Eternal Life

We profess in the final sentence of the Nicene Creed, “… and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.” We profess our faith in promise of eternal life as we journey with faith, hope and love. Each day we draw nearer to everlasting life, which we call “heaven,” a perfect communion with the Trinity: Father, son and Holy Spirit. 

The upcoming Sunday Mass readings point the faithful on a path of holiness filled with trust and encouragement as we celebrate the solemnity Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary followed a week later by the final verses of the Bread of Life Discourse from the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 6. By the living example of Mary’s life and the words of everlasting life spoken by Jesus, we find an inexhaustible treasury of faith, hope and love as we move toward our eternal home.

Her blessed Assumption: Our hope (Rv 12:1-6; Luke 1:39-56)

“She (Mary) preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory …” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church 966). The readings for the feast of the Assumption begin with St. John’s vision of heaven as the glory of “a woman with child clothed with the sun” appears followed by a terrifying description of a “huge red dragon” waiting to devour her child. Preserved by the swift hand of God both the child and the woman survived the attack by the predator who was then cast down by the mighty St. Michael and a legion of angels. 

St. John Paul II reflected on this passage, stating, “This glorious and at the same time dramatic vision reminds the church in all the ages of her destiny of light in the kingdom of heaven, and of comfort in the trials she must bear during her earthly pilgrimage. As long as this world endures, history will always be the theatre of the clash between God and Satan, between good and evil, between grace and sin, between life and death” (Homily, Aug. 15, 1988).

Mary is a saint for hope. Just as she endured certain trials of her life, we also experience events that often seem unexplainable and difficult to endure. Yet, as we place our trust in the God’s promise of eternal life, we can confidentially follow Mary’s path of hope. We have the gift of faith from God which allows us to grow in our understanding of God’s plan and to submit ourselves to God’s holy will, as Mary. Even in strife we patiently endure with hope that God’s merciful love will lead us on a sturdier pilgrimage of holiness with the assurance that although we experience death, the end of earthly life, we believe that “… if we have died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Tim 2:11). 

We read in the catechism, “Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live forever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they ‘see him as he is,’ face to face; this perfect life with the most holy Trinity – this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed – is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. To live in heaven is ‘to be with Christ’ for by his death and resurrection ‘opened’ heaven to us. In the glory of heaven, the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God’s will in relation to other men and to all creation” (Paragraphs 1023 – 1029).

This is our hope.

Mary, by her fiat (yes), “proclaims” God, invites us to follow her son and desires only love and goodness for her adopted children, the “Church.” Does my soul “proclaim the greatness of the Lord?” What are the “fiats” in my life where I have completely surrendered to God’s call? Do I have hope in eternal life?

Bread of life: Our faith (Jn 6:60-69)

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God.” As Jesus proclaimed these words, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day,” many his disciples walked away with doubt. Only the 12 Apostles remained, seeped in hope, belief and trust. Only after Christ’s resurrection and ascension will they come to fully understand the reality of Jesus’ words of everlasting life.
The Bread of Life Discourse points the faithful to the institution of the Eucharist as read in the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke, as well as the writings of St. Paul. In every Mass we hear Christ’s words of everlasting life: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.” 

Then the priest calls upon God to send down the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ as we are led to profess our belief with the great “Amen” and finally partake in the miracle of the Eucharist. 

This is our communion with God. Hence, we kneel and reverently receive the Eucharist, knowing the presence of the resurrected Lord is real, as we appeal for his mercy and eat his flesh and drink his blood. As the psalmist writes, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (Ps 34). By faith, have I come to believe that God invites me to a participation in his divine life, he who has the words of everlasting life and is our bread of life, the Eucharist? Do I believe life everlasting?

Food for the journey

Have you ever wondered why, upon impending death, that it is good to call a priest? The Catechism teaches, “The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life. When the church for the last time speaks Christ’s words of pardon and absolution over the dying Christian, seals him for the last time with a strengthening anointing and gives him Christ in viaticum as nourishment for the journey” (Paragraph 1020). Eucharist is food for our earthly journey and food for the final steps to eternity.

Year of St. Joseph.

Through the intercession of St. Joseph, may the Holy Spirit fortify our faith through the reception of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Life, so as to increase our hope and anchor our love in the Blessed Trinity: father, son and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.