This Life is a Place of Passage
7th Sunday of Easter
“The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth.”Ps. 97
Just as the purpose of a child in the mother’s womb is not to remain in the womb, but to be born into the world for which they are developing, so too our life on earth is a time of gestation and maturation of the soul, so that it may be born purified from selfish disorder and transformed into love for the Kingdom of Love. Even Jesus, being God, in order to show us that He is also truly man, faced torture and death to teach us that death is not the end but the passage to eternal Life:
“No one takes my life from me, I give it willingly”John 10:18
The problem is that, not knowing this purpose of life —as a means and place of passage to our final destination- many have clung to this earth and to the things of this life as if this were the final destination. Some have even idolized created things, refusing to believe in the true Creator. They have thus placed their hearts and sought happiness in things that cannot give it: material goods, money, people, knowledge, ideologies, etc.
It is as if those who board a bus forgot they were headed to Florida, and instead made themselves comfortable on the bus as if there were no other destination -taking up as much space and comfort as possible, falling in love with that momentary life on the bus and placing all their affection there-so much so that they neither care to arrive nor ever want to get off. They do not want to hear about any destination or anything beyond the bus.
Jesus, on the other hand, makes it very clear that we are just passing through. He came to be the Good Shepherd who guides us through the desert of this world and brings us to the Promised Land.
“I am the way… No one comes to the Father except through me.”John 14:6
The eternal destination is glorious, which is why Jesus assures us:
“If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father.”John 14:28
He does not leave us alone. He loves us, He wants to be with us always-He confirms it many times:
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you may also be.”John 14:3
“I am with you always, until the end of the world.”Matthew 28:19
“Father, I desire that those you have given me may also be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”John 17:24
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.”2 Corinthians 5:1ff
