32nd Sunday22

Imagine, for example, that you are faced with a decision: to build a house or not. If we didn’t believe we could live in a new home, would we make the effort? There are, of course, more such questions that can be posed. They generally concern the belief that the activities we undertake will be successful, that the intended goal will be achieved. Without this faith, it is difficult to engage in anything.  Today’s liturgy of the word directs our thinking to the essence of the Christian faith, which is the resurrection and eternal life. We learn from the Gospel that our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, and the moving and dramatic account of the martyrdom of the seven brothers and their mother makes us realise that sacrificing one’s life for a just cause makes sense, because the reward is an eternity spent with God.  Many of us have been through some sort of major or minor crisis at times. Someone had an accident, someone else lost a loved one, someone else’s marriage fell apart, someone else fell into addiction, and someone else’s children caused so much trouble that they began to fall into despair. At such moments, we ask ourselves what the point of this life is. So much sacrifice, work, dedication, sleepless nights – and what is it all for? What is the meaning of our lives? What is its purpose? If one were to assume that there is no resurrection and no eternal life, then the answer is simple – our life has no meaning, and its purpose is the grave, which will be remembered at most by the grandchildren, because the great-grandchildren will no longer know.                                                                    Meanwhile, the beauty of Christianity lies precisely in the fact that our God is the God of the living, and death is not a finality but the beginning of happiness. Of course, for those who believe in it and do good in this life. To do good is simply to fulfil the duties of one’s state.

I am a mother or a father – I take care of my children’s upbringing; I am an employee – I am mindful of integrity and honesty. You might say: how simple! However, we ourselves know that in practice, not so simple again, it sometimes becomes a cross that is difficult to bear. Though difficult, it is worth bearing, because at the end of this path there is more than a dark grave – there is life in the light, because our God is the God of the living. And it is He who will come here in a moment on the altar to feed us with His living Body . Whoever believes this can say of himself that he is happy. Very happy.