Eternal Life

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

The reading from the Book of Wisdom is familiar to anyone who has been to Catholic funerals as it is one of several Hebrew Scriptures which may be used for the Liturgy of Christian Burial. As I mentioned in Sunday's blog, the Book of Wisdom is chronologically the last book of the Old Testament. As such it shows that eternal life has entered the thinking of the Jewish people.

In the earliest books of the Old Testament, any thought of life after death is a completely foreign notion. Some of the psalms are very explicit in rejecting this idea. The psalmists frequently make the point that God cannot be praised by "those who go down into the pit." Only the living praise God because once a person is dead, he or she no longer has a relationship with God. However, the Wisdom Literature reveals that the Jewish people had gradually come to understand that life with God could continue after physical death. This reading from the Book of Wisdom is unequivocal in its belief that the just will enjoy immortality.

When Jesus introduces this idea into his preaching, he is simply building upon this tradition. The Christian Scriptures reveal that there are still some among the Jewish people who reject this idea. St. Luke uses this as a way to help Paul escape from the Sanhedrin. St. Paul makes the claim that he is being persecuted for his belief in life after death. This claim erupts into an argument between the Pharisees and the Saducees, which argument completely overshadows the trial itself.

Throughout the Scriptures, however, it is clear that "death" means something more than the physical death of our corporeal bodies. Death is separation from God. Life is connection to God. The Christian carries this notion even further as we profess that we believe in the resurrection of the body.

November continues to offer us an opportunity to reflect on our destiny – life with God forever. For the CUSAN, this makes all of our health difficulties a mere hurdle to be cleared before our eventual and complete union with God.