theROCK

A Matter of Life After Death

It’s been a difficult year health-wise for many of my family members and friends. Regular updates about diagnoses and surgeries, tests and treatment plans has my mind thinking about Life and Death more than usual. A lyric comes to mind from my favorite band Rush: “learning that we’re only immortal . . . for a limited time.”

We live our days one day at a time and don’t like to think about death because the afterlife is a giant question mark of unknowns. As Catholics, we believe quite profoundly in Life AFTER Death. Our souls are destined to exist for eternity.

At a recent staff meeting we discussed an article about the “Nones.” Nones being those who have no affiliation with a formal religion.  Atheism is on the rise, with more Americans rejecting the notion of God entirely, much less that Heaven and Hell are real. Another well-known quote comes to mind: "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." ~ Charles Baudelaire

Every one of us likely knows someone (or is that someone) who has experienced first-hand some inexplicable/miraculous event that transcends the corporeal and can best be described as Divine Intervention.   It is a matter of faith to recognize the handprint of God in those moments.  It is a matter of fact that sometimes things happen that defy that which our human minds and science can explain. Miracles are the proof that God is with us.

Jesus’ earthly life and His words through the Gospel accounts assure us that eternal life with HIM is within our reach and that there is a reckoning for those who embrace sin and evil. So for the faithful, we recognize that what we’re doing here on Earth really is about salvation. OUR salvation. But in all honesty, whether a person believes or is a NONE, for every human being ever conceived, eventually life on Earth ends and the souls’ Eternity begins.

God alone is the judge for a soul’s eternal life. We all sin and we must seek Reconciliation. This is how we reconcile our mortal minds with our own mortality. 

Jesus told us directly how to reconcile ourselves with God: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Mt 22:38-40

If  we truly follow these commands, when illness threatens body, soul is still at peace.

Something is Happening

Every Pentecost Sunday the most compelling of the three readings for me is Acts 2:1-11 These slow-to-get-it, doubtful and frightened Apostles received the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire and became Courageous. Something Happened.

The Apostles had one native language when they left the upper room to speak to the crowds, who were from many nations with different languages, but everyone who heard the Apostles understood each word that was proclaimed.
Something Happened.

Lately in America, doesn’t it feel like we’re speaking a foreign language to more and more of our neighbors?   Doesn’t it feel like in the era of more diverse ways to communicate,  our communication with each other is breaking down and failing?

Changing definitions for generations-old established words and totally invented new words are leading to divisions. People talk while simultaneously scrolling social media,  which means that attention is divided and this leads to misunderstandings.  Our families, neighborhoods, communities, country lost the ability to talk civilly with those we don’t agree with. We all can name people in our lives who no longer speak to each other, and we are increasingly divided. Something Happened. 

We could spend hours dissecting and theorizing the “why’s.” We could point to politics, social issues, media, and technology. Pointing fingers and straining to pinpoint the exact event or time that it fell apart and place blame is a waste.

This is not that complicated. America is no longer a Christendom. And we Christians often stay silent rather than proclaim Christ’s message of repentance, redemption, forgiveness, and love.

The antidote to Anger and Hate is Forgiveness and Love. Jesus proved this as He died for our sins on the cross. We who are followers of Christ must speak as we are able and trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the words that allow others to hear. We who are followers of Christ , when faced with a debate about some divisive topic, must talk about Christ and proclaim His message. It begins with talking with those closest to us.  We must find courage to Cross the Great Divide. (“Cross” reference intended).

What happened in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost was a miracle; born of the Holy Spirit to bring the Resurrection and Truth of Jesus Christ to the world.

Come Holy Spirit. Give us all the Courage to Make Something Happen.

Sign of Peace

A part of the Mass that may seem very casual and straightforward but is actually an invitation to an incredible moment of forgiveness and healing is the Sign of Peace which is not as easy as we might think. And if we think about it this action is a little odd, I mean we take a pause in the liturgy to give each other a handshake, or if you were me when I was younger a successful sign of peace was when I crushed my siblings hand hard enough they winced in pain.

The reality of what we are doing in this moment though is important and it stems from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew which says, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

The Sign of Peace occurs right before we come forward to the altar and receive Communion. But we cannot receive Communion if we are at odds with someone in the community. You cannot be in Communion with someone you are fighting with, so at the Sign of Peace, before approaching the altar of Communion, we turn to our brother and sister and first make amends with them, we give them peace.

That is no light or easy moment, for two reasons. The first reason is we make peace with the ones we love the most, which can be the people we hurt the most, our own family. We turn to them and in our sign of peace, we are both apologizing for the hurt we have caused them and forgiving the hurt they have caused us. For a handshake, which is just the sign we use for the peace we give, is something you both give and receive. It is a beautiful moment of reconciling so that we may approach the altar without anger, hatred, or hurt in our heart for the person next to us.

The second reason the sign of peace is no light or easy moment is that you are not just giving and receiving peace with your loved ones. You are also giving and receiving peace from the larger community. The person who cut you off, the friend who betrayed you, the boss who yelled at you. At the sign of peace you are also reconciling yourself with those people, forgiving them and asking forgiveness if the roles are reversed, because if you do not, you cannot receive Holy Communion fully, because you cannot be in communion with people you have anger or hatred for.   

With this understanding, the sign of peace at Mass is not a light moment, in fact it is a solemn and grave one, but also a beautiful one. And I can think of no better way to prepare to receive Christ in the Eucharist, than offering each other the sign of peace.