Called to Divine Union

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“The sons of this age, marry, and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain to that age, and to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Who is Jesus talking to in this gospel? He’s talking to the Sadducees, who were opponents of Him, who denied the resurrection. So, there’s a lot that He really can’t say to them, they’re not very open. But what if the person who was the richest and most powerful person of all, and the most beautiful, and the most loving and wise, this person, the person who filled your heart with love, what if that person chose you?  You know that the sad thing about human relations so often is that so often, so much disparity, one person feels one way about another person, the other person doesn’t feel the same way about the first person. But what if that person who filled your heart that you loved, chose you, and loved you, couldn’t stop thinking about you, and wanted to unite his life to yours, so that you could share his joy forever. And that sounds kind of like a fairy tale. But that gives us a sense of what is hidden in these words of Jesus. And so, we’re now in the month of November, the month which began with All Saints Day. And so, it invites us this month, which leads us to consider the last things, our ultimate destiny. And so, I’d like to take a little bit of time today to go deeper into this mystery that Jesus is hinting at. And the mystery is, that you are made, you are called, for union with God. Last week, we heard that beautiful passage from the Book of Wisdom, that said, they called God the lover of souls, the lover of souls. And so, this is your call to union with God. And the Lord has sometimes given to saints and mystics to sense this experience. And when they sense it, they realized that there’s no human relationship that can compare in intensity and in intimacy, to this experience of the soul with the Lord. Just to give one example, the mighty warrior King David, in Psalm 63 writes, “Oh, God, You’re my God, I seek you. For you, my soul is thirsting, for you, my flesh is pining like a dry weary land without water. Your love is better than life itself.” The firey St. Paul, who writes the Ephesians, “praying, that you’ll be rooted and grounded in love, and may have the power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, that you may be filled with the fullness of God,” to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, to be filled with the very fullness of God Himself.  The same St. Paul, to the Philippians writes, “For me to live is Christ.” And St. Paul also knows how much God is calling each one of us to this union with Him. So, He writes to one of the Christian communities, he writes, “I feel a divine jealousy, a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.” So, here’s the sense that his ministry was to bring about this betrothal of the Christians with the Lord, a spousal union as a bride to her husband, he says, and how does Jesus love his Church? Again, St. Paul writing to the Ephesians says, “it’s a spousal love.” He says, when he’s telling husbands how to love their wives, he says, “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for her,” gave himself up for Her. So, this is unselfish love. It’s a total, intense, we could say, passionate love that goes on, “that He might sanctify her, that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”  So, it’s not a lust, it’s not a corrupted love, but it’s a Holy love. A number of the saints have spoken about this. St. John Paul spoke often of the nuptial union of God with souls. And some of them have experienced that already here on earth, like Saint Teresa would have it. St. Bernard, commented on the Song of Songs, this great, beautiful love poem from the from the Old Testament. And he sees it as speaking of the union of the soul with the Lord. And St. John of the Cross also writes in a similar language, in what he calls “the living flame of love, that God places in the soul and unites the soul, in a spousal union.” And so, these mystics, as I say, have been given a foretaste of this mystery. But the mystery that we’re all called to, all of us where the Lord is, that’s what He has created us for is this union with Him.  And I’ll read you several passages from the Catechism, that speaks of this. “The natural desire for happiness is of divine origin. God has placed it in the human heart, in order to draw man to the one who alone can fulfill it. God has placed this desire for happiness in our heart, not to be frustrated, but so that it be fulfilled.” St. Thomas Aquinas, who says very simply – sometimes St. Thomas has some pretty complicated things, but this is very simple. He says, “God alone, satisfies.” God alone, satisfies, no creature can satisfy, God alone satisfies. The Catechism says this is the goal of human existence, God calls us to His own beatitude, “heaven is the fulfillment of the deepest human longings,” the longings that God has placed in our heart, so that they can be fulfilled. And thereafter, we know they’re often not fulfilled here on earth. But they, if we’re faithful to Him, they will be fulfilled forever. “With beatitude man enters into,” the Catechism says, “man enters into the glory of Christ, and enters the joy of the Blessed Trinity,” so into glory, and into infinite joy. And so that’s why I speak so often of this, the very end of all of Scripture, the end of the book of Revelation, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. And I don’t know why we don’t speak more of this because that’s where it’s all leading us to.  