Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“The enemy has been defeated. The game changer of the whole show is Jesus. Because yes, the Greeks gave us reason, and the Jews gave us revelation, but Jesus is the One who actually encountered death, died, and then conquered death. This is what we believe as Christians, is that at death, Jesus faced down the mortal enemy of everything that is ever living, and He actually let it beat him. But when He let it beat Him, He beat it. And He changed it. And so we realize that the Christian view of Heaven is not just a myth. I mean think about this, all of the other myths make Heaven into what we want it to be: it’s all about us. We get everything we wanted. But for a Christian, Heaven is this: it is not about self-actualization, not where you become the person you always wanted to be. Heaven is a place of selflessness. Heaven is not a place where you get everything you ever wanted, where you get your puppy back, and you get your family back, and you get to play golf non-stop. Heaven is the place where it is not about you at all. It is about worshiping God for all eternity. In fact, the Christian view of Heaven does not conform to just the myth. But it’s revealed by the only Person who ever entered into death and then beat it.”
Mass Readings from November 10, 2013:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38
To visit the appeal page that Father Mike mentions after the homily, visit this website:
http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Newman-Catholic-Campus-Ministries-At-Umd
