To Him All Are Alive

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time 

“Sleep has departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety.  I said to myself: ‘Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now!  Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.’  But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.  I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.”  1 Maccabees 6:10-13

“…That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”   Luke 20:37-38

Piety

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards, so look at the reflection."- Søren Kierkegaard.

Study

King Antiochus was finally understanding life as he looked back on what he had done.  He failed to reflect on this until he laid on his bed near death.  The rich man in Luke’s Gospel also failed to consider his life – his actions and inaction – until he was already dead. 

Jesus has 20/20 sight, hindsight and foresight.  He knew the question, the answer and the reaction of the trap the Sadducees would try to spring before it was even set. 

Jesus also knows how his life will end.  He does not need a deathbed reflection to consider what lies behind him or what lies ahead of him.  That is a gift none of us have.  So our only choice is to live in the present moment, day-by-day making every step on our rocky path a walk with the Lord.

Action

This week, the media is serving up to us an overdose of indulgence on the assassination of President Kennedy.  People my age or older can all tell you where we were when we lost our innocence.  Yes, modern times since then are different.  We are hearing endless stories about Oswald acting alone or the millions of conspiracy theories that were hatched on Dealy Plaza in Dallas following the tragedy of November 1963. 

The myth of Camelot and some kind of change in the arc of history before and after 1963 is hard to rectify.  Before 1963, times were good.  But times also were bad for many who did not have basic necessities here or abroad.

“It was the best of times:” President Kennedy brought us the Peace Corps to help heal the (free) world.  Yet it would not be until 1988 that Peace Corps volunteers would be sent into the poverty of the former Soviet states in Eastern Europe. 

On November 21, 1963, the DJIA closed at 732.65, which was down 9.41 points for a loss of 1.27 percent.  This week, the same index closed at 16064.77.  That is a multiple of more than 20 times.  One could argue that the past 50 years have been quite good for investors – or at least investors in major American businesses.  

“It was the worst of times:” A record 46.2 million Americans were below the poverty line last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's more than one in seven Americans and it's the largest number recorded in the five decades that poverty estimates have been published.  While President Johnson’s War on Poverty may have reduced the portion of Americans living below the poverty line, administrations from both parties over the last half century are losing the battle to reduce the absolute number.  The 15 percent rate is as high as it has been since 1983 (although it is down from the 25 percent rate in 1963). With joblessness persistently high and household income declining, the gap between rich and poor continues to increase. 

There is little any of us can do to change the big picture.  Jesus focused on whoever was in front of him.  Today is was the Sadducees. Yesterday is was the marketers and moneylenders.  Other days it was the blind man.  The poor widow.  The man with leprosy. 

Rather than getting discouraged by the national or worldwide statistics, what can you do for someone you meet today?  Through whom will the Lord come to you today?  How can you be His hands and heart in service so you can look back and understand a life lived forward?