It’s very clear in Scripture, it’s all leading to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the union of His bride, with the Lamb and the bride, which is the Church, but it’s also each Christian soul, each faithful soul. And so that helps us to understand our life here on earth. Our life here on earth is not the fulfillment, the fulfillment is not yet here. And so, if we’re looking for it, here on earth, in this earthly life, we’ll always be frustrated, we’ll always be disappointed. This life here on earth is a difficult path to that. The saints often speak of it as a dark night, in the words of Saint John the Cross, as a desert with disappointments and heartbreaks, but also with hope, Divine hope.  So, there’s different paths. Many are called this earth, which is a path to this, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, and many are called to prepare for it with a wedding here on earth, with a marriage, a Christian marriage here on earth. Many others are called through a different path to the same destination, but a different path through virginity, and celibacy.  Some, because they’ve sensed that as a call, as the vocation, and others through circumstances have been led to that path. But all these different paths are leading to the same goal of union with God, the only One who can fully satisfy us. And so, all are called to learn on this earth, all our different paths, they’re different paths, but they’re all paths to learn to die to ourselves, in service and self-sacrificial love for others, and in preparation for the fullness of union with God. And so, some people ask what Jesus is saying in this Gospel, that the earthly marriages do not continue in heaven. But what does last in heaven? What lasts of a Christian marriage in Heaven is all that was divine in that marriage, that is all the true Christian love that they shared, that even if the institution of marriage does not continue in heaven, but the Divine love, the true love, Christian love that spouses share, that continues in Heaven. And so, today, as we hear this Gospel, it’s an opportunity. So, I’d like to invite you, if you’d like right now, to close your eyes, to be able to focus better, and to see with the eyes of the soul, with the light of faith. And realize that, as we remembered last week with the Gospels, Zacchaeus, God is looking at you personally right now. You can’t see it with your eyes, the eyes of your body, but that’s why I invite you to close your eyes as an act of faith. St. Paul says,” I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” He doesn’t just say who loved us, he says, who loved me. And he says that by faith, God is always looking on you. Because of how important you are to Him. You’re not just one of the crowd. As He said to St. Faustina, all His sacrifice, think of it as been done for you alone, just for you. He knows all that is sinful in us. And yet, He is looking at you with love, a love of compassion and mercy for all that we suffer. But not just that, it’s also a look of respect, of esteem, of appreciation, of longing, of thirst. As Jesus said, on the cross, “I thirst,” thirsting for your response, longing for you to understand who you are for Him. Longing for you to understand who you truly are for Him. And longing to be united to you. Maybe there’s not a lot of persons who are longing to be united to us. But He who is the greatest of all, is longing to be united to you. What we think of ourselves depends a lot on how other people treat us or react to us. And if people always treat us badly, like we’re worthless, then we feel worthless. And so, it’s in the gaze of Jesus, that we discover who we truly are and how lovable we truly are. That is, there’s something in you that is much deeper and more beautiful than we realize, beyond deeper than our sins. And Jesus respects you, respects your freedom. So, He invites you to this union. And so, He’s waiting for your response. What is your response? You can say yes to Him right now. If you’ve already said so, you can renew that. If you haven’t, you can do so in this Mass. Even now, even if you feel unworthy, even if there’s so much you don’t understand. And that’s the true sense of the Holy Communion in this Mass. A sense, which is much deeper than we realize. Holy Communion can become like a routine for us. But remember, where the words come from, that we hear right before Holy Communion, “blessed are those who are called to the supper,” or rather, “the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.” We are, you are being called to Holy Communion with God. And so, we can ask our Blessed Mother to help us, to help you respond today. Blessed are you who are called to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.  What is your response?  Amen.

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Luke 20:27,34-38
Psalm 63
Wedding Feast of the Lamb