We rely on faith for the risen life

November 11, 2007 -- 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. How often do you think of the "last things?" 2. What is your understanding of the mystery of resurrection? 3. What value do you assign to suffering and death?

Our good friend, Mr. Webster, tells us that the word "eschatology" refers to that area of theology that deals with the "last things," such as death, resurrection, judgment, immortality. The basic question is one of our final destiny. Where are we going? What is it that lies beyond death? The readings for this Sunday are filled with "eschatological issues" that deserve our serious attention.

In addressing the subject of eschatology, we are in the land of mystery. Indeed, lacking empirical data, we resort to faith in dealing with the ultimate questions of death and life. The Christian vision maintains that death is not annihilation, rather it is liberation. Already in the Old Testament we witness the conviction of the seven brothers who were tortured and killed because they refused to break God's law and do as the political leaders demanded. What courage! They regarded their suffering and death as nothing. What mattered to them was faithfulness to God's law believing that such fidelity would lead to being raised up by God. They believed in the resurrection.

St. Paul was of the same mind. St. Paul's letters are filled with encouragement and hope, with confidence in the person of Jesus. St. Paul's whole life was grounded in the love of God, a love stronger than death, a love that held supreme priority in his mind and heart. All that mattered was that God's word and God's will be carried out. St. Paul was deeply graced with the endurance of Christ. For St. Paul, resurrection was a sure thing.

What the risen life is like we have little knowledge. Jesus clarifies for the doubting Sadducees, those denying the resurrection, that the afterlife is qualitatively different from our life here on earth. It is not a matter of marrying or remaining single. Rather, it has to do with the fullness of life that Jesus came to bring to all of us. In the risen life, we will be fully alive to the mystery of the living God, the mystery of Divine Love and Mercy. Nothing will impede our vision; nothing will enslave our will; nothing will bind us to the disease of narcissism.

Resurrection surely refers to immortality, that our lives do not end with death. But there is also a sense in which resurrection happens even now. At least this is the assertion by H. A. Williams in his work True Resurrection: "When we begin to recognize the power of resurrection present in the ordinary gritty routine of our daily lives, then we shall see for ourselves that all that separates and injures and destroys is being overcome by what unites and heals and creates" (12-13).

Our God is the God of the living. Indeed, our God is a God of Life, Light, and Love. In the risen life we will participate in the very life of God in ways that far transcend our current participation. What that will be like we cannot even imagine. Our finite intellects and our immature faith prevent us from grasping the infinite majesty of the Lord of all life.

Perhaps our best response to all the eschatological issues and questions is simply: "Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead; to him be glory and power, forever and ever."

(Bishop Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)