THE 32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: THE TRAGEDY OF LIFE. Soren Kierkegard one of my favorite existentialists defined the human being as “sein um tonde ” “a being unto death” meaning that in all mans actions, he is motivated by his impending death. Supposing your personal doctor examines you and tells you that you have less than week to live, what will be your reaction? I once watched a movie on K.T.N, (sorry I cant recall the title- ) whereby a certain sick person was told by his doc that he had barely 5 days to live. And as soon as he got out of the hospital he began doing certain good works, things he often took for granted, for instance, raising a plant that everyone trampled upon on the street and trying to get along with people. I cannot recall exactly how the movie ended but I guess the man ended to live more that a week. Friends, I don’t know the views you hold but I tend to think that the greatest fear most human beings is death. In Saturdays Daily Nation (9th Nov) , there was an interesting interview of Dr. Timothy Njoya, the renowned Presbyterian preacher and activist. When asked why successive Kenyan presidents have failed to end corruption 50 years after independence, Dr. Njoya laid the blame on the FEAR OF DEATH. This is how he put it, “If they(referring to the presidents) wanted to end corruption, they would be shot; And because they want to save their lives they are ‘hostages of the corrupt.’” I don’t know how true this is, but one thing is for sure, the greatest fear most people have is DEATH. …I bet most of us would give anything to life forever or even to be added a day onto our lives. On Friday we went out for pastoral as St. Elizabeth Hospital Mukumu where I confirmed this reality. People are willing to spend even the last penny they have on health…so that they can live longer. From an anthropological perspective, even the very act of procreation is normally viewed in the sense of man wanting to go beyond death through his sons or daughters. That’s why some of us faced it rough from our families when we decided to become seminarians… “Sasa wewe hautazaliwa? So you will not be born? So your lineage will not continue?” they would ask. However, this issue troubled me the whole week. If man treasures his life so much and dreads death that much how can we explain the case of martyrs? How can we explain the case of the 8 matyrs (1 woman and his 7 sons) in the first reading of today who chose brutal death rather than dishonor God by eating pork which their law had outlawed as unclean? How can we explain the case of the 22 Ugandan martyrs, most of whom were still in their youth who chose to be killed (some by being burnt) rather than being misused by King Mwanga to perform some ungodly acts? How can we explain the case of Maximilian Kolbe, the priest who chose to die in the place of a prisoner at a concentration camp in Europe? How can we explain the case of watchmen, soldiers, doctors, firemen, political activists and other professionals who put their lives on the line for us? And finally how can we explain the case of Jesus who chose a brutal and painful death for us 2000 years ago long before most of our ancestors were born? I got the answer of these questions from servant of God Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga. Towards the end of his life in the year 2003 the Holy Cardinal said: “The tragedy of life is not death but the absence of God.” The tragedy of life is to believe that life ends with death. The tragedy of life is to believe that there is no resurrection. And of course there can be no resurrection without God. This is well explained by Jesus in the 2nd reading and the Gospel pericope; as you know we are in the 32nd week, just two weeks to go before the end of this liturgical year and the readings normally talk about the end of times. From the second reading, Paul is consoling the Thessalonians concerning the end of times since they had thought that Christ’s second coming would happen soon but they realized it was not to happen that soon. Again from the Gospel pericope Jesus is confronted with the thorny issue of resurrection hidden in the question of the widow with many husbands asked by the Sadducees who denied the notion of resurrection, the existence of angels and human souls. “At resurrection whose wife would the woman be?” Jesus responds to their answer in two ways. First he explains on the marital status of those who will make it to heaven. “…in heaven they neither marry nor remarry but all are like angels.” Of course this is in line with Jesus teaching of personal responsibility, remember he said that, “two people will be in the same bed, one will be taken the other will be left.” Had Jesus said that there is marriage in heaven then I would also wonder what would happen to a spouse whose partner did not make it to heaven, will she or he be a widower, widow or single in heaven? The teaching that there is no marriage in heaven makes celibacy have an eschatological dimension. This teaching was well explained by Pope Paul the VI in his famous encyclical, Sacerdotalis caelibatus of 24th June 1967. Given that in “resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but all are like angels in heaven” the Pope therefore called the celibacy practiced here on earth by the church priests, religious, single, youth yet to be married, some widows and widowers as “a special token of the rewards of heaven, which proclaims the presence on earth of the final stages of salvation.” According to the Pope therefore, a celibate person is a testimony to the church of the final goal of their earthly pilgrimage and a stimulus to raise their eyes to the above. Secondly Jesus explains the question of resurrection by quoting the canon of saints. “When we Moses said the God of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph he meant not a God of the dead but a God of the living.” Friends, every Sunday during the profession of faith or CREDO we normally profess our belief in the resurrection of the body with the words :“Credo…in carnis resurrectionem” meaning “I believe…in the resurrection of the body.” But do we really mean it? Do we really believe in the resurrection? Could we be the modern day Sadducees? Do our actions profess the knowledge of one who believes in the resurrection? Are we ready to pay the price for our faith? Are we ready to ne martyrs if need be? Are we fearful of death? Do we believe in the celibacy as an eschatological sign? Do we believe in the communion of saints? Let’s meditate on these words as our spiritual home work for this week. May Mary, the help of all Christians, St. Joseph her spouse and all the saints in heaven intercede for us. They are saints because they died, resurrected and were admitted to heaven. May we follow suit when our time comes. Blessed week ahead pals!
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 21:40:34 +0000
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