A Few Words On "The Word"

April 2, 2006
The Fifth Sunday in Lent

John 12: 20-33

Am I Willing to Die?

Nope. We're not getting all Goth here. Not all Romeo-and-Juliet, either. And yup. You heard it right in biology class-all living things are born, grow, grow old, and die. As a matter of fact, Jesus uses a biology example to start the discussion: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." So then what's up with this?

Not much less than this: The whole meaning and secret of life! Building on biology, theology-the study of God-discovers that human beings are born, grow, grow old, die and are born again. In the words of the Prayer of St. Francis , "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

OK. Great. Cool. Sure. I'm willing to die-hopefully after I've lived a long life. Is that it for now then?

There's another part to the secret that, thanks to Jesus, is no longer all that secret. And if you think about your life, you'll see plenty of proof. Truth is, we die lots of times before we die. Our lives include little, metaphoric deaths-and how we live through them is what's important.

Have you died so far? Have you ever lost someone you love? That's a kind of dying. Has someone who loves you ever let you down or hurt you? That's a kind of death. Ever hurt someone that you love-whether you meant to or not? Ditto.

And what about limitations and disappointments? Did you ever want to do something-something that you knew would help others as well as please yourself-only to be prevented by circumstances that you couldn't control? Death with a small "d."

Or how about this? Think about a time when you went way out of your way to help someone else, especially someone you didn't even know or like much. Maybe you even surprised yourself by how much you put into it. That's a small death, too.

But wait! You felt good when you did that. Helping others, challenging yourself to take care of another-that felt good, helped you grow! Exactly! Now you understand the secret, what we call the paschal mystery: ""Whoever loves his or her own life loses it, and whoever hates his or her life in this world will preserve it for eternal life."

Careful! The real meaning here is this: "If you're selfish with your life now, the small deaths will kill you! If you give of yourself starting now, you'll live forever because love is stronger than death." God does not want you to "hate" your life in the way we usually use the word. And if you find yourself hating your life, please talk to someone wise who can help you change that.

The whole reason that Jesus reveals the paschal mystery, let's us in on the secret is because God wants us to be happy-truly, deeply happy. And that comes in living for and loving others, letting go-letting die--anything that would stop us.

Reflection Question

What has to "die," be given up or let go, for peace to be born in our world?

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