Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - June 12, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
“The widely held and unexamined notion is that death will be oblivion. We will be in total darkness, our bodies decomposing, our personality excised.” (Interview, January, 1996.) It's worth noting that the source of that remark, not a traditional Christian believer, refers to this denial of anything beyond this life as an “unexamined” notion.
In reaction to too-easy comments about the beyond, many today believe that there is nothing to hope for beyond this life. Their assumption is that all that awaits us is oblivion, darkness, decomposition and dissolution of personality; these are “unexamined” and unquestioned.
Those who do the most questioning about afterlife are, it seems, the elderly for whom the prospect of death is more imminent. When young, following the latest rock group, our own future, the color of our hair, the football standings and meeting the right person, we don't have time for death.
At a minimum, Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead assures us that evil, sin, pain, death do not have the last word. There is new life for us. Unbelievers might have a point insofar as they seriously question too-detailed descriptions of eternal life.
Images drawn from a wedding or a banquet are the best we have and tell us something important while not giving us exact pictures. Weddings and banquets point to the sharing of love, between individuals and in community, and to joy and even excitement.
Possibly all that frivolous stuff that fascinates us in our youth -- no matter how long that lasts -- is a good indication of what eternal life is. Why shouldn't a loving God tailor everlasting life to the God-given desires that propel human life and activity?
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu
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