DYING WITH JESUS CHRIST

SATURDAY, TWENTY FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Eccles 11:9-12:8; Ps 90:3-6,12-14,17; Lk 9:43-45

The Death of the Son of Man

Growing up, none of us gave a thought to death. This is understandable, given that youth is a time when life is at its fullest and most ripe. All human senses and faculties are at their best and fully functional in youths. It is rare for a youth to think of death or the end of life, when life is at its fullest. To overcome the temptations of prime, the preacher bids youths to think of God and the requirement of judgment. “Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days. Follow the promptings of your heart and the desires of your eyes. But this you must know: for all these things God will bring you to judgement.” The excess energy of young age should not be wasted on useless amusements and pastimes but directed to disciplining of our passions and acquiring knowledge, which is a rigorous enterprise.

The overflowing energy of young age is for the cultivation of virtues. For this purpose, the Preacher counsels that we keep the judgement of God in view. We cultivate virtues by training the faculties to obey the ordinances of reason. This helps us to order our passions to the attainment of our desired end. Hence, virtue formation requires knowledge of our last end. The only visible end to us, which the Preacher has pointed out in the preceding passages, is death. As he says: “There is a time for birth, and a time for death.” When death is not sudden, which God has not guaranteed us, life gently but decisively brings us to consider death—the end of life on earth. The age of youth is vanity if we have failed to utilise it to prepare for a good death. “Yet youth, the age of dark hair, is vanity. And remember your creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years approach when you say, ‘These give me no pleasure’, before sun and light and moon and stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain.” If we use youthfulness to explore our interior, we will discover the path leading to the home of light within us before the outer sources of light fade. For all who begin the interior journey early, the vanities of the external life and amusements hold no foreboding.

The Son of Man gives us a perfect example of how to live our youthfulness. Living in the full knowledge of the Father’s will, he focused on the end the Father planned for him. He freely talked about his passion and death and willingly gave himself to sinful men to fulfil the Father’s plan for our salvation. “At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: “The son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.”” As we noted yesterday, only through the light of the Gospel do we understand the meaning of our lives, through comprehending the principles of life: our birth and death. Sin made it imperative for man to die. So, we are born to die; our knowledge and embrace of God’s judgment and condemnation of our sins in Jesus Christ prepare us for eternal life in him. It is a mystery to us; clarity is given only in the interior, where we ask, seek, and knock on heaven’s door/gate. “But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.” The knowledge of this mystery is the wisdom the Psalmist asks for: “Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart.” It is the reward for our mortal day work in God’s vineyard.

Let us pray: O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbour, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.