When St. Paul talked
about the resurrection of the dead with the philosophers at Athens,
many laughed and mocked him (Acts17:32). The Gospel, he would
later write, is “foolishness” to the wise of this world
(1 Corinthians 1:18). Yet this week’s First Reading tells
us that it is foolish to think that the souls of the just are
dead.
Instead, theirs
is a “hope full of immortality. ”By His Resurrection,
Jesus frees the human race from the fear of death—from
the terrible fear of the unknown, of our own disintegration—that
holds us in a kind of slavery (see Hebrews 2:14–15). Because
He has walked the dark valley of death before us,because He
has promised to walk alongside us, we can take “courage”
and “fear no evil,” in the words of this week’s
Psalm.
This is God’s
will for us, the reason Jesus came into the world, according
to today’s Gospel: that we will recognize Jesus as the
Son of God and by believing in Him be raised to eternal life.If
we believe in Him, we will follow Him, as the Psalmist says:
He will refresh our souls in the waters of Baptism, anoint our
heads with the oil of Confirmation, and set before us the table
of the Eucharist.
There our cups will
be filled to overflowing.And by these mysteries of His kindness
and goodness, we will “dwell in the house of the Lord”
in this life and in the life to come.The First Reading seems
to allude to the doctrine of Purgatory, to the souls of the
just being chastised, purified as gold in a furnace and made
worthy of God (see 1 Corinthians 3:11–12).
This reading also
tells us of the glory of the saints, who will share in the rule
of Christ, judging and ruling over the nations (see Luke 22:30).Through
the “newness of life” we have in the sacraments, this
week’s Epistle adds,we “grow into union” with
Jesus, confident that we will be together with Him when He comes
again at the end of time.
