A SERMON FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
How often do we contemplate the
future with apprehension and sorrow? We
fear the inevitable: losing loved ones to sickness and death, growing old and
infirm ourselves, the pains of death and that terrible day of judgment that
follows when our eternal destiny will be determined forever. These are all things that we may legitimately
fear. We shouldn’t wallow in our anxiety
though. Instead, we should place our
worries at the feet of our divine Saviour.
After all, he understands what makes us tick, he is not only the Creator
of human nature, he actually shared that human nature with us for
thirty-three years. If you don’t think
he feared death, remember his Agony in the Garden…
Our Lord’s Apostles were no
different either. They were men like the
rest of us, with their own share of worries and anxiety. In today’s Gospel, their greatest fear
was that they were about to lose their Master.
His 33 years were coming to an end, and he had told them that after a
little while they would not see him.
That little while was fast moving towards our Lord’s Ascension and they
knew they were on the verge of living the rest of their lives without him. But instead of simply asking him “Whither
goest thou?” they kept their fears to themselves. Our Lord, being the all-knowing God that he
was, was already quite aware of what they were suffering, and so he gently
prompts them to express their fears to him, “I go my way to him that sent me:
and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your
heart.”
When those terrible worries first
stir in our minds, often in the middle of the night when we can’t sleep
and there is nothing around to distract us, we must ask our Lord all those questions
about the future of ourselves and our loved ones that we dare not speak. We must ask him, When will it happen? How will it happen? Will I be able to endure it? And why must it happen? And he will answer us. Or rather, he will gently remind us of what
we know already, and what we’re not supposed to know. We know that, barring accidents, we’ll get
old and sick. And no matter when it
comes, death will surely claim us eventually.
Why? Because it is our
path to heaven. We will lose our loved
ones the same way because that is their path to heaven. As for our eternal reward or punishment, yes
our judgment is inevitable, but the verdict is not. That is in the hands of the merciful Saviour
to whom we express our heavy worries.
And his answer to this prayer is to remind us that it’s also up to
us. We will not be judged unfairly. The God who is infinitely just and yet
infinitely merciful will base his judgment on our own efforts to know, love and
serve him. When he answers those
whispered prayers, we need not fear what he will tell us. He will simply tell us to renew our efforts,
and try our very hardest to be the perfect creatures he wants us to be. On those efforts we will be judged, and if
our efforts are the best we can manage, we will be given the graces to save our
souls.
These are all simple truths I
tell you today. But they are great
truths. It’s not just a question of
resigning ourselves to these great truths by placing all our fears in God’s
hands. It’s actually our source of
comfort to know these truths. For if we manage
to stay out of trouble and preserve our souls in that most beautiful state of
grace that God is so eager to give us, we will find such peace and serenity
unlike any other, that peace that the world cannot give. We will find the strength to stop cowering in
the face of an uncertain future, and actually grow in the realization that no
matter how bad it gets, it’s worth it in the end. “Whither goest thou, o Lord?” “I go to my Father.” And whither go we? We also go to our Father. And like our Lord, it is expedient that we
go.
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