We celebrate two joyful anniversary milestones this year. One is joyful and happy, the other is joyful, but sad. The 50th anniversary of entering into the covenant of Holy Matrimony is certainly the happy and joyful occasion. Over those 50th years, there have been many happy times. But, we have also seen a number of not-so-happy times. We've seen illness and disease that have robbed us of our joy. We suffered loss of loved ones, sometimes tragically and without warning. The other anniversary marks one such event, the tragic loss of Erin and Barry 10 years ago.
You may be wondering why I would refer to that as a joyful anniversary. After all, some of us may still be angry at God for allowing it to happen. We still feel the loss, we still hurt, we are still in pain. We want, actually, we need someone to blame.
I think God is fine with being the target of our anger, but let's not let our anger blind us to the truth. The world tries to convince us that this world is all we have. To the world, there isn't a heaven. To the world, there isn't a hell. To the world, when someone dies, that is it. The world convinces us that when a person dies, they are cut off from us and that we can never experience their presence again. I think we can all agree that there is no joy in that.
But, the world mindset is not even close to reality. Our reading this morning reminds us that Jesus is the Lord of both the living and the dead. This statement has immediate consequences for us as we reflect on the glorious mysteries of the Rosary and what those mysteries mean to us personally. The promise of our own resurrection and eternal life. The promise of our own assumption into heaven. The promise of our own coronation in heaven.
Tomorrow, the Church will formally celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. Therefore, it is fitting that we are praying in the cemetery today, surrounded by the bodies of our deceased family members, going back to the first Sparks to settle in Jasper County. But, it is important that we remember that only their bodies are here, waiting for the promise Christ gave through the Eucharist in John chapter 6. The promise that if we consume the Eucharist, if we eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, that we will be risen on the last day and will have eternal life.
While the bodies of our family lay here in rest, we hope their life, their essence, their soul, is in heaven. In heaven, the greatest desire is for us to join them in their joyful bliss and the saints are praying that we truly follow the way of salvation that Jesus instituted in the Catholic Church. The promises of Jesus are real. The promises of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments Jesus instituted are real. Through the Eucharist, we can have eternal life with Erin and our other loved ones. Through the Eucharist our bodies can be risen on the last day to live the fullness of life God intended us to live before the fall of Adam and Eve…a life in paradise with Erin and our other loved ones.
When I was home a few weeks ago for Easter and Uncle Charlie's funeral, Gracey had made a comment about some sort of a sixth sense connection between twins. Gregg, responded that it was a myth and didn't exist. However, that is not completely true. There is, at least a potential for, a very real spiritual connection. The good news is that the spiritual connection isn't limited just to twins. Think of the spiritual connection between Saul and Samuel in the first book of Samuel. Saul sought a spiritual connection with Samuel by means of a medium that excluded the Holy Spirit, which is something we should not do. However, the experience between Saul and Samuel show us that all of us can have this type of spiritual connection with our deceased loved ones. But, it can only happen through, with, and in Jesus in the Eucharist….or as Father declares at Mass: Through Him, With Him, and In Him.
Because of this potential for spiritual connection, we don't have to wait for heaven to have a very real and substantial connection and relationship with Erin through Jesus in the Eucharist. When we go to the Mass, and any time we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are in the physical presence of the resurrected Jesus Christ – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Being at the Mass puts us in the direct presence of the Lord, and by virtue of the Lord in the direct presence of anyone else that is in the direct presence of the Lord, including anyone in heaven. When you are in the presence of the Eucharist, you are in the real presence of Erin by virtue of the consummation of the Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. Eastern Catholics and Orthodox refer to this as theosis. Whenever we receive the Eucharist, we are not only brought into communion with Jesus, but we are also into communion with anyone in a state of theosis, including Erin and anyone else in heaven. That is reality…that is a reality we can embrace and be joyful for.
St. John Damascene said that in receiving the Lord's precious Body and Blood, we communicate with and are intimately united to the Lord Jesus. Since those of us on earth and the blessed in heaven are members of His Mystical Body, in the Eucharist, therefore, we also communicate with and are untied to one another. Let's take a moment to comprehend the reality of St. John's statement. Through the Eucharist, we can communicate with and are united to Erin, in heaven. St. Therese of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. John Chrysostom and several other mystical saints shared this truth in their writings.
As you pray the rosary in the future, especially the Glorious mysteries that we meditated on last evening, I encourage you to ponder the reality of these things. What is it like to encounter the resurrected Lord and our loved ones in heaven through the Mass and the Eucharist? What is it like to feel the Holy Spirit descend upon the altar during the prayers of consecration at Mass, similar to how He descended in the upper room during Pentecost 2,000 years ago. What do you think your personal resurrection will be like? What do you think being assumed into heaven similar Enoch, Elijah, and Mary will be like? What do you think you will be feeling as Jesus crowns you in heaven with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant?"
But those promises are available to us today, through the Mass and the Eucharist. Tomorrow, we will be celebrating the Mass together, probably for the first time since Erin's funeral. When we go, go with profound faith in and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Allow yourself to experience the true rapture of the Mass, where heaven and earth meet. Allow yourself to mystically see the angels and saints present at the Mass with us. Allow yourself to listen to the holy silence….listening for the voice of Jesus, and, perhaps, the voice of Erin.
If we truly embrace the Truths that Jesus has given to us through the Catholic Church and truly surrender ourselves to His real presence in the Eucharist, we can unite with Erin and our other loved ones in heaven, and we can truly experience the loving union that can only be found in the Holy Spirit.
I'll close this reflection with a prayer
from St. Thomas Aquinas. "O Jesus, Bread of Angels, make us see your
Good in the land of the living. You who feed us here, make us there (in
heaven) the intimate companions of the saints."
