“I believe in Christianity…”
wrote C. S. Lewis…
“…as I believe that the sun has risen:
not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ…
and members of His Mystical Body the Church…
we are caught up in something even more remarkable
than the cycle of the rising and setting sun.
We who have…by God’s grace…
received the gifts of faith and Baptism into the Church…
through the hands of loving parents…fellow Christians…
and through the ministry of the Church’s priests and deacons…
have been marked on our souls with the seal of Christ
and have been drawn deeply into relationship with God.
God has called us to be His own…
His beloved sons and daughters…
and to live with our hearts and souls always united closely to Him.
Jesus Christ has personally entered into our lives…
and has invited us into His own divine life…
that we might in Him find deeper meaning and purpose to our life on earth.
As the sun rises each day to give light to the world…
so our faith is with us as we rise each morning from sleep…
to give light to our days and to illumine the path to God’s peace.
As the sun sets each night…
so each night our bedside prayers close the day
and we fall asleep having given thanks to God for life’s blessings…
trusting that with morning will come new light from on high.
As the sun sheds its light on all mankind and on all creation…
so the light of faith we have received
radiates through us
and helps us see the whole of life…
by the brilliant light of Christ’s Gospel message.
Faith allows us to see life in a richer and more meaningful way…
to see that life is not simply circumstance and coincidence…
but is truly a plan of grace designed by God our loving Father…
and a journey in which every relationship and event…
even the apparently mundane…
is of eternal significance.
Catholic Christianity is not just about what we do…
it is more significantly about who we are.
Being a faithful Christian means allowing the faith we have received
to captivate us and to transform our lives.
Life for us is not about the fleeting pleasures and passing thrills of earth…
it is about living in Christ and with Christ.
If we live in Christ…
life is not about grasping at whatever feeds our base desires…
nor is it about dishonest and irresponsible behavior…
nor is it about using and mis-treating fellow men and women.
Life in Christ is about the unique human vocation to love…
to live in the image of God who is Love itself
to live deeply and permanently rooted in Christ’s love
and to share His love with others without exception.
Life in Christ has a unique trajectory…
one that draws us ever nearer to the Lord…
one that aims straight for heaven.
We who dare to call Jesus Christ our brother
live in great hope because of His resurrection
and in hope that we shall live with Him forever.
Fidelity to Christ finds fulfillment, reward, and peace in the glory of Heaven.
Our Lord “is not God of the dead, but of the living,” the Scriptures today tell us.
He is the God of us who live in Him even here and now…
and we shall be entirely His in joy and peace…
if we pass from this life having served Him faithfully.
As another liturgical cycle draws to a close…
and as the glorious Feast of Christ the King approaches…
the Liturgy and the Scriptures turn our minds to our last days.
As darkness increases…and a Church year ends…
we are reminded that our mortal existence will have an end.
We are reminded that we shall all appear before Christ
and shall have to answer for the way spent our days on earth.
The way we treated one another…
the time and talents we gave or did not give to the Church…
the time we spent or did not spend in prayer…
the way in which we received or rejected the teachings of the Church…
the way we entered into our relationships…
shall all have eternal consequences.
As the Preface of the Funeral Mass declares…
“For the faithful Christian, life is changed, not ended.”
Truly…for the faithful Christian…
the transition from a life on earth lived in Christ to eternal life with Him…
is a blessed change!
And the more united to Christ we have been…
the smoother the transition from life…through death…to eternal life shall be!
A “smooth transition” is our aim in the whole of the Christian life:
so we live for Heaven…
that when our time comes we may be taken swiftly into glory.
Though death brings with it sorrow for those left behind…
for the Christian it has a truly positive dimension:
without death we cannot enjoy eternal life!
Not only death, but the whole of life, is transformed and given a positive meaning
because of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Death is not the end.
Suffering will not be forever.
All that we do is done in love…for we live in Christ!
All that we are is caught up in loving Christ and each other
and in allowing the light of the Gospel to transform us
into the people He desires us to be!
May the Lord encourage and strengthen each one of us…
that through His grace our every word shall give Him glory..
that our every deed shall be found pleasing in His sight…
and that out hearts be directed ever more to His love.
May the faith of Christ be a sun that never sets in our lives and hearts…
until the King of the whole world shall raise us up to live with Him forever!
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