Junk TV. There is a lot of it out there. And there are some good shows as well. We all have different opinions of what is good and what is not so good. Elise and I got hooked on a show a few years ago that I am slightly embarrassed to admit that we watch….The Walking Dead!! For those of you who don’t watch it, you have to be thinking, “Yuck!! Dead people walking around with their flesh peeling off and eating…well…you know.”
But to those of you who do watch it, you get it. It is about society being taken back to its bare bones roots and how it gets built back up again. Less about dealing with zombies and more about how people deal with each other when the chips are down. It is about DEATH. How death is dealt with on a daily basis. The death of friends, relatives, enemies and the undead. There are deaths that rip your heart out (literally and figuratively) and others that are celebrated because it is an evil character in the show.
So why the focus on a creepy TV show in this reflection? Well, yes Halloween just ended, we are in the middle of All Souls Day and we just finished with All Saints Day yesterday. So all things beyond the grave are on the table. How can you AVOID discussing death at this time of year? But we do we avoid that conversation, don’t we? In fact, I think Halloween is so popular now because we are sort of making fun of dying so we don’t have to actually face it. But face it we all will (Kind of sounds like how Yoda would say this line, doesn’t it).
Both my children are currently living in Africa. One doing a research project and will be home next summer. But the other is married, has a baby, a business and is in it for the long term. This means that Elise and I are considering what happens when we start having health issues. Will the kids be there when we need them? We also have retired from our main careers so end of life stuff is growing on the horizon.
Which is a very long introduction into today’s readings. The collection of readings today from Wisdom, Romans and John, and from the 23rd Psalm, come from what is called the Funeral Lectionary. A collection of readings suitable for use during funerals. A time where consolation for family and friends is obviously needed. But, interestingly, can also be viewed as a time for evangelization. Weddings and funerals are gatherings where often there are many people without much previous contact with Catholic Christian teaching. The readings, then, provide a glimpse for this population of people into the teachings of the church.
In Wisdom we see clarification that the souls of the just are not dead. That God does not provide suffering as punishment for His holy ones but as a means of purification. As gold in a furnace. Of sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Living in Chicago is kind of like this. Chicago is famous for its tough winters. It takes a certain amount of character to survive here. We have those that live here year around, those that are “snow birds” and fly to warmth over the winter. And those that just give up and make a permanent move to places where the living is a bit easier. I have always felt that those who stay and brave the winters have a bit of the pioneer spirit in sticking it out.
In Romans Paul tells us that we are baptized in Christ, we are crucified with Christ and we shall rise with Christ. We share in his death and his glory. That by carrying our cross with Christ we leave behind our old self. The self that is a slave to sin. By carrying the crosses we are given we learn to avoid those near occasions of sin that drag us down and away from God.
I had a conversation with my confirmation class this week about some of the rough things they have to face in middle school. Of course not being able to avoid, or do something about, bullying was at the top of the list. I shared with them that this was an example of “carrying their cross”. Just like Christ had no option but to fulfill the will of the Father by completing his mission to the cross, sometimes we have things in our lives that we cannot change. We have to lean on the graces of our faith to manage these times. By being proven in the furnace and come out the better person and, more importantly, the better soul.
And the reward? To be risen on the last day as Christ promised for his followers. Jesus says in John’s Gospel that he will not reject anyone who comes to Him. And how do we come to HIM? This section of John precedes the Bread of Life Discourse. Where Jesus says to follow Him we must eat His body and drink His blood. And we can do this in the Eucharist. Not a symbol of the Lord but His actual body and blood. Not in a gross “Walking Dead” sort of way. But in the sacrament that gives life, both now and in eternity.
