Memorial of Saint Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church
I find myself slightly fascinated by the fact that vampires are a "craze" these days, especially for teens and young adults. I don't find much of anything interesting about vampires, "the living dead," myself but I am very interested in why vampires provide such a cultural hold on others, in books, movies and video games. Strangely enough, I wonder if part of the answer might come from today's scriptures.
The Old Testament reading (Ezekiel 37:1-14) is a relatively familiar text which gives us a broad understanding of what God thinks "the meaning of life" is. God showing Ezekiel dry, whitewashed bones in a desert valley. "Can these bones come to life?" God asks Ezekiel. It is a very strange question for God to ask from my point of view: first, because, as someone who grew up in the American desert and frequently saw just these kinds of bleached animal bones on the side of the road, of course these bones are definitely dead so it almost feels like a "duh, of course not" question. Second, God alone is all-powerful enough to know if any life can be restored to these bones, as Ezekiel rightly notes. Life does not merely consist of being bodies with muscles and skin, as Ezekiel finds out after having seen the bones stand up and recover fleshly form. Life involves spirit, which the Bible frequently links to wind but, like the wind the idea of spirit cannot be fully grasped or studied. We only know it is there when it is NOT there.
The point of the dry bone episode is ultimately so that God can make a metaphor of it: these dry bones are like the people of Israel. The people are not literally dead; they are what we might call the "living dead," living in "graves" in exile in Babylon, hundreds of miles from their land and livelihood, without hope or purpose, and questioning God's very existence. Ezekiel the prophet is one of the few in this time of crisis who believes and recognizes God's presence and seeks to proclaim it.
How many people in our own day live like "the living dead," perhaps past hope and without purpose? Indeed, in this time of economic downturn, many people speak of not feeling like they have a purpose because they have no jobs, which give meaning. Teens and young adults, too, find themselves at a time of life when they could and should be choosing careers and finding their own sense of purpose, are caught in the same economic downturn and have the same fears of being able to make a living. So, perhaps it makes sense that there would be an identification with vampires, "the living dead." But what I find so interesting is that unlike vampire stories from eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these vampires are more or less good - non-violent towards humans, virtuous, trying to live with their little "problem" as well as they can. These eternal creatures perhaps speak a story of hope to teens and young adults in a time when many people seem to lack virtue and violence seems to abound.
Of course, Christianity asks us to think of eternal life in a bit different way as today's gospel (Matthew 22:34-40) suggests. Eternal life, a purposeful life with lived with spirit, comes through deep love of God and neighbor. Today is the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth-century abbot who reformed Benedictine monasteries that had become places of the "living dead," where people did not seek God but rather prestige and money. St. Bernard is also famously known for writing a biblical commentary on the Song of Songs, in which he discusses God's love for us. So in our reflections today, how can we witness to those people we encounter who might be suffering a bit of the "living dead" predicament? Are there possibilities for reform in our own community? What kind of spirit can we offer? How can we love God and others well?
- Jana M. Bennett