Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Homilies
Archive
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
April 29, 2007
Thirty years ago workers in China accidentally discovered an incredible treasure while digging in China's Yellow River valley. They found scores of life-sized painted statues of warriors, horses, and chariots. The treasure was a 2,000-year-old burial ground. Once the entire burial ground was excavated, it yielded up an army of over 6,000 life-sized clay warriors.
Experts learned that this amazing army was ordered and produced by Emperor Chin to protect him from his enemies after death. Chin is the same emperor who built the Great Wall of China. Chin had a great fear of death and life’s end, so he spent the last years of his life frantically searching for a "fountain of youth." His magicians told him that such a magical fountain existed on an island in faraway seas. Of course, Chin never found it.
Since the beginning of time, the human heart has resisted the idea that death is the end of life. It has dreamed of eternal life. Some deep-down instinct tells us that this life of sorrow and disappointment is not an end, but a beginning.
In today's gospel Jesus tells us that this life is not the end. There is, indeed, something more to come. We were made for eternal life! Elsewhere in John’s gospel, Jesus tells us that he himself is the source of this eternal life. He says: "This is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day." (John 6:40) And a few verses later, Jesus says: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:51)
But our understanding of eternal life does not stop here. What the human heart tells us, and what Jesus tells us, modern science also tells us. When scientist Wernher von Braun died, Time magazine called him the "20th Century Columbus." More than any other scientist on earth, von Braun deserves credit for putting a human being on the moon. He launched our country’s space program.
Before von Bruan died, this great scientist made a statement that surprised many people. He said: "Many people seem to think that science has somehow made religious ideas untimely or old fashioned. But I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation." Von Braun continued: "Now, if God applied this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of his universe, doesn’t it make sense to assume that he applied it also to the human soul? I think it does. And everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace."
All of this raises an important question. If God's plan is for us to live forever, what kind of an impact should the reality of eternal life have on our daily lives right now? In other words, if God’s plan is for us to live forever, how ought this affect the way we live? How are we to live in this world, so as to attain eternal life in the next world?
St. Paul answers this question by saying that we ought to live our lives the way Jesus taught us to live and the way Jesus himself lived. Spelling this out in concrete terms, Paul says: "Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality and evil desire. In place of these put on compassion, kindness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another…And over all these put on love." (Col 3:5,12-14) In a nutshell, this means that one must die to one's self. We should die daily to ourselves so that we may transform ourselves into the image of Jesus!
This is the practical impact that the reality of eternal life ought to have on our lives right now. We ought to strive to live as Jesus lived, to love as Jesus loved, to pray as Jesus prayed, and to forgive as Jesus forgave! We do this to attain the eternal life that He has promised.
This is what Jesus means in today’s gospel when he says: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish."
This means that if we belong to Jesus and commit our lives to him, we will hear his voice and follow him. It means that if we live according to his teaching and his example, he, in turn, will give us eternal life. Let us always praise God for His eternal gift!
As a sidebar, let me remind you that today in our Responsorial Psalm, in our Second Reading from the Book of Revelation, in our Gospel Acclamation, and in our Reading from the Gospel of John the imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is used. Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Let us always be vigilant and constant in asking God for more good shepherds to lead His flock as priests and religious and pray that more men and women will have the courage to answer "Yes!" to God's call!