ANGELIC EXISTENCE
32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
We know the story of St. Maximillian Kolbe. He willingly took the place of a stranger who was unjustly condemned to death. Kolbe was a man of consideration and boundless love. Clearly, there was greater reason than this behind this ultimate sacrifice. Evidently, this was his faith in the continuity of life after death.
There is no doubt about the doctrine of life after death. Every religion, barring one or two shares the same view. This belief encouraged the seven brothers to prefer death to pagan religious practices. We have this story in the first reading, this Sunday (2 Maccabees 7:1-14).
The question is not whether there is a resurrection but what is going to be the mode this new life. According to our faith, after death a person continues to live with a transfigured, elevated and spiritualized body through the love of God. The resurrected life is not like life in the world. It is not returning to the ordinary life. While responding to the question of (Lk 20:27-38) Sadducees, Jesus said ‘they will be like angels.’ This statement gives a valuable insight. Angels are spiritual being. They have no bodies. In other words, they are independent of physical / worldly needs as needs emerge from material existence. Death is the cessation of bodily existence. The end of bodily existence ceases the bodily needs. The spiritualization of the body freed the person from needs. Jesus explains this truth using the example of marriage. Marriage has two-fold purposes: perpetuation of life through procreation, and completion of love through mutual giving. Our human existence is saddled with mortality. We carry on life through children. Heavenly life is not saddled with mortality. It is clothed with immortality. Therefore, we do not need to carry on life through children. Secondly, God is the fullness of love. In his presence, we have the fullness of love. We do not need to take any effort from our parts to complete the love. In death, we are losing our last name. We will become children of God in the truest sense.
The lesson for us is this: Live and shape our life in view of our eternal life. Detach from worldly needs and greed. We have started this process at baptism by our partaking in the Pascal event; the dying and rising process of Jesus.
32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
We know the story of St. Maximillian Kolbe. He willingly took the place of a stranger who was unjustly condemned to death. Kolbe was a man of consideration and boundless love. Clearly, there was greater reason than this behind this ultimate sacrifice. Evidently, this was his faith in the continuity of life after death.
There is no doubt about the doctrine of life after death. Every religion, barring one or two shares the same view. This belief encouraged the seven brothers to prefer death to pagan religious practices. We have this story in the first reading, this Sunday (2 Maccabees 7:1-14).
The question is not whether there is a resurrection but what is going to be the mode this new life. According to our faith, after death a person continues to live with a transfigured, elevated and spiritualized body through the love of God. The resurrected life is not like life in the world. It is not returning to the ordinary life. While responding to the question of (Lk 20:27-38) Sadducees, Jesus said ‘they will be like angels.’ This statement gives a valuable insight. Angels are spiritual being. They have no bodies. In other words, they are independent of physical / worldly needs as needs emerge from material existence. Death is the cessation of bodily existence. The end of bodily existence ceases the bodily needs. The spiritualization of the body freed the person from needs. Jesus explains this truth using the example of marriage. Marriage has two-fold purposes: perpetuation of life through procreation, and completion of love through mutual giving. Our human existence is saddled with mortality. We carry on life through children. Heavenly life is not saddled with mortality. It is clothed with immortality. Therefore, we do not need to carry on life through children. Secondly, God is the fullness of love. In his presence, we have the fullness of love. We do not need to take any effort from our parts to complete the love. In death, we are losing our last name. We will become children of God in the truest sense.
The lesson for us is this: Live and shape our life in view of our eternal life. Detach from worldly needs and greed. We have started this process at baptism by our partaking in the Pascal event; the dying and rising process of Jesus.
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