32d Sunday in Ordinary Time
Nov.
6, 1983
2
Macc 7: 1-2, 9-14
Luke
20: 27-38
Our
Lady of Pompei, Paterson, N.J.
This morning I preached at St. Vincent's Hospital, Harrison, N.Y., without a written text. Here's a 30-year-old homily on the same Scriptural texts; some of the specific references to current events are dated, obviously, but the principles evoked are not.
At the beginning
of November we’re about halfway between Easters. While every Sunday is a celebration of the
life of our risen Lord shares with us, on this Sunday the Church reminds us
more directly that “the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting
renewal of life” (2 Macc 7:9), “that the dead are raised” (Luke 20:37) and “all
live for God” (20:38).
The OT books of
the Maccabees describe the persecution of God’s people by pagans, their
courage, their resistance, and their faith in the resurrection of the
just. In particular, the 7th chapter of
2 Maccabees relates how a mother and the 7 sons are horribly tortured and
killed rather than renounce God and God’s people. Their belief that God will judge all mankind
and raise up the good to eternal life sustains them against their tormentors.
 |
| Martyrdom of the Seven Maccabees by Antonio Ciseri |
Jesus outwits
the Sadducees by teaching a resurrection to a transformed, eternal life. The greatest trick that Jesus played upon his
opponents, however, was his own resurrection on the 3d day after his
crucifixion.
We believe in
the resurrection. We believe that God
has called us in Christ to live forever—to live in health, happiness, peace,
friendship. This has been the belief of
the followers of Jesus ever since the women discovered the empty tomb and spoke
with the Risen One.
How much do we
believe it? Would you be willing to die
rather than renounce Christ? It’s
unlikely that we’ll ever face that test the way heroes of Maccabees did, the
way thousands of Christian martyrs have, even in our own century. We thank God that we live in a country where
we can practice our faith without fear.
Yet 10 or 20 years ago, the Catholics of Chile, of Nicaragua , of El Salvador
Nor are we
without choices. Our belief in the
resurrection can sustain us, has to sustain us.
For instance,
the Gospel challenges us to be people of peace.
The Holy Father frequently reminds us of this and our American bishops
have recently done so in a major pastoral letter. We all know that war has a cost and a risk;
we’ve certainly been reminded of that in the last 2 weeks. But somehow we’re more afraid of the risks of
working for peace—the peace of forgiveness and reconciliation of members of our
own family, the forgiveness and reconciliation of whole nations. I’m not a pacifist myself; but many
Christians read the Gospel to mean they must be complete pacifists, suffering
evil rather than doing violence themselves, and trusting in God’s justice and
the resurrection of the just. Not only
do we have to respect these people, but we have to hear them. That may be what God is calling all of us
to. Frightening, isn’t it? That’s the tension of living in this world and
being children of the resurrection.
That’s one of the choices we have to make.
Another instance
is more familiar to us. We face death
frequently. Our friends and relatives
die. We hear and read of thousands of
people dying from earthquakes, of hundreds dying from the bombs of madmen. Death isn’t pretty or pleasant. It isn’t part of God’s plan for us. We can face it only when we remember some
truths of the Gospel.
First truth: With the exception of infants, the innocent
don’t suffer. The 269 on KAL Flight 007
weren’t innocent; our Marines weren’t innocent; your Aunt Tillie who died of
cancer wasn’t innocent; I am not innocent; and you are not innocent. We are sinners. We may not be murderers or rapists. But we sin daily, and we know it.
Second truth: The only one who can truly claim innocence
died painfully on a cross. He shared in
our suffering by choice, not because suffering and death are good but because
he had to overcome them in order that we might overcome them. Maybe when little children suffer, we can see
Christ-figures in them.
Third truth: Jesus Christ has conquered our sinfulness with
his love, our death with his life. He was
raised up, and we shall be raised up to life—regardless of our being sinners,
so long as we have surrendered our lives and our hearts to him. We can face death, as we all must, because
our risen Lord Jesus is at our side.
A month ago we
were all watching Cardinal Cooke die.
There was a good and holy man. He
edified us most in his hour of suffering.
Why? Just because he was
good? Because he wasn’t afraid of death,
because he was confident of Christ’s love in his pain, because he saw himself
united to the cross of Jesus and destined to live forever in Christ, because
all of us want to die like that.
Well, we can die
like that only if our faith in the resurrection is real. That faith is a gift from God, of course; but
it’s a gift we are free to accept and to nurture, a gift we must make our own
every day when we choose good over evil, when we see beyond the material world,
when we look beyond the temporary death of the body to the God of Abraham, of
Jesus, and of all the living.
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