Memorial of Saints Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop and martyr
(I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 7:36-50)
Albert Camus, the twentieth century French existentialist, wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus that suicide is the most important philosophical question. First and foremost, he opined, one should decide whether life is worth living before bothering to think about any other thing. In a similar vein, it might be said that the most important religious question for us Christians is whether Jesus rose from the dead. We might suspend every other article of faith until we address that issue.
In the first reading today Paul faces the question head-on. He tells us not just that Christian witnesses have testified to Jesus’ resurrection since it presumably happened, but also that he personally, and quite unlikely, saw the risen Christ. He admits that the vision was a special grace and that it completely turned around his life.
Reading the letters of St. Paul, we feel like he is a contemporary. There is no stiltedness to his words or lack of sensibility in what he says. Rather, he writes as honestly and passionately as Rachel Carson in The Silent Spring or John Steinbeck in Travels with Charlie. The witness of these letters, confirmed by Paul’s enduring multiple hardships to proclaim it to others, reassures us that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is no fiction. He rose to give us, like he gave Paul, the grace to conquer sin in our lives and to survive the death that is to come.
Showing posts with label Albert Camus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Albert Camus. Show all posts
Homilette for Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 4:1-8; Luke 12:1-7)
The French philosopher Albert Camus made a hero out of the rogue mythological king Sisyphus. In Camus’ story Sisyphus temporarily redeems humanity by putting Death itself in chains. As a punishment for his deception, the gods assign Sisyphus the task of pushing up a mountain a boulder which falls to the bottom as soon as Sisyphus approaches the summit. Sisyphus must repeat the quest forever.
Sisyphus’ fate is not unlike the dilemma of humans without Christ. Try as they might, humans on their own could never be justified before God. The Law pointed them in the right direction, but proved to be more than any person on his or her own could fulfill. St. Paul tells us today that justification comes by faith as it did in the case of Abraham of old. In the coming days we will hear Paul proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection as the definitive content of faith. To be justified, Paul will say, we must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
The news of salvation through faith is too grand for a grim realist like Albert Camus to bear. Camus thought that the best humans could do is to achieve integrity and, perhaps, an esprit de corps in carrying on the daily struggle of life until death. But we Christians dare to hope for much more because of the testimony of those like Paul. The apostles’ encounter with the risen Jesus changed their lives and sent them testifying until their bloody deaths his message of everlasting life.
(Romans 4:1-8; Luke 12:1-7)
The French philosopher Albert Camus made a hero out of the rogue mythological king Sisyphus. In Camus’ story Sisyphus temporarily redeems humanity by putting Death itself in chains. As a punishment for his deception, the gods assign Sisyphus the task of pushing up a mountain a boulder which falls to the bottom as soon as Sisyphus approaches the summit. Sisyphus must repeat the quest forever.
Sisyphus’ fate is not unlike the dilemma of humans without Christ. Try as they might, humans on their own could never be justified before God. The Law pointed them in the right direction, but proved to be more than any person on his or her own could fulfill. St. Paul tells us today that justification comes by faith as it did in the case of Abraham of old. In the coming days we will hear Paul proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection as the definitive content of faith. To be justified, Paul will say, we must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
The news of salvation through faith is too grand for a grim realist like Albert Camus to bear. Camus thought that the best humans could do is to achieve integrity and, perhaps, an esprit de corps in carrying on the daily struggle of life until death. But we Christians dare to hope for much more because of the testimony of those like Paul. The apostles’ encounter with the risen Jesus changed their lives and sent them testifying until their bloody deaths his message of everlasting life.
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