to be “worked upon” by God by allowing Him to fill us with His goodness. In order to be filled, we need to empty ourselves first and only then can God fill us.

Spamming Heaven

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 18:1-8.

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, 
"There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.' 
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, 
because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? 
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"   

Reflection

Anyone who lives in the city, has a mobile phone in their pocket, or maintains a Facebook account could not live without the internet these days. Despite the sad state of connectivity in the Philippines, the internet and the world wide web has become part of our daily lives. The internet is an interconnection of all networks in the whole world. Our own social nature vibrates with it no wonder we love to be connected, and complain to the whole universe when the web drops to a crawl.

The need for persistence in prayer, as Jesus taught in the Gospel today, is very much like the internet we so love. Prayer is not just an action. It is not just a recitation of formulas that we have memorized since we were children. True prayer is entering into the presence of God, to be present to the God who is present everywhere. There is a need for silence because in silence we begin to resonate and hear the voice of God. All the actions, the recitations, the rituals, the objects of prayer are but helps that assist us into that state of being united with God.

You see, prayer is not about petition. Prayer is about being connected with God. Think of yourself as a mobile phone trying to reach out the cell phone towers in order to attune to that much longed for LTE connection. This connection is not just an uplink of our intentions and petitions, but it is also a downlink, a download, of God's being. Every time we pray, we enter into God, we absorb God who is love, and we become more like God. That is why all pray-ers slowly but surely begin to become like God.

The more we talk to a person, spend time with a person, and waste time with a person we begin to know more about a person and love that person. Prayer is like that. It is getting familiar with God. Familiar means we become a family to Him. God is our Father, our Abba and we are His beloved children. The more we pray, the more persistent and constant our connection with Him, we begin to understand Him, His mind, His plans, and His intentions for us. When we take upon ourselves the way God perceives reality, we will begin to feel at peace and everything falls into place.

This is the reason why Jesus insists that we pray insistently. Jesus insists that we keep that connection live because the more we are connected to God in prayer, the more we become like God and God begins to live in us. And when we have God within us, we have nothing to lose and nothing to fear for we know He knows our needs and our needs will be met more than what we prayed for at the proper time.

So the next time you pray, consider yourself as someone downloading the mind, spirit, and being of God. The internet that we have now is nothing to the network of connections of creatures and things that the universe is. And this network that we call the universe is pulsating with one lively message for you and me: God is love.