When reading today’s Gospel from Luke, I got this strong image of the 72 disciples returning home celebrating from successfully doing the work that Jesus sent them to do. I vision a baseball locker room following game 7 of the World Series (yes, I know, it isn’t really a WORLD Series…but you get the image). The disciples are entering the locker room screaming and cheering for themselves. They are high-fiving each other about how great they were and all that they had accomplished. They were likely waiting for Jesus to pop open a few bottles of “Galilee Grape” wine to put an exclamation point on the celebration.
But, of course, we know that is not the way Jesus operates. Instead of joining in on the revelry, he puts a bit of a damper on the party. He says that he saw Satan fall but, instead of joy over casting out demons, they should rejoice over having their names written in heaven. I can also see the disciples responding back with something like, “well, yeah, that would be cool…but…did you SEE us wipe the floor with those demons? I mean, we were AWESOME!!”
So what does it mean to have your name written in heaven? Yesterday was the celebration of Rosh Hashana. The Jewish New Year of 5780. It is the beginning of the time called the Days of Awe. A ten day period between the New Year and Yom Kippur…the Day of Remembrance. A time when you basically take stock of your life. Especially the past year. Where you see where you failed God and your neighbor and yourself. The goal is to repair the world around you and in doing so have your name inscribed..and sealed..in the Book of Life. John also confirms the importance of this idea of a Book of Life in Revelation 3:5 when he conveys the words of Jesus:
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “
Many of you who have been reading ACM, and my posts, know that I am a die hard Chicago Cubs baseball fan. In 2016, after 108 years of futility, they won the World Series. It was an epic time of joy, relief, celebration and disbelief that it actually happened in our lifetime. It was the pinnacle of being a fan of a sports team. What about this year? The 2019 Cubs baseball season? They lost most of their games at a crucial stretch that took them from first to third in a matter of a few weeks and they did not even qualify for the playoffs. 2016 is now a distant memory. Sort of a “What have you done for me lately” moment. Time, and the tides wipe out footprints that we leave in the sand on earth. There will be new steps, new teams to capture our attention and the earth moves on.
But the Book of Life is eternal. When our deeds match God’s wishes for us, there is temporary celebration here but it is the celebration in heaven that matters most. It is sort of the Hall of Fame for God’s people. And we do not earn a place in the Hall or in the Book because we are smart, learned, intelligent people. For as Jesus says in Luke today, these things are hidden from the wise and learned but revealed to the child-like. We don’t win our place in the Book with what is in our heads but what is in our hearts.
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. She lived in Poland in the early part of the 20th Century. It was to Sister Faustina that Jesus appeared in the image of Divine Mercy. Faustina was a poor student. Only made it through 3rd or 4th grade. But she always had the Lord first and foremost in her life. The first vision of Jesus occurred when she was 19 years old and Jesus told her it was time for her to follow Him by moving to Warsaw and joining a convent there. She was rejected by numerous convents until she was accepted by the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Even then she was not allowed to join unless she could pay for her own habit. Her position at the convent was to perform many menial tasks. And she did so joyfully while staying focused on Jesus.
Faustina had many visions of Jesus with the most famous being Him appearing to her in the well-known view of him with white and red rays emanating from his heart. She recorded her visions in her diary and it was this book, published after her death, that lead to the Church declaring Divine Mercy as an official feast day. The book was published underground in Poland during the communist occupation. And Pope John Paul II declared her the first saint of the 21st century.
Faustina’s name was written in heaven because of the brilliance of her heart and not the schooling she achieved. So while she did not get accolades during her short time here on earth, I am sure the other saints in heaven were high-fiving each other as she recorded her name in the Book of Life.
JEZU UFAM TOBIE – Jesus I Trust in You
G’mar hatima tova – May your name be inscribed (in the Book of Life)
