Why are we here?
It
was tea break and Samantha, a mentally handicapped teenager at the community
workshop asked, “Why are we here?” One of the assistants answered her, “To make
crafts for sale so as to raise some income for the house.” But Samantha wasn’t
satisfied. “I know that. But why are we here?” The assistant, beginning to be
irritated said, “Well, you’re a funny one. Anyone for more tea?”
It
is strange that we evade questions about the purpose of life. For many, life itself
is such a struggle there is no time or energy to think beyond the immediate. We
get caught up in the flow and just hope things will work out. “The future will
look after itself.” I know someone quite well who is highly intelligent. He
says he is an atheist and – if I understand him correctly – all human effort
contributes to the common good of all people and gradually builds a just and
prosperous world society.
Many
today would go along with that and just get on with life as it presents itself
but a Christian would call such a view impoverished. It is true we are working
for a better world but it is also a world in which each individual finds
fulfilment both here and hereafter. There is a dimension to human life that
cannot be fully satisfied in this life because our capacity is limited while
our desire is without boundaries. Death is an entrance into a new way of living
where my desires can be finally and fully realised.
Paul
knew this. It was the implication of the incarnation of the Son of God who
became flesh in Jesus to push the boundaries of human life to their limit.
Having reached that limit he died. But his death then opened that door to the
new life where there would be no limits. “He has let us know the mystery of his
purpose, according to his good pleasure which he determined beforehand in
Christ, for him to act upon when the times had run their course: that he would
bring everything together under Christ as head” (Eph 1:9-10). The Greek word
means ‘recapitulation’: everything will be fulfilled in Christ. In him
personally, first of all, and then in every person who ‘cleaves’ to him.
This
week-end we remember the one dear to his heart, his own mother, Mary. The
Church honours her and ascribes to her this fulfilment in body and spirit. The
Church in the East and the West have long held that she “was taken up”
(assumed) wholly into heaven at her death. Among the earliest beliefs of the
Church was the ‘resurrection of the body’ – something that people have tried to
explain ever since. But though we cannot get our mind around it it is an
expression of fulfilment. And it has always been held to be fitting that this
state was enjoyed by Mary.
This
means that the answer to Samantha’s question takes us into our future where all
our longings will be fulfilled and our hearts will be finally at rest.
17 August 2014 The Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Rev 11:19, 12:1-1`0 1 Cor 15:20-26 Lk 1:39-56
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