Sunday, November 11, 2007

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 20:27-38
AN ELDERLY COUPLE CELEBRATED THEIR FIFTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY WITH A TRIP TO THE HOLY LAND. WHILE THEY WERE THERE, THE WIFE DIED. THE UNDERTAKER TOLD THE HUSBAND THAT HE COULD EITHER HAVE HER BURIED THERE OR BRING HER BACK TO THE UNITED STATES, WHICH WOULD COST A LOT MORE. HE SAID HE WOULD BRING HER BACK. “I CAN SEE YOUR POINT,” SAID THE UNDERTAKER. YOU WANT HER TO BE NEAR YOU WHEN YOU GO.” “ITS NOT THAT,” SAID THE OLD MAN. “ITS JUST THAT I HEARD ABOUT SOMEONE WHO WAS BURIED OVER HERE AND THREE DAYS LATER ROSE FROM THE DEAD, AND I JUST CAN’T TAKE THAT CHANCE.”
WHEN MY WIFE AND I WERE NEWLY MARRIED AND MADLY IN LOVE I REMEMBER HEARING THIS GOSPEL AND FEELING SAD THAT THERE WOULD BE NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN. IT DIDN’T SEEM RIGHT; I WANTED TO BE WITH HER NOT ONLY DURING MY LIFE, BUT ON INTO ETERNITY. IT SEEMED UNFAIR THAT PRIESTS WERE PRIESTS FOREVER, BUT WE MARRIED PEOPLE WERE NO LONGER MARRIED IN HEAVEN, WHERE THERE IS NEITHER MARRIAGE NOR BEING GIVEN IN MARRIAGE.
I STILL WANT TO BE WITH MY WIFE IN HEAVEN. BUT DURING MY LIFETIME OF BEING MARRIED, I THINK I UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT WHAT MARRIAGE IS IN RELATION TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
THE FIRST THING IS THAT ALTHOUGH GOD DOES NOT KEEP US FROM ENTERING HEAVEN, WE HAVE TO MEET CERTAIN CONDITIONS. NO, THESE AREN’T MORAL CONDITIONS. GREAT SINNERS CAN ACCEPT FORGIVENESS AND ENTER HEAVEN; PEOPLE OF OUTSTANDING MORAL CHARACTER CAN REJECT WHAT GOD OFFERS AND FAIL TO ENTER HEAVEN. THE REAL CONDITION FOR ENTERING HEAVEN IS, NO MATTER HOW WE ACHIEVE IT, TO BECOME ONE WITH CHRIST. JESUS MUST DWELL WITHIN US.
IF JESUS IS TO DWELL WITHIN US, WE MUST MAKE ROOM. TO DO SO, WE HAVE TO EMPTY OURSELVES OUT, WE HAVE TO LET GO OF EVERYTHING TO WHICH WE ARE ATTACHED. AND OFTEN, IT ISN’T THE SUV OR THE HOUSE OR EVEN THOSE WE LOVE WHICH HOLD US BACK, IT IS SOME LITTLE THING, SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT SEE OURSELVES LIVING WITHOUT. IT IS THE HABIT WHICH WE CAN’T BREAK, THE PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR THAT DOESN’T SEEM SO BAD, BUT WHICH WE CAN’T IMAGINE OURSELVES LIVING IN ANY OTHER WAY. IT IS THE PUTTING OFF OF WHAT WE KNOW WE NEED – AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, FOR EXAMPLE. ALL OF THESE THINGS WHICH WE KNOW WE SHOULDN’T DO BUT WE STILL DO ANYWAY, OR WE KNOW WE SHOULD DO BUT WE DON’T DO ANYWAY, ARE FAILURES OF CONVERSION, AND CONVERSION IS THE FIRST STEP TO EMPTYING OURSELVES.
FORTY TWO YEARS OF A VERY HAPPY MARRIAGE HAS TAUGHT ME THAT THIS STATE OF LIFE IS A WONDERFUL PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN – BECAUSE YOU CAN’T HAVE A GOOD MARRIAGE WITHOUT EMPTYING YOURSELF OUT, WITHOUT DETACHING YOURSELF FROM THOSE THINGS THAT DEFINE YOU. IN MARRIAGE, WE ARE CALLED TO GIVE OURSELVES UP FOR THE PEOPLE WE LOVE, OUR SPOUSES, OUR CHILDREN, AND EVENTUALLY OUR GRANDCHILDREN AND IN-LAWS, ALL TO SOME DEGREE OR ANOTHER. IF WE DO IT RIGHT, AND I HAVEN’T YET, THE DAY WILL COME WHEN WE WILL BE EMPTIED OUT, AND FILLED WITH CHRIST – IT WILL NO LONGER BE ME, BUT CHRIST LIVING WITHIN ME.
SO GOD, I THINK, INVENTED MARRIAGE TO BE A TRAINING GROUND FOR MOST OF US SO THAT WE CAN GET TO HEAVEN. OBVIOUSLY WE CAN BLOW THE OPPORTUNITY. MANY MARRIAGES BREAK UP, AND IN MANY MORE, ONE OF THE SPOUSES TREATS THE OTHER LIKE A SLAVE, OR SEES MARRIAGE AS A STATE IN WHICH YOU GET RATHER THAN GIVE. UNHAPPY AND UNSUCCESSFUL MARRIAGES ALWAYS STEM FROM THE FACT THAT ONE OR BOTH SPOUSES DO NOT WANT TO EMPTY THEMSELVES OUT, BUT RATHER, FILL THEMSELVES UP.
SO WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE WHEN WE RISE FROM THE DEAD AND ENTER THAT STATE WE CALL HEAVEN? IT WILL BE SOMETHING LIKE A GOOD MARRIAGE, SOMETHING LIKE THE BEST PARTS OF A LIFETIME WITH SOMEONE YOU LOVE. IT WILL BE THE COURTSHIP AND THE HONEYMOON AND WATCHING THE CHILDREN GROW UP AND HOLDING YOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND SPENDING TIME JUST BEING TOGETHER OVER A GLASS OF WINE WATCHING THE SUN SET. IT WILL BE SEEING THE INNER BEAUTY OF THE OTHER PERSON EVEN THOUGH AGE AND TIME HAVE HIDDEN THAT BEAUTY FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. AND IT WILL BE THE SENSE THAT THE OTHER PERSON IS STILL PART OF YOU EVEN AFTER YOU ARE SEPARATED BY DEATH. IT WILL BE ALL THAT ROLLED INTO ONE ETERNAL MOMENT, AND IT WILL NOT ONLY BE WITH THE SPOUSE YOU LIVED WITH THROUGHOUT LIFE, BUT WITH EVERYONE IN HEAVEN. AND FOR MOST OF US MARRIAGE WILL BE THE WAY WE GET THERE.
SO MARRIAGE SHOULD END AT DEATH; IT IS JUST A SMALL FORETASTE OF HEAVEN; IT TRAINS US AND SHAPES US AND FINALLY RELEASES US FOR THAT ETERNAL MARRIAGE TO OUR HEAVENLY SPOUSE.
IF YOU ARE MARRIED, LOOK AT YOUR MARRIAGE WITH NEW EYES, AND ASK WHETHER IT IS HELPING YOU EMPTY YOURSELF OUT, OR WHETHER YOU ARE RESENTFUL BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO BE TAKING PARTS OF YOU AWAY THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO LET GO OF. PRAY THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GIFT OF MARRIAGE TO BECOME A SAINT. AND IF YOU AREN’T MARRIED PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE, SO THAT THEY WILL REFLECT THE ETERNAL MARRIAGE BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.