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November 1, 2023Again, I urge you to pray for peace to win out over bloodshed in the Holy Land. While certainly countries have the obligation to defend their citizens, especially from horrific violations of human life, the cost of this obligation is sometimes very high, as we see today. High for the soldiers who are fighting, high for the civilians who are caught in harm’s way, and high for all those whose lives have become more anxious and difficult because of this conflict. War should never be celebrated, even if at times there is no other way to confront an aggressor. As Pope Francis has said: no one truly wins in war. The destruction of life and property we are witnessing is a true tragedy that will take generations to repair.
This week, as we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints and feast of All Souls, we were urged to look beyond the battlefields of this world and to consider the true purpose of this life: that it is meant to prepare us for the fullness of life to come. This world, with all its limitations and horrors, cannot explain itself in any coherent or meaningful way. There are too many unresolved questions and contradictions that play out each day. It is a book that is missing the last chapter, a series cut short before the final climactic episode. Near universal human experience has prompted almost every society to seek something more, to look for the missing chapter, the final episode, to see if life will resolve in the end for good.
Jesus Christ reveals this final chapter, and indeed it is good, very good. The sufferings of this present age are but the pangs of labor, the trials that are meant to give birth to a new heavens and a new earth that will be governed by Christ himself, who redeems and reunites all things in himself. This is the Kingdom of God that Jesus announced from the beginning of his ministry; a kingdom that is already at work among us and yet not entirely complete. Each of us has a role to play in its establishment in our world. Through our daily efforts to live through, with, and in Christ, we become protagonists in the spread of his kingdom of truth and love. One day our labors will be rewarded, as the saints who have gone before us show. They urge us on to be faithful and to make the sacrifices required for Christ’s kingdom to be realized in our daily lives.
Grateful for such a great cloud of witnesses, for their encouragement and example, let us resolve more and more each day to follow in their footsteps. Know of my prayers for you and your families!
