It was then that I carried you

A strong faith in the afterlife gives us strength to endure the difficulties and pain in the here and now.

Human existence is a combination of joy and sorrow, of happiness and struggle. We sing and dance at the birth of a baby. We cry and mourn at the passing of a loved one.

Knowing that Jesus walks beside us during our hours of hardship, and having faith that life everlasting awaits us, is what enables us to endure life’s most difficult times.

In this week’s Gospel reading according to Luke, some Sadducees set a trap for Jesus attempting to challenge his affirmation of an afterlife, as the Sadducees did not believe there was life after death. They posed a riddle for Jesus regarding whom a woman would be married to in heaven, if she had married a succession of seven brothers who had died one after another.

As always, Jesus thwarted His opponents with His wisdom and poise, proclaiming to them that those in heaven do not marry. Jesus informs them that in the coming age after the Resurrection of the dead, people no longer die for they are like angels and are children of God. Jesus strongly affirms that the dead will rise.

In the first reading from the Old Testament in the second book of Maccabees, seven faith filled Jewish brothers and their mother are arrested by the king, tortured and threaten with death, to force them eat pork in violation of God’s law. To the king’s amazement, each of the brothers were willing to accept torture rather than violate The Law, as they were put to death one by one.

As one brother attested, “you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.”

These brothers were good and faith filled men, and they were being punished unjustly. They didn’t deserve this agony. They didn’t deserve death. Yet it came to them anyway.

It was their faith in God and in the promise of life after death that gave them the strength and courage to endure the terrible punishment delivered to them.

And such it is with each of us. In life we all experience life’s joys and sorrows, and bad things happen to good people. Our faith in God will not prevent illness, accidents, and misfortune as we are all mortal men and women.

But it is that same faith and belief in the resurrection of our loved ones and ourselves, as promised by Jesus, that will give us the strength to endure life’s most difficult challenges.  We are not alone. Jesus and the Holy Spirit walk beside us to support and guide us when we need it most, until that day when the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.

Reflection by Don Larose