Saint Nicholas Tavelic and Companions
The Life After Here
Brethren, what will the life after here on earth, the new life, look like for those who share in the Resurrection to new life? It is the most splendid and beautiful life to behold, what St Thomas Aquinas calls the beatific vison. It will be life with God, physically and spiritually, as well as life with each other. The Book of Revelation speaks symbolically of this new life as a city where God is on the throne in the center of the city. Light shines forth from Him so there is no need for the sun or moon. The streets are gold. The gates filled with precious stones. And so much more. This symbolic language should not be taken literally, rather, it should be seen as imagery that helps us understand the beauty, splendor, and magnificence of the life that awaits us. It’s the new Heavens and new Earth.
Jesus shows us how this life will be in today's gospel. "...those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise." As St Paul teaches, we humans are meant to eternally be united with our bodies. We are, in essence, body and soul. So even the dead will receive their bodies back. Probably, even those in hell will rise, but sadly, they will then suffer eternally not only spiritually but also physically. What this actually entails we do not know. But it will be a real pain of loss. Loss of God and loss in that the body and soul will not be able to share in life with God. This can seem harsh and unfair but we should remind ourselves that God is perfectly just and perfectly loving and however this eternal loss and eternal suffering is lived, it is right and just.
Unfortunately, the sadducees to whom Jesus was responding to did not belive in such life after death, and in the resurrection itself. Unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven. They could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes! Aren't we often like them? We don't recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into an earthly image. That is why they came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous. But, Jesus cannot be played in any way; he even uses their own prophet, Moses, whom they believed in to refute their disbelief in resurrection and to prove that in God we are indeed alive and we shall be with him in eternity.
In Exodus 3:6, 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. Jesus defeats their arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."
This is the basic truth that makes our faith grounded for if we donot believe in resurrection our faith is bottomless and is nothing. This same basic truth is what made the seven brothers in the first reading to withstand and accept persecution and martyrdom for the law of God which promised them life after death and eternal happiness with their God. Let this basic truth also move us to witness to the truth and orthodox doctrine even if it is giving up our lives. Let us live lives worthy to behold this beautiful and splendid life which God promises those who believe in him and do his will. "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The promise of paradise, the heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you live now in the joy and hope of the life of the age to come?
Let us Pray
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage our hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. May he strengthen us and guard us from the evil one and direct our hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ until He comes to take us with him to behold the beatific vision (St Paul's prayer in the first reading). Amen
Be blessed
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