Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a new Catholic website. It is launched by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and it is called artofdyingwell.org - Yes, “the art of dying well.” As my own father approaches the later years of his life, I found it very helpful to visit this website. The website explains its purpose this way: “In the Catholic faith it is believed that life is a precious gift from God and death simply opens the way to new life. Planning ahead can help to overcome fear and anxiety. Perhaps it is possible to take the sting out of death and encourage acceptance of it as a part of life itself.” Then the website gives the readers various resources for life and death.
Today’s reading are are about death, dying, life, and living. However, as today’s readings teach us, death is not only about dying. Death is also about how we live NOW. Here are my three practical implications for this week:
1. Death is a Teacher. The story we have in today’s first reading about the martyrdom of the seven Maccabees brother is a gruesome story. Yet, amidst the gruesomeness emerged beliefs that help is to develop the art of dying well. More than anything else, this reading tells us that in order to die well we must live well. The story of the martyrdom of the seven brothers and their mother reveals their conviction, their faith in each other, their integrity, their fidelity, and their undaunted devotion to God. For someone who lives this way, death is not something to be feared. The practical implication for us is simply this. Preparation for death is not something we do in the later years of our life. The art of dying well is to live well today. As artoflving.org says, “… if you can face up to dying and try to prepare now, this could help you to live well too.” Today each one of us must ask ourselves this simple question: “Am I at peace with life at this moment?” “Am I living well today so that I can welcome death tomorrow?”
2. Salvation Belongs to Our God. The book of Maccabees was only written about a hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Until this book there is no evidence of the Jewish belief in after life. In fact, we see this controversy being played out in today’s gospel reading. Jesus, unlike, the Sadducees was a firm believer of the resurrection of the dead. We who believe in Jesus go a step further. We believe that Jesus IS the resurrection and the life. Beyond the fact that we must live well today, resurrection and eternal life are God’s gifts. We must remember that no matter well we master the “art of dying,” salvation is God’s gift. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes, we consider eternal life to be a reward for our good behavior. Sometimes, we try to earn our salvation. Sometimes we forget that salvation came to us because Jesus died and rose again. We must live well not because we hope to be saved on the last day, but rather, because we have already been saved by Christ and lived that salvation daily. The practical implication is this: Let us not fear death or hell, rather, let us think, talk, and act like Jesus because we are already saved! We must learn the art of dying well, because we belong to heaven.
3. Learning the Art of Dying Well. The artofdyingwell.org says, "Perhaps it is possible to take the sting out of death and encourage acceptance of it as a part of life itself.” How do we make death part of life? I think we Catholics have it down. We Catholics are very comfortable with death. In so many ways, from the time we are infants we prepare ourselves for death. We profess this as we baptize our infants. Baptism is a dying with Christ and rising with him. We baptize our infants with the Sign of the Cross. We sign ourselves with this very sign after we dip our fingers into the holy water font every time we enter a church. In this way we sign ourselves with redemptive death of Christ. Coming back to children, we do not insulate our children from a crucifix even though it is a gruesome sight. We make them comfortable with it so that even as children we are at home with death and dying. We teach them to make the sign of the cross very early. I remember a three year old who used to call me “Jesus.” She saw me at mass on Sunday, went home, and read in her religious book that Jesus died. She thought that I had died. She came to church next Sunday, and her parents told me that she was confused that I had died but was in church again. In one sense, that describes the entire paschal mystery - Jesus who dies in actually with us now. For that matter, every Eucharist is a celebration of dying and rising. This is why Catholics can call death and art! We simply are good at it and we learn it from the day we are born!
At every Eucharist, heaven and earth come together. On the one hand, is it a celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. On the other hand, it is a foreshadow of our life with God in heaven. Let us celebrate both of these this today.
- Fr. Satish Joseph