HOMILY FORTHE 32 SUNDAY YEAR C ORDINARY TIME

1.2Mac 7:1-2

2.2Thess2:16-3:5

Gospel: Luke20:27-38

                               " Hope in the life to come"

The experience shows that there are five stages a person goes through upon the death of a family member or close friend, which are in fact similar to the 5 stages of grief according to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book " On Death and Dying"

The first stage is Shock. It is  normal that once a person is told that his/her loved one has died, the reaction is " No"

The second stage is Denial. We have become a death denying society and still hope that it isn't true. We tend to use such terms as: " passed away" instead of the word " dead"

The third stage is anger. Once we accept that death has indeed taken place, anger usually erupts and this anger may be directed at God, doctors, medicine in general, another family member, world or even directed inwards.

The fourth stage is mourning. Usually this is the longest phase and can last for months or years. It may be characterized by the feelings of depression, continued guilt, physical illness, loneliness, panic, and periods of crying triggered for no apparent reason.

Fifth is recovery or acceptance. We find usually ourselves re-establishing our lives and moving on.

In our today's gospel Jesus says that those who will rise from the dead are called children of God. They will live forever because they are children of God. Why Jesus says this? It is because, even if majority of the jaws believe in the existence of the hereafter, but the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Unlike the Pharisees, they did not believe in immortality, in angels or evil spirits. 

They came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous however, Jesus told them that God is the God of the living. To prove that God is God of the living we can make some references in the book of the Exodus3:6 when God manifests his presence to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord tells him that  He is the ' God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' He shows that the patriarchs who died hundreds of years previously were still alive in God and He is their friend. And finally Jesus proved to them that this resurrection is not ridiculous because He proved it when He was resurrected from the dead. He came back to tell us that the afterlife is beautiful and there is life after death because of resurrection.

The resurrection is a different mode of existence altogether. Those worthy of the resurrection do not have to marry to ensure the continuity of the human race. That's why Jesus says: The children of this age marry and remarry, but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels," ( vv.26-34). So those who are worthy in the age to come, they are like angels and spirits and are not liable to death.

Even though we are not yet died and resurrected from the dead, but now we are experiencing death itself. Every day we are eaten piece by piece by this kind of death. The symptoms of evils of this kind of death are found in the acronym, DEATH.

D is Divorce. In divorce, it is not only the wife or the husband who becomes victims of the broken relationships. Children of broken homes also end up brokenhearted. If we can manage to have consultations psychologists and psychiatrists, we will be told that children of broken homes also end up being broken fathers and mothers in the future. In countries where divorce bill is much advocated, it should be eliminated as the consequences of divorce are imminent in most of the families.

E is Euthanasia. This is the killing of people who seem to be useless in the society, this includes babies who are sometimes regarded by others as the burdens to the society for they are productive less, old people in some of the countries end up being killed on the basis of belief that they can no longer produce to sustain their lives, hence they are regarded as the burden to the society. Such people become burdens from materialistic society point of view. Therefore, to diminish the number of mouths to feed, mercy killing is the solution.

A is Abortion. In some countries the bill about abortion has been accepted under the umbrella of " taking care of the health of the mother." However, this should not be our case, since we have the right to defend the life of unborn babies.

T is Total Birth control. Some think that total birth control is to be practiced because a baby is a burden to society as much as old people. It should be noted that every life is a gift and every human life is a blessing from God. Total birth control leads to abortion. Abortion is snuffing our life, a murder.

H is Homosexual Marriages. Men and men are living together, marrying each other and then adopting a dog or cat for a baby. Piece by piece and one by one, we are killed by these evils of death. 

How shall we face them? it is by HOPE

 H is for Heroism we need heroes who can make our world a best place to live, who are heroes then, it is me and you.

O is for Openness. That is openness of mind and heart to share and to give.

P is for Prayer. We must overcome this evil not simply bye relying on ourselves but on the power of God.

E is for Expansion. As Christians we have a call to  extend our arms more to go beyond the confines, the limits of family living and be aware of our neighbor. We are community. We are people of God. Bear in our minds that there are environments, an entire world and a neighbor for who we care. Sometimes our decisions affect others. What we don't do hurts others also.

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