Monday, August 30, 2021

 

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 4:16-30)

A few years ago the secretary of the chaplain’s office was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  She was told that her disease was terminal.  A week or so later, she received another report saying that there may have been a mistake.  The news was ambivalent because, she said, she had become excited over the possibility of reuniting with her dead husband.  It turned out that the original diagnosis was confirmed.  A few grueling months later, the woman’s desire to be with her husband in death was satisfied.  In today’s first reading St. Paul gives reason for Christians to look forward to such a reunion.

Paul assures the Thessalonians that resurrection from the dead is no conjecture.  He says that he proclaims it “on the word of the Lord.”  He does, however, state that resurrection from the dead happens for those who believe Christ rose and, presumably, honor his Lordship.

Christians have also held since the first century that believers do not have to wait for the end of time.  They will have spiritual life at death.  This is far from full or complete life, but it is not without satisfaction.  What could this spiritual life be like?  Perhaps like music without words or dancing without music.    Perhaps it will be the excitement of a blind person watching television or a deaf person attending an opera.  We must remember that participants in this state are with God who makes all things good.