Eternal Life
One of the great privileges for priests
is to celebrate funeral Masses;
it may not seem like a privilege or a grace but it really is.
In those very fragile and vulnerable moments,
we can celebrate the gift of a person’s life
and bring our faith and hope to a crystallized reality in our lives.
The funeral liturgy is centered around the Mass of Thanksgiving;
it is a Mass where we celebrate the person’s life
and offer thanksgiving to God for all that he has given to us
in and through this person in particular.
One part of the funeral liturgy that is particularly beautiful
is called the “Song of Farewell.”
We, as Catholics, believe that when a person dies,
the soul of that person is met by the angels and the saints;
those angels and saints then present that soul to God.
The Song of Farewell asks those angels and saints
to come to meet this person, to hold her and
to present her to God Most High.
It is a beautiful song and
it is a beautiful image of presenting the person to God Most High.
Today is the Feast of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven,
and we actually celebrate that whole passage
from dying to rising to new life.
In today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians
speaks of the reality of eternal life.
It speaks of how when we die, we gain an everlasting place in heaven.
It talks about while Adam brought sin into the world,
it was Christ that overcame sin;
that we died with sin
but now we have arisen to new life through Christ’s resurrection.
We are reminded of the whole reality of eternal.
This is what we celebrate in Mary’s Assumption: eternal life.
Often times, people are confused about this Feast Day.
“Why does Mary get assumed and Jesus got ascended
and then the rest of us only get resurrected?”
Jesus was the Son of God and He descended into the world
and He ascended back into heaven.
Mary was human but without sin.
So she was assumed body and soul because her body was sinless.
So she assumed into heaven.
The rest of us are resurrected
because we do not have sinless bodies.
The bottom line for all of us is that we are offered resurrection.
Eternal life is real for all of us,
and Christ brings us that message
and Mary brings it alive in this celebration.
“That’s all great, but so what” we might say.
“How does that really impact us?”
Here is the difference
—if we know eternal life is real,
and if we believe that to be wholeheartedly true
then it has to change our lives here.
Somehow our lives need to be radically different because we believe that.
If we believe that eternal life is a reality,
then somehow our lives are completely different in the here and now.
It is a joy to understand that all our loved ones
who have gone before us we will see again.
The angels and the saints that come out to meet us
may very well be one of our own relatives
when we go to take that last journey home.
Surely that joy can be lived now.
So then the question that we have to ask is this:
“So then how do we change?
How do we live that reality differently, as informed people of faith?”
Again, we go to Mary’s example.
It is the way in which Mary loved.
She did the will of the Father by loving others.
The example we hear in today’s scripture reading
is about Mary going to visit her elderly cousin,
who is now pregnant and she spends three months with her,
visiting her and tending to her needs as she is pregnant.
The message we might take today
is how we express our love and joy of eternal life
by being present to the present moment.
Be very sure that our reality of where we are at today,
whatever gifts we have are gifts from God,
that the gift of health, the gift of our very being,
is the first and foremost a gift from God;
we ought to tend to that,
we ought to be present to one another.
Maybe the very thing we could do
is do what Mary did in visiting her cousin;
maybe we could visit with one another; spending time with one another.
I am not suggesting we go and spend three months with your neighbor;
but maybe just spending three minutes with someone might be attainable.
We are so quick to say: “How are you?”
And we don’t even wait for the answer. We walk away.
When we ask the question, “How are you?”
We need to stand and listen for the answer;
that we visit with a family friend or a neighbor who really may be in need,
or maybe it is somebody at the office,
who just needs to talk about something that is going on in their life.
The ability to be able to be present to the moment here and now
and not waiting for some other reality;
to recognize time as a precious reality.
We have a limited amount of time!
While we do have eternal life, the joy of living this life
is to be present to the present and with the gift of time.
So maybe this week, we can live out the resurrection,
or live out the assumption of Mary
by being present to somebody who might need our presence:
a simple note of kindness;
a simple word of caring;
simply sit and be with somebody in their sickness;
just to spend time with them.
If there is anything that we can give as a gift to the new children w
ho will be baptized today into the faith,
it is living out the joy of the resurrection
by being present to one another,
by living the present as a gift from God here and now,
knowing that every little thing matters;
every little gesture;
every little word of kindness;
every little bit of attention that we give to our loved ones
and those in need matters.
Today, we live the resurrection;
today we come to celebrate the resurrection;
today we come to celebrate the assumption of Mary;
today we come to celebrate the gift of life we share in the life of Christ.
